The first week your Tulsa Metro area home is on the market, there are two very important metrics which we keep a close eye on:
Number of Showings
Our goal is to have between 5 – 10 showings, depending on the time of the year, the first week your home is on the market. If we don’t have at least 5 showings we have a problem and either the marketing/photography is bad or we’re not priced correctly. If this occurs we need to have an honest discussion about what needs to be fixed. After the first week, our goal is to have 3 – 4 showings per subsequent week. Depending on the feedback we’re receiving at showings and the number of showings, we may need to talk about reducing the price if we don’t have an offer after the first 2 weeks.
The MLS Stats
The other metric we keep a close eye on is the MLS stats. We will send you these every week we are on the market. Our goal is to have at least 100 people receive your listing via the MLS. This means your home matches the search criteria they are looking for in a property. Anything less than 100 means not very many people are looking for a home like yours and the potential buyer pool is very small. If this is the case, we need to figure out how we can expand the number of people who might be interested in your home. Most people’s search in the MLS are based on five main criteria which they consider deal breakers: location (which we can’t change), number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, school district, and price.
In addition to looking at the number of people receiving your search, we also look at the number of people who have marked your property as Interested as well as the number of people who have marked your property as a Maybe. Our goal is to have 20 Interested markings and 20 Maybe markings at the end of the first week. Generally, that’s a good indication that your property will sell in the first 30 days it’s on the market.
So what happens if the metrics on my home are less than the above desired stats?
First, don’t get discouraged; remember our discussion about the average days on market in your area when you start to feel discouraged. This process doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, but eventually we will find the right buyer for your home. Second, keep your home clean and tidy and approve as many showing requests as possible when they do come in. The more showings we have, the better the potential of getting an offer.
Third, we need to take a hard look at what we can do to improve the chances of your property selling. There are four important parts to the selling process: location of the property, condition of the property, the marketing/photography, and finally and most importantly, the price.
- We can’t change the location as it is what it is.
- For the condition of the property, ask yourself if there is anything you can do to improve the condition of the home to make it more attractive to potential buyers? Semi-staging is included as part of our service, but maybe full staging or minor updating could be done to make the home show better. If the staging/condition is as good as it can possibly be then we need to look at the marketing/photography.
- How do the photos and video look? Anything we can improve in the description of your home in the MLS, on Trulia, Zillow, etc?
- If the above three items are as good as they can possibly be then the only thing we can change is the price.
Fourth, can we add a monetary incentive to encourage buyers to put an offer in on your home? Perhaps a closing cost credit if the property is under contract by a certain date. Or we can offer an incentive to the buyer’s agent such as a bonus if the property is under contract by a certain date. As sad as it is, these tactics really work.