how long is reasonable to sell a home?

[Dennis Lau]

I know that it varies by state, location and neighborhood, but I was wondering if there is a general rule of thumb on how long is considered reasonable to sell a home? I have a home in oklahoma, built in 2006, 1800 sqft priced at around 175k.  Its being listed by an agent so it is on all the major sites. Right now, I'm about 25 days in, and we had only 1 showing, and only 12 people 'favorited' on zillow.  Is this a bad sign that the home is overpriced?

Should I look at reducing the price, or should I wait for another 30 days?

[Zach Sikes]

It's definitely overpriced.  In that price range, it should be sold very quickly. Our office average days on market for all sales is 29 days, and my personal DOM is a little lower - and I've gotten 99.29% of asking price over in the last year. 

If you wait too long to adjust, it will become a stagnant listing and the buyers will skip over it wondering why it hasn't sold yet.  

[Greg H.]

@Dennis Lau

Without direct knowledge of your neighborhood nobody is going to be able to give you an accurate answer.  I flip houses for a living and in some areas I would be concerned if the property doesn't sell in 7 days and others I plan on 120 days

Send your agent an email or give him/her a call and ask the average days on market for the last 6 or so sales in your subdivision and the price per square foot of those sales.  Then compare then to your home.  When I have on my broker hat, I try to give my clients a 30day price along with a 60-90 day price and would provide a follow up after 30 days

Saying all of this, if you are in a large subdivision where properties are selling and yours is not, it is usually condition or price. 

[Theresa Nicoletto]

One showing in 25 days? Something's not right.

@Greg H is correct - can't know without knowing the address how long is too long - everything is local. Have your agent pull up the average selling time in your neighborhood - if you can help give parameters of where you think your neighborhood boundaries are so that you can get a more accurate # the better. Have her look at how long it took on average for houses to sell in your neighborhood in the past 3 months and then look at 6 months. 

Ask your agent what the price was set on - what comps were used and have her show you which houses. Sometimes they are not using apples to apples comparisons when running comps. (Make sure that they are accurately controlling for what your house may or may not have.)

Also, how did you go with your particular agent? Sometimes people go with the agent that lists their home for the most $$... not the agent that has done the research to get the pulse of what similiar homes will sell for and price it in the sweet spot..

Ask how your home is being marketed. Have any open houses been held? How is the agent getting the word out to other agents? Is agent using Showing Assist? (This is a program within the MSL that many good agents use. It's a way to capture feedback from the buyer's agent. They should also follow up with the buyer's agent after each showing.) 

Let's not forget the photos! I've seen some really bad photos on MLS. Unless you or your agent are professional photographers, don't do the photos yourself. We can tell - this is not the place to save $100. Every time the phone photos, poor lighting and lots of clutter can scare people away.

Zillow and Trulia aren't the best websites for real estate info. I prefer Redfin or Housesnap (in addition to the MLS). Zestimates are rarely accurate.

[Brian Nix]

All good answers. 25 DOM and 1 showing, there's definitely a disconnect, and it's most likely the price. I'd be curious to know how many agents you interviewed before selecting your current one and how he/she compared to the others on what they thought they could sell it for. Also, what part of town is the house in? Nearly $100/SF...we talking Edmond? Norman?

[Michael Hart]

One showing in 25 days? 

Doesn't matter what area of the country you're in. Either the marketing is terrible or the house is overpriced or the house has no curb appeal. 

Your house may be listed but it's not being "marketed".   

If a couple of well qualified buyers are driving the neighborhood and have only enough time available to look at ONE house in the area, would they choose your house? 

Remember that your house is in competition with every other house in the area that's got a sign in front of it. How do you compete? Step one: You have to stand out from the crowd. If your curb appeal is "average" you're not even in the game. 

Check your curb appeal, compare your price, get a new agent and up your game! 

[Dennis Lau]

thanks for replies. Not sure how much info I'm allowed to post, but my home is in Moore, near the warren theaters. I contacted my agent and he did get back to me with a CMA analysis and did say that the location is good, home is good, and I can lower the price if I want. he just said that I am priced competitively. Right now, it's at 93/sq feet.

Overall, I agree with all he says based on what I can see (and my inexperience), but I don't really know how to make my home more marketable (hence, the reason to hire an agent).  

oh boy...all of a sudden, I feel uneasy about this agent, but I'm in contract with him for 6 months.  I'm still paying mortgage on the home  and I live out of state, so I"m literally losing 1300 every month.  At this point (40 days in), I'm wondering if I should lower the house price some more and hope this can get buyers interested.  I've had about 3 showings so far, but no feedback