How to Get a Home to Sell in 2023
In order to increase your changes to sell a home in 2023, which is expected to be a tougher real estate market than usual, it is most important to know exactly how homes sell across the country. What causes a home to sell or not? We perform a ton of research locally to answer that question, and thankfully NAR, National Association of Realtors, puts out a huge report annually to assist in answering how homes sell nationally.
Three Main Factors that Lead to a Home Sale
According to the latest NAR fall 2022 report, the buyer found the home they ended up purchasing using these methods:
| % of the time | Where the buyer found the home they purchased. |
| 91% | Found the home online themselves, or their friends, or their Realtor (typically using a local MLS system) found it online and shared it with them. |
| 5% | They already knew the owners of the home personally. |
| 4% | Due to seeing a yard sign or visiting an open house (combined). |
| Less than 1% combined. | Magazine, Radio, TV, Postcards, Flyers, Newspapers, Other |
Excluded from the above results would be visiting a new home builder’s office (I’m only concerned about resale residential properties for this article).
Recent Changes from Past Reports on How Homes Sell.
You can find our previous annual reports on what causes homes to sell here. In summary, the amount of buyers that knew the homeowner personally has gone up a few percentage points since 2020 as the market turned red hot for sellers and home buyers became desperate to avoid the bidding wars happening in the public market. It is like that 5% figure of home buyers purchasing a home where they already knew the homeowner will decrease as the real estate market cools off in 2023. Other than that, this report matches the previous year, where open houses and yard signs combined only accounted for 4% of home sales nationally. We still install yard signs and hold open houses, but we’re honest with our clients on how effective they are.
The Most Important Thing You Can Do is Improve Your Home’s Online Presence
We have multiple ways to ensure our client’s homes get viewed more often online. The home sales funnel is simple. Home buyers view it online, then they make an appointment to show the property. If they can’t find it online or it isn’t featured prominently on every website possible, you’ve lost out. If the Realtors that are searching for their clients can’t find it on their local MLS system of choice, you’ve lost out.
We pay extra to feature our client’s homes on the top home search website in the country.
We pay extra to place our client’s homes in multiple MLS systems. There are three major MLS systems in Oregon and two major MLS systems in Washington. It is crucial to put the homes in the hands of the home buyer’s Realtor. Most Realtors use their MLS system to find homes for their buyers, they do not use the national search websites. This is because the MLS system they are a member of will give them instructions on how to show the home for sale, it will tell them what commission they will make if they bring a buyer, and it will give them the listing agent’s direct contact information so they can ask pertinent questions.
This is how a buyer shops for a home online.
As mentioned above, the first picture is where it all starts. Then if they like the photo set they read the description. If they like the photos and the description, then they look for addition, more in-depth information on the property. They want to find 3D tours, floorplans, and PDF brochures, and access that additional information on the home search website they prefer. If they’re satisfied, they will make an appointment to tour that home, even if it means buying a plane ticket to go take a look. (The vast majority of home buyers still visit a home in-person before making an offer, but we are starting to sell more homes site-unseen, due to the quality of our presentations and the improved available 3D tours we use for every home. We put out all the stops for our client’s homes. Professional photography, staging consultation, and professional 3D tours are standard services.
Sell Your Home Faster and For More
We charge 4% max. to sell a home (includes the buyer’s agent fee). We also pay extra to feature the home online and list it in multiple MLS systems. Then we also ensure the home has the best possible online presentation with professional photos, 3D, and staging advice. Finally, we top it all off with a cancel anytime for no charge contract. Licensed since 2003, my team has sold over 2,000 homes. We’d love to connect with you today! Chat with the bot on this site or give us a call today.
