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Anthony: Open houses not as effective lately, my friends, don’t get discouraged. Here’s what’s going on. I talked to some agents about this over the last week. You’ve got to remember we are at the time of year that inventory is at its peak. The inventory of homes for sale. The amount of homes for sale right now is at its peak for the year.
Every single year this happens in early October and every single year there’s sellers barking, “Why isn’t my home selling?” There are agents getting frustrated. They’re not getting nearly as many people at their open houses as they were back pre July 1st.
That’s because there’s more homes. Guys, remember in the fall, there’s less buyers and there’s many more homes on the market. You look at a time of the year like say February or March. The inventory, the amount of homes for sale in the market is very low but the amount of buyers is very high. I’ve talked to you guys about this many times.
Take right now for instance, in Massachusetts as an example, there’s about 18,200 or 18,300 homes on the market. Okay. That’s more than at any other time this year. It’s been like that for the last two and a half weeks.
In the spring, guys, there was 11,500 homes on the market in February or something like that. Within a thousand of that. This is the way the market flows. It happens every single year. This is why I’m always saying and I will never give in. I’ve been saying it for 15 years, the greatest time of the year to buy is the fall. The greatest time of the year to buy is the fall, but not everybody listens. [chuckles] Very few listen.
I want you to keep this in mind and here’s the deal. You’ve got to make sure that you are explaining this properly to your sellers. Don’t set the wrong expectation. Don’t get a seller all jacked up about an open house at this time of year thinking that they’re going to have droves and droves of people in and then when you don’t, they’re like, “Well, is it because they didn’t do what newspaper ad? Is it because the open house sign at the corner of the street was turned in a little bit? Maybe people didn’t see it. It has to be the realtors’ fault.”
We all know that’s what sellers get. Us realtors get more credit than we deserve when home sell fast and more blamed than we deserve when homes don’t sell.
This is why it’s critically important that you set the right expectations so you don’t end up in that situation with your sellers. I got to tell you, I talk to a lot of realtors. I talk to more realtors than I do than any other profession in the world.
There’s a lot of them that even in the last couple of weeks, they’re like, “I don’t know why my open houses aren’t doing as good.” I’m like, “What do you mean you don’t know why? Inventories up, the amount of buyers is lower.” Now, I will tell you though this is not as slow as the last few falls. The last three or four falls, it has been slower. This fall has been pretty darn active. It’s been good. I’ve done videos on this over the last month.
Usually this time of year like right now is not good to sell at all. It’s been decent. It’s just not as busy as spring and it’s not going to be so don’t set that expectation with your sellers. What’s going to happen between now and the end of the year? Here’s the deal, my friends. I’m going to put out a really detailed video for buyers and sellers about this in the next week, but I’ll give you guys an insight.
Every year beginning of October, it’s a little bit slower. Then around October 20th, we see a pickup in activity. A couple of reasons for that. People start giving up taking their homes off the market so inventory dips a bit. By the time you get to end of October, inventory falls off a cliff. Then here’s the deal. People who say, “Geez. I want to buy a home this year. If I want to buy this year, I need to buy now.”
From October 20th to November 10th-ish right around there, it’s usually very busy. Even November 15th. Make sure that your listings are in a good position. If your listing is overpriced, don’t just think, “Oh, if I wait for that Anthony said it’s going to get busier, it’ll solve my problems.”
Well, you might seem some more activity but if your listings are already overpriced, that’s not going to save it. Okay. Try to get your listing at the right price in the next 10 days. Get that adjustment made. You’ll see a pickup on the market. You’ll sell before the end of the year. I hope that helps my friends. Don’t be down if your open houses aren’t working as well as they did earlier in the year. Good luck, guys.