Marketing
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24% Increase in Showings (July through December) |
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 Showings were up again in December 2014 -- showing a 20% increase over December 2013. And looking at the second half of 2014, there was a 24% year-over-year increase over the number of showings in 2013. Exciting times! All that said, there is (clearly) quite a seasonal decline in the number of overall showings in November and December, which is likely to continue into January. | |
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Making Sense of Feedback from Showings |
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 As a home seller, you will face rejection left and right -- many prospective buyers will come view your house and most of them will decide not to buy it. But how, as a seller, do you make sense of that feedback? I often hear the following types of feedback after a showing:
This type of feedback (size, location, floor plan) is difficult to do much with as a seller. You likely aren't going to build an addition to your house, nor will you physically move the house, nor will you reconfigure the floor plan. Sometimes the feedback is just a mild objection to be overcome -- did you realize that the unfinished bonus room could be finished quite inexpensively (size) and that the new South East connector will make your commute quite short (location)? Oftentimes, however, if you receive feedback about size, location or floor plan there isn't much you can do about it as a seller. I also, however, will hear the following types of feedback after a showing:
This type of feedback (price, condition, marketing) is completely in your control as a seller. Many buyers will not make an offer if they think your list price is too far from reality -- adjusting your pricing may be just what you need to either generate more showings, or have a chance of the showings turning into offers. I almost included AGE as a factor outside of a seller's control, but it's much more about condition -- how well has a property been maintained, and is it in top showing shape so that buyers don't feel overwhelmed by short-term cosmetic updates and long-term maintenance needs? Finally, if a house has not been marketed thoroughly and effectively, it will likely have a much longer "days on market" than other properties, worrying buyers that perhaps they shouldn't buy the home because nobody else has in the last ten months. | |
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Which information sources do YOU use frequently during the home search process? |
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 Buyers across the country have spoken -- the graph above shows the information sources that are used "frequently" during the home search process. | |
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If you have large trees in front of your house, and will be selling this Spring or Summer, we should take photos NOW! |
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 Significantly less of this house would be visible after the leaves come out. If you're thinking of selling this Spring or Summer, and you have trees (especially large house-obscuring trees) we should discuss taking some exterior photos NOW rather than waiting until later when we can't see your house at all. | |
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At least 60 buyers will sign a contract to buy a house next month. How do we make them pick your house? |
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 Last March, 67 buyers signed contracts to buy homes in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, and I expect about the same number to commit to properties this March. With 556 homes on the market, how do we make sure they pick your home? PRICE - First and foremost, we need to examine how your home stacks up to the competition when it comes to pricing. Are most other comparable homes priced below your list price? Very close to your list price? Perhaps we need to undercut the competition to make a buyer ready to commit based on the value and opportunity offered by your home. MARKETING - Is your property marketed broadly and effectively? Does the marketing plan for your home focus first on the primary three ways (internet, sign, Realtor) buyers find the homes they purchase? Do the property photos, brochures, and online presence accentuate your home's strong points? CONDITION - To the extent that we can generate showings through competitive pricing and appropriate and effective marketing, let's also make sure buyers are even more impressed when they view your home in person. Eliminate distractions and potential objections that buyers might perceive when walking through your home. FOLLOW UP - We'll also need to proactively and persistently follow up with buyers (or their Realtors) that have viewed your house. What are their questions, their hesitations, their objections? What additional information can we provide them, or solutions can we research for them? There are certainly some aspects of selling your house that are out of our control, but we do have the ability to affect the price, marketing and condition of your home to maximize the possibility that a March buyer picks your home! | |
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One Third of Homes That Sell Do So Within 90 Days |
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 Homes that are selling these days are doing so relatively quickly. In fact, more than 1 out of 3 homes (35%) that sells closes less than 90 days after being listed for sale. Include with that those that close in the next 90 days (30%) and we find that an amazing 65% of homes that sell have closed within six months of first coming on the market. This is not, however accounting for the many homes that never sell -- that linger on the market, or are eventually taken off the market. Has your home been on the market for more than 90 days without selling? More than 180 days? Here are some thoughts to consider.... If you want your home to sell faster, you may need to reduce the price | |
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If you want your home to sell faster, you may need to reduce the price |
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In selling most homes, there are four factors at play:
If you're tired (as a seller) of waiting (time) for your house to sell, then we need to talk about price. Reducing the price of your home can....
