How Long Is Too Long on the Market?
Posted by Lee Cameron on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 at 2:48pm.While I was out showing property the other day, I came across a listing for a house that had been for sale for over three years. It had been a year since its last price reduction. My buyer asked me how a home could stay on the market for that long. Of course, I couldn't speak to the actions or intentions of the seller and the agent (though I imagine the lack of price reduction has played a big part). However, I did have to caution to the buyer that such a long time on the market meant that the home has seen three years worth of potential buyers and there hasn't been a single one who thought it worth the listing price. With that in mind, my buyer decided to skip the property entirely.
On a whim, when I got back to the office I decided to pull up the MLS and see just how many homes in Orange and Seminole counties have been on the market for three years or more. To my surprise, I found a whopping 86 homes! One of these homes has been on the market for more than five years! You might think there are all short sales or bank-owned properties that have been left sitting on the market by banks too busy to keep up with trends a price changes. Incredibly, only 13 of the 86 homes were bank-owned or short sales. Worse yet, 18 homes haven't had a price change since 2007 (if at all)!
There is one case where it's excusable for a home to be on the market for years without a price change. That is in the case of custom-built homes that are still under construction. It is too difficult to determine the right price while a home is incomplete, so many of these homes will keep the same price all throughout construction and then change the price, if necessary, if the finished product doesn't sell.
Aside from that, if anybody is truly dedicated to selling their home, they need to reduce the price to meet expectations or they need to take the home off the market until the market changes. If you have your home for sale, don't be stubborn about the price. Having your home on the market for so long just means buyers will constantly pass up your home for ones that have recently gone up for sale. They assume that plenty of buyers have already taken a look and passed, so they won't even give your home a chance. The longer your home is on the market, the more money you will lose in the long run. It's better to simply set your price lower at the beginning.
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