Foreclosures Have Impact!Sellers are discovering the cold reality of post-housing-bust prices. No matter what the seller thinks their house is worth, what matters is what buyers are willing to pay. That can be a lot less in areas where the supply of houses for sale is swollen by foreclosures and short sales, often priced 20% to 30% below the ones being sold by financially healthy owners. Nationally, such properties account for a third of all sales three years after a historic chill blew over an overheated housing market.
Nationally, 30% of the houses for sale were reduced in price in June, according to
Zillow.com, an online real estate site. Plenty of sellers have trouble pricing their homes against the foreclosed houses that lenders are trying to unload.
Pricing their home is one of the hardest things for sellers to do. They have an emotional attachment to their house, and for sellers to understand how they should price, they should deeply understand their market and competition -- what's on the market now, not just what's sold. Those sellers who do that successfully don't have a problem.
People who price their homes to the market are selling them in a reasonable amount of time, but people who cling to 2004 or 2005 prices are not. If you take into account bank-owned property pressures, you will sell pretty quickly.
Not all offers go smoothly. Even when owners find willing buyers, getting their price isn't a sure thing. Lenders generally require appraisals before giving a mortgage, and appraisers often take into account what foreclosed properties in the area sell for when determining how much a home is worth. If a home is being sold at too high a price, the sale can fall apart. Smart sellers get appraisals done before they sell the home.
Nationally, the average property takes eight to nine weeks to sell, down from 10 to 11 weeks a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. When homes are priced well they can and will sell - even in an anemic real estate market.
Contact the knowledgeable professionals at Flagstaff Top Producers Real Estate for all your home buying or selling needs.
Article courtesy of USA Today
