Real Estate in Melbourne Florida has taken its toll over the past couple of years.  We have seen prices fall up to 50% in some areas.  On average though, housing prices have fallen approximately 30%.  As I look through our MLS and review what it takes to sell a home it really comes down to one thing.  Price.  Many homeowners are still being unrealistic about the actual value of their home.  I can't tell you how many times I have heard sellers blame a Realtor because their home didn't sell.  If you look at our stats here in Brevard County Florida, currently we have approximately 7,000 single family homes on the market.  In the month of June, only 387 homes sold out of those 7,000 on the market.  Those are the facts.

Let's look at that, just a little more than 5% of the homes on the market sold this past month.  So, as a seller, you really need to make a decision.  If you want to be "In" the market, you are going to need to be priced correctly.  If you are going to be "On" the market, you will be one of the 6613 or so that didn't sell last month.  How do you become one of those 5%?  We have done well selling our listings for the sellers whose homes have sold.  Ok, I guess that makes sense doesn't it?!  What I mean by that, is the sellers that actually listened to us and let us do our thing, homes sold usually within 45 days. 

Right now there are two factors that must be there to sell your home.  The home must be priced correctly and on top of that, you must have a Real Estate Company that gives you the exposure you need. 

Pricing 

In a normal market you will price your home based on the homes that have recently sold.  To make a long process short, we take the most recent sales, figure out the sq. ft. price and then multiply that number by the sq. ft. of the home we are analyzing.  It's actually pretty easy.

However, in this market we have to take a different approach if you want to sell your home.  So what is working?  What we have done recently is look at the average sales price including short sales and foreclosures.  Unfortunately the foreclosure and short sale market has a negative effect on your homes value.  Once we determine the current listing market, we then take another 5% off the price.  That will give us the price we believe the home will sell at.  Of course the reality is, the home will sell at a price that someone is willing to pay for it.  As Realtors, we can't make your home sell.  However, if your Realtor is not honest in their assessment of value of your home, then you have chosen the wrong Realtor.  Unfortunately many Realtors will tell you what you want to hear to get your listing.  Thirty days later, when the home doesn't get any showings, they will be asking you for a reduction.  The bad part of this is that every week past the 2nd or 3rd week your home is on the market, the less value it has to the buyer.  Once you get past several months of still being on the market the buyer has control of any transaction you might receive.  Don't always go for the Realtor who tells you that your home is worth more than another Realtor.  Look at the numbers yourself.  If one Realtor tells you your home is worth $50,000 more (Based on a $250k home) than another Realtor, you need to ask yourself why there is a difference.  My explanation above will most likely answer this for you. 

Exposure

The other half of pricing is exposure.  When hiring your Realtor, ask them what they do to sell your home.  You need to know how your home is going to be exposed to buyers.  In most cases, most Realtors will do two things to sell your home.  They will add your home to the local MLS system which every Realtor will do.  Then they will put your home on their website.  And finally they may advertise your home in a magazine or two.  Let's look at each of these and how  effective are they. 

MLS - This is how most homes will sell.  My guess, and it's only a guess, that 75% (probably more) of all home sales will come as a result of your home being listed in the MLS.

Website - Most Realtor websites get an average of less than 300 people per month coming to their site.  Unless they receive most of their business through the Intneret, their site is getting minimal exposure.  Ask your Realtor how many visitors, not hits, their site gets each month.  Remember, it's all about exposure and since 80% of all buyers start their search on the Internet, you need to have great exposure on the Internet to help your sale.  We have had many Agents buying listings because their customers were on one of our sites and asked their Realtor to show them those homes.  If we didn't market our listings so heavily (over 55,000 people a month come to our sites) our listings wouldn't get sold as often as they do. 

Magazines and Newspapers - This is a total waste of time and money.  Personally, at Tropical Realty of Suntree, we do not spend a penny on Magazines and Newspapers.  I have found that the exposure over the Internet is tremendously higher than a magazine.  In fact, I can't think of any sales that I have had over the past 7 years from an ad in the magazine.  That does'nt mean that I haven't, I just don't recall any.  The Internet is trackable.  For instance, I can show my seller at any time that they have had over 1,000 people actually clicked at and looked at their listing in the past few months.  In a magazine with hundreds if not thousands of other listings, I can bet your home has been actually seen a few times at best.  Most Realtors use Magazines because their sellers like to see their homes in those magazines.  That's great for the ego, but it's not going to sell your home. 

The above paragraphs really are the most important factors of selling your home.  Of course things like curb appeal, cleanliness and staging are all other things that need to be in place to help sell your home when a buyer comes to you, but if you don't get any showings, all that is irrelevent. 

If would like a true assessment of your homes current value, then feel free to go to:

http://www.melbournehomesearch.com/index.cfm/Market_Analysis

Just remember if your home is overpriced because you didn't want to list at the Realtors recommendation, then it is only your fault your home hasn't sold.  Ok, maybe your Realtor shouldn't have taken the listing at that price either.  In reality, if you are not prepared to sell your home for a lower price than you expect, you might want to rethink selling your home.  We turn down more listings than we take these days.  Unfortunately most sellers don't like what we tell them as to their homes value.  However, I can guarantee you honesty in pricing and more exposure than most Real Estate Companies can possibly accomplish.  Regardless of all the exposure we can obtain for you, if the home is over priced then you will never be "In" the market...you will always be "On" the market.  Good luck in the sale of your home and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. 

Mitch Ribak, Broker - Tropical Realty of Suntree - Brevard County Florida