We sold in the Toronto/GTA market in the summer of 2009 – prices had dipped somewhat, but it was and remains a nutty place to deal in property.

Home staging: we paid about $2500 for the staging. This included advice on paint colours (though we had to actually buy and paint and do the painting), clearing out clutter, fluffing of every room. The stagers brought in many of their own accessories, like sets of glass-bead-filled vases, and throw pillows. They went out and found us new drapes and lamps, and set them up. We had a 4bdrm, 2-bath house plus a fully finished basement to stage, and every corner looked amazing. Worth. Every. Penny.

I don’t know if I’d be so quick to dismiss the worst-case scenario of mispricing. Selling a house is a tricky game with lots of psychology involved in the negotiations. You got lucky and had a bidding war, which is the fastest way to get top dollar, and over your asking price. Bidding wars generally only happen on a fresh listing, so if you put your asking price too high you probably won’t get a bidding war. If you’re so high that you have to drop your price then you’re losing even more negotiating power: now you’ve put into the buyer’s mind the idea that the price is on the way down, plus the listing is stale, which takes away the sense of urgency that helps get people to put in high offers to grab it while it’s hot. On top of that a “new price” sign might tell a buyer not that you mispriced your initial ask, but that you’re a “motivated seller”, leading them to push you even further. On the gripping hand, there is value in selling your place quickly; while probably negligible compared to squeezing just a few more percent out of your house, it is miserable to live in a staged home, having to keep it meticulously clean and ready for a showing at a moment’s notice, for months on end. As you said yourself, “No one lives like that…”

While in your case you might have been right and the agents wrong, I’d caution anyone going against the advice of three different agents to be very sure of their analysis before shooting the moon with their ask.