Tips for Selling a Home in a Slow Market

U.S. News & World Report writer Luke Mullins let me know he’d written an article titled 5 Tips for Selling a House in a Slow Market. It’s a good read, especially for home sellers in Phoenix (and other “slow” markets — of which there are many).

Mullins’ five tips are (basically):

1. Make repairs
2. Price appropriately
3. Use an experienced agent
4. Make your home available for showing (a pet peeve)
5. Counter “low ball” offers

Nothing earth-shattering here, but it is all sound advice (read the article for more details).

My only real disagreement with what Mullins writes is in his “Know you agent’s stats” tip. While experience in the market certainly helps, there are specific time frames listed in the article that may or may not be appropriate for every situation. A blanket statement such as “It’s best to choose an agent whose properties sell in an average of three or four months, a time frame that indicates the agent understands how to price the market” isn’t always going to be correct.

If you are trying to do a short sale for example, picking an agent that has a low days on market stat but no experience in short sales is a big mistake.

If you are selling a luxury home in Phoenix, where time on market is typically many, many months, finding someone whose properties sell in 3 or 4 months likely won’t help. Reality is, it will probably hurt.

Agents tend to specialize — in location, price range, style, niche market or some combination. It’s an over-generalization to say, “An agent whose average is X months is too long”. To regurgitate an oft-overused (but accurate) term, all real estate is local. Sometimes down to the subdivision.

I’ve said it before, but homes are still being bought and sold every day. Sure, the numbers are lower, but if you need to sell, applying these general tips can clearly help. Yes, Phoenix is in a “buyer’s market”, but that doesn’t mean a home can’t be sold. After all, for every home bought, by definition one is sold….

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Sue

I hear you with the "available for showing" tip. Its so important for the home to be easy to show and equally as important to use an experienced agent. Although its my thinking that in this market, the inexperienced, part-time agents are dropping out.

Jim

Good point about short sales and days on market. My number one advice for home sellers (although all listed are very important) is to price right for the market. Too many agents will try to snag a listing using high sales price as the bait. The fact that Jay mentions this is good in my book, and I would recommend. Price is king.

Sarasota FL Real Estate

I work with a lot of buyers so I know their mindset. They are scared of buying now for the fear that their home will be worth less in the future. In order for them to get off their check book they need to feel like they are getting a bargain.

When deciding on an asking price take a look at your competition, what has sold recently and what failed to sell recently. In a market where prices are dropping you most likely will have to establish an asking price that is at or lower than 3 similar homes that have sold recently. It is hard to do but it is best to get in front of this market instead of chasing it down.