We have a fundamental problem in the housing market – how it works today.
New listings are distributed within minutes these days, and waiting buyers are on the edge of their seat. Those who were already frustrated with high prices, higher rates, and coming soons want to get it over with and buy now – and they either jump immediately on the good ones, or they swipe to the next offering.
The graph above show the Zillow views of my one-story listing in La Costa Ridge. Look how quickly the interest fell off. The bump on Day 9 was when we lowered the price $100,000, and literally by the next day it was old news.
What’s the problem?
Sellers are unaware.
Once they figure it out, it is natural to resist, and the real estate industry makes no attempt to educate sellers on this dilemma. Maybe agents aren’t aware either, or are uncertain what to make of it?
It doesn’t matter when prices are rising – sellers can just wait until the market catches up with their price, which has been the preferred method forever. But in a stalled/stagnant/soft market, prices aren’t coming to meet you – and they might be going to other way. It could be years before they do catch up.
We expect selling a house to be like every other job – put in a good effort for weeks or months, and at the end we will have success.
But selling a house in this environment gets more-frustrating/less-rewarding with the longer it goes on.
Will sellers resist the temptation to add a little extra to their list price, and instead employ sharp pricing to sell early and for a higher amount?
They should, because buyers are dying to beat down the prices of the stale old listings, and their pricing expectations will be dropping far faster than sellers. It will get harder and harder to put deals together on the older listings.
It’s simply an educational thing for the new market conditions – if you price your home to sit, not sell, you will be sitting much longer than before!
Get Good Help!