One question that every buyer seems to ask me when they enter a house is "How Long Has It Been On the Market?"
My response is often "Why do you ask?"
"Why?" is such an important question when asking about market time because of several reasons. 1. If a buyer doesn't like a home, why do they care if it just came on or if it's been on 3 years. It doesn't matter one way or another how long it's been on the market if they don't like the home. 2. If they do like the home, the ISSUE of market time often gets in the way of them purchasing the home... Which is a HUGE problem in a buyer's market (like my local area is in now). Let me explain...
All that market time indicates is just that... the time the home has been on the market. It doesn't mean the house is a bad house. It doesn't mean that no one wants the house. It also doesn't mean that it is a great house (if the market time is short). All it means is that the right buyer hasn't come along yet, or the seller isn't motivated to sell at a lower price yet. That's all. That's it. Nothing more.
The contrary argument is that if something has been on the market a long time, the seller is going to be more motivated or take a lower price... NOT NECESSARILY I say. It usually means the seller ISN'T motivated or WON'T or CAN'T take a lower price.
Buyer's would do much better for themselves if they didn't look at market time and instead looked at the home for what it is or what it will be. It doesn't matter if other buyers like it or not. Only if you like it. Because, if other buyer's liked it, it'd be gone and you wouldn't be looking at it in the first place!
So, keep your eyes on the home and NOT on the Market time!
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