If you want to sell your Prospect Heights house with the least hassles, make sure to give your house the home-selling edge.
The only way to give your house is home-selling edge is to know what you’re up against.
The only way to know what you’re up against is to get the facts.
In the world of real estate — just like gambling on a horse race — ‘facts’ means statistics and raw numbers.
Running neck and neck
If you’re trying to sell your home — your beautiful one-of-a-kind thoroughbred — against the other horses houses on the block ...
And your house is 1 of 76 other houses vying for the same scarce homebuyers ...
And all other things being equal ...
How fast do you think it would take to sell your house in today’s climate?
Does 18 months sound like a winning ticket?
Didn’t think so.
Put your bet down to win ... not just show
This is a tough real estate market. Used to be you could put your home on the market, wait around a month or two, sell it at a fair price, and move on.
Today, homebuyers are few. Homesellers are many.
Meet the Buyer’s Market of all buyer’s markets!
The competition is stiff. You don’t want to be one of the ‘left-behinds’, still sitting in your house one or two or three years from now. You want to break out of the gate, gallop to the finish line, and cross before all your competitors.
If you don’t, you’ll be left behind in the dust. While your house declines in value. Month after disappointing month.
Long odds
A look at recent statistics demonstrates just how long.
76 homes are on the market in Prospect Heights as of April 21, 2011*.
7 Prospect Heights homes sold in the last 90 days. This equals 2.33 sold on average every month. This represents 3.1% of homes currently on the market.
What this means to you is that for every homebuyer there are 33 other homesellers just like you. 33 anxious homeowners chomping at the bit.
Now let’s look at market timing.
51 homes sold in the last 12 months.
This works out to 4.3 homes selling every month on average.
With 76 homes currently on the market ...
It will take 18 months to sell the current inventory. 18 months! Meanwhile, more homes are going on the market every single day.
Break out of the gate
Too many homesellers put on blinkers, afraid to look left or right. Don’t be one of them. Instead, make it your goal to break out of the gate first, keep a full head of steam, muscle out all the other houses in the race, head down the home stretch, and cross the finish line ahead of the pack. This is how.
- Make your house look like a million bucks - If your house is already worth a million bucks, make it look like two million bucks. You get the idea!
- Price your house from an appraiser’s point of view - No homebuyer wants to buy a house for more than it’s worth.
- Position your house like a thoroughbred among workhorses - To make your house stand out and cross the finish line ahead of the pack, it has to have legs that allow it to leave all those other hags behind. In other words, the odds have to be in your favor. If they’re not, you shouldn’t take the bet. Because the longer the odds, the greater your chance of losing.
Give your competition a run for the money
If your house isn’t the best value out there, homebuyers have the pick of the field. And they can gamble on any other ‘horse’ in the running.
Photo Attribution: Provided by Softeis on Wikimedia
*Data provided by the Midwest Real Estate LLC (MRED) multiple listing service and includes properties listed and sold by various participants in the MLS. Data supplied does not reflect all market activity in the area.
