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Houses are still selling in the Shenandoah Valley |
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Home sales have been declining for over five years in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County and median home sales prices have been declining for three years. This causes some folks to ask – are homes even selling at all these days? Put another way – is it even worth trying to sell my home in this market? Let's examine a few facts about selling your home that might surprise you given the overall market conditions. One third of all homes that sell do so in less than three months. That is to say that of all of the homes that sold in the past six month, 34% of them were listed and then sold in less than 90 days! This is actually more remarkable than it first seems, as it often takes between 30 and 45 days to move from a contract to closing, so these homes that sold in less than three months likely sold (were under contract) in the first 45 to 60 days that they were on the market. As a seller, this should show you that you must price your home appropriately and market it aggressively from the very first day it comes on the market. Despite market adjustments, buyers still aren't negotiating a significantly amount off of the list prices of homes --- although that does occasionally happen. Back in 2000, the average list to sell ratio (sold price / final list price) was 97.4%. As it turns out, last year (2010) buyers were paying (on average) 94.7% of the list price – only a 2.7% adjustment from a decade prior. Thus as a seller you need to price your home well (as mentioned above), and you shouldn't necessarily expect to have to take 15% or 20% off of the list price during negotiations. You are much more likely to be negotiating an average of 5% off of the list price. Even if your neighbors tell you that they are having a terrible time selling their home because there are sooooo many homes on the market, just remember that inventory levels are actually quite low right now. As of early August, there were 882 homes on the market in Harrisonburg and Rockingham, which shows a 13% decline in inventory over the past 12 months. Sellers, thus, have slightly less competition as buyers have fewer homes from which to choose. While inventory levels can vary quite drastically by neighborhood and/or price range, there are many segments on the market where there are very few homes on the market right now. The past four months of contracts have been the highest in the past three years. 380 buyers committed to buy properties in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County between April and July of this year. While there have been single instances of a high number of contracts in the past, this four-consecutive-month rate of 380 contracts cannot be beat when looking at the past three years of sales (contract) history. The local housing market still has plenty of room for improvement, and isn't necessarily even in recovery mode yet, but plenty of homeowners are still finding success in selling their home. If you are going to sell your home, consult with a Realtor early, price your home well, and make sure that it will be aggressively marketed to maximize your success Recent Articles:
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Scott Rogers
Funkhouser Real
Estate Group
540-578-0102
scott@funkhousergroup.com
Licensed in the
Commonwealth of Virginia
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