Take Your Home Off The Market

I wrote this article about 1 year ago. A year later, the fact remains: prices are lower, and if you're not ready to work with the realities of our current market, you might want to consider "taking your home off the market".

Today, we do have a real estate market coming back to life. Buyers looking to buy today are extremely price conscious, and looking for value, and outright bargains. Interest rates are the lowest they have been in a GENERATION, yes, I really do mean a generation -- more than 25 years. Fuel prices are much lower than they were a year ago, and we've weathered through a long period of recession, but that recession isn't over yet. Mixed news, but at least our current mixed news appears to be a step forward and not a step backwards.

For those who want to get their homes sold, read this March 2008 article, and think about how your property fits into todays' market. The points are still quite valid.

(March 2008) Maybe the time has come to face the facts. Your house/condo isn't selling, and you don't really need to sell it, you just sort of thought it would be nice to sell it, the prices have been climbing, and gosh, honey, let's get a new place. Normally, those are good reasons to want to sell.

Our market is different today than last year, or even six months ago. There has been a national mess not made in heaven, but made in some very big, very important, very stable bank and mortgage companies. They call this mess the "Subprime Mortgage Crisis". Personally, I don't understand how it got this big. I can't quite wrap my mind around the idea that simple 'greed' created this national catastrophe, and that the brains behind the scenes at these major companies simply ignored economic reality: prices cannot escalate forever at the intensity of the past few years. A fifth grader should be able to understand this idea, how could so many sophisticated money managers miss this focus on basics?

It really doesn't matter what I think, or how stupidly the executives behind these banking and mortgage giants behaved. We've got a big problem on our hands, Martha, and it isn't going away easy. Add the high cost of gas/fuel and other uncertainties in our economy, and you've got a mixed bag of problems. Our area is strong, but not immune from the economy, and yesterdays prices are just that: yesterdays prices.

So, if you just sort of, maybe, kind of, want to sell 'if you can get your price' … give it up. Just take your home off the market, and enjoy it. Garden, paint, entertain, have some parties, remodel, maybe watch the kids or grandkids grow, enjoy life. Make more home sweet home memories, they truly are the important things in life!

But, maybe you have a more compelling reason to sell today: you need a bigger home, a smaller home, moving out of area, selling a rental home, handling an estate, can't stand the yard, really want a yard, whatever the reason, you have decided that you do need to sell, and you need to sell now.

Find, interview, and listen to the advice of the best agents you can find. Choose the one you feel will represent you well. After 30 days, reduce that asking price if the property isn't selling. Did your agent ask you to make improvements, such as new carpet, paint or light fixtures? Clean up the yard? For Pete's Sake, get those jobs done, and make your property shine.

Ask yourself this: What are the 3 most important words in real estate?

No gold star for you if you said Location, Location, Location.

Today the 3 most important words are often: Drop Your Price.

If there are 5 houses/condos very similar to yours for sale today, you need to be the best priced, best conditioned one to gain a buyer. Best is best, not second best and most certainly not third, or fourth or fifth. If your home isn't selling in a timely fashion, think of it this way: The buyers are telling you it is time for you to consider keeping your home, and enjoy it.

So, either price your home competitively + and prep it to be the best condition you possibly can, or take it off the market, and enjoy it. Price + condition matter immensely.

The cost to move forward to a new home may be a smart move on your part, or it may be more comfortable for you to take a second look at the home you fell in love with the day you bought it, and plan to stay for awhile longer. Take a look at the market we have today, and analyze your strategy.

Fast forward to April 2009: We've got a real estate market with a large supply of homes, plus the best interest rates in decades. Buyers are tentatively taking steps towards buying, and that good news means that sellers who are realistically priced will find a buyer. Take a look at the market we have today, and analyze your strategy.