House on the market for 2 weeks now

[OnTheBrink]

And only one showing. It's "house selling season" in our area and I want my house sold, blast it all! How long do houses stay on the market, usually? 

[Ethel Mertz]

It's very much dependent on where you live. A friend's house in Raleigh, NC sold in 17 hours. A house in our neighborhood was on the market for over a year and another house on the same street sold within three months.

[Pawz4me]

Do you have a realtor?  If so he/she should be able to tell you the average time from listing to selling (or having a signed contract) in your neighborhood.  Like Ethel Mertz said, it varies a lot depending on how hot or cold the market is in your area.

[G5052]

Depends completely on where you live. I recently sold a relative's house, and we had 12 offers the first weekend. The house across the road from me finally has a contingent contract after being on the market for six months.

 

Both nice houses in safe, family-oriented neighborhoods. But very different markets.

 

 

[JFSinIL]

And - what is your competition?  Are similar houses selling or not? Are you over-priced?  Are there a lot of houses on the market?  Do you live near a busy street or something that is putting buyers off even looking?  We are closing on a townhome for our dd next week, and we went in and looked at a lot of houses/townhomes..but we checked out even more on-line, and a great many houses we ruled out just based on the info on-line.  Trulia (my fav website) even shows a map that notes any and all crime for a given neighborhood - any houses not in a low-crime area, or in what we knew to be a changing area, we didn't even look at.  That might be what is happening now. Not that you are in an area with any crime, but that folks simply look on-line more than in person. 

 

If you have a good local realtor, he/she can help you price your house to make it stand out.  But - I think a lot of folks simply look on-line now, and only ask to see a house if they are really interested.  So at least if you get a showing, you know they are really interested (probably).

 

Oh - and if you have a realtor, did he/she do a realtor open house yet?  I went to one of those (I was the only potential buyer amid a lot of realtors).  They serve to make the realtors very aware of the house (and more likely to point it out to clients).  Realtors were lured with catered sandwiches (free food!) to get them in the door. 

 

Ack, thought of something else - how is your curb appeal?  We (dd and I) drove buy houses we saw on-line to "case the joint" and the neighborhood before we'd ask our buyers agent to set up a showing. If we didn't like the outside/neighborhood, we didn't ask to see the inside.

 

A lot of things are beyond your control.  Curb appeal, having a good agent, setting a fair price, aren't.  Don't forget to bury St. Joseph upside down in front of your house, too (supposedly the sooner the house sells the sooner he gets dug up and placed right side up in your new home. Yeah, it is superstitious nonsense, but then again....)

Edited April 16, 2016 by JFSinIL

[LisaKinVA]

I feel for you!  16 days and counting for us.  Third showing.  But, the weather has not been very inspiring for house buyers, either.  At least those who saw our house felt it was priced well, and that the upgrades/house really showed well.  But, everything for the summer here is on hold until we sell the thing!

[TranquilMind]

And only one showing. It's "house selling season" in our area and I want my house sold, blast it all! How long do houses stay on the market, usually? 

 

Depends.  Is it as perfect as you can possibly get it?  Repaint every single thing and repair little things if you notice them.  It needs to look showroom new, or be fire-sale priced. 

 

Is it priced right?  Going a little high can kill your momentum early.  A little low is better, because it can lead to a bidding war, or at least a fast sale. 

 

Mine usually sell immediately, but I did have one sit for 5 weeks, despite a brand new kitchen and updated baths.  It had some yard oddities. 

Open houses generally do nothing for the buyer.  It's all about prospecting for the agent.   It's rare to sell one that way. 

Edited April 16, 2016 by TranquilMind

[Rose in BC]

I feel your pain.  Three weeks for us.  Six showings.  We are competitively priced but my dh wants us to drop the price.  I think its too soon for that but am tempted although we need all we can get because we're moving to a slightly higher priced market.

 

 

[Lady Florida.]

It really depends on where you live and what the market is like. We haven't sold a house since 1999, but we had a very large house on a good sized piece of property. It wasn't for everyone. It took 18 months to sell, and that was in a decent market.

[MrsRobinson]

We listed our house last spring. 10 weeks on the market with 2 to 3 showings per week. It was exhausting! That's a fast sell for our market, though. I was fully prepared to not get an offer til 4.5 to 5 months on the market. Sooooo glad it didn't drag out that long.

 

Good luck to you! Hopefully it picks up!

