How to Sell a House in a Challenging Market

Getting a home sold in this market is no small accomplishment, but many homes ARE selling.    When there are more homes on the market, than there are buyers in the marketplace, the challenge is how to be one of the “lucky” sellers. 

But is it just luck?   Some homes seem to sell quickly, while others sit on the market for months.   I’ve noticed that homes that sell have these three things in common:

1.  Careful Preparation - The listing agent and the seller have taken many steps to prepare the home for the market.   Knowing that the home will be compared to countless others means it has to look its absolute best, even if that requires some investment of time and money.   Paint, carpeting, landscaping, decluttering, detailed cleaning and staging  are all up for discussion and consideration here.    The home needs to be the “shining star” in its price range.

2.   Aggressive Pricing – It used to be that a home could be priced by finding three or more similar homes that recently sold.    This pricing model was called a Comparable Market Analysis or using “comps”.    This pricing method alone is no longer sufficient in this market with so much inventory on the market.    Sharp agents are using Absorption Analysis techniques to analyze the supply and demand for homes within a particular community and price range.   For example, if an Absorption Analysis shows an 8 month supply of homes on the market, then a realistic seller needs a very competitive price to compete with that much inventory.     Competent agents are using both comparable pricing and Absorption Analysis pricing techniques to better advise sellers on pricing.

3.  Aggressive Marketing – The houses that are selling, are well marketed with professional pictures, meaningful and emotional write-ups, and virtual tours.   When a house that’s going to sell comes on the market, it’s clear that considerable marketing work has been done ahead of time.   The house comes on the market with what I call “momentum”.   The home hits the market with excellent and complete photographs, a virtual tour, a detailed write-up.  On the same day it is put in the MLS service it’s also posted to the major search web-sites, the company or brand’s website, the agent’s website, and upgraded with additional photos and the virtual tour on sites like Realtor.com and Boston.com.    All relevant documentation (seller’s disclosures for example) are available via the MLS service.  Ideally an open house is scheduled and advertised for the following Sunday.   If a showing service is used to coordinate showings then they are provided the necessary information to set up showings immediately.  Most buyers will only turn their attention to this home once, when it first hits the market as a new listing, so it all has to be there…everything.   Agents who work on this marketing piece-meal, after the home is listed, do their sellers a huge disservice, especially in this market.

Sellers that carefully prepare their home for market, price it well and then hire an agent that does an excellent job with timely marketing, are well on their way to getting their home sold…..even in this challenging market.

Andrew Wilson, Broker/Owner

Century 21 Landmark Realty