What’s Your Home’s ‘Sell By’ Date?

Sell Your Home

My wife and I sometimes have a discussion about dates on food items.  There’s a ‘sell by’ date, sometimes a ‘use by’ date, even a ‘best if used by’ date, depending on the product.  She wants to dump them on that date, I tend to keep using them for a couple of days beyond.

Sometimes it’s aesthetic, sometimes it’s for safety.  The ‘Sell By’ date is largely for stores. It helps them to pull slow moving items that may have reached their peak for freshness, consistency and taste.  But often, you can still consume those products beyond that date. Note: I wouldn’t recommend trying that with the milk two weeks later, though. My wife and I agree on that one!

Successfully selling your home can have many nuances, too.  Price and condition are two biggies.  Upgrades and features (or amenities) are some others.  Add to these factors more subtle influences like color schemes, quality of that new carpeting, floor plan and traffic flow, and professional staging.  All can play a role in the sale of your house. Small things like dishes in the sink or laundry hampers overflowing can also detract from an otherwise acceptable home.

Regardless of the issues above, if you price your home more than a few percent over the market value, it will likely not sell. Or it will take longer to sell and will sell for less.  So when I go on listing appointments, I like to ask, “What’s your sell by date?”  Most people have an ideal time to be in their next home. It may be for work purposes, to be reunited with family members by an important date, or even related to a seasonal change.

It’s ironic that sometimes when you price a little bit low it’ll sell for more.  How can that be?  Because buyers are very attuned to the real market value for what they seek.  They’ve been looking at listings, viewing homes, and doing their homework.  They can make the mental adjustments for a location liability (backs up to rail road tracks or highway), school system (good but not the best rating), and distance to the interstate and shopping.  And they can do it quickly.

When an underpriced home (even slightly underpriced) hits the market, buyers will jump on it. Multiple offers are not uncommon.  And while it’s rare to get more than 5-6% above listing price, I’ve had a couple of sales this year that were in the double digit over list price range. If you want to move sooner rather than later, you should be more aggressive with your pricing – and that DOES NOT mean you’re giving your house away.

Sellers in no particular hurry often make a bigger mistake by “trying it out at a higher price,” thinking they can reduce the list price later. By then, buyers are thinking there’s an issue with the house and will not perceive it the same as when it’s new to the market.  Consult your real estate professional to arrive at the correct pricing to get your sale completed by your “sell by” date.  And if you need help with determining that value, I’m happy to assist.

image courtesy of Stuart Miles, freedigitalphotos.net

Cash Is Still King

A report in DS News quotes a study that claims 38% of all homes bought in 2011 were financed by cash, not mortgages. Tight lending criteria is likely one of the causes, but investors are also looking for ways to make their money yield better returns, too. This trend is expected to continue for the near future. And right now we’re seeing true record low mortgage rates (sub 4%)!


My own experience is that there are a lot of cash buyers who want to be owner-occupants. It’s not unusual for me to see cash offers on homes up to the $140,000 price point, so there’s a lot of competition for homes in ‘move-in’ condition.

A recently released Realtor Confidence Index for November 2011 also indicated that 28% of home purchases were cash financed. This report was based upon results obtained from just over 3,000 Realtors nationwide and is conducted monthly by the National Association of Realtors Research Division.

Please remember one very important thing. A cash offer does not guarantee that you will be the successful bidder in multiple offer situations. While it takes some uncertainty out of the equation for the seller, many sellers are still looking at the bottom line. Depending on the margin between a cash and financed offer, they may take a ‘cleaner’ and lower priced cash offer or they may take the higher priced mortgage offer knowing that it will take up to 45 days to close.

Everybody wants a deal but if you’re seriously underbidding on homes that have been on the market less than a month, you’re not going to be in the game.