Brought to you by Scott P. Rogers, Funkhouser Real Estate Group, 540-578-0102, scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com
Brought to you by Scott P. Rogers, Funkhouser Real Estate Group, 540-578-0102, scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Today, there are 128 homes for sale in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County priced above $400,000. One problem -- only 4 or 5 homes sell each month. Thus, as Keston commented here today, it is a bit of a daunting task for a homeowner in this price range to sell their home. There are 27-28 months of supply of these homes on the market!
The eleven houses pictured above are the only homes selling in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County for more than $400,000 in the past three months. It could have / should have taken them 27 months to sell (see above), but here's how many months it took them to sell....
As you can see, it didn't really take these homes 27 months to sell (ok, one house took that look) -- so what's going on here?
Even though there are 27 months of supply in this price range, it won't actually take most homes anywhere near that long to sell. Why? Mainly, because there are homes that sell and homes that don't. To assume that it would take 27 months for homes to sell assumes that all homes will sell --- they won't --- many homeowners will decide to take their houses off the market in any given year, and many homes will languish on the market indefinitely.
So, what does a homeowner have to do to sell their $400k+ house in this market? How do you become "one of the ones" that will sell? Some things are out of your control --- location, for example. However, there are quite a few other aspects of selling your home that are under your control, specifically condition, pricing and marketing.
If you're going to attempt to sell your home above $400,000 in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County --- don't get too overwhelmed by the 27 months of supply, but do know that it is going to require special attention to these details (condition, price, marketing) to be one of the four or five homes that is chosen by a buyer in any given month out of the 128 (+/-) homes that are available.
The eleven houses pictured above are the only homes selling in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County for more than $400,000 in the past three months. It could have / should have taken them 27 months to sell (see above), but here's how many months it took them to sell....
1, 3, 5, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 17, 18, 27
As you can see, it didn't really take these homes 27 months to sell (ok, one house took that look) -- so what's going on here?
Even though there are 27 months of supply in this price range, it won't actually take most homes anywhere near that long to sell. Why? Mainly, because there are homes that sell and homes that don't. To assume that it would take 27 months for homes to sell assumes that all homes will sell --- they won't --- many homeowners will decide to take their houses off the market in any given year, and many homes will languish on the market indefinitely.
So, what does a homeowner have to do to sell their $400k+ house in this market? How do you become "one of the ones" that will sell? Some things are out of your control --- location, for example. However, there are quite a few other aspects of selling your home that are under your control, specifically condition, pricing and marketing.
If you're going to attempt to sell your home above $400,000 in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County --- don't get too overwhelmed by the 27 months of supply, but do know that it is going to require special attention to these details (condition, price, marketing) to be one of the four or five homes that is chosen by a buyer in any given month out of the 128 (+/-) homes that are available.
