“How quickly will our house sell” is one of the questions we’re very used to answering in the real estate world, and while sometimes the true answer is, “I’m not 100% sure,” we wanted to show you some of the factors that you can use to get an estimate of how long your home is likely to stay on the market. This is never an exact promise, but having more knowledge and estimates is never a bad thing, so we always make sure that our clients have a realistic idea of how much time their house is likely to stay on the market.

1. Find the average days on market for the comps: 

When your agent pulls comps to establish list price, he/she should also be looking at how long each of these homes was on the market before going under contract. As long as the comps are an accurate reflection of your house and its condition, then you should also be able to use those comps to get an estimate of when your house is likely to go under contract.

2. Be honest if there are any turnoffs about your house versus others:

As we mentioned above, finding average days on market is most effective when the comps you pull are actually the same condition and style. If this is not the case and your house has something that is going to make it more difficult to sell (less desirable floorplan, drive under garage, fewer upgrades, obvious repairs, worse lot), these items will need to be adjusted for in your days on market calculations as well as price. After all, just as these items make your house likely to sell for less, they also mean that your home is going to appeal to fewer buyers and that it might take a little longer to find the exact one. Sometimes this can feel difficult to acknowledge or talk about because this is the house you have turned into your home, but just because something works for you doesn’t mean that it is going to appeal to everyone.  

3. Listen to your agent’s expertise:  

You may know your house better than your agent, but you don’t know the market better than them unless you’ve trusted someone you shouldn’t have. If they tell you that listing at a certain price or staging in a certain way is going to reduce your days on market, then you should absolutely follow that advice, even if it’s a different path than you would have expected.  

4. Are you being realistic on price?

This goes with the point directly above, but it’s so important that we wanted to list it separately so that you truly understand how strong the correlation is between accurate pricing and lower days on market (which also results in higher profit for the seller). When your agent tells you what they recommend that you list at, they are pulling that data from local homes that have sold just like yours. If you decide to try to list higher just to see if it works, unless you get lucky, you are automatically going to increase your likelihood of hanging out on the market for a longer period of time because you just eliminated a portion of your buyers by going out of their budget. Check out this article for more information on how this works. 

5. Are you willing to confirm all showings, or are you limited on time?

Listing your home can be stressful since it results in you needing to keep your home consistently clean and also be able to leave the house on a moment’s notice. That being said, there isn’t a way to eliminate that stress without also decreasing your chances of selling quickly. The more showings you confirm, the more likely you are to approve the showing of the buyer who will purchase your home. Make sure that you confirm as many as possible and are as flexible as possible, or you may limit your chances of selling and extend your time on the market. That being said, accept everything in moderation. If you have kids to get out of the house and clean up after, you can let your agent know that you need at least an hour notice for any showing or ask them to block out particular times where you know showings will be impossible. The most vital part is just making sure that you aren’t being unreasonable and that you’re letting as many qualified buyers view the house as possible. 

We hope that this information has been helpful and that it has helped you understand the sorts of factors that you can use to determine how long your home will be on the market. In one moving as quickly as our current one, hopefully it will only be a weekend or two so that you can quickly choose your next house and place a competitive bid without an extra contingency. If you still have questions, we’d love to help answer them. Please feel free to reach out through the built-in chat feature on our website or just give us a call or text us at (678) 242-9981. We can’t wait to help!