I took advantage of a Real Estate Seminar last week because the speaker was Pat Hiban. He has been an agent for a long time and isn't just a Realtor, he is a broker with an entire office that works for him. He has a team of several administrative people, buyers agents, and listing agents. The top agents in the area that sell hundreds of houses a year, do this by being the figurehead for an entire office - these are the agents you'll see on TV commercials.
Anyway, I know he is very successful and was interested in what he had to say and the fact that he volunteered a half a day of his time (and hours of preparation time - power point slides and videos) was very generous.
Now I was expecting him to be a bit pompous and arrogant, because after all, he is one of those "TV Star Realtors", but I found him to be neither. I found him to be friendly, intelligent, and entertaining. He shared some good information with us and confirmed most of my thoughts about the current real estate market. Considering he has many more years in the business than we do, I was glad to hear that we're on the right track.
One of the things that he mentioned is the increase in sales of homes under $250,000 and how poorly homes over $500,000 are doing. It's pretty shocking actually. Where are the buyers for these more expensive homes? Why aren't they selling their townhomes to move up?
Pat said some people claim he is being too pessimistic about the market, but he said he is just being realistic. I admire his forthrightness. I am the consummate optimist, but I also have to look at things optimistically. You want to get realistic information from your Realtor so that you can make good decisions regarding your house sale. You don't necessarily want to choose an agent based on the highest estimate for the price to list your house for if you want it to sell. Most Realtors will take the sale listing of your house even if it is higher than they think, and let you see the market response. Realtors don't determine the sale price, the market does, and you'll see very quickly if you are priced too high or not.
The realistic numbers in this market are that out of over 19,000 houses listed for sale in the state of Maryland last month, about 1750 actually sold. So only 7% of homes are selling. 93% of homes listed for sale went unsold into this month and more homes are listed for sale each day. What does this mean to the average home seller? It means your house has to be spectacular to be in that 7%. It needs to not only be sparkling clean, clutter-free and free of odors, but it also needs to be priced LOWER THAN THE COMPETITION. That, coupled with a good virtual tour, multiple-listing it so your house shows up on thousands of Realtor websites, maybe an open house or two, and you're good to go. Most people shop on the internet before seeing homes in person so in addition to having the best price in the neighborhood, you want to make sure that your house looks good on the internet.
That's it, it a nutshell. You'll want to make sure your Realtor is experienced of course, but they don't need 20 years in the business. A couple FULL-TIME years is plenty to have a good feel for the market, help you prepare your home, stage it, give suggestions, get you a good virtual tour, etc. Make sure to choose a Realtor that you get along with personality-wise and you'll have a pleasant experience. There are a lot of really good Realtors in the market to choose from. Most houses don't sell overnight anymore, so be sure to take into consideration the relationship and service from your Realtor since you'll most likely be working together for a little while.
All of this isn't terrible news for home sellers because homes are still selling. If you are buying another home, you can most likely negotiate any "loss" you take from the sale of your home on the other end. If you have to come down $20,000 on the sale of your existing home, see if you can get $20,000 off on your next purchase. Between that and the historically low interest rates, you are going to come out a WINNER!
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To list your property for sale or to purchase a property in Maryland, call Lisa & David Webber, ABR, Licensed Realtors®. For more information on our services, please visit our profile or our website.
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