Congrats Svetlana Casey on Best Answer. Second place was Bill's lottery. In my case, lowering the price could not make up for the excessively high taxes. Homes worth twice as much as ours have lower taxes.

One of the reasons I put "luck" as a criteria is more the right place at the right time. Everyone loved our house and said the price was great. The only concern was that taxes. So they would want to wait and see what happened with the appeal. We were at the right "place" in regards to condition and price but we were at the wrong time because of an interested buyer wanting to wait. IF that same buyer went and saw another house that they didn't care for as much and while they were discussing it, there was a price reduction, they were in the right place AND TIME. If they looked at it after the reduction, they might not have considered it the same way. Just like the smell comment. If someone burnt microwave popcorn the night before and had a last minute morning showing, that stupid little glitch could cost the sale.

I remember the very first home I had, the wife who was wearing perfume had attracted a bee inside the house when she arrived. As these serious buyers were going over the offer at the dining room table of the house, the wife was stung by the bee. They never completed the offer.

PRICE is THE most important factor in selling your home in this buyer's market, because if it isn't priced right to begin with, the home won't even get a showing, much less an offer! Your REALTOR/AGENT is the second most important factor in selling your home, because if you have the right Agent affiliated with a well-known Reputable Company exhibiting a strong presence in the marketplace, you'll be miles ahead of the competition AND you'll get your home sold! Your Realtor will provide you with the tools and information you need in order to get your home "showcase ready" so that it stands out above the rest. Look for an agent that has earned the GRI (Graduate Realor Institute) designation and is also TransNational Referral Certified -TRC, so that your property will be marketed not just locally, but across the globe!! Best regards, Lynn

Of course it is price, but when you have ten or more houses in a neighborhood that are all about the same price, it boils down to how appealing the home is to the buyer. I do quite a few BPO's and you will see one home selling when others lanquish on the market. Why did that one house sell? You look at the photos and see pride of ownership, painting, decorating, maintaining the yards, and it is evident why that one home appealed to the buyer. If we can't afford staging anymore, just clean up the house, get rid of the clutter, and make it cute and appealing. Mari

All great answers here. I like Andy's Oct. 2 answer the best in that it takes far more preparation and an eye for detail before putting a home on the open market. Showing a home with bad carpet for instance will lead buyers into thinking about what else needs to be fixed or repaired. Although the carpet may be the worst thing about a home, I've experienced buyers going into detective mode by openning up every cabinet in a home, going through refrigerators, turning on ovens, microwaves, disposals and dishwashers similar to a home inspector. In this example, most buyers will want to look at move-in-ready homes and will amazingly pay a few more dollars to have it. Today's market is very different with a new generation of buyers.

To compete in today's market and get a home sold quickly, seller's will need a strong and steadfast agent who understands that unless the seller is in agreement to what changes need to be made to a home before putting it on the market which includes pricing, the home may be looked over by buyers and stay on the market for months, and with massive price reductions. Preparing the home and correctly pricing the home right the first time around takes a lot of work and effort between the agent and seller resulting in good offers. The act of offering credits to buyers to correct existing problems with a home are slowly being replaced with homes that are move-in ready and present little hassle to buyers.

I continue to sell my listing in under 60 days, however, I do not take all listings offered to me. If the seller does not fully understand the challenges of the market after consultation and what needs to be done to get the home sold than I am wasting my time and seller's time. I am being hired to sell the home within minimum time for my client, and to do this requires both parties me and the seller to be in agreement to the terms.

We've all got different ways of handling similar situations in the housing market and what works for one person may not work for another. You can't force a square peg in a round hole and expect outstanding results. Simply, educating sellers with the current market trends is easy. The tough part is when confronted with sellers who are in denial about the facts and continue to go against the grain is where problems arise when trying to sell a home.

Another question would be, "Are sellers truly competing in the current market or relying on luck to get their homes sold"?

I describe it as the house with the best price, least amount of work, andthe largest amount of updates "wins" with an offer. There are alot of homes on the market causing the competition that we have now. Alot of sellers just don't get it and do not stage their homes. Heck, some don't even clean their homes which is very disappointing to buyers. The creme of the crop (top) or foreclosures (bottom) are getting the offers. If you in the middle your just getting looked over.

