The first week your home is on the market, there are two very important metrics that we keep a close eye on:
Number of Showings
Our goal is to have between 5 – 10 showings, depending on the time of the year, the first week your home is on the market. If we don’t have at least 5 showings, we have a problem, and either the marketing/photography is bad, or we’re not priced correctly. If this occurs, we need to have an honest discussion about what needs to be fixed. After the first week, our goal is to have 3 – 4 showings per subsequent week. Depending on the feedback we’re receiving at showings and the number of showings, we may need to discuss reducing the price if we don’t have an offer after the first two weeks.
The MLS Stats
The other metric we keep a close eye on is the MLS stats. We will send you these every few days during the first week we are on the market. Our goal is to have at least 350 people receive your listing via the MLS. This means your home matches the search criteria they are looking for in a property. Anything less than 350 means not very many people are looking for a home like yours, and the potential buyer pool is very small. If this is the case, we need to figure out how to expand the number of people interested in your home. Most people’s searches in the MLS are based on four main criteria which they consider deal breakers: location (which we can’t change), number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, and price.
In addition to looking at the number of people receiving your search, we also look at the number of people who have marked your property as Interested and the number of people who have marked your property as a Maybe. Our goal is to have 20 Interested markings and 20 Maybe markings at the end of the first week. Generally, that’s a good indication that your property will sell in the first 30 days it’s on the market.
So what happens if the metrics on my home are less than the above-desired stats?
First, don’t get discouraged; remember our discussion about the average days on the market in your area when you start to feel discouraged. This process doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, but eventually, we will find the right buyer for your home.
Second, keep your home clean and tidy and approve as many showing requests as possible when they do come in. The more showings we have, the better the potential of getting an offer.
Third, we need to take a hard look at what we can do to improve the chances of your property selling now that your home is on the market. There are four important parts to the selling process: the location of the property, the condition of the property, the marketing/photography, and finally and most importantly, the price.
- We can’t change the location as it is what it is.
- For the condition of the property, ask yourself if there is anything you can do to improve the condition/staging of the home to make it more attractive to potential buyers. If the staging/condition is as good as it can possibly be, then we need to look at the marketing/photography.
- How do the photos look? Anything we can improve in the description of your home in the MLS, on Trulia, Zillow, etc.?
- If the above three items are as good as they can possibly be, then the only thing we can change is the price. Remember, buyers tend to search in $5-10K increments, so to hit the next biggest group of buyers, we need to be below the next $5-10K threshold. Therefore, if your home is listed at $285,000, we should drop the price to $280,000 at minimum to try and hit the next buyer group. $2,000 and $3,000 price reductions aren’t enough. Price reductions need to be substantial (at least $5K – $10K) to make any difference.
Fourth, can we add a monetary incentive to encourage buyers to put an offer in on your home? Perhaps a closing cost credit if the property is under contract by a certain date. Or we can offer an incentive to the buyer’s agent, such as a bonus if the property is under contract by a certain date. As sad as it is, these tactics really work.
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