The reasons that certain homes sell faster than other homes are as varied as the properties themselves. It can be anything from owner motivation, location or price. The first step to selling your home is to list it, but there are factors beyond your listing price or the location that determine how long it takes for the home to sell in different neighbourhoods.
The Fast and Easy Sale
Everyone who is selling their home hopes for a quick and easy sale. We want minimal stress, a great sale price and that sold sign on the front lawn, but for some houses it doesn’t always happen this way.
There is a buyer for every single property that’s listed—from the stunning, show-stopping estate homes to the smaller fixer-uppers that need a lot of attention and repairs. But if you get things right from the start, you can find a buyer that is looking for a property exactly like yours. There are some things however, that you’ll need to address up front to make sure that the sale happens as quickly as you’d like.
We’ve seen it happen a million times: a home that is in need of some serious TLC gets an offer right away, while other well-appointed, gorgeous homes seem to sit on the market for longer periods of time. Why? A lot of the time it just doesn’t seem to make sense.
The length of time a home spends on the market usually depends on one or more of these following 5 factors:
- Strategic marketing
- The pricing of the home
- The home staging that is done
- The condition of the home
- The home’s curb appeal
We’re going to take a look at each of these factors individually.
Marketing Matters
In today’s fast-paced world of flashy videos, multimedia presentations and infinite real estate websites there are a lot of things competing for your buyer’s attention. You don’t want your listing to get lost in an overwhelming sea of information You also don’t want your real estate agent to just pop one simple ad in the newspaper and hope for the best.
You need to take a strategic approach
Instead, you need to take a strategic approach to your listing and the ways it can be successfully marketed. It is a good idea to team up with REALTORS® that have large social media followings which gives your listing maximum exposure and sells it faster. For example, the Kate Broddick Team—having the largest social media following than any real estate team in our area—can:
- easily pool interested parties ready to view and share your listing with others who may be interested
- regularly generate content that viewers enjoy and which showcases your property in its best light
- refer prospects from a massive list of buying clients
- provide attractive marketing photos, video tours, feature sheets, 3D Matterport walkthroughs and open houses
- actively share your listing with buyers who are specifically looking for a property like yours
A few factors affect the speed at which a home sells. These include the state of the market, unique features, how well the home is maintained but effective advertising truly helps buyers find the kind of property you’ve listed. A real estate team that has studied the market and knows what your buyer is looking for is guaranteed to facilitate a speedy sale.
Selling privately or with a discount brokerage
Selling your home privately or with a discount brokerage might sound like a good idea at first, but you’re essentially cutting off a huge portion of potential buyers that would have loved to have found your home. Proper marketing is essential for having a home sell quickly and at a price you’d be thrilled with.
When the Price is Right
While proper marketing has a major impact on how many people see your listing, it’s equally important that the price of the home is right. No amount of marketing will help a listing that is priced way over market value (or way under).
An overpriced home is one that is priced well above what any other comparable home in that neighbourhood has ever sold for – without merit.
If buyers look at your home and think “I could get something just as good for $200,000 less in the same community”, you’ve got a problem
All too often, sellers want to list at an extremely high price just to “try and see” if they can find a buyer. This method rarely, if ever works and often ends up resulting in multiple price reductions as the seller realizes they may have scared away their ideal buyers.
That’s why it’s imperative that your agent do a full evaluation of your property and backed that information up with concrete sales figures of comparable homes that have recently sold in the area. We need to discover what buyers are willing to spend for a home like yours and we’ll give you an honest assessment—not a lot of empty promises.
It’s also important that your agent adjust this valuation if the market starts to change. As more properties come on to the market and inventory increases, buyers begin to have the advantage of more choice. In cases like these, you’ll suddenly see that your home may not be the hot commodity it once used to be, and that the pricing needs to adapt to the changing market.
If you live in Southern Ontario, click here to book a professional and free home evaluation.
Staging, Curb Appeal and the Condition of the Home
As soon as a buyer parks their car and walk towards your house, they’re going to start judging the property. Imagine if someone looked at your home and their first impressions were:
- “This home looks unclean and untidy.”
- “There’s a lot of junk inside and outside of the home.”
- “This home smells funny/bad/stuffy.”
- “There are a lot of broken things that need to be fixed.”
- “This home is so cluttered I feel claustrophobic.”
We can head off a lot of these feelings by making sure it is appropriately staged and maintained during the listing period. Check out our blogs on Decluttering Your Home To Make It Feel Larger and Top Sellers Tips For Showing Your Home To Potential Buyers.
As part of our listing packages, we offer professional home cleaning services prior to putting your home up for sale. We can offer tips on how to make your home look and feel nicer. We can even put you in touch with professional staging companies that will make your home look ready for a magazine centerfold!
Remember: if your home is cleaner, tidier, and better staged than other homes, chances are your property will sell faster. So make sure to leave a good impression on every buyer that comes through your house!
Every home that sells is unique and has its own story. We want to learn about yours, so we can tell it in the best possible way. Every listing is different, and there are a lot of factors that play a role in how long it takes to sell. We’ve compiled some of the top reasons why certain homes are selling faster than others, and we hope you use some of the important points we have listed.
Want to Learn More?
If you’re still wondering why some houses are selling faster than others in your neighbourhood, give us a call today. We’d love the opportunity to show you what we can offer you, and how an updated evaluation and strategic plan could help your home sell as quickly as possible in this changing real estate market.
