Housing and Housing Market Trends

One of the first things to do when selling your home is to find out how many months inventory are in your market. Start with your own neighborhood and obtain the following information:

Number and prices of homes activly on the market

Number and prices of homes under contract.

Number and prices of homes sold in the last 6 months

Make a list of the number of homes that went under contract in the last few months. Then divide the number of active homes by the average number of homes that went under contract. Example: 24 homes activly for sale; 3 homes on average go under contract each month. 24 divided by 3 equals 8, or 8 months of inventory.

Make the same calculations for your own zip code to see if your neighborhood is typical of the wider market. Although not part of the months of inventory on the market, use the sales information on homes sold to see how prices are trending and how sold prices compare with the prices of homes on the market.

Did you know that women make approx. 90% of real estate buying decisions?  What this means to sellers of homes is a heavy emphasis on clean, new and fresh. In today’s slower market, it often means new flooring, fresh paint, updated kitchens and baths. This is especially important if the home you are selling is in a neighborhood with five to ten months of housing inventory available to buy. The goal is to give your home the "wow" factor that makes the decision-maker pick your home instead of the other competing homes. Making the home look great for the decision maker, typically a woman in a two-income family between the ages of 24 and 38, is just the price of entry. The home must also be priced right and marketed with the correct combination of internet, print, and MLS advertising and displays. Pricing and display will be the subject of another post.