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Home stuck on the market? You may have to play the price is right in prime time.
Experts detail some of the keys to getting that SOLD sign.
It doesn’t take long to sell a house in the Greater Boston area — just 22 days, according to summer data from the National Organization of Realtors. The median age for all listings is 42 days in the Greater Boston area, said Matt Kreamer, communications director at Zillow.
While these figures have begun to gradually extend, they still reflect overall seasonal trends. But that doesn’t mean selling a home is a total no-brainer. Some houses linger longer, and why they do may be due to avoidable factors.
Timing is not everything, but it matters a lot, said real estate agent Anthony Lamacchia of Lamacchia Realty, which has many offices in Massachusetts and other New England states. Often, neighbors see a home go under contract and think they can do better with their own, but the home they saw selling was listed many months prior, at a time of year when stock was low, and competing offers were high. When they join the market in a second wave later in the year, those homes may not sell as quickly.
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“They don’t realize they’re listing in the summer, when there’s three, four times the amount of homes for sale than there were when that particular house was listed,” he said. They made a comparison to a home that went under contract nine weeks prior, not to mention that homes under contract in February often have spring closing dates to accommodate the school calendar.
Lamacchia said there’s a way to speed up the process, but don’t take new photos or update the description to kickstart new attention. There’s only one way to trigger a notification for those who have subscribed to real estate email updates.
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“You need to make a price adjustment,” he said. Strategically hopping down a price bracket will help by exposing the listing to a new range of buyers who capped their search at a certain price. For example, instead of moving a $899,000 listing to $810,000, try $799,000.
“This is real estate 101,” he said.
Consider pulling a stale listing over the holiday season and reentering it in the new year, when stock is a bit lower and buyers are more competitive.
“Buyers love to go after things that everybody else wants,” he said.
Key advice on selling your home faster:
- Time of year: Timing is not everything, but it matters, according to real estate agent Anthony Lamacchia. For example, he says, “Consider pulling a stale listing over the holiday season and reentering it in the new year, when stock is a bit lower and buyers are more competitive.”
- Smart price adjustment: Strategically hopping down a price bracket will help by exposing the listing to a new range of buyers who capped their search at a certain price. For example, instead of moving a $899,000 listing to $810,000, try $799,000.
- Consider the inspection: Before listing a property, it can help to make improvements on items that might turn up at a home inspection, as well as structural and mechanical issues.
- Staging: Barbara FitzGerald, a staging expert, recalled a few tricky houses that stuck around a little too long, and in every case, they belonged to longtime owners who preferred staging to their own tastes, including — in one case — advocating for red velvet couches.
Among the listings for properties on the market for 180 days or more, listing site Redfin’s stock presents mostly multimillion-dollar properties. At the ultra-luxury level, Lamacchia said, those properties tend to spend more time on the market because the buyer pool is smaller, and those properties may come along with specific considerations and historical attributes that don’t appeal to most.
Lowell’s Faulkner Castle was one such property, an 1889 pink granite Romanesque mansion that sprawls nearly 10,000 square feet and passed through about a dozen agents until it was finally sold by John Petraglia, who specializes in historic homes. It went on the market in 2003 and sold for $841,000 in 2014, according to Petraglia. It was previously listed for $989,900.
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“That was probably a matter of price positioning more than anything else,” he said.
When a home seems very special to its seller, whether for verified uniqueness or sentimental value, it might seem as if it will sell itself.
“It’s typically when in a really hot market, sellers believe that they don’t have to do anything, or can forgo typically readying the property,” cautioned Petraglia.
But before listing a property, it can help to make improvements on items that might turn up at a home inspection, as well as structural and mechanical issues. And after Oct. 15, Petraglia noted, Massachusetts home sellers may no longer include a waived home inspection as a sale condition. Waiving inspections gained some popularity in the competitive market, but has left buyers with costly and complex surprises following a sale. (Buyers still may opt to waive inspection if they choose.)
“It really does suggest that sellers ought to pay more attention to getting their properties ready and in order,” he said.
The psychology of selling can be a tricky science.
“If a seller starts at a price above the marketplace, it typically will impact their bottom line in the end, because they may end up selling it at a price lower than the market due to the length of time it’s been on, and the perceived value change,” said Petraglia.
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That lag can signal flaws, even if it’s a perfectly good house.
“If something sits on the market for two or three weeks, [buyers] think there’s something wrong with it, that it’s a stale product,” said Barbara FitzGerald, of FitzGerald Home Interiors, which helps stage homes for sale.
After timing and pricing, how a home is packaged is the next piece to consider.
“[Staging] doesn’t guarantee that a house is going to sell, but … it’s part of an overall marketing package,” said FitzGerald. Along with professional photography, well-researched pricing, and social media marketing, it can help seal the deal.
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“It’s just basically using every club in your bag to get the job done,” she said.
Effective home staging enables a buyer to project their own domestic vision into the home, accentuating its attributes and downplaying its flaws. FitzGerald said it helps to understand the buyer profile, and accommodate their likely tastes.
“When we do our initial walk-through with the builders on new construction and the brokers, we always like to have all … present because they know their project,” she said. “Once we understand who they’re targeting, then we try to install the furnishings that will appeal to that.”
FitzGerald recalled a few tricky houses that stuck around a little too long, and in every case, they belonged to longtime owners who preferred staging to their own tastes, including — in one case — advocating for red velvet couches.
“People can’t see behind things that are heavily stylized,” she said.
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As time-on-market statistics begin to show some gradual signs of slowing, those who work in the field said calibrating timing, pricing, and marketing factors are beginning to matter more than in previous years.
“I think that the most important thing that anybody trying to sell their house right now needs to remember is, this is not two years ago, and you’ve got to hire a good broker,” said FitzGerald. “You’ve got to hire somebody who knows your market and you, and then let them do their job.”
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