Apr. 28, 2006: How to make your Phoenix-area house sell slowly
There are about 38,000 active home listings in the Arizona Regional Multiple Listings Service (the MLS) right now. Two years ago, a normal market would have been about 25,000 homes, so it's reasonable to say that inventory stands at about 150% of normal for now.
This is not happy news for sellers. A year ago, if you whispered to a friend in the check-out line that you were thinking of selling, a line of buyers would be waiting for you by the time you got home. But now the average time market is 60 days and the absorption rate for active listings--the amount of time necessary for all current listings to be 'absorbed' by the market--is five months or more.
But the news is not all cloudy. There's always a silver lining. Statistics artificially presume an equality of the factors considered, even though no two things are ever alike in real estate. If the average time on market is 60 days, then some houses are selling in six days--and some in 600 days.
On the west side, buyers will have their choice among several very highly comparable--even nearly-identical--floorplans. Given that high degree of comparability, it becomes very easy to determine which houses will sell quickly and which will languish on the market for months.
Price matters most, of course, but there is more to price than meets the eye. The lowest-priced candidate might not sell first, since it probably has other negative factors working against it. But the low-priced houses will make an excellent whip for beating up the sellers of higher-priced homes. But if you've priced your home too high, you may not get beat-up. You may not even get shown.
Presentation comes next--and some would argue it should come first. If your house is dirty--not to your eyes but your mother-in-law's--it will not sell in this market. If your home is not the cleanest--and best-smelling--among its competition, it will not sell quickly. It may not sell at all.
Greg Swann is the designated broker for BloodhoundRealty.com, a full-service Metropolitan Phoenix real estate brokerage. This article originally appeared in the West Valley regional sections of the Arizona Republic.
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