Real Estate Article: How to Actually Sell your House Instead of Just Listing It
10/11/2006

        According to the statistical data I've looked at throughout the year for the Chino Hills real estate market, I am sure there are many discouraged sellers out there. With median prices and the number of sales each month gradually declining and an extremely large unsold inventory index that is continuing to rise, sellers" may feel like it’s almost impossible to sell. While times are difficult, it’s important that you look at the bigger picture and don’t give up. The market’s slowing down is a sign that it has recently peaked and although prices aren’t at their all-time high, they are still considered very desirable when compared to the entire real estate life cycle. Take into account that the longer you wait in a slowing market, the more likely your home will be worth less.

            Now that you have an alternative viewpoint on where the current market stands, you have to decide at which point in the real estate life cycle you would like to sell your house. As I mentioned before, it may not be the peak of the market or the absolute best time to sell your house but it’s definitely still a very good time. To help you make your decision there are a number of factors you can consider. First off, in order to sell your property at this time effectively you might need to sacrifice in terms of price. You must put a competitive price on your property, one that is suitable for the current market. Sometimes this will be less than you expected. If you are not ready to make that sacrifice then you need to consider another factor, your opportunity cost. If you don’t sell your property at this time, what will be the consequences? Some sellers have all the time in the world and they can wait until they think the market has peaked again or whatnot, but if you have time constraints then maybe it’s a good idea to make that sacrifice and get this finished instead of dragging it out and making a greater sacrifice in the future.

            If you have decided that you do want to sell your property then it is time to put a price tag on it. How you price your property will play a very important role in selling your property. The current unsold inventory is at about 430 homes and the total sales of each month have remained constant at about 60 sales. This means that only about 15 percent of homes out of the total inventory are actually selling each month. To make things simple, basically only the best 1 to 2 properties will sell out of a group of 10 similar homes. It is important that you strategically price your property so that buyers will view it as being the top 1 or 2 homes in terms of value out of a group of 10. With that said, how are you going to price your house? You would need the help of an agent to come up with a competitive price suitable for the market. You cannot just hire any random agent and expect for them to give you an estimate accurate to the current market, some agents will give sellers an overly optimistic estimate in order to seal the deal and other agents just don’t have enough experience or aren’t familiar enough with the area to give you a suitable price for your property. Listing your property with an unfavorable price will only add on to the already large unsold inventory and in a slowing market even if you lower your price, there is a good chance that you still wont’ be able to sell it because the market prices are declining along with your mark downs and your property will remain overpriced. You must hire an agent that is very experienced and familiar with your area to come up with a good price for your property. Once you have that done, you can list your property with confidence knowing that you can compete for the sales instead of just being another listing.

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