The Market Has Shifted and Sellers Who Have Not Noticed Are Going to Pay for It

Buyers have more inventory to choose from right now than they did two years ago. They have more negotiating power. They have less urgency. The conditions that produced fast sales and competitive offers have been replaced by a market where buyers take their time and pass on listings that do not make sense at the asking price.

Chris Barnes works on the financing side of transactions and sees what happens downstream when sellers get the pricing decision wrong. The conversation worth having is before the listing goes live not weeks later after the market has already delivered its verdict.

Why Overpriced Listings Produce Worse Outcomes Than Sellers Expect

The reference point most sellers rely on is the wrong one. What the neighbor received two years ago. What an online estimate showed last spring. Neither of those reflects the market that exists today and pricing based on either produces a predictable and costly outcome.

A listing that comes to market above where buyers are willing to engage simply gets ignored. The most motivated buyers are watching closely in the first two weeks of any listing and they move quickly when something is priced right. Price above the market and those buyers move on without scheduling a showing.

Days on market accumulate. Once a listing has been sitting buyers begin to assume something is wrong with the property rather than the price. That assumption is sticky and difficult to overcome regardless of subsequent price adjustments. The seller who eventually cuts the price does so from a position of visible weakness with buyers who have watched the listing sit and now expect even more flexibility on top of the reduction. The net result is almost always worse than correct day-one pricing would have produced.

Three Things That Actually Work Right Now

Price it correctly from the first day. A well-priced listing generates activity and activity generates offers. The goal is not to leave room to negotiate down from a high starting point. The goal is to be the listing that motivated buyers act on immediately.

Think beyond the price cut when flexibility is needed. A seller credit toward the buyer’s closing costs or a seller-funded rate buydown often does more for the buyer’s actual monthly payment than an equivalent price reduction and it keeps the recorded sale price higher. The math produces different outcomes and understanding the comparison before deciding on an approach saves money for sellers who make the decision with the full picture.

Chris Barnes can show the numbers on what a buydown does to a buyer’s payment versus a price drop side by side. That comparison changes the conversation for listings that are not moving and it is worth having before the next price reduction is made.

Know your local market not the national headlines. National housing data describes average conditions across dramatically different markets and does not tell you what a buyer looking at your specific property in your specific neighborhood today is willing to pay. Local inventory levels and days on market do.

The Conversation That Saves Deals

If you are selling or you are an agent with a listing that has been sitting message Chris Barnes. He will run the numbers on the buydown versus price drop comparison so the strategy decision is based on actual figures rather than assumptions.

Sources

NAR.realtor
MortgageNewsDaily.com
ConsumerFinancialProtectionBureau.gov
FannieMae.com
Investopedia.com