Is your house for sale?

If you are you’re in good company.

Currently the Knoxville Area Association of Realtor’s Multiple Listing System (MLS) has 11,576 active residential listings and 1,743 condos which have all been for sale an average time of 108 days. That’s a very clear sign to me that we’re in a strong buyer’s market.

In the month of October there were 874 closed sales but there were also 2,106 new residential listings plus another 228 condos.

I’m not going to do the math but it’s pretty plain that only about 1 out of every 15 listings sold in October.

As a seller you’re goal is to be that 1 out of 15 that got an invitation to the closing table.

Because I’m in the Knoxville area real estate market on a daily basis I see lots of sellers with houses that are grossly overpriced for various reasons.

Reasons like:

• “We really need the money.” Sorry, but buyers don’t care. If you want to sell now you need to have your house priced aggressively and in tip top shape to attract buyers that want to buy now.
  
• “We can always reduce the price later.” Later is often too ‘later’. Buyers are looking to buy now and they’re buying that 1 in 15 house that they feel gives them the most bang for their buck. Buyers pass overpriced houses by and usually don’t come back.
• “We’ll just try it at this price for a few weeks and see what happens.” Buyer activity for a new listing is typically highest while it’s still new on the market. After it has set a while buyers start passing it by because it’s stale. Usually a price reduction (a significant price reduction) is what you need to do to invite them back to take another look. Better to price it right from the start and get it sold.
• “Buyers can always make an offer if they think our price is too high.” Sounds reasonable but buyers tend to look in certain price points and if you’re so high that you’re out of their price range they’re not even going to look at your house much less make an offer.

Here’s a link back to a posting I wrote a few months ago with 4 quick ways to make your Knoxville area house sell. Not guaranteed to work but it will get you a lot closer to that closing table than you are now.

If your house or condo is currently listed with a Knoxville area Realtor ask them to take you on a CMA (Competitive Market Analysis) field trip to take a look at your competition. Choose 2 or 3 houses similar to yours currently for sale and go visit them to see how yours compares.

Then get a list of what similar houses to yours have sold for in the past 2-3 months; 6 months ago doesn’t count anymore, that’s ancient history. You need to know what is going on with sales now. Have your Realtor call the listing agents for the house that just sold and ask them what they feel made it happen.
Remember, with only 1 out of 15 listings selling last month your listing needs to stand head and shoulders above the crowd to attract buyers.

You can take a look at current homes for sale at www.KnoxvilleHomeCenter.com to see how yours stacks up to the competition.

I’m available to answer any questions you may have by phone, email, or I’ll be glad to come visit you to talk about getting your house sold.