What’s Wrong with the House? – A Tale of Days on Market

The market is inching towards change which means homes are staying on the market longer. This also means I’m getting text messages and emails with a link and the sentence, “This home has been on the market forever, what is wrong with it?”. Typically, I select the link, and will review the whole listing for what could be wrong, like crumbling siding or a caved in roof. The home has only been on the market for 20 days. I’ll roll my eyes, groaning while whining at my phone, “NOTHING IS WRONG!”. I calmly write back, “Oh gosh I don’t know, should we find out?”. 

I think it’s the assumption that kills me. So many would-be buyers make assumptions about a home because they mistake access to information via a housing app as having ALL the information available on the home. Did you know there’s a whole portion of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) with information just for agents? The majority of listings in the MLS will also have seller disclosures and the most accurate history on the property, only available to Realtors who agree to the same Code of Ethics and pay dues, among other things. 

No matter who sends the text, the sentiment behind the question is always the same, “This house didn’t sell on the first day it was on the market, so there must be a catastrophic reason no one wants it.” While I understand the logical jump, it’s too far of a leap! In my experience, homes that are on the market for longer than usual are affected by one or more of the following reasons:

• Buyer Price Perception – Due to the volatility and urgency of the previous market, many buyers are used to mentally adding $15,000-50,000 on to a list price as a strategy to judge whether they can afford a home. With list prices at a historical high and interest rates continuing to climb, this means most buyers mentally are striking homes from their showing list due to their perceived price even if the home isn’t overpriced. But the perception is that it must be overpriced because no one has swept it off the market. 
• Buyer Behavior – I find in neighborhoods where there are many similar homes, from floor plans to style, if multiple of these homes come on the market at the same time, one of two of them will get the most attention. Even if just for the first weekend on-market, a home that has no issues will get overlooked due to the marketing or pricing of another property.
  When too many homes of similar style come onto the market, especially in the same neighborhoods, they often don’t all receive the same attention. Even a superior home with no issues may get overlooked due to inferior marketing or too much congestion. 
• Poor preparation/marketing of the listing – The first impression of a listing is so critical. Most buyers are looking on their phone at properties and making decisions based on the photos within a second of looking at each photo. As a listing agent, I’m SO PICKY about which photos come up first, how a home is staged and how the marketing appears online. Listings are needlessly punished by buyers when they aren’t properly prepared for the market. This could be bad staging, poor photo quality, initial photos that focus on elements buyers don’t care for (yard space as the first 5 photos? Get that out of here!), or any combination of these elements. As you can see, this has little to do with the actual property. 

Furthermore, a listing that suffers during the first couple of weeks may continue to suffer in the real estate apps that buyers are using. On any search platform, newer data tends to be rewarded. In other words, the longer a home stays on market, the lower on the search feed it will be likely to show up. Again, nothing may be “wrong” with this home, but for a combination of issues that weren’t addressed properly, the listing suffers from the start. 

Now I want to qualify, there are some homes that have serious issues that will impact days on market —no matter the marketing. It could be structural issues with the home or that the home is massively overpriced. But those are the outliers, not the common denominator.

So how should you treat days on market?

Give the home with high days on market a chance! It’s always worth a call to me to schedule a showing and walk through. In my experience when representing buyers who aren’t scared by higher days on market, I find that I have more leverage for negotiating on behalf of my buyers. I can actually get deals! Which means you can, too. 

If you are ready for less competition and more leverage in the buying process, call me and let’s go tour some homes that have been on the market for a while! There’s more gold out there than you know.

Veronica Ocejo Johnson

Broker | OR

She/Her

I create a sense of home before you even get there. Whether selling a home for top dollar or finding a dream home, I am invested in understanding my clients at an individual level to make sure all their needs are met. I help my clients realize their real estate dreams through concierge level service, expert knowledge and genuine care. My success has come from targeted marketing, competitive sales pricing and being someone others enjoy doing business with. Truly, being a Realtor is more than just a job for me. I've been in the industry since 2014, have done my "10,000 hours" and am in love with this industry. I believe this process can be fun, informative and enjoy helping my clients feel empowered in their real estate transaction.

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• veronica@vidapdx.com