[OneStepAtATime]

Lots of variables.  Hard to know what the issue is (or if there even is an issue).  The fact that you have only had one showing in two weeks could indicate your house is not presenting well in any ads that are out there (look at the ads with a critical eye and maybe consider asking for a new picture to be taken for website presentation), or the location may not be as desirable as with comparable listings currently on the market or maybe your house is over priced even if the real estate agent believes otherwise.  There could also be other contributing factors, including weather.

 

FWIW, when we have sold our houses I have just slightly underpriced them compared to the market.  Why?  Because we needed the house sold quickly, DH has no patience whatsoever for showing our house, and because a lot of interest is frequently generated in the first couple of weeks a house is put on the market.  If the house is slightly below market and presents well from the outside people can get into a mindset of "better snatch this one quickly before someone else sees it".  That can create multiple offers.  Every house we ever sold that way was sold quickly, for full asking price, and in one instance we had a bidding war.  We sold slightly above market and without any extra demands.

 

You need data to analyze what is happening.  Talk to your real estate agent but also do some research on your own.  Physically go out and tour comps in your area and look at them compared to your house with an unbiased eye.  Research how quickly other houses are moving in your market.  Think about how your house presents from the outside.  Look at the ads.  Is your house even on public ads yet or just within the real estate community?  You need to get people into your home.  If you were getting lots of interest but no offers that would be different but you aren't even getting people to look.  Find out why.

 

Good luck.   :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

Edited April 16, 2016 by OneStepAtATime

[AnnE-girl]

We had a contract in 12 hours. The house across the street from us has been on the market as a short sale since fall and I think it's going into foreclosure now. Our friends around the corner had a contract in less than a week that fell through over questionable inspection issues, and now have been sitting on the market for over a month. We priced ours competitively and staged it pretty well. Most of the house is freshly painted, but our kitchen and bathrooms are dated. I think our pricing really helped. It can be hard to really say what the determining factor might be.

[elegantlion]

I'm looking at houses right now. I look a lot online and there are several things that make me look further

 

• great photos - I want pictures of the kitchen, baths, bedrooms, basement (wet basements are a huge issue in our area) and roof
• what makes your house stand out in a good way from others in its price range? Do you have a front porch where you can put something with a pop of color on it. 
• great description online. if mechanical issues have been done recently (furnace, roof) that's a bonus if it's listed.

It seems great houses in my price range (low) go quickly, others sit on the market for weeks and weeks. 

 

Best of luck. The whole process - buying and selling - is so stressful. 

[Spryte]

It varies. Like everyone else said. :)

 

Our current home was on the market for 3 days with 4 offers. We obviously won the contract. But a similar house right around the corner stayed on the market for 6 mos, was taken off, and just put back on. It was priced higher than ours, lacked the upgrades, and didn't have the amazing landscaping and property. We didn't even look at it, or notice it till after we bought. So I agree about pricing and upgrading/repairing. Make sure your online pictures are outstanding, too.

 

Right after we bought this one, we sold another. That was on the market 13 days. We priced on the high side, but it was in perfect, tip top, beautiful shape. Really - gorgeous home. But even so, at the 13 day mark - I was feeling despondent.

 

A girlfriend of mine had hers on the market all summer - no bites. She put it back on this past weekend and had a contract within 24 hours. Same house. It just needed the right buyer.

 

Hang in there. Your buyer will come!

Edited April 16, 2016 by Spryte

[RKWAcademy]

Our realtor told us 4 months.  We have a very specific type of house in a rural location with acreage.  A friend sold her suburban house 15 minutes from here in 2 days.  Our location and the poor schools here are hurting us.  If you have a good realtor, he/she should have given you an estimate of how long. 

 

I know how hard it is.  Keeping this place pristine with two kids here all day every day is tough.  It's also tough driving by other houses that seem to pale in comparison to ours, yet they have "under contract" signs.  One can only assume the price was right to someone. 

[UCF612]

I feel for you! 2 weeks isn't terribly long but it can feel like that when you need/want to sell! Our first 2 places sold super fast (one before it even hit the market and one the first showing the first day) but our most recent sale took longer. I've already forgotten how long but it was too long. I'm thinking maybe over a month, possibly two? In the end though the timing was absolutely perfect for us to get the house we really wanted. It was already under contract with someone else and that fell through just days after ours went under contract so we were able to get it! But house selling, especially if you have to keep it show ready while living in it is torture!

[JFSinIL]

Yeah, photos help a lot. Some houses on Trulia we skipped since there was only one outside shot - no shots of any interiors. And highlight any improvements like a newer roof or other major elements, so buyers do not think they are getting a potential money pit.

[OneStepAtATime]

Yeah, photos help a lot. Some houses on Trulia we skipped since there was only one outside shot - no shots of any interiors. And highlight any improvements like a newer roof or other major elements, so buyers do not think they are getting a potential money pit.

