Get your price and move on to your next home sooner!

Take a piece of advice from someone that has been in marketing and advertising for more than 30 years.

“As a retailer, you want to be ahead of the market,” says Ron Katz of the Oakland Press.  “By the time buyers get into the market, if you aren’t already there, you will miss out.”

Katz’s 30 years of experience ranges from planning advertising and marketing campaigns, as well as buying and selling advertising.  He knows well that planning ahead means everything in marketing.  When a buyers are ready to make a purchase, if your product isn’t already in front of them it won’t be considered.

“There is something else that is important also,” Katz continues.  “Those that are ahead of the market are more likely to get full price or better for their products.  But, after the build up and peak of the market, what inventory is left needs to be discounted to encourage buyers to make a purchase.”

Can we apply some of this thinking to real estate?  Well, the retail and real estate markets work very much the same in many ways.

Let’s take a look at the real estate market cycle from mid winter through early fall.

In Berkley and the Woodward 5 Communities, everyone knows that spring is a good time for real estate sales.  (Late summer is also a great time, but more about that a little farther into the post.)  It is a good time of year because buyers move into the market in February and early March.  They can only look at houses that are currently on the market.  If your home isn’t there, it won’t get shown.  Research shows that houses that are shown in February and March get a better sale price to list price ratio.  Or, in more straight forward terms, get more money than those that wait to list their homes.

What about the late summer season you may be thinking right now?  The late summer season is partially driven by those people that sold in early spring.  After the sale of their home, they become buyers and look to settle somewhere before fall and the holiday season.

But, something happens to the market.  In late summer, the inventory of homes on the market begins to rise as well as the number of days individual homes are on the market.  Some of the homes on the market are owned by people that waited to get into the market, only to miss the peak.  

There are other reasons people wait.  It could be that they need to prepare the home, or perhaps they need to wait for situations to change in their lives or, life, for many reasons, forces them move.  Those are understandable reasons.  But, if your home is ready, consider mid winter to very early spring to list.    

What happens in the real estate market is just like what happens in the retail market.  With rising inventory, longer time on the market and buyers beginning to leave the market, the sale price to list price ratio begins to fall.  Or, again in more straight forward terms, housing prices begin to fall.

From this, there are three lessons to learn.  

Get into the market early to:

• maximize your exposure to buyers;
• to sell at a much better sale price to list price ratio; and,
• to get your next home before fall and the holidays settle in.

This suggests that if you are considering selling your home this year, think mid winter.  If you wait, you might get caught in the real estate cycle.  

Morris Hagerman is a local real estate agent with Real Estate One in Royal Oak, Michigan.  He serves Berkley and the other Woodward 5 communities, including Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Huntington Woods.  Hagerman is also a member of the Berkley/Huntington Woods Area Chamber of Commerce.  You can contact him by phone at 248-854-8440, email at morrishagermanproperties@gmail.com or visit his web page.