We don't have to adjust the price of your home, but if we don't, and we have already optimized condition and marketing, then we'll just be waiting it out as we continue to market your home and await the "right" buyer. | |
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Do you have spots on your driveway? Call Spotless! |
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BEFORE....  AFTER....  If you have spots on your driveway, or just a general layer of dirt / grime / filth, consider calling Spotless Cleaning Company (540.434.1292) located here in Harrisonburg, VA. They can take care of your spots, and even more! | |
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Where Do Buyers Find The Home They Buy? |
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 This certainly has some implications as to where we should and should not be focusing our marketing efforts! | |
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Gift Shopping? What does every House For Sale want this year? |
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 I know you've been wondering... what gift is every House For Sale hoping to receive this year? High Quality Photographs, taken with a wide angle lens to show the most of every room, with appropriate lighting and from all the best angles. Full Color Property Brochures, in a flyer box next to its yard sign, with plenty of high quality photographs, and a colorful property description to entice buyers. A Web Site All Of Its Own, with full property details, high quality photographs, and floor plans and restrictive covenants when available. (view a sample web site at 135BedfordPlace.com) This is a sample property brochure....  If you are getting ready to list your house, make sure plans are in the works for high quality photographs, a full color property brochures, and an individual property web site! | |
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Taking your house off the market for the winter? Act now! |
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 In the Harrisonburg Rockingham Association of Realtors MLS, your house must be off the market for 120 days before the "days on market" will start counting at zero again. If you are planning to take your house off the market for the winter, but you wait until December 15 to do so, your "days on market" will still be accumulating if you put the house back on the market in early March. Thus, now is the time to act if you want to give your house a break from the market, fulfill the 120 day requirement, and then be ready to list again in early March. | |
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When to make a price adjustment? |
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As I mentioned last month, after we have your house on the market for a month or two, if we aren't having many showings (or we're not satisfied with the feedback from those showings) we may want to adjust our pricing strategy to work towards a successful sale. But then the question comes to WHEN to make the price adjustment. In some ways, as soon as you have decided you need or want to make a change in pricing strategy --- MAKE THE CHANGE! However, one of my clients brought up a great point this past week, which is that there aren't always buyers for every house in the market at all times. So....if the right buyer is in the market now, great, a price reduction will help them decide to make a move now versus later. But....if the right buyer is not in the market now, the lowering our price now doesn't do much other than leave us with less negotiating room later. There is no one "right" answer here -- as we can't conclusively know whether the buyer of your home is in the market right now, or whether they will be later. That said, develop a pricing strategy that works for your timing, your life situation, your motivation level to sell, and stick to it. | |
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A property can do well within an oversupplied segment of the market if.... |
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A property can do well within an oversupplied segment ofthe market if it has unique characteristics that set it apart from all or most otheravailable options. Despite an apparent returning balance in the local real estate market, there are still many segments of the market that are oversupplied....
However.....there are still some houses and building lots that can (and do) sell much more quickly than those against which they are competing. How can this be? Why does it happen?
