It’s tempting to believe that it just takes longer to sell now.  It’s brought on by the common thought among most home sellers; “Heck, I’m in no rush, I don’t need to sell, and I’m not giving it away!”

This is especially true for the higher-end homes.

I’ll never forget the RSF agent a few years back who mentioned that her listing was having its 1-year anniversary, and she spoke about it with pride, like it was her child having their first birthday.  But we’ve been hired to sell the home, not just stay busy with showing it forever.

There is a fact about real estate sales in every market, everywhere:

The home that is the best buy in the marketplace will be the next one to sell.  The reason your home isn’t selling is because the other homes for sale are offering a better value.

In a market that is trending upward, you can put a higher price on it and some day the market will come up to meet it – eventually the future sellers will price their home higher than yours, and finally make your home the best buy in the marketplace.

But in a downward-trending market, the market can get away from you quickly.

The listing that is priced 10% too high today will look like it’s 15% or 20% too high in a month or two.  It’s why the showings stop completely – buyers have forgotten all about you because the price looks worse every day that goes by. It puts the seller in a position to ‘chase’ the market down with price reductions.

We’ve had an upward-trending market for the last 12 years. Those who priced their home too high have gotten away with it, because the market eventually rose high enough to meet them, and their price.  The worst part is that people now just think it’s a fact that if you wait long enough, a buyer will come around and pay your price.

It’s probably still true, but instead of taking months to sell, it could take years.

If you are willing to wait for years, don’t put your home on the market now – wait until it’s obvious that your desired price would make your home the best buy in the neighborhood.

It’s doubtful that many will take this advice, and it’s why it’ll be likely that there will be over-priced turkeys (OPTs) starting to pile up in May/June. The selling season could get hot for a couple of months, but then get submarined by the growing amount of unsolds that don’t adjust on price.

Unless rates slide into the 4s, and bless sellers and agents with more frenzy!

Pin It on Pinterest