New Home Selling Stats Revealed: Getting Your House Ready to Sell and Pricing for Correct Home Value

Thought provoking statistics for those home selling & home buying just came available through a national survey conducted by Keller Williams (KW) Realty. Based on transactions conducted by over 2,000 KW realtors and the homes they sold over a 6-month period ending in December 2009, these housing marketing results have just been published in a 2010 KW Market Navigator “White Paper” of sorts. Following is a summary of a few of the salient points from the sections dealing with those who are specifically selling a house. Two of the important home selling variables dealt with getting your house ready to sell and pricing for correct home value: and marketing while selling a house.

Getting your house ready to sell

• Realtors recommended that those selling a house should have a prelist inspection conducted and then make an effort to complete the repairs and upgrades suggested. Only 1 in 11 of those selling a house had a prelist inspection done. However, on average, pre-inspected listings received more offers than those that were not (on average, one additional offer). The realtors cited 2 of the top 5 reasons for contracts falling through were inspection issues and appraisal problems which could have been addressed prior to listing. Sellers spent an average of $500 to $2383 on any remodeling construction/repairs needed. The most common repairs were electrical work, pest control & roof repairs (in over 60% of the listings each were performed).
• It was found that those preparing to buy a house are attracted by location, neighborhood, floor plan, upgrades in a home, and curb appeal. Of those, only two can be improved: upgrades and curb appeal. Which brings us to the condition of the home selling condition. 84% of those buying a house said condition is not to be compromised. Homes in good to excellent condition sold 16 days faster and 1.6% higher, with.4% fewer price reductions than homes in fair to poor condition. Those home selling spent an average of $3562 on upgrades when getting their house ready to sell. Common upgrades were flooring, paint, light fixtures, appliances, plumbing & hardware often at the recommendation of the realtor. The work typically started anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks prior to listing on the housing market.
• Which brings us to the icing on the cake — staging. Staging a house meant at least two more showings on average and a higher list-to-sale percentage achieved…1 percentage point higher. Only 1 out of 3 sellers did any type of staging while home selling. If you are getting your house ready to sell, consider the 1% bump, and do staging accordingly to boost return on investment. Those who did not stage cited that they did not believe it was necessary or that they did not want to incur extra home selling cost.

Pricing for correct home value

• When the KW realtors gave price recommendations, less than half of those home selling listed at the price recommended (they listed higher). Those who did take the realtor’s recommendation for the home price to list at sold the home 38 days faster than those who didn’t…which equated to more than a month of mortgage and tax payments saved. They also sold it for more than 2 percentage points higher and with one fewer price reduction. More than half of those who went with the initial recommendation reported no reduction in price. One fifth got their home price after one reduction.
• In general, 87% of the homes in the survey sold after two or fewer price reductions. Most price reductions occurred within 4 to 8 weeks, with an average of 6.4 weeks before reducing the price.