This One Easy Tip can get Sellers More Money from their Home Sale

For home sellers in 2020, this one easy tip can get more money in your pocket from your home sale in Olympia, Washington. Click here to watch the video.

Most home sellers know the drill in how to prepare their homes to get the maximum sales price:

• Create great curb appeal

• Clean and declutter the home

• Have great photos and a comprehensive promotional strategy

• Price appropriately

But there is one step that I’m seeing too many sellers in this hot 2020 market skip, and it’s causing them to leave money on the table. This one step is…….to wait.

Time on market can impact your sales price

In looking at the June sales, one of the busier months for sales this year, we found that sellers who just waited to accept an offer on Day 3 of their listing ended up getting a higher sales price than those sellers who accepted the first offer they received on the first day.

Market statistics compiled by CBEOR from NWMLS data. Statistics not published or compiled by NWMLS.

For the average sales price, this equates to nearly $8,300 more that the average Olympia, Washington seller gained when they waited to accept an offer on Day 3 of their listing.

Also note that each month has been different. For some months, sellers who accepted an offer on Day 5 received the highest sales prices overall.

Why a Little Patience Pays Off

It’s understandable why sellers want a quick and easy home sale, and agents will even brag how they sold a house in a day, but does that give sellers the best return?  Based on these stats, the answer is no.

But you don’t really need a chart to tell you this. This boils down to plain old-fashioned common sense.

The reason why we as listing agents tell you to depersonalize your home and why we have a multi-pronged promotional strategy (online, print, targeted advertising, on-site, etc.) is to reach and to appeal to the most amount of buyers.  But if you only allow your home to be listed on the market for a few hours, you aren’t getting the most number of buyers to see your home.  You could be really selling yourself short.  A little bit of patience can go a long way in this market.

When Should Sellers Accept an Offer?

Each seller and each property will have unique circumstances that can help determine when would be the best day. In our Northwest Multiple Listing Service, when we enter a new listing, we also enter if the seller will review offer(s) upon receipt or will review offer(s) on a specific date. Buyer-brokers can see this information and can set expectations with their buyer-clients.

Balance is Key

If a seller has offers in hand and waits too long to choose an offer, some buyers may choose to rescind their offer and move on. This becomes a fine balancing act of trying to figure out how long is too long. Buyers will want sellers to accept their offer as soon as possible to fend off even more competition from other buyers. Sellers will want to allow enough time on market to allow as many buyers as possible to tour the home.

Conclusion

Waiting in this fast-paced market may pay off for sellers in getting the most this unprecedented seller’s market has to offer. Be patient, price right, and have the help and guidance of an experienced Realtor on your side.