Here in the Pacific Northwest, in spite of what the media proclaims, we are experiencing a serious slump in housing sales. I like the picture above as it's emblematic of what the sellers and the real estate agents need to do: they all need a serious brain scan. As a Realtor (c), I spend a lot of time pondering the market to discover the best way to solve my clients' challenges. After taking a few moments to look at the current market in Kenmore (my home town) I'm convinced that the same old process of selling one's home (e.g. hang a sign in the front yard, putting flyers out, doing open houses, running an ad in the local paper, etc.) with or without an agent is an inadequate strategy in the current market. Allow me to point out some facts about Kenmore today:
There are currently 204 active, single-family-homes listed with the multiple service. This inventory number has not changed for months. By the way, this is a lot of houses for sale in a town the size of Kenmore.
Only 18 homes sold in Kenmore in the month of September. 50% of these homes sold for 90% of their listed price. Most of these homes took upwards of 6 months to sell.
BIG FACT: 53 of the active listings have entered the market in the last 30 days.
LARGER FACT: Only 50% of these new homes are actually new listings. The other 50% have been listed more than once. In some instances they have been listed three or four times often with different real estate agents.
UGLY FACT: Many of these homes have been on the market a long time (sometimes well over a year) and they've gone through numerous price reductions.
SIMPLE FACT: THE OWNERS AND AGENTS NEED A NEW STRATEGY OR GET OUT OF THE MARKET. WE NEED TO MAKE REAL ESTATE A NO-DELUSION ZONE.
Dear reader, please pardon my candor but both the real estate agents and the sellers are at fault. Most of the homes now languishing on the market were overpriced when they first hit the market. The market has been in decline for a year now, so there was no excuse for the inflated prices. Sellers were living a delusion and the agents were still in a "listing-equals-an-easy-paycheck" mode.
Now that the financial markets are in utter turmoil, it's incredibly important that agents be crystal clear with their clients and sellers give themselves a "check-up from the neck-up."
Brain by Liz Henry
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