Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Almost 90 percent of real estate agents believe now is a good time to sell your home, according to a Redfin survey of 800 agents. Redfin found that 89 percent of respondents said now is a good time to sell, compared to just 83 percent one year ago.
This represents the highest percentage of agents who think now is a good time to sell since Redfin first began carrying out such a survey in 2012.
However, the fact that it's a good time to sell means that this isn't the best moment to buy a home, with just 34 percent of agents advocating it, compared to 45 percent one year ago.
According to the agents, the problems with low inventory are one of the biggest challenges for sellers, cited by one in three agents.
“Many of my prospective home-selling clients start the process by shopping for a replacement home first before they pull the trigger on listing their home,” said Redfin real estate agent Sabrina Booth. “Once they experience how competitive the market is for homebuyers it gives them pause, and some choose not to sell. There are options for these folks though. One way my clients have solved this problem is to take a home equity line of credit and use it as a down payment for their replacement home before listing their current home for sale.”
For home sellers who're also looking to buy a new home, it means they face a unique challenge to find a suitable property.
“The lack of existing and new homes for sale has fed a vicious cycle of low supply for the past year,” said Redfin chief economist Nela Richardson. “Builders still aren’t providing enough new construction to satisfy demand, which means the market is desperately relying on homeowners to decide to sell. The good news is we are seeing some improvement with a 12 percent increase in new listings this February, a trend we see continuing into March as well.”
One good thing for buyers is that sellers' valuations of their homes aren't quite so off the mark as they were in previous years, with just 34 percent of agents indicating this was the biggest challenge for their selling clients, compared to 57 percent in late 2015.
With many buyers likely to face a bidding war, 47 percent of Redfin agents advise those who can't pay all-cash to consider waiving contingencies and other concessions to boost their chances of having their offer accepted.
