Selling Your Home in a Slow Market

Luke Mullins a staff writer with US News & World Report contacted me pointing out an article he wrote that he thought my readers may be interested in 5 Tips for Selling a House in a Slow Market.  While I don’t necessarily agree with all of his points, as they pertain to the Long Beach Real Estate market, it is a relatively acccurate depiction of some of the items sellers need to pay attention to when placing their homes for sale. 

His article covers 5 tips: 

1. Making repairs
2. Pricing
3. Hire an experienced Realtor
4. Make showings easy
5. Counter “All” offers

While these are all very valid points just bringing your price down below what it would have “fetched” a couple of years ago is not enough.  Determining today’s market value and offering a price that a buyer will want to pay is more the order of the day.  Setting an asking price above market value will not just drive potential buyers away, it will set the stage for the seller for ˜chasing the market down, which is the kiss of death in todays real estate market.  Agents who accept overpriced listings do so for the residual traffic the listing will provide; the buyer phone calls generated by the sign, open houses, advertising, etc¦  If they dont know that overpriced listings wont sell then they are just not experienced enough to price or sell your homes. 

While hiring an experienced agent is vitally important, the stats as Luke has them explained dont take into account a lot of niche market information.  Short sales and luxury homes take a long time to sell.  The banks are extremely backed up, short sales take many months to process and luxury homes can sit on the market for very long periods of time.  Homes in less than stellar condition often dont sell at all. It is much more important to make sure the Realtor you choose has an extensive internet marketing campaign that will insure your home top exposure to the 80% of buyers shopping for their next homes online. 

I wrote a similar article recently Selling Your Long Beach Homes and Condos - 8 Deadly Mistakes which is a bit more in depth and is a good read before placing your Long Beach Homes for sale. 

Read also:

• The 7 Dangers of Overpricing Your Long Beach Homes and Condos
• My Long Beach Home Wont Sell-Are YOU Chasing the Market Down?
• Chasing the Market Down - Are You Guilty?
• Selling Your Long Beach Home 
• Top 5 Tips for Selling Your Home in a Down Market 
• Downtown Long Beach Condos Wont Sell¦ 
• Selling Your Long Beach California Home? Its A Whole New Game!
• Selling YOUR Long Beach Homes-Did you read your Contract? 
• Open Houses-Do They Sell Your Long Beach Home?

562-212-5420

Long Beach CA Real Estate

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Posted on 2008-04-19 @ 2.54:57 am by Laurie.Manny

Comment from: West Toronto realtor [Visitor] · http://westtorontorealtor.com

Perfect article! I believe setting the price is most important step, but realtors often just don’t have guts to say their’s client “your house is worth much less!” We in West Toronto homes have situation much easier than you in US, because if client waits, he possibly can get better price. But once the market is falling, every hesitating is very expensive…

Permalink 2008-04-19 @ 3.41:28 pm

Comment from: Kaye Thomas [Visitor] · Http://BeachCityRealEstateInfo.blogspot.com

There is a similar article in the Daily Breeze today.. Hmmm makes me wonder if the media is begining to see a change in the local housing market.

Permalink 2008-04-27 @ 9.27:57 pm

Comment from: Laurie Manny [Visitor] · http://www.lauriemanny.com/

Hey Toronto,

Want to change markets?  lol…  Nothing is more important than price, and yes - hesitation can cost dearly.

 

Hi Kaye,

We can only hope!

Permalink 2008-04-28 @ 11.19:09 pm

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