The housing market is depressed in Phoenix and the East Valley. You cannot sell a house if you have to so don’t bother trying.
If you read newspapers or listen to the news you would believe that statement is true, but I have a buyer I am working with that would never believe that statement right now. We have sat down to write offers on three homes in the last two weeks and to date we have not landed him in a house. All three offers were for houses that were priced right. One we were probably a little low in our offer. We came in a little under asking and the home sold for full price to a cash buyer who was able to close quickly. That home was on the market for less than two weeks. The second home also on the market for less than two weeks and we came in over the asking price and still did not land the home. The third home got a full price offer the first day it was on the market. A fourth home he wanted to make an offer on had an accepted offer on the home well above the asking price and it was accepted before it had been on the market for a week. So what was the secret for these homes?
They were priced right to sell quick. Most agents have talked to home buyers who want to sell their home right away, yet they refuse to price the house right when it goes on the market. A home that is priced right will sell quickly, a home that takes months to get priced correctly will sit on the market for months. Sellers are learning their homes are not worth what they they are worth, but instead are worth what the market says they are worth.
I have been talking with one couple recently about listing their home. It is a beautiful showcase quality home in an adult community. They want to list the home for over $300K while the current market is bringing about $250K for the same house in the same community. Right now they have the home for sale by owner at $309K, but why will anyone look at their home when there is another home in the community that is only 50 sq feet small on the market for $229K and eight homes total in the community under $250K.
Most of the foot traffic a house will get is when the home is first listed (see graph to left). A house that is priced right will get foot traffic immediately, while a home that is priced over the market value will sit until either it is priced correctly or taken off the market. As this one buyer has seen recently there is not a huge danger in pricing the home a little below market. The likely results we have seen recently is a home priced a little below market will end up in a bidding war and go for the correct market price. So if you need to see your house quickly you now know the secret weapon, price it correctly from the start. If you want to sell your home, for your price not the market price save yourself the hassle of going through the listing process and wait a few years for the market to recover.
