Why Some Buyers Don't want to Buy your house

Today’s buyers are more and more savvy about what is going on in the real estate market, most specifically about how long a house has been on the market, what it was originally listed for, and what it has sold for in the past. Thanks to websites like Zillow and Trulia much of this information is readily available.                                                                

Last year in Westport there were 433 single family home sales-a very respectable number.  What is often not realized is that in 2017 there were 215 single family listings that Expired before sale (with a median price of $1,495,000).  In addition, there were 249 Cancellation of listings (with a median price of $1,679,000). 

Looking at the pricing breakdown in more detail offers some interesting insights.  In the past 12 months there have been 176 properties sold that were listed under $1,000,000, and a total of 126 Expireds and Cancellations.  In other words almost 60% of the properties sold.

In the range of $1,000,000-1,500,000 there were 113 solds and 112 expireds and cancellations, or about 50% sold.

For properties listed between $1,500,000 and $2 million there were 94 solds and 85 expireds/canc. meaning that the odds of a house in this price range selling (53%) was actually higher than those listed between $1 million-1.5 million.

Between $2m and $2.5million, the percentages dropped slightly with 43 sales and 46 expireds and cancellations. That represents a 48% sales rate.

For homes listed between $2.5 million up to $3 million, ther were 24 sales and 42 expireds/cancellations, representing roughly a 35% success rate.

Not surprisingly,(because the buyer pool is smaller)  the success rate drops for homes listed at over $3 million.  There were 28 homes listed for over $3 million that sold last year and 72 expireds/cancellations representing a 28% success rate.

Many of these listings will come back to the market as new listings, and some are currently among the 242 current active listings.  The reason that the majority of these homes did not sell is due to several factors, though it usually boils down to two.  The first is presentation-whether the home compares favorably to similar homes on the market.  The second is price.

For those that would like to learn more I give a class at Staples high School twice a year re; How to Avoid the Costly Pitfalls when selling your home, in the spring and fall, or give me a call directly and I would be happy to look at your home and give you a free consultation.