Recent list and sold numbers give you a tighter starting range
You're deciding whether your asking price should lead the market or follow it. My answer build your price off recent asking levels and recent closes, then choose a launch plan that protects your leverage early.
Here is the constraint I plan around based on the previous 30 days active homes in West Raleigh, NC carried a typical asking price of $365,000 last month, while a typical closed sale landed at $394,100. Offers also came in around 97.6% of asking. Where people get this wrong is assuming list prices alone define value. Some metrics were not reported for this period. The combination of a $365,000 typical active asking price and $394,100 typical closed price tells me buyers are still closing, but the market is not automatically paying full ask, given the 97.6% typical sale-to-ask outcome. Set your list price with a plan for the first two weeks, not a hope for the first offer. I recommend aligning your launch price with the $365,000 typical active asking level only if your home competes directly there, then validating it against the $394,100 typical close for your segment. Decide in advance how you will respond if your early offers track under asking, because 97.6% has been a common landing zone.
