Is Your Portland Home Selling?

How many showings should your home be getting once it goes on the market? As a Portland real estate agent, I’ve learned that every seller has their own expectation – some are fine with one potential buyer looking around every week are so, some are calling in indignation if their home gets less than ten showings in the first three days on the market.

RMLS, the Regional Multiple Listing service for the Portland Metro and beyond (most of Oregon and southern Washington), suggests the average per listing in their system is roughly 1 showing per week on average. This information is gathered by comparing lockbox openings with the number of active listings in their system.

The most important factor to selling your home and attracting a buyer is price, according to nearly every real estate industry expert, with number two being marketing. I, however, would argue that number one is marketing, because how can a buyer get excited about the price if they’ve never seen the home in the first place? Buyers, or real estate agents acting on the behalf of buyers, normally search for homes online by price range (nearly 96% of home sales can be linked to online views). Then they make the decision to ask for a showing once they click on the listing and learn more about it, hopefully through the great information and photos the listing agent has provided. This is why we spend more money to feature our listings online, pushing them in front of other homes on the top real estate websites. We generate over 100,000 targeted online views per listing on average, sometimes more than 5,000 online views a day per listing. Consequently, we get significantly more visitors and offers – selling fast and for more. Even if every home in a certain Portland neighborhood is going pending in days with multiple offers, we tend to get more multiple offers. Excellent online marketing is a multiplying factor in home sales. See how we do it here.

From summer to fall, winter and spring, the volume of buyers on the market is different. Only the most dedicated traipse out on a cold, rainy Portland winter day to go home shopping in person, but this time of year, the sun will naturally bring out more potential home buyers. That doesn’t mean that everyone who looks at your home is serious about making an offer.

Is your home not selling? Your home may be priced to high, or there may be some issue that is scaring buyers away. You might want to ask your real estate agent what kind of feedback he or she is getting from the agents showing your home. There might be something you can change pretty easily — some new appliances, or a fresh coat of paint — that will go a long way toward turning your “needs work” home into a “charmer”.

On the other hand, if no potential buyers are coming around, despite your home being fairly priced and ready to sell, it’s a good time to double-check your real estate agent’s marketing on your home. Is all the information correct in the listing? A single mis-keyed number could drive potential buyers away, for example 1.5 baths instead of 2.5. What do the photos look like? Is your home listed on all the major real estate search engine websites, along with having its own website? Is the listing agent offering buyer’s agent commission compensation?

I became a Top 5% Real Estate Agent in the U.S. through aggressive marketing of the homes I list, and I can’t overemphasize how important it is. In addition to free home staging consultation and professional photography as part of my listing package, I ensure that your home will seen on just about every website related to real estate in Portland and beyond. Summer’s here and the buyers are out – it’s time to list your home, let it be seen, and get it sold!