Thinking about selling your Bethesda home?
If you're like me and live in Bethesda, Maryland, you may be curious about how much your home is worth, how long it will take to sell, and how much you will have to do or spend to get your home sold.
As an experienced real estate professional, I have the answers to your questions. I begin by looking at the data.
Let's start with the competition by looking at Inventory
Take a look at the Inventory chart below which calculates the amount of homes on the market based on how long they take to sell. The black indicator shows the number of months of inventory currently on the market in Bethesda. This figure takes into account several factors to help you understand the current supply and demand. When the inventory is low, it's more of a sellers market. When the number is higher, it's generally considered a buyer's market.
The orange area shows this months 5-year average.
If you're like me and like to take a look at the pictures for the listings that make up this inventory to see how your home compares, give me at the Hollish Hill Group. I'm happy to show them to you.
What about timing?
When you think about timing the sale of your home in Bethesda, you must take into consideration several time frames.
- Home Prep - First, think about how long it will take you to prepare your home for the market. Any repairs you'd like to make, any projects you'll need to complete, and clean-up you'd like to do. Remember, if your home looks like an average home in the neighborhood, you should see average result. If your home is above average (amazing curb appeal, more updated, larger, more appealing, you may see above average results.
- Marketing Prep - Once your home is photo-ready, your real estate agent will need some time to photograph the home, prepare marketing materials and roll out the marketing campaign.
- Days on Market - Once your home is on the market, a clock starts ticking. We call that time frame the Days-On-Market. It starts when the property goes active and ends when you accept and ratify an offer.
- Prepping for Settlement - This final time period between offer acceptance and settlement is not factored into Days on Market. In Bethesda it is generally about 30 days, but can be a lot longer for new construction and shorter for a cash deal. During this period of time, the buyer conducts inspections, the lender appraises the property and approves the buyer for financing. The seller may make repairs, and moves out of the home. The closing company orders the title work and survey, issues title insurance and works with the lender to prepare the closing disclosure. This can be stressful part of the process because the settlement date becomes your deadline.
Average Days on Market
The average Days on Market is only calculating one of the four time frames listed above. When the number is low, it means that homes are selling very quickly. This could be because inventory is very low compared to demand and there are buyers ready to purchase. When the number is higher, it means that the supply is larger than the demand and when buyers have more choices, they tend to take their time when selecting a home.
Understanding the timing of the home you are selling and the home you are buying can get complicated. If you'd like to discuss the best timing for you, give me a call at the Hollish Hill Group. I'm happy to meet with you to address your specific concerns.
What about pricing?
To understand how the sellers of homes in Bethesda are pricing their homes, Take a look at this chart which calculates the ratio between the final sales prices on homes to the original list price of the homes in Bethesda.
If the ratio is close to 100, the sellers chose list prices that were very close to what the market felt they were worth. The further below 100 the number, the less realistic the sellers were with their pricing. If the ratio is over 100, buyer demand and competition are driving the prices above asking prices.
Pricing can be tricky. It can be impacted by the season, the market, the competition, interest rates, condition of the home...many factors. If you'd like to get a feel for what I think your home is worth, give me at the Hollish Hill Group. I'm happy preview your home and provide you with my estimate of the value.
What about my home?
The data above takes all homes in Bethesda into consideration. If you'd like to get data that is more specific to your home, your neighborhood or your housing type, I'm happy to provide it to you. At Hollish Hill Group, we make Your needs and wants our top priority.
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