What ACTUALLY sells a house

I want to give you guys an exact explanation of what ACTUALLY sells a house. Pretty straight forward. Narrowed it down to just 3 things. Last point, being the most important!

1. THE HOME OR PROPERTY NEEDS TO BE EASY TO SHOW
What do I mean by that? In order to show it to the most amount of qualified buyers, it needs to be accessible during most hours of the day (about 8am to 8pm). Potential buyers who are interested in looking at your house could have irregular schedules, they could be in a hurry, they may have only a specific window of time in where they can view potential properties for themselves. I've seen some listings that are only able to be shown after 6pm which makes it really hard for me and my potential buyers to see that specific property. In our current market right now where inventory is relatively high, we could just move on and look at other properties. The main point of this is to make the home as accessible as possible so that they can view the property at any given time, even at a short notice. Personally, if allowed by Strata, I have used Lockbox's for my seller's who are looking to sell. The Lockbox's I use are only accessible to Real Estate Agents. Agents have a subscription access through our professional board. When another agent uses my lockbox to access the property, I receive all their information. I have the Agent's name and office information and what time they accessed the box to show the home. In looking for the right buyer, the one buyer that has a hard time booking an appointment could be the one we miss out on. 

2. Property needs to SHOW WELL
Buyer's need to envision themselves living there and for that to happen, the property needs to be organized, clean and decluttered. In general, I suggest aiming to remove one piece of furniture in every room. The home owner also needs to remove or hide family photos and remove any crazy pieces of art. Because again, the buyers need to envision themselves living in the home and those things I mentioned, make it harder for them to do so. For walls, I suggest that the paint on the walls need to be a neutral color. And lastly - odors. This is especially important if there are pets, or if someone smokes in the house. Find a way to remove unpleasant odors and create more of a neutral smell.

Along with the property being able to show well, GOOD QUALITY pictures are important. Pictures are the first thing somebody sees on the internet and we want to leave the buyers wanting to see more. It kills me when I see POORLY shot, phone pictures on listings. 

3. Lastly but most importantly, the property needs to be PRICED WELL
All the marketing can attract buyers but ultimately the price sells the home. Pricing could be 95% of it. We can mess up the other points but if it is still priced well, it will SELL! A house or property is like a product that has a present day value. Similar to the stock market actually, property values can go up and down. It is important to talk to a well informed REALTOR® to see what your home might sell for.

Home Buyers today continue to benefit from:

• low interest rates
• Increased selection in the market
• Relatively reduced prices. 

REALTOR®

Team 3000 Realty Ltd.
M: 604-500-5326
www.JeromeSusi.com

Over the last year (as shown in the above graph), sale prices have been steadily decreasing in Metro Vancouver, while inventory remains relatively high at 13,777 (August 2019) in comparison to the past couple years since 2016 (ex. January 2016 had inventory of 7,788). 

In July 2019, the MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) price equals $995,200 while in June of LAST year, the MLS® HPI price was $1,104,400. To generalize, that's about a 10% price drop for all property types in the Greater Vancouver area.

Note: The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) is the most advanced tool to gauge home prices and trends. 

Home Buyers today continue to benefit from:

• low interest rates
• Increased selection in the market
• Relatively reduced prices. 

REALTOR®

Team 3000 Realty Ltd.
M: 604-500-5326
www.JeromeSusi.com

Market Highlights
Our current housing market conditions continue to favour home buyers as they have more options in the current market. We are seeing higher than normal active listings in the market. Last month, the housing market saw an increased supply from home sellers and below average demand from home buyers. Last months sales are 42.5% below the 10 year average for home sales in February. It seems home buyers are doing the wait-and-see approach.

2019 FORECAST

Forecast for the year will vary from who you talk to or what organization they are from. Generally, experts predict to see home sales continue to see a drop  - either a further drop or make a slight recovery in the number of sales. Home sales saw about a 25% drop in 2018. In Canada, British Columbia is expected to lead in the year-over-year decline in home sales. 
This doesn't mean that the value of your house or property will decline. The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) predicts that the average sale price of a home on the MLS will be $720,000, which is a rise of 0.9 percent over 2018's figure.