The number of days on the market before a property is sold is significant information for a buyer when deciding on an offering price. For example, if a buyer were interested in two very similar properties - one that had been on the market for 210 days and the other for only 10 days - the buyer would make a lower offer on the one for 210 days thinking that the seller is probably desperate to sell and would accept a lower offer whereas the other seller would not take a lower offer yet. Buyers may also feel that there might be something wrong with the house or someone else would have already purchased it. For educated buyers, usually what is "wrong" is the price is higher than the buyers' perception of value of the house.



What does that mean for sellers? Every day a property is on the market the price goes down in the minds of buyers. That is why a property sells at its highest price in the first days of exposure to the market. There is another reason for that fact. The buyers most ready to make an offer in the first days are the seasoned buyers who have been educated about the market by a REALTOR® and can act immediately because they have the cash or a mortgage pre-approval letter. If the price is too high initially, they move on and wait for another to come on the market. Sellers should therefore position their property to sell when it first hits the market.

I hope it helps to understand how today’s market is working..

Cheers,
Svetlana Casey

I agree with alot of the adivce here. I would like to add that PHOTOS play an important role in the proper marketing of your home as well. Buyers are looking on the internet for homes. Grab their attention with the first photo. Your agent may have to take photos at 2 or 3 different times of the day, or on different days so that the photo shows your home, literally, in the best light. Your home listing is one click from being passed over by a ready, willing and able buyer because of poor quality photos.

There is an unbelievable amount of technology at the fingertips of your agent to use to enhance the on-line marketing of your home to those buyers who begin their search on the internet. Make sure you hire a full time, active agent who knows how to USE the technology!

One more thing that I didn't see mentioned here. It's kind of blunt, but ....all homes have odors that are a turn off to a potential buyer. I suggest that every home owner who plans to sell should go out and buy all new pillows and bed linens as well as bathroom towels. It's akward for your agent to walk in your master bedroom and say, "What is that smell?" so I'm telling you! Sorry if I have offended anyone, but this is a tough market. One less negative for a buyer to have on their list is in your favor.

My web site has suggestions for sellers. Click the link below for more information. Good luck!!

I disagree with the comments about price - to an extent. Price makes up for all ills but, we're in a different market than we've seen in recent years and now, it takes far more price to make up for those ills.

For instance, in the past you could simply offer a credit for damaged carpet or reduce the price a certain amount to make up for the difference. In today's market, you need to do more than that. If there is $5,000 of damaged carpets, for instance, it will take $10,000 of credit or price reduction to make up for it. This is why the home seller is FAR better off preparing the home for selling and curing all of the ills before putting the property on the market.

Patience is the key, priced right, good location and condition. If the location of the propert is good that is what makes it attractive to buyers. With prices low and so many homes to choose from now is the time to buy.

Prices. Prices have fell 30-50%+ since 2005. Many people are finding that they are paying for rent what they could be paying for a mortgage. Hands down, if you are able to buy something verses rent you are placing yourself in a position that will benefit you in the near and immidiate future: Tax Benefits, Future Home Appreciation, Etc.

This is the time to get on the "Ship"- that is the "HOME OWNERSHIP". We don't know when and how soon that ship will be taking off and we won't be able to get back on for awhile.

You have to do everything right! Yes, the key in this market is pricing. Next is the marketing. When meeting with your listing agent to decide on the list price, really look at the comps of what has sold. Don't go back 6 months as we used to because in this market..that is ancient history. Look at sales in the area over the past 2 months and what is currently under agreement. Look at the selling price of those comps and then price lower. We are still in a declining market. Don't try and chase it. Eliminate your "negotiating cushion". Pricing right will get you an offer. Make your home look picture perfect. Pay attention to every detail. I have kept quite busy in this "down market" but you have to really want to make it work!

location, condition and ammenities are all important factors, BUT, they all relate to price! In my MA market place, if you look at days on market and some have been on for over a year, then break it down further and look at the history of price reductions, it always comes out that from the last price reduction to the date its flagged as on deposit, its within 30 days. Once it gets to the right price it sells quickly. My argument is - if it was priced corrrectly at the beginning the sellers would have gotten a higher sales price because they are chasing the market down and buyers always ask how long has it been on the market?

That's a great question. Sometimes you will see houses that you would think nobody would ever buy, and they get sold. Then there are houses that are in great condition, great location, and great price and they don't get sold. Things work backwards sometimes. Like winning the lottery, millions of people buy tickets, then wait for the drawing to see who has the winning ticket, hopefully you're the lucky person.

