Days on Market

In this hot seller’s market, there’s one small part of an online listing that may actually be turning buyers off. Usually buyers are focused on the main features of a home: number of bedrooms, square footage, lot size, and of course, price. There’s another number, though, that can answer a lot of questions for potential buyers and their agents and that’s the number of days on market. 

When a listing goes live, online real estate states start tracking how long the listing has been active. Normally you can see other things, too, like how many times the listing has been viewed and/or saved. Naturally, newer listings get the most activity up front and with homes selling in days (or even hours), it might be concerning to see a listing with double-digit days on market. 

Right? 

According to data from Realtor.com, the average time on market across the country is 43 days. This actually does not seem to fit the current narrative of the hot, hot market. A lot of things go into this national average, but most notable, it’s the super high-end properties bringing up the number. Multi-million dollar homes have a much smaller pool of buyers to choose from and so they generally tend to remain on the market much longer, thus affecting the actual national average. 

So what do you do if your very own listing is starting to languish? There are a few things to try. You can remove the listing entirely and start fresh. You could lower the price, which essentially renews your listing in the algorithm (thus driving new views and attention). You might also consider making a few quick cosmetic updates to make your listing more desirable. Additionally, these updates could end up fetching you multiple offers, perhaps a bidding war, and a great return on the investment. 

Of course, if you’re not in a hurry to sell, there’s nothing wrong with leaving your listing as it is. The right buyer will come along eventually!