If you live in West Hartford and are thinking about selling your home, now might be a great time to put it on the market, depending on the price point.
Am I off my rocker? You thought the sky was falling on the real estate market? Well, that doesn’t appear to be the case in West Hartford, for certain price ranges. Let’s take a look…
As of today, there are 169 properties available for sale in West Hartford (according to the Multiple Listing Service, the database real estate agents use to advertise homes for sale). There are also 75 homes for sale that currently have an accepted contract. That means there is only 2.25 months worth of inventory on the market, if you assume it takes only 30 days to close. Anything less than 3 months of inventory typically signals a seller’s market.
But let’s break these numbers down even further. Let’s look at the number of homes on the market broken down by price ranges that people usually search within…
Look at the number of homes available in the $351,000-$500,000 price range, just 21 houses. That’s nothing! It would also explain why last weekend 3 homes for sale in the $350,000 to $400,000 range in my office all went under contract in multiple offer situations.
So, if you’re thinking about selling your home in West Hartford this spring, what does this data mean for you?
1. If your house is in the $350,000-$500,000 range and your house is in selling shape right now, you might want to put it on the market now. You really don’t have very much competition and there are buyers out there looking. Open houses have been flooded in this price range the past 2 weekends. If your house is priced well and marketed aggressively, you may be able to get into a multiple offer situation. Wouldn’t that be nice?
2. If your house is in the $200,000-$300,000 price range, you have quite a bit of competition right now. Almost 40% of the market is in your price range. In order to sell your home, you’ll really need to price aggressively and be in good showing shape. At a minimum, make sure your house is neat, clean, and decluttered. Make sure it’s priced to sell. This is not a price range to try and be greedy, you’ll just increase your time on market.
3. If your house is in the $500,000-$750,000 price range, you have a “normal” to low amount of competition right now. Of the 19 homes currently on the market in the $500,000-$750,000 range, the average days on market is 98. Average days on market for all of West Hartford is 88 days. Traditionally, there are fewer buyers in the higher price ranges. This may be especially true now because jumbo mortgages are carrying higher interest rates. If your home is in this price range and you want to list now, make sure your house is in great shape and price aggressively. Also, your agent should be targeting the relocation audience that is out there. They have to buy.
4. If your house is in the $750,000-$1,000,000 price range, you have a “normal” amount of competition right now. Of the 12 homes currently on the market in the $750,000-$1,000,000 range, the average days on market is 63. Same thing holds with this price range, traditionally fewer buyers and jumbo loan rates may be discouraging some buyers. Focus on the relocation audience as well.
For some of you, sooner may be better than later when timing your house sale. If you’re in a price range with little to no competition, this is a perfect opportunity to get a quick sale, hopefully for top dollar.