Selling a Home at the End of 2024.
Welcome to part two of a three-part series.
Part I: Buying a Home
Part II: Selling a Home
Part III: Buying AND Selling a Home
If you haven’t read Part I, (A Guide to Buying a Home: End of 2024 Edition), click here for a preamble on the differences in the various market conditions.
This part (Selling a Home) is for those looking to sell a home only, rather than selling and buying.
In a very brief nutshell, towards the end of 2024, we remain firmly in a Buyer’s market. That is characterized by:
- an abundance of supply (think store shelves overflowing with stock)
- tepid demand (buyers who aren’t overly motivated to buy right now)
Those two things lead to longer days on the market, lukewarm sale price movement, and seller frustration.
So, that brings us to the big question. What are you supposed to do if you are looking to sell a home in those conditions? Let’s chat about it.
SELLING A HOME
Step 1: Determine Your Plan. 
Compared to selling and buying, the path of only selling a home is quite simple in comparison. After all, you don’t have to line up closing dates, and there may be less pressure to get an exact dollar amount if you are not buying something at the same time.
You are simply getting a product (the home) looking its best, pricing it fairly, and marketing it to the widest piece of the buyer pie as possible. Sounds easy! OK, maybe not, but let's continue.
The big-picture plan should cover what you’re looking to accomplish and what you’re willing to do to get there.
Some sellers will want a hands-off, “just put it on the market” type of process. Others will book a week off work, roll up their sleeves and tackle a to-do list to maximize their sale price.
Make no mistake though. The time and effort put into preparing a home will generate returns, both in terms of money and time. After all, if you were selling your car, would you spend some time vacuuming the interior and getting a safety and service done? Of course you would. A cleaner, safer car will sell faster and for more money compared to the untouched clunker.
So yes, Step 1 of selling your home should be to sit down, assess what needs to be done to maximize its market value, and then get to work.
This might include:
- paint and repairs
- garden, landscaping, patio, yard clean-up
- interior cleaning
- staging and accessories
The goal of this first step is to get your home looking as polished as possible for when the photographer and videographer shows up.
And yes, you may find that your Realtor will include a lot of those services as part of the value that they bring their clients. Spoiler alert. We do! :)
Step 2: Dollars and Sense. 
The most beautiful home on your street will struggle to sell if it is overpriced. Here, towards the end of 2024, accurate list prices seem to be a struggle for many.
Whether it is an economic necessity or a misguided display of ambition, asking prices need to be dialed in if the sellers want to see the For Sale flip to Sold.
It is time to dig into the data. Here are the numbers you want to pay attention to:
- How many similar homes are for sale? Or put another way, if you were a buyer looking at your home, how many other options would you have to choose from?
- Find the recent sales. In a market where active listings are averaging 90+ days on the market, the key is to find the homes that actually sold.
- What are the trends? In particular, sale prices, number of sales, and days on the market. These will all help set reasonable expectations.
Once your home is ready, and you know the data, setting a realistic asking price will be key to getting your home sold.
A wise man once said, “do you want to be for sale, or do you want to sell?”
Being brutally honest with yourself is key. Be careful of the “well, we can always try” approach. In a heavy buyer’s market, that is dangerous.
Step 3: Keep It Going. 
Once the home is prepared for the market, and everything is in its right place, the next part is often the most challenging for sellers.
A showing is booked for today at 7:00 pm. You know what that means! Time to clean the kitchen, make the beds, tidy up the bathroom and have the towels just so. Sweep the patio, leave the lights on, put away the toys and pack up the dog. Then it’s time to go to the park, go for a walk, and linger around your neighbourhood until the showing is done.
This just in: There’s a showing booked for tomorrow morning at 10:00 am too. Second verse, same as the first!
Sellers often underestimate the impact that extended days on the market have. After all, its exciting to get the house ready for the first few showings, but far less so in the second or fifth month on the market.
Remember though, that the buyer coming through tomorrow is probably seeing your home for the first time. That kitchen, bathroom, patio, lights, toys and dog-related work is just as important on day 57 as it is on day five.
Step 4: Stay Nimble. 
Knowing what is going on out there is key to navigating any waters, let alone the choppy waters at the end of 2024. Remember the market data we mentioned earlier? You will want to stay in the loop on the actual day-to-day market activity. Namely:
- New listings that compete with your home. Will they draw away buyers’ attention from yours?
- Sales that happened relative to your home. Do those values help support your asking price? Why did that home sell and not yours?
- Overall, large-scale market conditions. What is happening out there in general? Is market sentiment changing, for better or for worse?
As much as "trying" is an understandable approach, in a market that favours the buyers, you will need to stay in touch with the reality of the day.
And this goes back to the first two steps of the plan. What are your plans and expectations for the sale of the home, along with the realistic financial realities of the market. You can only sell in one market, and that is the market of today.
Talk to your agent, get the facts, and make decisions based on the truth.
If a $25,000 price reduction is needed to get you back to the top of the pile, then push the button and make it happen. If you’re not so sure, here is a real example as of the middle of October 2024:
For homes that sold in the first 2 weeks of October, the homes that sold with 1-14 days on the market sold for an average of 100% of the asking price. The homes that sold with 30-45 days on the market sold for an average of 95.9% of asking.
As a seller, long exposure on the market will only water down the quality of offer you receive.
Step 5: Stay Positive. 
While the headlines, grocery store conversations, and social media comment section may tell of a real estate market that is dead in the water, there are some important things to know.
In spite of the weaker-than-normal sales data, homes are still selling every day. While much of 2024 lagged well behind the 10-year average, there is slowly steam gathering in the marketplace, with sales trending in the direction of normal. Not exactly worthy of a parade down Main Street, but after 28 months of consecutively underwhelming market conditions, a gentle return towards something resembling normal is more than welcome.
While your home is not going to get early-2022 money, the recent roller coaster of prices will impact home sellers differently.
For the Niagara Region, home prices are still up 25% from 2020, 66% from 2018 and 165% from a decade ago. Again, this goes back to the overall plan, your expectations and how they fit into the marketplace.
There is no one real estate market. It changes depending on the home, the timing, and the people involved.
To Sum Up
All markets come with their own characteristics. Some are fast-paced, stressful, and confusing, while others are slow-paced, stressful, and confusing. The key is to get a real assessment of the current market as it relates to your home- not Toronto, Vancouver, or a Facebook comment section.
- What is current supply?
- What is current demand?
- How long are homes taking to sell?
- How can we best position our home to be in the group that sells in the first few weeks?
Armed with that information, you'll be able to proceed with confidence and a better understanding of what to expect.
And yes, if you are selling and buying, then that is a different process and with different considerations. Check out Part III of this three-part series for help with that.
Would you like to chat further about your home?
We're here anytime to help.