Everyone wants to sell their home fast.
We all also want to sell for the most money we can get.
If we all want these luxuries, we must ask ourselves, is it even possible?
In short, yes.
But there’s more to that and it’s not always guaranteed to work.
Let’s talk about it.
What’s the State of Your Real Estate Market?
In real estate, there are three states of a market.
The Buyer’s market, Seller’s market, and a balanced market.
For the sake of simplicity, a Buyer’s market is where there are more homes on the market and less demand for them. Sellers are more likely to reduce a price in order to secure a sale, making it favorable for buyers.
In a Seller’s market, there are more buyers than homes for sale. This sparks bidding wars on houses, naturally driving up the average sales price of homes.
Then finally, a balanced market is where there’s a relatively equal amount of supply and demand.
You’d be right to assume that if you’re living in a Seller’s market, it’s the best time to sell. You’re far more likely to get the property off your hands faster for the price you want, or more, due to scarcity.
So, the first variable in creating a fast sale at a higher price is living in a Seller’s market.
Analyzing the Statistics of Your Market
Median Sales Price
The median sales price in your market matters.
If your listed price falls below the median sales price in your area, then generally, you can sell quickly.
If you list above the median price, it may take more time.
In one of my operating markets, Asheville, NC (I work all of Western North Carolina plus Charlotte). The median sales price was $315,000 in 2019.
I would use this benchmark when helping my clients price their home, being sure to advise them that if we fall above or below that number, it can potentially affect the sale of the home.
Now as someone who also operates in the luxury real estate market. I’ve learned an art to pricing that’s different from general real estate. If you’re curious about my process of pricing luxury homes, you can read my article here.
Absorption Rates
There’s an actual way to get an estimated amount of time it will take for your home to sell based on the absorption rates of the market.
Understanding the absorption rate can be complicated, but to make things simple, it’s the rate at which houses are selling.
If you have an inventory of 1,000 homes and 200 were purchased in a month, then the absorption rate would be 20%, or 200 homes/month.
A 20% absorption rate is considered a fast rate, indicating an active seller’s market.
But the metric goes further.
You can pull data from each price range and get hyper-focused rates.
Let’s say you’re selling in Asheville. The median sales price is $315,000.
You ask me to list your house and you want to start at $400,000. My job would be to give you insight into the market’s absorption within that price range.
If this was happening in December 2019, I’d let you know that there are currently 106 active listings in the $400,000-$449,999 price range with an average sales price of $423,576.
The average Days on Market (DOM) is 77 days and 97.11% of all listings are selling.
Now you’d know that the odds are in your favor if you want to sell in the next two months, as long as your listing price doesn’t outprice the neighborhood’s market, leading me to my next point.
Neighborhood Real Estate Market Conditions
Real estate is a local sport and always has been. What’s happening in the neighborhood is just as important as the rest of the market.
If your neighborhood sells at a median price of $325,000 then it might be difficult to sell efficiently at a $400,000 price point.
This is where the conversations with your real estate agent matter.
If you really want to sell fast at your set price, then the next step is understanding how your agent is going to market the home.
But, be warned, a higher than average sales price in your local neighborhood is a recipe for a long list period.
What is the Condition of Your Home?
Before your real estate agent can develop a marketing plan. They need to know what the status of the property is.
Does it need a lot of work? When was it built? Has it been renovated? Does it need renovating?
You get the idea.
If your home is in mint condition, then you automatically set your agent up for an easier marketing experience.
If the home needs some help, then it might be harder to justify a higher price.
Would Staging Help?
Generally staging will always help. I wrote an article a while back about why luxury homes almost always need staging.
Staging is the process of renting furniture and having it positioned in a way that evokes a target lifestyle to a buyer.
You might be able to attract buyers and get showings, but staging is where you can actually sell the house and hook the buyer.
You can get a little deeper with your real estate agent on this topic. You should ask them questions like “what type of buyer are we trying to attract?” and “how expensive would it be to stage our house?”
I’d always recommend staging a vacant home.
The Marketing Strategy
A well-systemized and efficient marketing plan implemented by your real estate agent can effectively sell a higher-priced home in a shorter amount of time.
But in order to really do this, the agent needs to be very specific.
I hold myself as a real estate agent and a marketer. I spend a lot of time educating myself about digital marketing, content marketing (such as this article), and traditional marketing.
A good real estate agent knows that the goal in a solid marketing strategy is to evoke the emotions of a buyer and entice them to buy a lifestyle.
Luxury real estate agents are required to sell lifestyles. General agents would find it beneficial to implement that idea into their strategies.
If you’re curious about what we do to market homes at Berri Properties, I invite you to our marketing services page.
Final Thoughts
While it is certainly a challenge to sell a home at a higher price in less time. It’s certainly not impossible.
My personal belief is if you can find a real estate agent in your area that utilizes the modern-day marketing methods of digital advertising, content marketing, and invests in their online presence. Any house can be sold efficiently.
Unfortunately, the real estate industry has lagged behind in this form of marketing.
The good thing, however, is that I’m connected to agents that truly believe in the power of modern marketing across the United States and would be happy to refer you to them. Be sure to email me: matthew@berriluxuryproperties.com
As always. Stay Classy.
