How To Sell Your Home When Competing Against The Builder

Hi Bill - With 3-5 year buildouts on most new developments, that's great advice for a situation that is as common as it is challenging.

Well written and honest, so many sellers in newer communties do not realize the competition of selling against the builder/s.

I see this all the time. Too many sellers don't get the message about price and then it lingers, and eventually as the home gets older it sells for even less. A quick sale has to be well thought out and price and condition is the key!

I have done this but I priced aggressively and even brought money to the table. But time is even more money once you have moved!

The timeline is everything; I'm a former homebuilder (350 houses at the Jersey shore in the 1980s) and when I knew that my timeline was not going to work for a potential buyer, I referred them to two REALTORs I trusted.  In some cases, the agent sold them a house at the beginning of the summer season, only to list it again the following year when I contracted to build the new homeowners a custom home.  TRUST is everything.

BLiz- This is so true.  I was asked by an agent to consult on her client's home that was in view of the beautifully designed model home.  She had just moved in and barely lived in it when for personal reasons she needed to sell it.  "Would staging help?"   I suggested that her client make it as clean as possible and price it aggressively.  She concurred and I am so glad she listened to her agent. 

Sellers in this situation need to make sure they have the most knowledgeable agent they can. 

Liz and Bill Spear - this is indeed very challenging for the sellers who compete with the builders. (And there are some communities where the seller can't sell the home until construction is completed.

Good morning, Liz and Bill Spear I was the listing agent of dozens of subdivisions where this situation happened all the time.... recent purchases that went back on the market had a difficult time, unless we had no spec homes up ....only then would the buy jump on a home ready for a quick close.... other than that, it's a numbers game.... the homeowner will leave money on the table when competing with the builder....  I was more of a help to resale homes because of my marketing ,....I brought in more people than any listing agent in the subdivision.....

Great post, Liz and Bill Spear!  We also tout that "the sellers have worked out the kinks so you don't have to!"  

The issues of competing with the builder are well illustrated in these blog posts. Also remember all of the large and small improvements the seller has made since the original purchase. The seller may have added fencing, established  healthy and robust landscaping, increased the size and/or efficiency of the hot water heater, improved the quality of the lighting fixtures, installed walls and shelving in the garage, painted the garage floor, added a tool shed, or the hundreds of other improvements and tasks of moving into a new construction home. In other words point out to the prospective buyer what has been done for them already that they will not need to spend or toil with after their move in.  

I very much enjoyed your post today. We are looking forward to more insightful ones.

For sure the house has to look just as good as the new build jobs. ..  however, usually the landscaping is much better and the neighbors are more established in the 'older' home, plus it's settled more.

Lots of great points made in the article and in these comments.  It will come in handy for a listing I have in the new year.  Thanks!