It seems today that no matter where I go when I hear people talking about real estate everyone says "the sky is falling." Now I agree that the market may not be where everyone would like it to be at but the truth is if your home is in good condition, and is priced right, it simply won't take long to market and sell it.
I have been keeping a sharp eye on prices here in Nanaimo and have found that the market is saturated with overpriced homes. On the other hand, I have also been in contact with associates who have had their listing sold by the time it hit the local MLS board. What does this tell you?
Simply said, buyers have a great selection of homes to choose from right now. What this means to you as a home owner is that in order for you to avoid having your home become a "stale" listing, you need to make sure that it is presentable and priced right. I sold one of my most recent listings in only 21 days. It was a very presentable home and we priced it sharp. There were many viewings and it didn't take long for an offer to come in.
The bottom line is that an updated and well priced home will move quickly in this market. Now I'm not suggesting that you have to give your home away, far from it, actually. You just don't want to get into the game of trying to price high and then chasing the market down.
I heard a story this last week of a condo owner who spoke with a well respected real estate agent and he said that their home was worth $300,000. Unfortunately the owner didn't like the price and ended up listing their home with a different agent for $370,000. After 12 months on the market, the original listing expired and the owner relisted it with another agent. The condo got reduced over and over again an ended up selling in the $260,000's. This exact same condo got relisted not 3 months later and was sold in a very short amount of time for over $290,000. Moral of the story is? Don't chase the market. If you are serious about selling your home, price it right and do what's needed to make it show better than your competitors'. If this home owner had listened to the first real estate agent they would likely have realized the $290,000+ that was eventually achieved. Instead it took almost 2 years to sell and they ended up taking less for the home than the market determined its worth to be.
At the end of the day, I believe that the market is doing well. I think that if more homes were priced where the market dictates they should be priced at, the market would even climb.
For more information about this or any other real estate topic please contact me today via any of the listed options on the site.
Richard Leischner
RL Homes
