Single Biggest Mistake Home Sellers Make in a Buyers Market
Your mother probably warned you to stay out of the sun or you might get burned due to overexposure. Well, I’m here to warn you that overexposing your home to the market could burn you too.
When I show a home, the firt two questions the buyers will invariably have are, number one - what is the asking price, and two -how long has it been on the market.
Then they get around to asking the bricks-and-mortar type questions; how old is the roof, the furnace, is there any knob and tube wiring?
The reason for asking how long a home has been on the market is, buyers want to assess if there might be something wrong with this house that has made other buyers shy away from it.
In my twenty-five-plus years of experience, I have found that there is generally nothing wrong with the house at all. What has kept buyers from making offers is that the asking price is not in line with what buyers would want to pay for a similar home.
A few days ago, I wrote about a home in the Lawrence Park area that took ten years to sell. I met the owner and she showed me through the house. The home is of the new construction type, and without relying on a Home Inspection Report, everything I saw appeared to be in order.
So why did it take ten years to sell? In a few words — OVEREXPOSURE TO THE MARKET.
Selling a home is much like selling freshly baked bread right out of the oven. Once it becomes “stale”, it’s just not possible to make it fresh again.
During the last ten years, the house always appeared to be for sale. It would take any normal air-breathing-tax-paying buyer a great deal of faith to believe that there was nothing seriously wrong with this home.
The house finally sold a month ago, but the seller could have avoided the hassle, inconvenience and lost time invested had the owner not overexposed the home by pricing it incorrectly from the start.
If you are in the middle of a home buying or selling dilemma, send me an email, or call my direct line (416) 482-8330 ext. 3519
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Lawrence Park Home Takes Ten Years to Sell
Perhaps they did not want or need to sell unless they got their price. If it was on the market for 10 years they probably got double what they initially listed for. Not all sellers have to sell…Otherwise good analysis.