Price, condition and marketing are all under your control. Here's another factor that is not under your control, but it is important to determine whether your property fits into this category. Sometimes a property can do well within an oversupplied segment ofthe market if it has unique characteristics that set it apart from all or most otheravailable options. Those "unique characteristics" might be that the house (or building lot) has amazing views --- above and beyond any of the competing properties. Or perhaps it's the architectural style of your home. Or the undeveloped common area behind your property. Whatever those peripheral factors are, it is important to recognize that they can help elevate your property above others as you compete in an oversupplied market. | |
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Why does my Realtor keep telling me to lower my asking price? |
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This post was going to entitled.....Is it possible to price aggressively low and still priced too high? But I figured I'd approach it from a seller's perspective mid-listing. In a changing market, it's often hard to get pricing right -- especially with a unique property. When pricing your home, we'll be looking at recently (6-12 months) sold listings --- as well as currently available listings. The ideal (but rare) scenario.... Recently Sold Comparable Properties: $295K, $300K, $305K Currently Available Properties: $309K, $312K, $319K Given the above scenario, we'd be wise to list for either $305K or $299K and hope to sell for $290K - $295K. But........there are some things that you can't always accurately predict......and thus there oftentimes will need to be corrections once your house is on the market.
Whatever the reason for the push back on price from prospective buyers, we can't argue with the market's general feedback if your house is being marketed well, and has been given adequate time on the market to be exposed to a large enough pool of buyers. So......after we have your house on the market for a month or two, if we aren't having many showings (or we're not satisfied with the feedback from those showings) we may want to adjust our pricing strategy to work towards a successful sale. | |
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Price trumps all |
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 My house is next to the railroad tracks, but buyers who turned it down didn't complain about price, they complained about the railroad tracks. My house has an unbelievably steep driveway, but buyers who turned it down didn't complain about price, they complained about the steep driveway. My house is needs many cosmetic updates, but buyers who turned it down didn't complain about price, they complained about the need for cosmetic updates. Guess what folks --- unless you're going to move the railroad tracks (or the house), flatten the driveway, or make all of the cosmetic updates -- it really is an issue of price! If you're getting consistent feedback about your house that is unrelated to price, in almost all cases, you need to adjust the price to accommodate for that specific issue. If the price is lower then buyers might actually buy despite the specific issue that they were complaining about. | |
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How do you market and sell a $750K+ home in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County? |
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 There are 17 homes on the market in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County priced over $750K -- view them here. How many of these impressive homes are likely to sell this year? Well, as it turns out, the high end home market ($750K+) is on fire in 2012 (with 1 sale thus far) as compared to 2011 when not a single home sold for more than $750K as reported by the HRAR MLS. Yes, you heard that right, not a single home over $750K sold during 2011 through the HRAR MLS. Which brings me back to the question at hand..... How do you market and sell a $750K+ home in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County? There are plenty of marketing strategies and techniques that can be employed (e-mail me and we'll discuss them) but the main point here is that a seller needs to set realistic expectations based on how large the pool of buyers is for their particular segment of the market. If nobody has bought a home like yours (based on price, size, location, whatever) during the past year --- what are you going to do in the marketing and pricing of your home to get different results? Don't do the same thing that other sellers have done for the past year and expect different results. | |
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Which is more effective: one 6% price reduction or two 3% price reductions? |
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OK, admittedly, I don't have any data readily available to back this one up -- but in almost all cases, it seems that a quick 6% price reduction (for example) will work better than two 3% price reductions over time. For example, the quick six.....
As compared to....
Unless you think you have a great chance of selling the house after just one of the 3% price reductions, it's almost always better to make a faster, larger price reduction. This price change is more noticeable to buyers and more quickly gets you to a what will hopefully be a realistic selling point. As a further example, I have seen sellers who have knocked off $5K every other month for an entire year. Oh, how I wish they had just knocked off $30K that first month. Each of the progressive $5K reductions had very little impact -- but a quick $30K reduction would have been much more news-worthy and may have inspired a buyer to act. | |
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How to sell your house in a buyer's market |
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Some would say for every buyer there is a house, and for every house there is a buyer. That doesn't really apply in a buyer's market.  When there are more sellers in the market than buyers (now) as would-be seller you need to focus on what it will take to make your house one of those that will actually sell. Here are some quick tips to get you started -- consider them to be starting points for a conversation with your Realtor about how to best position, market and sell your house....