Excellent point.

 

 I want really great exterior shots when looking on line for a house but honestly I look at the interior shots more.  If there are no interior shots, or very few, I may not even consider calling to look at the house at all if there are many others on the market, unless it hits every other box (excellent location, perfect size, fantastic outside look, etc.).

 

OP, how is your house being advertised?  Have you seen the advertisements?  Were any interior shots taken to put on-line?  If so, do those look very professional and show your house in the best light?  Does your house look dark or cluttered or oddly laid out from those photos?  You might have a couple of friends whose judgement you trust look at the ads for your house and give you an honest assessment.  Tell them to be blunt and be willing to hear and honestly evaluate what they have to say.  

[gardenmom5]

depends upon your market, how it's listed in the ads (I've seen good photos and horrible photos), depends upon the house itself - staging matters especially if it's not a super hot market.

  and how it is priced.

 

we're in a hot market.  (recently saw we're in one of hottest  markets in the country).   - we had an overpriced high-end new construction completely landscaped (the interior finishes felt like a spec house) in the middle of other similar new construction just sell  - it's been on the market for nearly a year and they've lowered their price at least twice. I'll be curious to see what the final price was.  (redfin.come)  nearby similar homes by a different builder (and different marketing) have sold out while they were still in the construction phase.

[gardenmom5]

Excellent point.

 

 I want really great exterior shots when looking on line for a house but honestly I look at the interior shots more.  If there are no interior shots, or very few, I may not even consider calling to look at the house at all if there are many others on the market, unless it hits every other box (excellent location, perfect size, fantastic outside look, etc.).

 

OP, how is your house being advertised?  Have you seen the advertisements?  Were any interior shots taken to put on-line?  If so, do those look very professional and show your house in the best light?  Does your house look dark or cluttered or oddly laid out from those photos?  You might have a couple of friends whose judgement you trust look at the ads for your house and give you an honest assessment.  Tell them to be blunt and be willing to hear and honestly evaluate what they have to say.  

 

or interior shots that focus on the amount of rubbish the hoarder homeowners have . . . pass.

or interior shots that may be clean - but  still  so  much stuff it feels cluttered. rooms that are all sorts of colors just make you think "oh, I have to paint".  

 

eta: asking someone else to review the photos is a good idea - someone who has an "eye" to evaluate photos.  not everyone can.  I know a woman who was going on about how great her dd's photo's were for her house.  uh - no, they weren't and I do think they were a contributing factor in why it took so long to sell.

Edited April 16, 2016 by gardenmom5

[StephanieZ]

FWIW, I just bought an investment/rental single family house for my college girl. I spent a few weeks browsing on line, then one of dd's roomie's parents were willing to go look at places for me (out of state) one Saturday, so I sent them links to 5 places to look at, with a favorite already identified. They had a relator take them to those 5 and maybe one more that the realtor identified. 

 

We wrote a contract that night, sight unseen.

 

My point is that excellent staging and photographs make a HUGE difference in today's internet based market.

 

Even 7 years ago, we found the house we now live in online on realtor.com, and really just hired a realtor to write the offer for us (again, we knew from the pictures online and knowing the neighborhood, etc, that we wanted this house).

 

So, based on my limited experience, I'd suggest super-duper clean (fresh paint, tidy yard, etc.) and professional photographs online.  

[madteaparty]

I expect mine to take two years to sell.

[Pawz4me]

(Expanding on my earlier post above --)

 

We listed our house last Friday and had our third showing today.  We didn't stage anything -- in fact we've already moved and the house is completely empty except for a few odds and ends (the boxes with our Christmas decorations, the lawn mower and weed whacker DH needs to keep up with the yard work, etc.).  It is very much move-in ready -- everything is clean and scrubbed, recently painted, etc.  Our realtor had a professional photographer do the photos.  Our market is probably average here, neither very hot nor very cold.  Our realtor told us that average time on the market for the area our house is in is around 57 days.  So we're pretty happy to have already had three showings in eight days.  And it sounds as if the people who looked at it today really liked it (but we already knew they're under a time crunch and are looking for a move-in ready house).

[OneStepAtATime]

I expect mine to take two years to sell.

Wow, is the market really that slow in your area?  That would drive me crazy.   :grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

[madteaparty]

Wow, is the market really that slow in your area? That would drive me crazy. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Oh, I don't need it to sell ;) so it is ok. We can carry it as a weekend place. It is a rural area a couple hours from NYC, and not one of the "trendy" ones so there's just no volume of buyers for this sort of thing.

