One of the most common questions a seller asks me is “How long will it take to sell my home”. I then show them the average DOM, or Days on Market, for competing homes. This does answer how quickly homes sell in their marketplace, but does not the question about the saleability of their home.
To answer this question, I look to a phrase that I have coined, “Universal Appeal”. Universal appeal looks like this. If 10 buyers walk into a home and 8 or more walk out and say to themselves “I could live there”, then that home has universal appeal. The home appeals to the majority of buyers, or simply put, it has “Universal Appeal”. Pretty simple concept.
A home doesn’t have universal appeal when a buyers walks out of a home and says, “I wouldn’t buy it because…”. These reasons are varied, but some of the more common objections would be: It’s on a busy street, or the location is noisy. It needs too much work or is dated. It doesn’t have a master bedroom or master suite. It is too small. It only has a one car garage or something functional is missing. The back yard is too small. The location is compromised, maybe it backs commercial, or has a large apartment next door, or maybe junkie homes on the street.
The greater the universal appeal, the greater the number of buyers and then the quicker the sale. The above list of objections prevents the sale of the home because they are “Deal Breakers”. The buyer might like a lot of things about the home, but a deal breaker means that while they appreciate many things about the home, they would not buy it.
These deal breakers do vary based upon price. As purchase prices increase, so do expectations and the quality of competing homes. In Long Beach many of the original homes are smaller with only 1 bath and no master bedroom. If a home is an entry level priced home, it is OK that there is only 1 bath and no master bedroom, as that is the competition.
Some “Deal Breakers” you can’t fix, some can be addressed.
This leads to the concept of balance. In each price category, homes are expected to have certain features. This is critical to think about when considering remodeling your home and / or expanding your home. If you had a 3 bedroom 1 bath home, your home would be better served with a 2nd bath than a 4th bedroom. While a 4th bedroom is a NICE feature that many home owners would like, a 2nd bathroom is a feature that most buyers REQUIRE.
So as I look at a home and try to answer the question “How long will it take my home to sell?”. Not only do I look at the market activity. I look at the sellers home and ask myself “How universally appealing is this home?”. In the middle price point of Long Beach single family homes, it would check all of the boxes if I could answer yes to these questions:
1) Is the home on a quiet interior location?
2) Is there 3+ bedrooms and 2+ baths?
3) Is one of the bedrooms a master bedroom suite?
4) Are the upgrades somewhat recent and done in an attractive manner?
5) Is there a two car garage?
6) Is there a back yard and does the home flow nicely to the back yard to make use of it?
7) It is a plus if the master opens to the back yard as well, but this isn’t a “Deal Breaker”
8) Is there is a family room? This is a plus, or at least is the living space a good size?
9) Then there is the final undefinable appeal. It is a home’s “Je ne sais quoi”. That indefinable quality that makes something distinctive or attractive. We know when a home has it and when it is missing.
As a homes price point rises, the lack of any of these items becomes more of a deal breaker. The presence of them all means that a home will sell more quickly. If the home is at the upper price point, the lack of one of these items, does not mean that the home will not sell. It just means that the price will have to reflect the missing features. Time on the market will increase because it will take more potential buyers to find the right one that is willing to overlook what is a standard expectation, or the “Deal Breaker”, and appreciates the extra value in what the home does offer.