My colleague, Lisa Udy in Utah says it beautifully in this post...whether you are contemplating selling a home in North Carolina or Lisa's home state of Utah, these are the facts about what it will take to get the job done. Home sellers in Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh are well advised to take her words to heart and consider carefully her advice. I will gladly provide the local market statistics you need to understand how the reality of today's marketplace will affect you here in the Triangle of NC.
I know it's a hard message but seeing the truth of it now will put you in the best position you could be in...you will be the ready, willing and able buyer in a buyer's market!
In the last month I have had a few sellers that have taken their Logan Utah homes off the market. They decided they just wanted to wait until spring time, and didn't want their homes to become stale on the market. Some of these seller's homes were on the market for some time, and I couldn't talk them into reducing their prices. The market had spoken, their homes were overpriced.
Just because you wait to sell in the spring doesn't mean your home is priced to sell.
Everyone knows in the real estate business, spring time is the busiest time of the year. There are more buyers in the spring, but there is also a lot more competition.
If your home is on the market for an extended amount of time, the worst thing you can do is take it off the market and wait to price it exactly the same a few months down the road when you are going to have twice the competition.
Here's Why:
- The market has already shown your home isn't priced correctly, if it was, it would have sold no matter what season it is. Price is the #1 factor for selling a home, no matter what condition it is, if it's priced correctly, you can sell it.
- Your mortgage payment isn't going to go away. Every month you stay in your home, you have to pay for your mortgage. Which means more money you pay your lien holders in interest. That money is gone forever.
- The longer your home is on the market, the more behind the market it becomes. If your home was priced competitively in the first month, but soon after you start noticing homes selling in your price range for less then what they were the month before, you have to adjust your strategy. It may have been priced right 3 months ago, but how does it compare today? The real estate market is a living creature, it changes, and no one knows where it's going until it has already been. Price your home ahead of the market.
- If you think it's going to be hard to sell your home in the winter, imagine how hard it's going to be when inventory goes up 30%.
Now, don't get me wrong, I understand you need a certain amount of money out of your home. The problem with that thinking is, the market doesn't care how much money you need out of your home. The market doesn't care that you can't sell your home for the price the market says it's worth. The market provides the price a buyer is willing to pay, and nothing more.
Take a deep breath, look at the facts, and think about your motivations for selling your home. If you can't price your home at the price the market dictates now. Why would you want to wait until the busiest time of the year, with more competition, higher interest rates and then price it at the same as you did with less competition, better interest rates, and in a market that is heading into the unknown?
What are your motivations for selling? Are you relocating? Are you trying to move into a bigger home? Are you downsizing?
If you have all the time in the world to wait out the market, that's great and you are in a unique situation, but be prepared to wait a long time. If you want to sell your home fast, price it to sell in today's market, and you will actually save a lot of money in the long run.
This market is, to be blunt, insane. No one knows what's going to happen over the next few months, and if you wait until the grass is greener on the other side, you may find that someone has poisoned the grass.
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Lisa Udy, Logan Utah Real Estate Copyright © 2009
If you are considering buying or selling a home in Utah, you deserve local expertise and advice to be provided by a professional in real estate. Lisa Udy, is a Utah REALTOR® providing full time, professional real estate services to home buyers and sellers in the cities of Logan, Providence, North Logan, Hyde Park, Smithfield, Richmond, Nibley, Lewiston, Cornish, Trenton, Amalga, Clarkston, Newton, and all surrounding cities in the Cache County Northern Utah area.
You may be relocating to or from Utah due to any number of reasons , whatever the case, when searching for a real estate professional outside the state of Utah, please feel free to Contact Me or call me at 435-881-3022 as I am more than honored to provide to you the contact information of exceptional agents across the U.S.
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It's Simple...When You Have A Great Agent!
SarahGray Lamm is a licensed, full time, residential real estate professional in the Raleigh Durham area of North Carolina with over 60,000 hours of experience. She specializes in serving the real estate needs of home sellers, home buyers and investors in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham and Northern Chatham County and is proudly associated with Allen Tate Realtors, the Carolinas #1 independent realty company.
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SarahGray - seems Lisa and I drank from a similar punch bowl. This is an excellent post and re-blog. If we thinks price is unimportant and pride and big nails are reason to overprice....watch the listing sit
It's always spring in California :) but not this week, we are learning how to stage a home with rain boots and runners to keep the home clean.