How long should it take you to sell your house this spring or summer if you decide to take the plunge and list it?
A few weeks?
A couple of months? More? Less?
From all the happy headlines and news reports about the big rebound in housing underway, you might assume that your house will sell quickly, maybe even pull in multiple offers.
It might. But that all depends on three key factors:
- Are listings of homes for sale in your area way down this spring? If there are a lot fewer houses listed for sale compared to previous years, this means less competition for you as a seller. And that should help you bring in a buyer quicker.
- Is your list price realistic? Or are you pushing it and intentionally asking for more than the real estate professionals who specialize in your neighborhood advise? The more you push on price, the longer it’s likely to take to sell.
- Is your local economy strong enough to generate high demand? Are employers creating new jobs? Is the unemployment rate in your market well below the national average? If so, you’re likely to sell faster. If not, it’ll almost certainly take some patience.
As a rough guide, how many days does it take to sell a typical house in various parts of the country? The latest data from realtor.com’s survey of 800-plus metropolitan areas shows that there are wide variations, depending upon where you are. The median time on market nationwide, according to realtor.com, is 98 days from listing to contract – a little over three months.
But in cities where supplies of listed homes are extremely tight, houses are selling much, much faster. For instance, in Oakland, California, it takes a median 14 days to sell. In Sacramento, the median is 21 days, Naples, Florida 25 days, Denver 28 days, Daytona Beach 33 days, Los Angeles 37 days, metropolitan Washington D.C. 44 days.
At the other end of the spectrum, in Reading, Pennsylvania, it takes a median 149 days to sell. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, it 147 days, Asheville, North Carolina 146, Philadelphia 136, and Akron, Ohio 135 days.
Fast selling times are almost always linked with fast-increasing prices – it’s a hot market characteristic. In San Jose, California, where median time on market is just 30 days, prices wee up by an extraordinary 29.5 percent during the past 12 months. In Phoenix, it takes a median 47 days from listing to sales, and prices have jumped 24.6 percent since February 2012. In Oakland, the current record holder for super-quick sales, prices wee up 31 percent.
In Chicago, by contrast, list prices dropped 5.2 percent over the past year and it now takes a median 100 days to sell a house. In Philadelphia, with a four and a half month median time on market from listing to contract, prices are down by 5.3 percent.
Best advice if you’re in a slow-selling, soft market and you really need to move: Price aggressively – lower than you and your advisers believe the house is worth. If you’re lucky, your bargain-priced listing will draw serious attention, and maybe even multiple bidders who’ll push the actual sale price higher than list. At the very least, you’ll be more likely to sell.
Ken Harney writes a nationally syndicated column on housing and mortgage issues, the Nation’s Housing, and has won numerous “Best Column – All Media” awards from the National Association of Real Estate Editors, along with the Consumer Federation of America’s prestigious “Media Service Award,” for lifetime contributions to consumer interests in housing. He served a three year term on the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council and is the author of two books on real estate and mortgage finance.