Expired Listings: Why didn’t the house sell?
This month I’m going to do frequent reports on Kenmore real estate statistics in order to give you an idea of how Realtors analize the market. In this post, I want to talk briefly about “expired” listings. When the contract between a seller and a brokerage comes to an end, the listing expires.
When a listing expires, lots of complicated things happen:
1) The seller’s home leaves the market’s listing service or MLS. Generally, the seller has been under contract with the agent for several months. This means the seller has made mortgage and overhead payments for quite a while. It means lots of strangers have marched through their home. What’s more, the second the listing expires, sellers are inundated with calls by “enterprising” agents who want to acquire the seller’s business. The seller should ask himself/herself: “Why didn’t my house sell?”
2) The listing agent no longer represents the seller. This means that the agent must re-interview with the seller to acquire a new listing. This may not happen. It also means that the agent has lost time and money marketing the property (ads, signs, flyers, open houses, etc.). The listing agent should ask himself/herself: “Why didn’t my listing sell?”
3) Let’s look at a “big picture” consequence of expired listings:
Yesterday, there were 304 active listings in Kenmore. Today 45 listings expired which represents 15% of the active market. All of the neighbors should ask themselves: “Why didn’t these houses sell?”
OK, even though there can be a number of reasons for an expired home, the main reason is THAT THE HOME WAS OVERPRICED! In my experience as an agent, my expired listings were almost always a function of price. The current market has been extremely unforgiving of overpriced property. So if you choose to put your home on the market, make sure your agent has a firm grasp of home values in your neighborhood.
