There’s something happening in Boston real estate right now, and it’s more than just the seasonal holiday slowdown.
To put it bluntly, the market is shifting. It’s settling down. It’s taking a breather, so to speak. And as famous economist Herbert Stein once said, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”
A market shift can be a particularly difficult time for our sellers. The prices their neighbors were selling their homes for 6 months ago are largely going the way of the dodo. We’re seeing homes linger on the market for much longer than just the first weekend. We’re seeing sellers reduce their asking price in order to get buyers to make an offer. And we’re seeing the market shift from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market. This is never an easy situation for a seller to accept.
But, an experienced real estate agent can help you weather the shifting storm. We’ve done it before, and those of us who have been in the business for a while, know we will do it again and again.
If your home has been on the market for more than a couple of months, you have had no offers, and your agent is no longer receiving requests from interested buyers to view your home, then there is a very simple yet effective strategy for increasing showing activity: reduce your asking price.
Unfortunately, when a market favors the buyer, there’s no amount of paid advertising, open houses, email blasts, postcards, or sponsored social media that is going to sell your home. In fact, this kind of marketing can hurt you by sending a message to potential buyers that you’re still on the market and still haven’t received an offer, tarnishing the overall image of your home.
If you’re hoping to sell your home so you can move on and buy your next home, here’s something to consider: the seller of your prospective new home is likely in the same boat because they’re in the same market. There’s no harm in taking advantage of that fact. Just reduce the price of your home and negotiate aggressively on the purchase of your next one.
