Know what will be the most important determiner for pricing in the next 24 months? Interest rates. If you are looking to be in the purchasing side of real estate, make sure to pay attention to interest rates and what those do for your payment. “Waiting to see if prices go down” can cost you big time with the promise of interest rates rising.
Sellers:
We are hearing from Sellers, “If I reduce my price, will buyers think negatively about my house or think I’m desperate?”
This is a great question and one worth answering honestly with facts. If you are a bullet point person, the answer is NO.
No buyers will not think negatively of you and honestly, if you are serious about selling, you will want to pay attention to the market indicators or feedback that encourage you to be “in the market” versus priced “out of the market”.
Now to dive into why we answer our sellers in this manner:
- In the past week, there have been 2938 price reductions in the DFW area. We discussed last week that we are at a 3.67 month’s supply of inventory and that the higher priced homes are going up in inventory faster than lower priced homes.
- Home prices rose 5% YTD versus pervious years where we were looking at a higher pace.
- If you look at the average Days on Market below, August Days on Market rose, and we expect September to do the same for homes priced over $400,000. (see chart below)
- Think of the market like surfing a wave. (In full disclosure I have only ever successfully surfed a wave 3 times, and it was magical.) When I was behind the wave, I fell off. When my board was too far over the wave, I fell off. But when my board was just behind the tip of the perfect wave, I rode it successfully into shore. The market is the same thing, you need to be in alignment with what buyers are willing to pay and what your competition is doing to successfully get you sold, without giving away the price.
And you know what? That’s ok, we’re moving towards a more balanced market and our housing market is still incredibly strong. If we find that we’re priced higher than the market allows, it’s just important to listen to the feedback we work so hard to get, pay attention to the competition (aka your neighbors) and make adjustments that meet your priorities and timing.
Our priority is always to help you get:
1. The most money
2. In the shortest period of time
3. With the least amount of hassle
Your job is to listen to the market, feedback and the statistics/data, and let us know what your biggest priority is. Then we can help you accomplish your goals and make sure we’re protecting your bottom line.