What “Days on Market” really means

Spring TX Real Estate: Market Report July 2008

August 24, 2008

Will St. Joseph help sell your Spring Texas Home?

September 7, 2008

DOM or Days on Market – what does it really mean? The simplest definition of Days on Market (DOM) is …. its the quantity of days a property has had an Active status in our multiple listing service. DOM is a statistic that is open to interpretation as to what it really means.

The average days on market for Spring Texas homes is approximately 90. So what does that say about a home that has been on the Spring Texas real estate market for more than 90 days? Ahhh … that’s where the interpretation of the statistic comes in.

If the home has been on longer than the average DOM does it mean –

A) something’s wrong with the home? NO. Although this could be a reason, there are numerous other reasons why the home is still sitting on the market.

B) the seller will accept a low ball offer? Again NO. Countless buyers believe that the longer a home has been on the market the more willing a seller should be to accept a low ball offer. If the seller is in a dire financial situation this may be true. But there are many reasons beyond financial ones that create a need for a homeowner to want to sell his home including downsizing, upsizing, or job change.

There are probably as many reasons as why homes sit on the Spring Texas real estate market longer than the average as there are colors in a box of Crayola crayons. And I am not talking about the small little box of 8 crayons. I am talking about the super duper jumbo box. The box with the crayon sharpener in the back.

The Five main groups of reasons that impact a home’s days on market are price, marketing, location, condition, and motivation.

PRICE: Not all homes are priced right when they are added to the market causing sellers to do several rounds of price adjustments before they finally get to the correct price. In my opinion, incorrect pricing is the number 1 reason why a home’s DOM ends up being longer than the average DOM.

MARKETING: Insufficient marketing and poor marketing will lengthen the amount of time a home is on the market. With 84% of Buyers starting their search on the Internet, homes that are not on numerous websites such as Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, Yahoo Real Estate, and Craigslists, are NOT being exposed to the largest pool of buyers possible. Numerous photos and quality photos are needed to peek buyers interest in the home. If the home has NO photos or bad photos, buyers move on and look at the next home that was returned in their search results.

LOCATION: A bad location will increase a home’s days on market. A home backing to a busy street, a cemetery, commercial property, or an apartment complex would be considered bad locations. Fewer buyers are going to be interested in homes in bad locations and thus it will take longer before that right buyer comes along.

CONDITION: The majority of buyers are not handymen and don’t want to buy a handyman special. Buyers want to move right in and immediately start enjoying their new home. Buyers want updated homes. The 25 year old appliances, out dated wallpaper and light fixtures, and butcher block counter tops might have good enough for the owners when they lived in the home but its not for the buyers. The non-updated homes will experience longer days on market because fewer buyers want to do the updating.

MOTIVATION: Non-motivated sellers want to sell and show their homes according their terms. Showings occur when its convenient to sellers and not when its convenient for the buyers. Reducing the quantity of showings and increasing the days on market.

In the end, remember Days on Market is a statistic. A statistic that an experienced Realtor will be able to interpret and tell you if the reason for a home’s high DOM will impact its future resale value.