Reality Check: How Long Will it Take to Sell My House?

Of course you want your house to sell fast. Who doesn't? But the days of being on the market just a day or two with multiple offers has long set sail. So you're probably wondering how long the whole process of selling my home take? One way to get your answer - Call your realtor. I can end this article here and let you agent take it from here. Why?...

In laymen's terms: Your agent knows what the hell he's doing. If you think agents just take a real estate test and then just open doors for prospective buyers and collect a fat check, you're wrong. We have the expertise to tell you how quickly homes are selling in your area, why they're selling (or why they're not), your competition (if any) and what you should or shouldn't do to get your home sold as fast as possible. That way you have realistic expectations and can work together to come up with a plan that’s based on today’s market in your area and for your home.

What I always do for my clients (and other good agents do the same) is a high-level overview of the supply of homes for sale and how that is going to impact the sale of your home.

Now for the bad news (sort of): The Growing Supply of Homes for Sale

Over the past few months, the number of homes for sale has increased. This is good news when you move because it means you’ll have more options as you search for your next home. HOWEVER: it also means buyers have more to choose from, so if your house doesn’t stand out – it may take a bit longer to sell.

Available inventory is made up of new listings (homes that were just put up for sale) and active listings (homes that were already on the market but haven’t sold yet). And if you look at data from Realtor.com you can see a good portion of the recent growth is from active listings that are sticking around (see the blue bars in the graph below):

How It’s Impacting Listings Today

Think of the homes on the market like loaves of bread for sale in a bakery. When a fresh batch of bread is put out, everyone wants the newest and hottest one. But if a loaf sits there too long, it starts to get stale, and fewer people want to buy it. In fact, many agents (including myself sometimes) simply call a heavily active area with homes for sale but nothing pending as a "stale bread area."

But just like the bakery, the principle is the same: New listings are the freshest and most sought-after. But if a home isn’t priced correctly, doesn’t show well, or it doesn’t have an aggressive sales or marketing strategy behind it, it can sit on the market and become less appealing to buyers over time.

An Agent Will Help Your House Stand Out and Sell Quickly

Timing is important as well. You want to get this done, fast. Trust your agent. They’ll make sure your listing is fresh and doesn’t stick around long enough to go stale. As the National Association of Realtors (NAR) explains:

“Home sellers without an agent are nearly twice as likely to say they didn’t accept an offer for at least three months; 53% of sellers who used an agent say they accepted an offer within a month of listing their home.”

Your agent will factor the recent inventory growth into their plan and create a customized selling strategy for your house. The supply of homes for sale can vary a lot by area. So they’ll do things like share their valuable insights into what’s happening with supply in your market, help you price your home correctly, and create a marketing plan that gets your home noticed.

Sometimes however, you do EVERYTHING right and and it's headed toward the stale bread list. What happened? As of this post:

The average time it takes to sell a house in California is 79 days — 44 days to get an offer and an additional 35 days to close. This is approximately 8.1% faster than the national average.

So don't blame your agent or yourself - or your home. The real estate landscape is constantly changing. When the feds raised the interest rates a short time ago, all hell broke lose. Many buyers ready to buy got priced out of the market. So now there are a lot less buyers. Only buyers that HAVE to buy are buying. Many sellers wanting to sell decided not to because they'd rather keep their 2-3% interest rate rather than move into a new home at 6 or 7%. Therefore the only sellers selling are those that MUST sell. It's a damn if you do and damn if you don't situation. And remember, with this whole NAR lawsuit thing, after August 17th of 2024, the landscaping is dramatically changing once AGAIN. However, and for now, if you priced it right, marketed it aggressively, it will sell, but it's just going to take a little bit longer.

Bottom Line

Don’t let your listing get stale—reach out to me if you need a realtor. Reach out to your agent if you have one to make sure your listing is fresh and appeals to buyers from the start. It makes a big difference.?