I get that question a lot, especially during the winter months in these colder Northern climes. I got it again recvently and showed this prospective client why this is a great time for him to list his house.
The economy overall has been in recovery mode for about three years now. Michigan has lagged a bit behind, but has started catching up lately. So, from an economy point of view it is a good time. Hoe values have recovered nicely over the last year or two. Admittedly in this area they have not yet reached the peaks that they were at pre-recession, but those were artificially inflated values anyway. They are back on a more natural appreciation curve and have gained value that can be sustained and continue to grow. That’s all good, too.
What makes this a great time to sell for many home owners is the lack of competition caused by a very tight supply of houses for sale. It just makes sense that whatever it is you have to sell, the fewer other of those products that are available on the market at that time the better. Right now there are very few homes for sale in this area, at least compared to what was normal before the great recession. So, if there would have been 8-10 similar homes in the same price band on the market before the recession, now there may only be 2-3. There are entire $100K price bands with less than 5 homes to choose from right now. That’s great, if you want to sell a home that would fall into those price bands.
There are lots of reasons that have contributed to this dearth of homes on the market, one of which is that it has become a self-perpetuating issue. Many people who might want to put their home up for sale, perhaps because they have retired and want to downsize, are holding off because they fear that they won’t be able to find a new hoe to move into. That’s one issue holding down the expected increase in baby boomer sales; that and the fact that many have discovered that they are ill-prepared financially for retirement and must keep working. They are deferring any moves until their later retirement from the workforce.
So, the bottom line for would be sellers is that now, rather than later, is a great time to be on the market. People who are out looking right now are serious buyers (the tire-kickers wait for warmer weather) and they have little to look at, which means that your new listing will get immediate attention. Of course, it is still important to be properly priced and not let greed in the tight market influence you to overprice your house. Overpricing was a major contributor to the slowdown that we saw at the end of last year. Listen to the advice of your Realtor on pricing and get on the market now, while you have an advantage. If you wait until Spring, you’ll be joined by lots of other sellers who wait and have much more competition.