As suggested by the Venn diagram above, there are plenty of houses that won't be chosen by buyers this week, month and even year. If you want your house to be one that actually sells, be realistic about your house, and the market, and create an aggressive, creative, proactive strategy for moving forward. | |
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When selling your home, be aware of these two sets of buyers |
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In talking to several potential clients this past week, I have explained that there are two sets of buyers we need to consider when preparing to list, market and sell your home. The first set of buyers - on the sidelines, ready to pounce . . . Depending on the price range of your house, location, and other attributes, there may very well be a buyer searching for your home right now, and not finding it because you have not yet listed it for sale. Local housing inventory is quite low, after all, so some would-be buyers simply aren't able to find the house they would like to buy. Thus, we need to have your house in great shape and ready for several very serious, very interested potential buyers who may show up in the first few weeks of having your house on the market The second set of buyers - actual and contemplative buyers, over time . . . If we haven't sold your house in the first month of being on the market, in some ways we are then gearing up for the second set of buyers -- those who will be deciding to start looking for a house over the next few months and will then be perusing a wide range of houses as they determine what they are looking for, what they like, what they don't like, etc. This second set of buyers (who are stretched out over a longer time period) are not typically as specifically interested in your house as those first few buyers are who may show up in the first month of having your house listed for sale. So we should aim for the first set of buyers, right? Certainly, nearly every seller would like a buyer to commit to buy their home in the first few weeks that it is on the market. That is not always possible, but we can make that the goal depending on a few variables. Some houses are in under-supplied locations, neighborhoods or price ranges such that there will be pent up buyer demand, increasing the likelihood of a speedy sale. You can't move your house, or adjust many of these attributes, however, so we're either going to have supply and demand working in our favor, or not. You do, as a seller, have some control over pricing. The key here is to ask slightly less than what buyers will see to be a reasonable price. Conventional pricing strategy might suggest that we identify the fair market value of your house (for example $300K) and then price your home slightly above that (for example $310K) to allow for some room to negotiate. The problem with this strategy is that it doesn't make it compelling enough for buyers such that they'll want to act immediately upon seeing your house on the market. In this example, we'd be much better served to price your home at $299K such that a buyer can imagine being able to buy your home for $290K or $295K, and thus is willing to make an early, fast offer. There is plenty that goes into preparing your house to go on the market, and understanding the segment of the local housing market that your house fits into, but one serious consideration is how to best position your home for the two sets of buyers described above. | |
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60 buyers will be signing contracts this month, how can we make sure one of them picks your house? |
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Last February, 60 buyers signed contracts to buy homes in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, and I expect about the same number to commit to properties this February. With 678 homes on the market, how do we make sure they pick your home? PRICE - First and foremost, we need to examine how your home stacks up to the competition when it comes to pricing. Are most other comparable homes priced below your list price? Very close to your list price? Perhaps we need to undercut the competition to make a buyer ready to commit based on the value and opportunity offered by your home. MARKETING - Is your property marketed broadly and effectively? Does the marketing plan for your home focus first on the primary three ways (internet, sign, Realtor) buyers find the homes they purchase? Do the property photos, brochures, and online presence accentuate your home's strong points? CONDITION - To the extent that we can generate showings through competitive pricing and appropriate and effective marketing, let's also make sure buyers are even more impressed when they view your home in person. Eliminate distractions and potential objections that buyers might perceive when walking through your home. FOLLOW UP - We'll also need to proactively and persistently follow up with buyers (or their Realtors) that have viewed your house. What are their questions, their hesitations, their objections? What additional information can we provide them, or solutions can we research for them? There are certainly some aspects of selling your house that are out of our control, but we do have the ability to affect the price, marketing and condition of your home to maximize the possibility that a February buyer picks your home! Have questions? Need help? Ready to sell? Call me at 540-578-0102 or e-mail me at scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com. | |
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Scott Rogers
Funkhouser Real
Estate Group
540-578-0102
scott@funkhousergroup.com
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Commonwealth of Virginia
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