PRICE WAR AND BEAUTY CONTEST

Mr. and Mrs. Homeseller, if you want to know the secret to selling your home in our marketplace today, I can give it to you in ten words, or less. Here you are: “It’s a price war and a beauty contest”. Your home must outshine your competition in cosmetics and it absolutely must be priced competitively in order to sell. Oh, and one other thing – you are NOT objective when it comes to determining either of these! I can say that because, when it comes to my home, I’m not either. We all think ours is better and worth more than anyone elses! You need a second set of eyes. As homesellers, we simply cannot see our own homes impartially.

Across the state, inventories are up and prices are down. With that in mind, if you want to sell in today’s market, your home must appear to be without question the best value. Take a look at these numbers pulled from our local Multiple Listing Service (All Areas Included which would mainly be Pope and Yell Counties along with a smattering of Johnson and Logan, perhaps):

Supply & Demand Report 01/01/2010 – 03/31/2010
Property Type: Residential
Data taken from Russellville area MLS and may or may not reflect all activity in our marketplace.
Current Active Listings Totals
Number 511
List Price Volume 86,763,759
List Price Average 169,792
Average Days on Market 167
Total Sold Number 137
List Price Volume 15,432,099
List Price Average 112,643
Sale Price Volume 14,790,119
Sale Price Average 107,957
Average Days on Market 102

One way to look at our market is look at current listings divided by sales per month to obtain what is called an absorption rate for our area. I was going to go into more detail on that in this column, but when I did the calculation, I found it way too depressing! Instead, let’s talk about how these numbers may be skewed by unrealistic sellers who have their homes priced too high to be chosen for viewing, thus eliminating the possibility that they will sell, consequently remaining on the market to be included with current homes listed for sale by sellers with very reasonable expectations.

Competent, knowledgeable real estate agents, search the MLS for homes to show the prospective buyers who they represent. These agents know when a home is overpriced. Acting in the best interest of their buyer, they do not choose these overpriced homes to show to the buyer they are representing. So, it is not just the buyer you must attract, Mr. and Mrs. Seller.

Competent, knowledgeable, experienced real estate agents must see that your home offers the most for the least in order to choose it to be on the list to view, over and above all the other homes available, and then to advise their buyer to keep it on the “short list” when it comes time for that buyer to make the final commitment in the form of an offer to purchase!
So, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, it is a price war and a beauty contest, and you probably won’t win either trying to do it by yourself!

Judy Southard, Moore and Co., Realtors®