Everyone wants to sell their home fast and for top dollar, but most homeowners don’t know what it takes to sell their home with the fewest headaches, in the least amount of time for the highest price. The overall timeline when you’re working on selling a home can vary by season, price of the home, marketing skills of your REALTOR® and current market conditions. Even in the hottest of seller's markets, some homes don't sell quickly... or at all.
No matter what market you're in, here’s a general timeline most home sellers follow. When you’re planning to sell your home, remember to use this handy guide for planning your timeline.
- PREPARATION & MARKETING
- MARKET TIME
- CONTRACT to CLOSING
For most homeowners, the preparation stage often takes the longest. This phase can be as quickly as a few weeks or over a year.
What happens during this stage and why does it take so long? There are two parts of the preparation stage. The duties of the homeowner and the duties of their REALTOR®. For the homeowner that keeps an immaculate house, most of their work will be paperwork. Collecting their ownership documents and completing forms. They may also need staging, and inspections.
On the REALTOR side, they must ensure they have all the details in place to market the home. This is where you want to ensure you hire a REALTOR® that is skilled in seller representation. The more research the REALTOR® does to market correctly to target the best buyers, the faster the home will sell and for a higher price. It starts with pricing research. A home that is even slightly overpriced can turn away the most qualified buyers. Sellers also need to be conscious of the average showing-to-offer timeline for their price point and location to ensure they are adjusting their marketing and price at the appropriate market time to avoid leaving money on the table.
Then, from legal descriptions and technical details to home upgrades and local amenities, getting all the data together takes a few days. A skilled REALTOR understands the impact of excellent marketing on the final sale price. For example, photos are the first thing most buyers see when looking for a home and those photos determine if they come for an in person showing. This means professional, well-done photos must be scheduled. The photos must then be combined with creative writing and turned into marketing pieces. Depending on the marketing plan you may also have videos, tours and other media created. Before showings start your REALTOR® will want to ensure you are putting out the proper marketing with just the right timing to create the most buyer interest. You don't want to rush these things considering the impact they have on the sale price.
This is the showing and initial negotiations stage. This is the part they talk about in the news when you hear about about homes lagging on the market during poor economic times or homes getting multiple offers in just hours and agents brag about their days on market in their statistics.
In the hottest seller's market, home sellers often plan to be away from their home all day for the first few days on the market to allow every requested showing to take place. The first buyers to look are often the most motivated and you don't want to turn them away. If the property is in high demand, the REALTOR® will be fielding a barrage of phone calls, emails and texts from other agents asking questions about the property, closing timelines, offer details, etc. This is where the REALTOR'S® negotiating skills start to kick in. In a slower market, the REALTOR® should be using the market time to prospect for buyers.
If you have one offer on the property, the property then there may be some negotiation with a single buyer that could take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. If there are multiple offers on the property, the REALTOR® will discuss with the seller how they would like to handle review. Reviewing multiple offers can take an extensive amount of time to consider all the details and vet each offer.
If your move is time sensitive, then it is critical you understand you understand each stage in this process and the time involved.
As you can conclude, most average homeowners work with their REALTOR® for a few months to accomplish a sale in a hot market longer if the market is slower. In a hot market, if a seller is able to get their home up for showings within a week of meeting with their REALTOR® and gets a cash offer, the fastest possible total sale time will probably be three weeks. In a buyer's market, it could take six months to a year - or longer for luxury homes.
Always contact your professional REALTOR® as soon as you decide you want to move so they can help you create a timeline. Having a well-planned timeline will ensure the fewest headaches, most money in your pocket and a sale date that most closely aligns with your goals.
Sarah Marrinan is a Certified Residential Specialist advising home buyers and sellers in Minnesota. Learn more about Sarah or contact her today to discuss your moving plans.
