Homes across the nation are being sold at a faster rate than in the previous year, and the housing market is currently experiencing a very high demand, which makes home sales very quickly. Compared to about a decade ago, when home sales took somewhere around 140 days from the day of listing to accepting the homebuyers’ offer and closing the deal, homes today sell almost twice as fast.
In today’s article, we’ll discuss the fast turnaround time, its causes and effects, as well as ways and methods to decrease the number of days your home spends on the market, searching for a new owner.
The Average Time It Takes to Sell a House
The average time it takes to sell a house varies significantly, mostly depending on the market value, local market conditions, demand for housing, and seasonality. According to the National Association of Realtors, the average amount of time homes spend on the market is approximately twenty-five days before home sellers accept an offer they believe is appropriate. After that, home sales usually require an additional 35 to 45 days closing period before they’re officially closed.
However, some market trends, like seasonality and median sale prices, have become inconsistent in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic had introduced record home sales and prices driven by record-low mortgage interest rates, which had caused the rentals and sales to plummet for a short while before home prices skyrocketed to new heights.
This made significant shifts in the housing market. Usually, home sales begin to slow down around September before speeding up again starting in the spring. However, in September 2020, homes spent an average of 16 days on the market before home sellers accepted an offer.
2021 continued to challenge the established real estate market trends; in April that year, the number of days on the market shortened even further, and homes spent as little as a week before offers were accepted. Considering that the average days a home spent on the market in 2010 was 140, in 2011 it was 98, and in 2012 it was 68, it’s easy to conclude that the sales time has decreased.
The Average Time It Takes to Sell a House In Boise
If you’re getting ready to sell your home in Boise, Meridian, or any other city in Idaho state, it’s good to know just how long to expect the sale to take. Following the national average of approximately 75 days on the market, from listing through closing, homeowners can expect to receive an offer from potential buyers within approximately 37 days, plus the typical 35-day closing period.
This is greatly influenced by several factors, including real estate agent’s listing strategy, home value, time of year, asking price, and home buyer’s financing situation — whether they’re making a cash offer or securing a loan from a lender.
What Are the Average Days to Sell a Home?
While there isn’t a simple rule as to when a home listing becomes a stagnant listing, there are key metrics that help experienced real estate agents and buyers how long your home has been for sale. These are known as days on the market (DOMs). The NRA defines DOMs as the number of days from the date your home is listed on multiple listing services to the date the seller signs a sales contract.
This metric helps buyers and realtors determine which homes are fresh on the market and helps determine the home selling market itself. A low average DOM indicates a strong seller’s market, while a high average DOM indicates a buyer’s market — which usually indicates that home sales are going slow.
DOMs are specifically crucial to the sellers, considering that homes generate the most interest when they’re fresh on the market. After a few showings and open-house visitors, you’d exhaust the current buyers on the market, and the interest in your home would wane and increase your home’s DOM.
If the buyers notice that your home accumulated above-average DOM, they’ll inevitably wonder what’s wrong with the real estate, which usually implies one of the following: the list price, curb appeal and conditions the home is in, and location. Since you have already exhausted the current buyers on the market, the limited number of new buyers entering the market simply won’t be interested.
Fortunately, all but the last are changeable, and correcting the price or improving the first impression or how your family home looks can help you speed up the sales process.
How Can You Speed Up the House Selling Process?
There are several steps you can take to make your home more appealing to potential buyers and sell your home fast. Here’s a list of factors that could potentially speed up the home selling process:
House Preparation
You should strive to create a clean, clutter-free environment, as it will give the buyer confidence in the property and its condition. If you’re able to put a fresh coat of paint on the wall, go with something neutral. Potential owners will likely envision themselves in the new home, which is really hard to do when the neon green walls are staring them in the face.
The best possible approach is to adopt a buyer’s mindset when prepping your home. Make sure there’s less furniture and personal items around the house. Remove them, and they’ll make the space look even larger than it actually is.
Selling Your House at the Best Time
It’s really important to time the market and sell your home with the average DOM being low, as there are overall faster turnarounds and generally better profits. It’s also worth holding off until the market becomes favorable, but that might incur maintenance costs.
However, if you’re selling a house fast for cash to companies that buy houses Boise residents are looking to sell, contact Gem State Cash Offer — we buy houses Idaho taxpayers are selling, offering fast turnarounds and cash payment.
Avoid Major Renovations
While it’s entirely okay to do spring cleaning before listing and showing your home and addressing minor repairs, we strongly advise resisting the urge to do major renovations. Just because you have know-how doesn’t mean you should. Spending time and resources on major upgrades will not yield a high return on investment on the final sale price.
Putting a fresh coat of paint is reasonable, but you should stay clear of kitchen and bathroom renovations and functional and structural changes, like adding another room or a master suite.
Cash Home Buyers in Idaho
Contacting cash home buyers from Idaho, such as Gem State Cash Offers, is one best alternative ways to sell a house, as opposed to traditional listings. They’ll help you sell your house fast, for cash, in as-is condition, and without any real estate commissions involved.
Stagnant listings can be pricey over time and serve as perfect indicators of accumulated DOMs. Sure, re-listing your property is one of the ways to reset your DOM, but it also tends to be pricey over time, especially if the house isn’t selling. Consider calling Gem State Cash offer before posting a “buy my house Meridian” ad on local listings.
Pre-listing House Inspection
You’re usually well aware of the issues and problems currently of your home, which you’re legally obligated to disclose to potential buyers prior to the sale. Unfortunately, these minor and often overlooked issues with the property inadvertently pass onto the new buyer. And that’s where home inspections come in.
The problem lies in instances in which the buyer is getting their own inspection, which may find numerous problems plaguing the property that the original homeowner wasn’t aware of. This could prompt buyers to back out of the sale, demand that the seller fix the issues before the deal goes through, or even try to reduce the price.
This has happened so many times that it became a trend for homeowners to get their own inspections to help determine the existing issues, tackle the easily solvable ones, and determine the correct asking price, in addition to decreasing the chance of the buyer finding hidden defects and backing out.
Final Thoughts
The high demand for housing has caused incredibly fast sale times, and as of 2022, homes usually spend approx. a month before sellers accept an offer they deem appropriate, and another month or so for the bank or other financial institutions to finalize the buyer’s loan.
Sale time is greatly affected by seasonality, condition, and asking price, but last year’s April has shown us that certain sales might be finalized entirely within one week. If you’re in a hurry to sell your property in Idaho, contact Gem State Cash Offers — a house buying company operating in Boise and Treasure Valley. They can appraise your home and make a cash offer within 24 hours.