I am going to simplify the home selling process. According to the data on our MLS for St. Paul, Minnesota for 2010 1873 homes have sold. By sold I mean the sale has actually closed and the homes have new owners. On average those sold homes were on the market for 133.1 days. I am not sure what .1 days means but that happens when averages are used. The average asking price for those homes was $155,888 and the average sale price was 151,786. 758 of the homes were in the 100K to 200K price range.
Currently we have 1789 homes on the market. That is almost as many homes as have been sold all year. The average number of days on market for those homes is running at around 164.2 days and the average asking price is $199,684. There are 867 homes in the 100K to 200K price range.
I have this conversation with prospective sellers rather often. They tell me how much money they need for their home. Sadly buyers don't look at home values that way at all. I tell them that it doesn't matter how much they ask for the home, it is worth what it is worth. Pricing the home too high doesn't mean that it will sell for more it means that it will stay on the market longer and may not sell at all.
I am sorry about this. I don't make the rules the buyers do and so do the appraisers and so does the larger economy. Factors like employment rates and the stock market influence home prices and sales too.
This little house sold in 10 days because it was priced right. Another one of my listing sold in 45 days and it should have sold sooner. It sold shortly after a price reduction that was made 30 days after it was put on the market.
This much larger and more expensive home sold in the first 30 days on the market. It was also correctly priced and the sellers got more than one offer and within a few thousand dollars of their asking price.
If a certain amount of money is "needed" from the sale of a home my best advice is to wait until the value of the home goes up and then sell it. It is that simple. I may have mentioned this in previous posts over the years.
Correctly priced! A novel concept in many areas. 😉
What do we need a realtor for if it’s all about the price. We should all lower the price until it sells and save on the commission. Thanks, you just saved me a lot of money.
Price is a big part of it, if it is over priced no one can sell it. Buyers are looking for bargains and appraisers are conservative. Some folks to sell homes with out Realtors it can be done. I would encourage anyone who thinks they can save money by doing it that way to do it.
Brian obviously has enough time on his hands to be available pretty much all the time for calls from prospective buyers and other agents, time to meet buyers’ schedules to show the house, and enough knowledge to navigate the negotiation and paperwork trails. More power to him.
I don’t have that kind of time on my hands or all of that knowledge. I don’t do my own surgery, either. I’ll hire a pro and pay him or her what they’re worth.
Ouch on the comments
I agree with you Teresa, the home has to be priced right. We have an agent in the office that has had several turnovers very quickly and it is all because the home is priced to sell.
But the marketing is also a big plus, if you are going to sell your home on your own, how do you plan on letting people know it is listed other than putting a sign in the yard?
Maybe we make it look too easy
It’s very hard to get homeowners to understand this. People are more willing to wait it out for a better price, even when they have to sell fast for financial reasons, than they are to sell for less than what they paid. I think it’s hard to get people to give up on what they’ve always been told, that they’ll always make money on a home investment. I’ve even heard of people who don’t want to sell for a lower price, so they rent their property out, and try to rent for $200-$300 above the average for their neighborhood, just because they ‘need to pay off their mortgage’. They run into the same problems.