Dominating the End Zone
Photo Credit: Heinz Kluetmeier/SI
Even though the area’s real estate market is at long last exhibiting true signs of a gradual but sustained recovery, it continues to favor buyers in search of the best-priced buying opportunities. Improvements in the market notwithstanding, the pool of available homes in Southwest Florida—although shrinking—remains much larger during any given month than the corresponding pool of available buyers. In true “supply-and-demand” fashion, the region remains in a solid buyers’ market. Nevertheless, if you’re planning to sell your home in the not-too-distant future, you can significantly improve the odds of obtaining better results faster by taking two important steps now that will deepen your own pool of potential buyers.
First, commit to pricing your home at least as aggressively as other homes in its competitive set, if not more so. We repeat this mantra time after time—week after week—because price remains the single most important catalyst for luring buyers away from indecision on the sidelines to confidence at the closing table.
Second, list your home where it is absolutely assured of being noticed by the most buyers. It’s a proven fact. For homes in virtually every price range, Michael Saunders & Company engages more buyers and brings them to the closing table—by far—than any other company in Southwest Florida. A bold statement, to be sure; but one for which we proudly offer independent verification based on actual sales data obtained from the Sarasota MLS—and reported monthly by the California-based, independent research firm TRENDGRAPHIX.
For homes priced from $150,000 and up, agents of Michael Saunders & Company brought buyers to the closing table 68% more often in the past 12 months than the market’s next leading competitor. For homes priced $250,000 and above, we are apt to furnish the buyer 87% more often. Moreover, the spread between Michael Saunders & Company and the next leading competitor in the market is equally dramatic for attracting buyers to higher priced homes. This is a most vital consideration if your home falls into this category; since the recovery has yet to work its way into the upper tiers of the market. Versus a year ago, nationwide sales of homes priced upwards from $500,000 are down 8.9%, those priced from $1 million and up are down 23.3%; and homes priced from $2 million and up are down 32.4%.
