Eight Factors that Affect the Sale of your Home
When I first got into real estate I had an instructor in a continuing education class present these factors to us. The lesson was – there are some things you can control in the sale of your home and somethings you cannot, but all of these factors need to be considered when pricing your home. Here are the eight factors that will affect the sale of your home.
1-Location. Of course, you’ve heard it repeatedly that when it comes to real estate it’s all about location. Well yes, that is one important factor. If you have the same house in the same area on a busy street vs. a quiet cul-de-sac the first will sell for less. Right? Well maybe there are other factors that will play into pricing. The point is that location is a big factor in pricing your house, but it is a factor that you really can’t control.
2-Seasonality. In the region I sell real estate in the winter months to have fewer sales/buyers than the spring and summer months. But when life happens and you need to sell in the winter months there’s not much you can do about it. The good news is there’s less competition also and there will still be buyers. But because of the season they may also have less competition and have a better negotiating position. Once again, not something you can control.
3-Competition. It happens many times, you sit down with your realtor and come up with the perfect marketing plan for you home. Once you get the home on the market your neighbor down the street with a similar home puts theirs up for sale undercutting your price by $5,000. Not something you can control but it will force you to re-evaluate the factors you can control and act accordingly.
4-Interest Rates. Interest rates have been somewhat predictable over the last few years. Depending on the situation however, they may be historically high or low. They may be rumored to go up, down or stay the same. Whatever the situation is with interest rates it will affect the affordability of housing and thus what buyers are willing to pay for that housing. Another uncontrollable factor.
5-Market. Right now the market I work is very much a seller’s market. There are many buyers and not enough inventory. This situation tends to push up prices. And the opposite would be true if there were more homes than buyers. Or if the financial news took a downturn, that would also affect the market. But whatever the market is doing, it’s out of your control but needs to be considered in your pricing.
6-Condition. Is your home market ready? Did you consult with a stager and make the appropriate changes they recommended? Did you improve curb appeal? Catch up on deferred maintenance? The best way to judge the condition of your home is to have an outside party come in and give you recommendations on what to fix and update. Usually this review is done by the realtor or stager you work with in getting your home ready for market. Another good idea is to go out and see homes that will compete with your listing so you know what you’re up against. Then you can see the condition and pricing of your competition. This is something you can control and is a big part of your marketing effort. Obviously, the homeowner is mostly responsible for getting the condition of the home ready for market and then keeping it there for showings. But you can see the realtor plays a part in this also with their suggestions and use of hiring a stager to help with the process.
7-Marketing. When coming up with a marketing plan there are some basics that I tend to stick to-Professional photography, staging, professionally designed brochures, aerial photography for acreage and waterfront properties, signage, pre-listing social media campaign. Other marketing can include mailings, local print ads in area newspaper, online campaigns. Whatever the means the realtor involved will tailor the marketing campaign to the particulars of the home, area and who they believe will be the targeted buyer. When your home is being listed you should request a list of what marketing the realtor plans on using and a calendar laying out when it will run. Obviously, marketing is very much a controllable factor and is the agent’s responsibility.
8-Pricing. As I said originally, pricing encompasses all the above. Say the home has been listed for 3 weeks in a seller’s market and you had many showings but no offers. If you’ve had good showing results, then the marketing is probably working. So, the other two items you can control are condition or price. Can the condition be brought up, if not then you need to have a discussion on reducing the price.
These 8 factors are an easy way to address why your home may not be selling. By understanding what you can control and what you can not you can better address what might need to be changed to get the home sold.
For more information on home selling and a free market analysis of your property, contact real estate consultant Dan Kokesh.
