These three changes in the market will affect the sale of your home.
Are we about to see a tsunami of foreclosures and a struggling market similar to what happened in the real estate market crash of 2008? The short answer is no—foreclosures will start to increase again but not enough to worry over. With all these changes happening lately in the housing market, it’s hard to know what to focus on. To help you with this, I’m sharing a few critical real estate changes in the last six months and explaining why they’re important. Here’s what you need to know about today’s shifting market:
1. Preparing your house is necessary. Over the last couple of years, we could get away with selling a house that wasn’t pristine and fully staged. There was very little inventory and so much demand that people would buy houses regardless of those issues. However, houses that aren’t ready or properly staged are not selling as quickly in today’s market.
2. Pricing makes a big difference. Your price shows buyers your seriousness as a seller, so don’t think about it as the selling price but as the marketing price. You want to set a price that attracts people to see the house.
Now that demand has dropped, and inventory is increasing, your pricing makes a big difference. You’ll want to hire a Realtor that looks at the overall market and gets hyper-focused on what has happened in the market in the past three to four months. Hyper-focusing is critical in setting your pricing. In fact, we take a three-step approach when pricing our homes to ensure we are setting the price right.
3. The number of days on the market has increased. Houses now take longer to sell. In the past two years, every listing stayed anywhere from one to four days. Homes on today’s market, however, stay on average for 20 days and more.
“You want to set a price that attracts people to see the house.“
As a result of these changes, it is more important than ever to work with a full-time, experienced real estate professional. This is not the time to list with someone that has sold five houses last year. This is the time to sit down with someone that has sold 20 or more houses in the past 12 months. At the Romanski group, you can count on us to offer you our expert knowledge about the market.
If you’re considering selling and are not sure where to begin, reach out to me for a home-prep consultation. I can give you the steps you need to take to stage your home before it’s time to hit the market. As always, I’d love to hear from you. Reach out to me with any real estate questions that you may have. I’m happy to help!