Step 12: The First Week Your Home is On the Market
The first week your home is on the market, there are two fundamental metrics that we keep a close eye on:
Number of Showings
Our goal is to have 5 – 10 showings the first week your home is on the market. If we don’t have at least 5 showings, we have a problem. Either the marketing/photography is wrong, or the home isn’t priced correctly.
If this happens, we need to have an honest discussion about what needs to be done. After the first week, our goal is to have 3 – 4 showings per week. Depending on the feedback we’re receiving at showings and the number of them, we may need to talk about reducing the price if we don’t have an offer after the first 2 weeks.
The Marketing Stats
The other metric we keep a close eye on is the marketing stats. We will send you these on Monday mornings. Our goal is to have at least 350 people view your listing. This means your home matches the search criteria they are looking for in a property. Anything less than 350 means not very many people are looking for a home like yours, and the potential buyer pool is small.
If this is the case, we need to figure out how we can expand the number of people who might be interested in your home. Most searches are based on seven main criteria and each one can be a deal-breaker:
- location
- number of bedrooms
- number of bathrooms
- square footage
- whether the property has a basement
- lot size
- price
For instance, if your home doesn’t have the square footage, is there a way we can utilize spaces more creatively and accentuate that in our photography and descriptions?
In addition to looking at the number of people viewing your property, we also look at the number of people who have marked your property as ‘Interested’ or ‘Maybe’. Our goal is to have 20 Interested and 20 Maybe’s at the end of the first week.
Generally, that’s a good indication that your property will sell in the first 30 days it’s on the market.
So what happens if the metrics on my home are less than desirable?
First, don’t get discouraged. Remember our discussion about the average days on the market in your area. This process doesn’t happen overnight, but eventually, we will find the right buyer for your house.
Second, keep your house clean and tidy and approve as many showing requests as possible when they do come in. The more showings we have, the better the potential of getting an offer.
Third, we need to take a hard look at what we can do to improve the chances of your property selling. There are four essential factors that figure into the selling process:
- location of the property,
- the condition of the property,
- the marketing/photography, and finally and most importantly,
- the price.
- We know we can’t change the property location.
- Try looking at your home from the perspective of a buyer and ask yourself if there is anything else you can do to improve the condition/staging of the house to make it more attractive. Go back to your pre-marketing inspection findings again. Would replacing gutters or upgrading kitchen flooring and painting some of the rooms a more contemporary color leave a better impression with a buyer? If the condition is as good as it can possibly be, then we need to look at marketing/photography.
- How do the photos look? Is there anything we can improve in the description of your home? Was there a great feature(s) we didn’t emphasize enough the first time around?
- If the above three factors are as good as they can possibly be, then the only thing we can change is the price. Remember, buyers, tend to search in $10K increments so to hit the next large group of buyers we need to be below the next $10K threshold. Therefore, if your home is listed at $485,000, we should drop the price to $475,000. $2,000 and $3,000 price reductions aren’t enough. Price reductions need to be substantial (at least $5K to $10K) to make any difference.
Finally, would you consider a monetary incentive to encourage buyers to put an offer on your house? Perhaps a closing cost credit if the property is under contract by a specific date? Or let us offer an incentive bonus to the buyer’s agent if the property is under contract by a certain date? Even if an added financial outlay isn’t what you initially envisioned to get your home to sell, these techniques really do work.
