Our Market as of April 5, 2009

Here is a quick and rough data:

We currently have 226 single family homes priced between $50,000 to $250,000 under contract in Columbia school district in MLS.

Of these 226, 66 were on market less than 30 days.

The longest on market day is over 700 days.

Why some sold in 1 day, while others take 700 days?

In my experience, first factor is price. No matter the age and location of the house, if it is over priced, it will be on the market for a while. How long it will sit depending on how much it is over priced.

Sellers who bought a home around 05-06 have a hard time to price it according to current market. Yet the reality is pricing it right, pricing it competitively will save seller much headache and money later. Having a home for sale for over a year or 2 years cannot be beneficial to anyone esp. the buyer -- often the over priced home end up selling for less than market because the buyer tend to negotiate more aggressively, knowing that it's a stale listing.

Needless to say, other than price, how well the home shows is important. Painting is an inexpensive way to spruce up a home quickly. I have heard many seller say, 'we don't know what color the buyer would like, buyers would like to paint it to their own color choice anyway.'

However, the living room and kitchen often give the first impression, and if seller is serious about selling, they should paint at least the living room and kitchen to a neutral color, but not white. I cannot count how often a buyer would say 'boy that house look sterile.' A house with nothing but white paint make people think of hospitals.

A few hundred dollar in paint and labor can bring a couple of more thousand in sales price, because new and neutral paint would make a home look new and well cared for.

If a seller does not know what color to choose, one easy way is to go view some new construction homes, and copy one of them.