How Fast Is Fast Enough?

9.69 Seconds is as fast as anyone has gone to date.

How fast will your house sell?

Home selling is a balance of the Home Selling Trifecta. More commonly know as Product, Price, Exposure. If one of these three essential elements is off, you will have issues in selling your home.

The knock most people have with Private Sale is the perception that they are limiting their exposure and extending the time they need to sell their house. Back pre-internet I would tend to agree. Today's private sale marketing companies get you the exposure that you need in order to get in front of buyers. Where this perception comes from is not from the exposure angle of the Trifecta but the other two components.

Product and Price are key in order to sell your home. They HAVE to be in alignment. If you are sitting with a $200,000 house and asking $230,000 people hit the next button on the computer screen. The decision is made without you even knowing.

As Private Sale Professionals we encounter more real estate transactions than that of the average home seller. We see people make good and bad decisions every day. To watch someone give up on private sale and reduce their price when they list with an agent does not comprehend. Let me give you some examples.

140 Peeblecreek Dr in Kitchener had listed with PropertyGuys.com in April 2008 for $384,900. In July they opted for the Realtor route. We last saw them on the MLS system on Feb 26 2009 after it had been listed for 224 days with an agent and had dropped the price to $349,988. A difference of $34,912 not including the estimated $17,000+ in commission. All that and they still had to wait 2/3 of a year!

17 Harrow Ct in Guelph listed at $460,000 with PropertyGuys.com in January 2008. After being listed a mere 66 days and dropping their price to $419,500 they opted to leave for the "greener pastures" of the MLS. Pastures grew, dried up, got covered in snow and were finally thinking of sprouting again this March when things finally showed promise and they sold. A harrowing 344 days with an agent and their last listing price on MLS was $369,000. A difference of $50,500 from their last price on PropertyGuys.com not including an estimated $18,000+ in commission.

61 Clive Ave in Guelph originally listed with PropertyGuys.com in June of 2008 for $349,000. After a few months on the market and price drops to $329,900 with no takers they opted to change their marketing strategy. Agents had been relentlessly telling them that they can get more money for their house, all they had to do was list and get the exposure that comes with from the wonderful world of the MLS. They listed with an agent in August at $340,000. After months of going nowhere except down in price ($319,900 is where they ended up) they opted to come back to PropertyGuys.com in early December. Doing the math they realized that even if they could have sold with an agent at $319,900 they would have ended up with $303,905 after commissions were paid. Knowing they needed to be more flexible they adjusted their price to $309,900. This seemed to put their Product/Price ratio into alignment because just after the Christmas holidays they had a sold sign on their lawn and a little over 95% of their new asking price.

Any athlete knows your performance does not happen out on the track. It all happens in the training. You must prepare yourself for the meet with countless hours of workouts to ensure when the pistol goes off you are ready to run down that track to victory.

Don't tense up and let the lactic acid build up and kill your finish, as Darrin says, "keep flexible"!

M