Yesterday, I came upon a good blog post from Amy Bohutinsky, a woman I knew from back in college who is now a vice president of communications over at the Internet Real Estate company Zillow. I liked her blog post a lot because it pointed out a pretty interesting statistic about homeowners.
For all of the news that we have read about foreclosures and declining home values, 62 percent of all home owners think their home has either increased in value or stayed the same over the last 12 months. She goes onto report that the cold hard fact is that 77% of U.S. home values have declined over the last 12 months.
Another interesting statistic relates to the future prospects for appreciation. While 42% of those surveyed thought that values in their neighborhood or community may decrease over the next 6 months, only 25% thought that their own home’s value will decrease. As Amy goes onto conclude that there is a pretty healthy amount of denial among home owners.
Denial is not a healthy attribute for sellers if they want to or need to sell their home in a buyer’s market. If you are considering selling, one of the first things you should do is evaluate your expectations vs. the reality of the market. At this point in time, there is a lot of inventory on the market and fewer homes being sold.
If you have unrealistic expectations on your home value, you will be priced above the rest of the market. The over priced homes in this market aren’t just having problems getting offers, they are having a tough time getting showings. For Maui sellers, you need to look beyond the sales stats to get a view of the market.
With more activity on the high end of the market, we are seeing inflated median prices for homes and condos in particular. A closer look at comparable sales year to year will show you that the majority of the homes and condos are worth less this year than last year. The seller’s who are having the best luck selling their properties quickly are positioning their homes equal to or lower than recent sales.
While cleaning up clutter and repairing deferred maintenance are great ways to improve your sales odds, a makeover of seller’s expectations may be the most important step towards a successful sale. Contact us today for a free consult if you are considering selling your home.