No, really … How Long has it been on the Market?
Posted on February 9th, 2007 by Jonathan Dalton
A friend of mine recently was shopping for a new car and asked if I had any tips for him. After all, we all know that your average real estate professional is no better than a used car salesman. Ask anyone in the REBC.
So I told him, “make sure you ask how long the car has been on the lot.”
Clearly, if a car has been sitting on the lot for more than a month or so there has to be something wrong with it. It couldn’t be that it was painted fuchsia. It couldn’t be that it was a Toyota Yarris and only slightly larger than a big wheel. It couldn’t be that the one significant upgrade was a larger ashtray. It couldn’t be the post-markup price.
And it certainly couldn’t be the presence of hundreds of similar cars on dozens of other automobile lots around the Northwest Valley.
So my friend asked the salesman how long the car had been on the market. And can you believe it? The salesman wouldn’t tell him. He muttered something about that information being utterly meaningless (once he stopped laughing, of course.)
Personally, I’m shocked that anyone could fail to see the utter importance of how long a piece of merchandise has been sitting on the market. After all, Big Important Writers have devoted their valuable time vilifying those who dare argue that the length of time a home is on the market is irrelevant, non-material information.
If the theory is sound for one piece of merchandise, why wouldn’t be sound for another? Or for all?
So before you buy your next car or computer or Beanie Baby, make sure to ask the sales person how long this piece of merchandise has been on display. Clearly, you can’t judge whether you’re paying too much without knowing whether others have passed in the past.
And while you’re at it, make sure to ask any unrepresented seller how long they’ve had their home on the market. If it’s of such import that it MUST be in the MLS, then ought it not be of such import that ANY seller REGARDLESS of marketing method be required to make the disclosure? Why would this only matter on broker-listed properties?
Editor’s note: If you’re somewhat offended by the notion of a house as just another piece of merchandise, so am I. But that is the view Big Important Writers and the REBC prefer you take.
Technorati tags: business week, peter coy, mls, days on market, phoenix arizona, phoenix arizona real estate, disclosure
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Great post - I hope your friend had the foresight to walk off the lot without buying anything from that salesman. It’s common sense to ask questions like ‘how long on the market?” when buying a home, but I think sometimes buyers get caught up in the superficial aspects of the house (number of bedrooms, lot size, etc.) that they can forget to look beyond that to other, more urgent problems (like being on a flood plane).
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The thing is, Erin, I’d argue how long a home has been on the market is more superficial than the number of bedrooms. Number of bedrooms could cause a problem for a family of five (speaking from experience.) How long the home has been on the market has nothing to do with the home or my needs. Some believe it’s an indication of a sellers’ motivation (or lack thereof) but beyond that occasional tidbit of fact, it’s fairly useless.
I’m trying to write a comment but am distracted by that trackback comment in the number 2 slot. It’s got an opening paragraph from one of my posts in there. Weird.
Anyways… DOM it’s a factor and somewhat useful, but not the be all and end all of analysis. The endless “New MLS” number spoofing gets tiresome, specially when someone is set up on auto notification.
Excitable Buyer: “Wow a new property!”
Tired Realtor: “We saw that two months ago. Twice.”
All this underlines the importance of bringing your house to market in top condition and priced right. Botching that costs the seller money in the long run usually.
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Hi Jon,
I couldn’t resist weighing in on this… You say. “How long the home has been on the market has nothing to do with the home or my needs. Some believe it’s an indication of a sellers’ motivation (or lack thereof) but beyond that occasional tidbit of fact, it’s fairly useless.”
I couldn’t agree with you more.
What many people outside the real estate industry don’t know is that many small towns have their own rules and idiosycracies that go a fair way to make it difficult for out of area agents to do business in their town. Some of these rules also make it difficult for local agents to sell the listings they have.
For example, one town that I do business in only lets you put your listing on broker tour ONCE. That’s right, I said ONCE. If all the agents didn’t see it that day, too bad. And if they agents don’t see it, then they don’t show it. If they don’t show it, then the home doesn’t get sold–at least not as quickly as it should.
In this town specifically, the AVERAGE days on the market has been ranging from over 150 to over 180, depending on the month. Which is totally ridiculous, given that nearby towns are averaging 76 to 80 days on the market. Less than half the time, simply because they make it easier to do business. One way to do that is to have the home on broker’s tour every week until it sells. Because buyers work with agents, and agents need to be able to preview the properties. Otherwise the agents risk embarrassing themselves in front of their buying clients by showing inappropriate properties.
There ought to be a law.
Kelley …
Why in the world would they have that rule? I’m not a big fan of broker tours, to be honest. They seem to expend lots of gas for little impact. At the same time, to limit a home to one tour is arbitrary to the point of being ridiculous.
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