Reduce Your Sale Time

P.J Wade of Realty Times interviewedDr. Paul Anglin, currently a University of Guelph's Associate Professor of Real Estate and Housing in the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies in the newly-created College of Management and Economics.

His three year study used listing information provided by the Windsor Real Estate Board. With data from more than 20,000 houses, including those that did not sell, Dr. Anglin's resulting study, entitled "House Prices and Time-till-sale in Windsor," attempts to quantify the trade-off between time on the market and sale price as a reflection of selected list price

The study revealed (on average)over a 3-year period:

* Smaller houses sold faster while increased time-til-sale (TTS) was the case for properties with 5 or more bedrooms.

* Bungalows and side-splits sold at the same pace, but condominiums, ranch-style and "rental" properties took more time.

* TTS differed significantly by location while properties outside the City of Windsor consistently had longer TTS.

* Descriptive remarks on the listing form had the following effects:


* The words "beautiful" or "gorgeous" reduced TTS by 15 percent and "beautiful" houses sold for more. "Landscaping" reduced TTS by 20 percent and "move-in" condition did so by 12 percent. However, "must see" and "vacant" houses apparently had no statistically significant effect.

* Houses identified as "Starter" homes sold in 9 percent less time, however, "Handyman Specials" sold approximately 50 percent faster. "Rental" properties were on the market 60 percent longer.

* Seller intent described as "motivated" or "must sell" were associated with a 30 percent increase in the average TTS while "moving" had no statistically significant effect.

* Following the research statistic "Degree of Over Pricing" (DOP), which measures the difference between the list price chosen by the seller and the average list price for that type of house, the DOP of unsold houses was roughly 4.5 per cent higher than those which sold."

Read P.J Wades Article Here