Why Do “Days on Market” Matter?
If you are thinking of selling your home, you will first want to do a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home. This will give you a price range of the most likely sales price for your home.
One of the other metrics that you will want to pay attention to is the Days on Market.
What does Days on Market mean? Simply put: Days on Market for sold properties is defined as the number of days from the time the home is first listed until the time when a valid contract has been signed by both buyer and seller. (At which point the house is “Under Contract”) Days on Market for actively listed properties will continue to tally until the property goes Under Contract.
So,why should this matter? When examining the comparable sold properties in your area, it is important to know how long your home is likely to be on the market. If the comparable homes in your are going into Under Contract status fairly quickly – say less than a month, it will paint a clear picture of what buyers are willing to pay for a home like yours.
If comparable homes are selling very quickly – a week? 2 days? – this usually means that the market is heating up, and you may be able to ask a higher price.
On the other hand, if comparable homes are taking a lot longer to sell, after multiple price drops, this will also paint a pretty clear picture.
Let’s say a home very similar to yours sold after 6 months, and saw 3 price drops. You and your Realtor will need to examine all of the data available to determine why it seemed to take so long. Was it a short sale or foreclosure situation? Was it obvious that the home needed major updating or improvements? Although it is very similar to your home, is there a reason why this particular one is very different (e.g. the driveway doubles as a major highway, or it is adjacent to a brothel?)? If the answer to all of these questions is “no”, then the final price is likely to be your sale price as well. In this case, if you are looking to sell very quickly, you may decide to list your home at a lower price than the comparable sales in your area.
Finally, it is important to examine Days on Market for homes like yours if your home has unusual characteristics, or is in a higher price bracket. In the Adams County real estate market, homes listed for $700,000 or higher that sold over the past 6 months went under contract after an average of over 300 Days on Market! If your home is in this category, you may be in for a longer wait, although this number is much better than it was a year ago, when there was over 3 years worth of inventory in this price category (Source: Market Data Trends, Lon Welsh, Your Castle Real Estate).
Remember that every neighborhood is unique. To find out what the Days on Market are for homes like yours in your area, be sure to consult with a Realtor who specializes in your area. To find out more about what the Days on Market are for your Adams County home, call me at 720-341-5235.
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[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 64. This number has dropped significantly over the past several months – from 111 Days on Market in May to 64 in July. Many of the homes that have been listed in Belle Creek this summer have gone under contract in less than 2 weeks! […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 63. This number has dropped significantly over the past several months – from 111 Days on Market in May to 64 in July. This drop to 63 days on market is good news and points to a further steadying in the Belle Creek market. […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 59. This number has dropped significantly over the past several months – from 111 Days on Market in May to 63 in August. This drop to 59 days on market is good news and points to a further steadying in the Belle Creek market. […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 64. This number has dropped significantly over the past several months – from 111 Days on Market in May to 59 in September. This increase to 64 days on market is normal with the time of the year, and having homes go under contract in just over 2 months is a welcome change over that pst few years. […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 64. This number has remained steady over the past few months, but is a marked drop when compared to last spring. In November 2011, the average Belle Creek home sold after 106 days on market. What a difference a year makes! […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 62. This number has remained steady over the past few months, with November’s average DOM coming in at 64. In December 2011, the average Belle Creek home sold after 83 days on market. What a difference a year makes! […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 81. This number has increased slightly over the last month. December’s days on market was 62. […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 53. This number has decreased over the last month and the prior. In January, we were averaging 81 Days on Market, and in February, 64 DOM. […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 34. This number has been steadily decreasing. In January, we were averaging 81 Days on Market; in February it dropped to 64, and in March it was 53. […]
[…] contract. Don’t let this deter you if you are thinking of selling – the difference in Days on Market for those sold during July and August was 18 days, vs. those currently under contract having an […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 22. This is a decrease over August’s number of 34, and 27 DOM in September. As inventory tightened, and the start of school approached, home buyers were making their decisions faster again. In fact, there were 7 closed sales in the month of September. Keeping in mind that usually a sale will close 30-45 days after an offer is accepted, a good number of people still “shopping” in July and August. […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 26. This number has increased slightly over October and November (22 and 23 days, respectively), but is still a decrease over over August’s number of 34, and 27 DOM in September. […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 28. This number has again decreased slightly. This number is representative of a strong sellers’ market. […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 10. This number has dropped significantly since spring, but it is increasing this fall. It is still a fairly strong sellers’ market in Belle Creek, but I believe the trend is toward a more “even” market. […]
[…] Average Days on Market for all Belle Creek homes is 14. This number has dropped significantly since spring, but increased in fall and winter. It is still a strong sellers’ market in Belle Creek, but I believe the trend is continuing toward a more “even” market, and we will see time on market increase a bit. […]