I love the house and I am not desperate to part from it, so I'm not despondent about it at all ;)

[OneStepAtATime]

Oh, I don't need it to sell ;) so it is ok. We can carry it as a weekend place. It is a rural area a couple hours from NYC, and not one of the "trendy" ones so there's just no volume of buyers for this sort of thing.

I love the house and I am not desperate to part from it, so I'm not despondent about it at all ;)

Ah, I see.  :)

[lynn]

Depends where you live we sold on before it went on the market and others 6 months

[Guest]

Ugh.  Selling a house is one of those things that can make days seem like weeks. 

 

I wanted to agree with the people upthread who said to make sure you have good pictures.  I look at a lot of real estate pictures (we are plotting our future, not urgently moving) and I have found that I lose interest really fast if pictures are blurry or badly lighted.  Of course, I don't *have* to buy right now and I know that makes a difference.  

 

I also rule out even looking at houses if there are features I don't like and I don't want to have to spend money to fix after spending a certain amount of money on a house.  So, using made-up numbers, let me explain:  A house is listed at $300,000, totally in range, but it has ceramic tile on all the kitchen counters and floors and an electric stove.  The house price has just gone to $350,000 for me.  (I know that is overkill for the remodel price, but I charge high for pain and suffering.)  And there's not a darn thing you, the seller can do about that predeliction on my part.  

 

That said, I would make sure there is an open house, because you want other real estate agents to see the house, so they can talk to unreasonable people like me and say, "You know, there's this sweet little house with a great floor plan.  You'd have to update the kitchen because I know you hate ceramic tile, but I really think you should take a look." 

 

I think if you have good photos, you will do a lot to attract qualified and interested buyers and reduce the number of uninterested looky-loos.  And if you have an open house, you will have a number of people who have contact and influence with qualified buyers...who can get them into your house for a look-see.  

 

Good luck!  We have lived in hot markets and still had delayed sales because we have an out-of-band sense of beauty...so there are fewer people who share our taste and see what we see in the houses we have loved...and are selling.  My current house will sell like a hotcake because it is "in band" for what most people want.  But it is really not the best house we have ever owned.  :0)

[gingersmom]

I expect mine to take two years to sell.

That was what I expected when I put my house up for sale. It sold in one day.

Edited April 16, 2016 by gingersmom

[JFSinIL]

This might be too late for you, but before hiring a listing agent make sure everyone you know knows you are going to sell. You might find a buyer there and save the realtor fees. The house we are in now (22 years now), the sellers were from my Mother of Multiples groups, and I had been in the house once when she hosted the group's monthly play date. When at one of our meetings months later she mentioned that they were moving to a suburb north of us and selling their house, I quickly spoke up "We'll buy it!". I did have to take hubby to see it, but I already knew it had plenty of room, was walking distance to the computer train, and was in our price range. The other mom kicked herself - they had signed with a realtor just the day before, so had to pay him a commission even though he did not bring them a buyer. Ah, well.

Edited April 16, 2016 by JFSinIL

[AnnE-girl]

To add to what others have said about photographs, our realtor had a professional photographer take ours and they were fantastic. The rooms look more spacious and brighter.

 

On the flip side, I wasn't very impressed with the house we are buying just looking online, but we saw it as a comparison to one we thought we liked and fell in love with it in person. I'm so glad we took the time to see it.

[Bluegoat]

It's just so variable.

 

Around here, rural properties take much longer to sell, as do houses in the higher end range, because there is just a more limited group of buyers.  But right now even in the city it is a buyers market - properties are not selling and prices are lowish.

 

One thing I think that can be useful is to think if there is anything about your house that is going to be appealing to some people rather than others - then what you want to ask is - how do I let the people who would like this know about it?

 

For example, say you have a bathroom with pink or blue fixtures.  For many people that would immediately be a turn-off, where for others (like myself) it would be a bonus.  So - you want people like me to come see your house.

 

Realtors don't always seem to be good at this - they regularly seem to think the solution will be to re-do your bathroom and stick in lots of beige tiles.

 

But the number one things I have seen on houses that sell fast is that they are slightly under-priced, and those that sit are over-priced - maybe even by only a small amount of money.

[Alicia64]

It's dependent on how it's priced. Well priced homes -- for the market -- can sell fast.

 

That said, ours took five months, but boy were we thrilled when it sold at a decent price.

 

I agree about staging and curb appeal.

 

Since it's rural, do you want to create a website on it that you can promote to friends, family, coworkers, medical staff etc. Us?? The site would be called "New York Getaway." Or something fun, I think, rather than just the address.

 

Alley