I recently was on a listing appointment and when I explained the current state of the market to the seller and told her what her house was worth she spent the next 15 minutes telling me that her house had to be worth more than that because she had the best neighbors in the world. 

I tried to explain to her that a purchaser in not going to put any value on her relationship with her next door neighbors.  A purchaser might not care that your next door neighbor is a great bridge player because they might not even play bridge. 

I have asked all my sellers to “look through the eyes of a buyer”.  Ask yourself what the buyer looks for; they do not put as much value on certain things as you do because they do not mean as much to them. 

I have never known a person to buy a house because they were told they had good next door neighbors.  They usually buy a house because it is a good value, a good floor plan, been updated, is on a great lot, has a great view or has the right amount of square footage.  They never buy it for any other reason other than that.  It seems to me that most sellers attach all these different values to the house that are not in line with what people are looking for. 

I was once on a listing appointment and told a person what their property was worth and they started explaining to me that it was worth more than that because the guards at their plantation entrance were better than the guards at the other plantation entrance.  They thought their property was worth more because the guards were friendlier.  I tried to explain to them that this is not usually something that is a big selling point to most people.  They are more interested in value. 

I think it is important in today’s real estate market that any seller ask themselves if they were a buyer, what would I look for and how much would I pay for a certain property.  You have to realize that there are several listings of almost any type property available and any astute buyer is going to look at all options and make an offer on the one he feels is the best buy.