This past week I have been involved in 3 offers that resulted in both the buying side and the selling side of bidding wars, or where we got more than what the seller was asking for a home.
It’s interesting to me that there is this concept out there that it’s always best to wait for something prior to listing your house. To a seller that something can be spring or summer, or better weather or many different ideas sellers have as to when “the time is right”. Most sellers tend to think there is a “best time in the market” to list and sell their home. Certainly spring and summer when all the flowers are in bloom make a house and it’s outdoor living space look at its optimum. However in my experience houses sell all year long, even at Christmas time! Or as my recent experience, in the dead of winter when everything is not showing in the yard at its finest.
It’s quite simple, the market is best when people are out looking for a house and there are less houses to choose from.
What that can create is what I have been experiencing in the last month or so in the market; bidding wars, people seeing multiple offers and sometimes paying more for a home than its list price. Don’t let the time of year hold you back sellers, buyers these days realize what a house and its yard can look like at its full spring potential and in my experience what drives the market is times like this where we are at a serious lack of inventory in the greater Victoria Real Estate market.
Last month I had buyers here from out of town it was their third buying trip over from the mainland and we had exhausted the housing market and what inventory was available. We saw a house come up as new to the market and within four days of the home being listed we were involved in a multiple offer situation. This is where an experienced realtor comes in handy, as we went into the offers up against four other offers and through my previous experiences in a thriving market where bidding wars were common I had some tools I have learned to use over the years. My buyers trusted me, went with my advice and we were able to obtain the home and come out on top of the other offers to get my buyers the house they wanted at a price they were satisfied with.
Then on the selling side of the hats I wear this past week, after a month of working with the seller to get their home totally prepared for the market, we set the stage together and within 12 hours of listing, I was involved in a multiple offer situation, this time on behalf of the seller. The seller and her family worked hard to follow through with every single one of the suggestions that I made to prepare the home for the market. It certainly set this house apart from the other homes that are currently on the market and really shined through. It was such a true pleasure to work with people who followed through on every suggestion I gave them. We worked hard together to accomplish our goal and it paid off, within 12 hours we had multiple offers and many people interested in the home, we got the seller more than our list price and the moving dates that worked for them.
This is what can happen in an inventory starved market with a reasonably priced home where the stage is set.
Staging doesn’t have to be expensive as many people think it is, often it’s a few little tweaks and changes that I can give you to do. This seller didn’t have to do any big staging or bring any pieces in, rather just worked with me to “reset” things around the house, using my eye for what can refresh a home. It was all we needed to do on this one.
Should staging be necessary I always offer a free staging consultation with a professional staging company as a part of my listing package. Call me anytime for a free market consultation appointment and I am happy to show you all the tools my listing package provides you with to prepare your home for the market.
In my next blog we will discuss the different staging levels that I use, how that was really effective and we’ll talk about the third offer which although wasn’t multiple offers did elicit an offer for the sellers of more than list price, along with super fast closing dates. Which, because this was a family estate, worked best for the sellers situation.
We’ll talk about some get ready for the market tools and discounts at services that by working with me we apply that will help you get your home ready and make your move as easy and stress free as can be.