One of the most common questions we get asked is, “on average, how long do houses sit on the market before being sold?” The average right now for the last 12 months is north of 100 days in our area. So why do some houses sell in a few days while others take months? It depends on 3 factors: First is the “Desirability” of the home in terms of location, layout, specifications, updates, presentation, amenities, etc. Second, is the pricing of the home relative to what buyers are paying for comparable homes. Third, is the knowledge, skill, hardwork, and relationships that your Realtor must apply in order to maximize the value of and to sell your home.

All three factors are related and can be optimized by the homeowner and by us. Desirability is something that can be improved to help you sell your home faster and at a higher price. While you can’t change the location of  your home, you can improve the presentation of your home by emphasizing it’s strengths, addressing it’s weaknesses, and establishing a coherent ‘story’ for the home. We can work with you to make sure your home is poised and positioned to attract your target buyer at the highest price. And when it comes to price, obviously the closer the price is to the market, the faster it will sell – in general. Buyers today are less willing and certainly less able to overbuy based on impulse or emotion so transaction prices for homes are more predictable based on historical data. But with prices much lower than market highs, maximizing the Desirability of your home – combined with optimized pricing – combined with the third critical element – intensive marketing, selling, and plenty of hard work by everyone (including the homeowner) is the price of entry when selling your home.

If you want to learn more about this topic, submit a reply below or just email us at carrie@bobbake.com or patrick@bobbake.com. We’d be more than happy to meet with you and share what we know about buying and selling homes – specifically in Plymouth and Northville. As home and design enthusiasts and as local residents ourselves, we love to talk about anything related to homes and home design but most of all, we love to help our fellow neighbors and friends! Our ‘official’ homepage can be found at www.bobbake.com.