Simply put location, condition and yes price. A good neighborhood will win out over a poor one, a house that needs littl to no work will appeal to more than one that needs alot of work and the lower the price the more people who will be atracted to it. You should always have your agent pull listing sheets on the last 3 similar properties in your area that sold and 3 current ones to determine todays price. Hope this helps.

Great answer Andy, it has to be a good product at a GREAT price with aggressive marketing!

Good question Ruthless, I agree with the previous answers that price is less of a factor than it used to be- with all of the competition out there, it now seems (in my market anyways) to be more about specifics like upgraded kitchens, 3rd car garage, master bedroom upgrades, interior condition and cleanliness.
The comment I hear the most from why buyers chose to buy a particular house is that the house felt like it "hadn't been lived in." Overfurnishing is a big problem, makes the house feel smaller.

If all 10 came on the market 100% ready to sell, they would all find a buyer fairly quickly.

From what I've seen, buyers are waiting in the wings just looking for the right house at the right price, and lately, when I've taken a listing and the owner did what I told them to do (P, P, and P) we've had it under contract with multiple offers within a month.

Scary thought, though...."only one buyer left"...I've got 3700 houses to sell in my marketplace!

I agree that Andy hit the nail on the head - "homes are selling "quickly or not at all". I disagree in this market with price, price, price. If you miss on the price going out of the gate, it doesn't matter how low you go, it still might not sell. Same thing with all three Price, Product and Promotion - they have to be perfect day one on the market. So, are all the homes that aren't selling missing one or all of these qualities the day that they go on the market? Or is it just luck that the right buyer comes along and prefers your house over the other new listings? When ten new listings come on the market with all three Ps but only one buyer, the other 9 can get stale before the next buyer comes along. What do you think?
Ruth

Andy hit it right on the head.

You need three things to sell any product (homes, in this case).

1) A Good Product
A clean home in good repair, preferably staged to showcase its best features at any given time.

2) A Good Price
You don't need to "give it away" or price it below market...but it does have to be priced reasonably (in this market, overpricing runs rampant...one of my favorite little cliche's lately is "the market is only slow if you're over priced" and that's 100% true from my experience...for the homes that are priced to sell, there are buyers just waiting to snatch them up.

3) You need people to know about the good product at the good price.
That's where the agent is directly responsible for the outcome. Marketing the home to make sure that people know about it. If people know about a good product at a good price, they'll buy it.

If any of those three pieces are missing, your home will not sell. If all three are there, you won't be able to help selling.

Price is obviously relative to the product, so if the product or the price is off...you can either upgrade the product to match the higher price, or lower the price to match the product. The balance has to be there, though.

Thanks,

-Josh

Ruthless,

Make no mistake... the buyer creates the market.

Today's buyers are looking for DEALS they can't afford to pass up and are looking to pounce on their ideal home provided they can get it at their price. The feeding frenzie of the "short sale and foreclosure" homes is a testimonial to what makes a home sell......PRICE, PRICE, PRICE!

This is a great question and I really appreciate your asking it in this space. It is my feeling that there are three components to getting a house sold in my market today:

1.) Prepare the home for selling - if you're in a Buyers market and Buyers have many choices of homes to buy, your home must be properly prepared to be shown. Anything that could turn off a potential Buyer needs to be addressed BEFORE putting the property on the market. Treat the showing of your home as you would a first date and give the Buyer a reason to fall in love.

2.) Price your home properly - this doesn;t mean "leaving room for negotiation" or planning to "reduce the price in a few weeks". There is enough information available today to pinpoint the price at which the market will react to your home. Price it where it needs to be, you can always say no to the offers you'll get. I find this approach far more attractive than pricing high and hoping ot get an offer that you can negotiate.

3.) Market AGRESSIVELY. This doe snot mean advertising and fliers, it means personal contact with the people who can either sell or buy your home. I talk to 50-100 people every day in order to get homes sold or find new listings. I think this is a must in a slower market.

In our market, I find that homes are selling "quickly or not at all" (the title of an article in my newsletter from last month). 40% of the homes that have sold htis year have sold within 30 days, 60% have sold within 60 days and others jsut languish on the market. This just reinforces my opinion of the above.

The two homes that i have sold this month have both gone under contract in under two weeks. One had two offers, one had three.