PHOENIX – If you’re house hunting, you might have noticed a lot of sellers pulling their homes from the market. A rise in delistings means many sellers are backing out.
It takes a lot to list your house for sale. You’ve got to clean it, take photos, then keep it clean, yo be ready at any moment for a buyer wanting to take a tour.
So with all that stress, why are so many backing out of selling their house?
Local perspective:
Earlier this year, Rick Wertheim tried to sell his rental home in Phoenix.
“We were not getting a lot of nibbles,” Wertheim said. “We had, if I’m not mistaken, in three months we had zero offers.”
His home wasn’t staged like some other listings in Phoenix, so with no offers, he pulled back.
“We thought the market was a lot stronger than it was,” Wertheim said.
Rick isn’t alone. In fact, there’s been a spike this year in sellers canceling listings.
By the numbers:
According to industry analysts at Cromford, over the last two months, more than 4,700 sellers in the Valley canceled their listings.
That’s 1,200 more than this time last year.
“Thirty-five percent of our listings end up either canceling or expiring,” said real estate expert Trevor Halpern. “So we have about a 64 to 65 percent chance of listing success rate, means you list it and you sell it.”
What they’re saying:
Halpern, with Halpern Residential at EXP, said in some ways it’s a return to normal after the housing market went through the roof in the years after COVID.
“We’re getting closer to long-term norms, but we’re still above normal,” Halpern said.
He believes many sellers are seeking a number they just can’t get right now. He also said that some may not need to sell but just want to sell. Either way, hope may come if interest rates are lowered.
“Those people aren’t going away, they’re just waiting,” Halpern said.
Why you should care:
Rick relisted his home with big changes: a new agent, new pictures, and this time, he staged it.
It sold that weekend.
“We still got enough to walk away with a profit and it was worthwhile to still sell,” Wertheim said.
Halpern said those things are key.
The other side:
Meanwhile, a new survey from Bankrate found that potential homebuyers are giving up on homeownership, Fox Business reported.
Home affordability and interest rates appeared to be a leading factor in the decline of buying a home.
What you can do:
He added that when picking an agent, make sure to ask them their marketing plan and how they’ll report back to you that they’re meeting all their benchmarks.
The Source: This information was gathered from industry analysts at Cromford and a Phoenix real estate agent.