A lot of things, like the stock market for instance, are a bit disjointed these days (to put it mildly), and the Central Mass real estate market is not an exception. For instance, what I’m seeing is some very ambitious pricing for homes, and then, if those homes don’t go under agreement in about a week, we’re seeing dramatic price drops. Another example is that two homes I sold in 2018 just sold for double the 2018 sale price. You can interpret these two opposing outcomes in a variety of ways.
For sellers starting really high, hoping for the moon, and then going with a steep price drop when their home doesn’t sell, I guess they are just thinking “prices are high, so regardless of what my real estate agent says, why not? I’ll give it a try. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just drop the price”.
What does this tell me? Mainly, that the real estate agent is desperate for the listing, because starting too high almost always leads to a lower price for the seller when the house sells. Why? It’s days on the market. Time on the market invariably leads to lower offers. A few reasons–potential buyers think ”what’s the matter with it since it’s not selling?”, or they go to an open house and no one is there, because people think the price is too high, so there’s no energy around the house. No one is thinking “I have to have this house. I’ll bid high”.
People want to feel like other people agree with them, and perceive things the same way. Just think about it: You go to an open house that is listed quite high, given the house and its location, and hardly anyone, or nobody, is there. You’ll think either that you can maybe get it much cheaper, since there’s no competition for it, so maybe you can toss in a lowball offer; but worse, you’ll also think twice about the house itself–why is no one even looking at this house?
An experienced agent knows what the market is like at any given time, and prices accordingly. Pricing a home properly is as much an art as a science, because there are so many variables. However, days on market are always the enemy of a seller looking to get a high (as long as it makes sense) price.
Pricing a home properly is one of the keys to getting as high a price as possible, given the home itself and the market at the time. It’s definitely an acquired skill, but if your house is priced properly, and since housing is still in short supply, you’ll get enough action around the house to generate excitement, which pushes the eventual price up.
Of course, to generate excitement, the house has to be marketed properly. It’s amazing how many agents don’t do this. I always think it’s just being lazy, but given how important these transactions are, it might also just be that they don’t know any better. For instance, why would a real estate agent take their own photos? They absolutely always look inferior to professional photos. Worse, why would they take their own photos, and leave the toilet seats up, or stuff all over the refrigerator, or piles of clothes on the beds. Jay loves to look at listings with this type of “staging”. He still laughs about one he saw in Worcester, where someone in the listing photo was actually peeing on the wall of the property for sale….that sure says “lousy neighborhood”.
So in this Central Mass real estate market, which is gyrating almost as much as the stock market, you must do it right. Use an experienced agent who will pay for professional photos, and who knows the value of using a stager. Staging is an art, and its goal is simply to make your house look its best. Think of it like mowing the lawn of your house. You don’t have to but it sure makes the house more inviting, instead of looking deserted. One last thing on staging–don’t fall for “virtual staging”. It just makes the buyers mad. There was a house in Westminster where I was the second listing agent (the first agent was fired). Potential buyers were all mad when they showed up at the house, and that virtually staged hardwood flooring in the home office was actually stained carpeting, despite looking brand new from virtual staging. No sense making potential buyers confused or mad the minute they walk in.
So, the Central Mass real estate market is still active, there’s still a housing shortage, and prices are still high, but it’s also a competitive market, no matter if you’re buying or selling. Particularly if you’re selling, price it right, present it well in photos, and get the house cleaned and neat. If you are buying, don’t dismiss the fact the photos are lousy, or there’s clothes laying around, or the home isn’t staged. What you see is actually a clue to how the home was maintained, or not maintained.
If you’re thinking at all about a future sale of your home, contact me for a confidential conversation full of free advice about how you might get started in the preparation of your property. If you’re interviewing multiple potential listing agents to partner with on the preparation, transaction and sale of your home, here are a few things to ask all of them, to help you differentiate, so you know what you’re getting before you’re in contract and it’s too late.
- Addresses of the last 3 homes they listed and sold (check out those online photos!)
- Where can you find their client reviews? You can find mine right here.
- What do they include with their scope of services: professional photos, video, floor plans, drone? What else?
- *This is a trick question: How do they promote the listing? If the answer is that they enter the listing on the MLS, and then some kind of magic happens where the listing is syndicated to hundreds of other sites, you can do better.
Contact me to brainstorm. I’m happy to help. Stay tuned for a privately sited Westminster home to come on the market shortly after Easter (by private, I mean it’s on 20+ acres).
