This article was originally posted on DothanHomeSearch.com
A week or so ago, we talked about the three different types of home buyers , and gave you some information on each one. Today, I want to look out how each buyer looks at your home when it hits the market. Now you've probably heard somewhere that the first three weeks of a listing are the most important. The truth is, it is only during those first three weeks that you have a chance to capture all three buyer types.
Home buyers are ready and prepared, are you?
We know these folks are sitting on ready, and are waiting for the right house to come along. They are monitoring the MLS daily and watching several real estate websites. Their agent is hopefully doing the same thing. A house cannot hit the market and these folks not know about it. They will analyze the information and look at the pictures. Then they will call their agent to schedule a showing. If it fits, they'll make an offer; if it doesn't, they'll move on.
Within a couple of weeks of listing, every ready and prepared home buyer will have seen information on your home. If they haven't, they either aren't ready and prepared, or they need to fire their agent. After the first three weeks, you have lost your chance to sell to these buyers.
The deal makers
These are the buyers that are looking for what they consider a good value, or "deal". They can and likely will pull the trigger as soon as they find it. They want to buy, so they are watching the MLS and the various websites as well. They might even watch it closer than the ready and prepared buyers, because they are motivated by price, and to find the deal they are looking for they have to know what homes are selling for. Once your house hits the market, the vast majority of these buyers will also see it within the first couple of weeks. If it is not positioned at a price they consider to be a value, they move on quickly.
After the first few weeks, you have lost your chance to sell to these buyers, unless they happen to still be around when you reduce the price at a later time. That is a subject for another post.
We just decided we want to buy a house
They've just started looking. They may or may not be working with an agent. Be thankful for these folks, because one of them will be the one that buys your home, since the ready and prepared ones have moved on. The good news is, these buyers are entering the market all the time.
Here is an easy way to visualize this. Picture a dam, and that the water behind the dam is buyers. The dam breaks when your home is listed, and the rush is on. You are flooded with potential buyers. As soon as the initial flood is over however, the volume of water (buyers) is reduced to a slow, but hopefully steady stream. You can’t put the water back behind the dam, so you will never have that big pool of buyers again, once the first few weeks of the listing are over.
Our market statistics bear this out. The average days on market for homes sold in Dothan in 2008 was 146 days. Around 40% of homes sold within 90 days, which is a time table that would make sense if the home was bought by a ready and prepared buyer. Again, they are prepared to buy when the right house comes along. Another 40% of homes sold took over 135 days to sell.
The conclusion? If you can’t reach a ready and prepared buyer with something that sets your home apart from all the rest, or you can’t offer a dramatic price to the “dealers” at the time you put your house on the market, be prepared to wait.
Comments (0)Subscribe to CommentsComment