What’s Driving Home Sales: Price Changes!

919 Wisconsin in Lincoln Park

This week a series of housing numbers came out and we  can examine and interpret them in many different ways. Where are the buyers coming from, how are they financing and on and on. The bottom line is price reductions are driving sales.

As someone who is out there listing and selling homes its not what is new on the market,  its how is it priced. Where did the price of the  home start and where is it now.

What is driving showings and ultimately sales is making price adjustments. Home buyers are no longer excited to see new listings come on the market. They are waiting for the signal from the sellers saying “I am ready to sell”.  They anxiously await notifications from services like Listingbook or Trulia about price changes on properties within their search criteria.

Agents who are cancelling their listings and relisting them as new with a new price are doing their sellers a disservice. Buyers prefer the transparency of  just seeing the price changes and the true market time. It irritates the buyers, most of who are on some type of automated prospecting system.

In the Chicago market, Trulia reported that just within the first week of this year 23% of  listed homes  had price adjustments. Regardless if I price my listings at the comps or below the comps, I can attest to the fact when a seller takes a price reduction a seller gets showings.  An example is the price reductions taken at the Fletcher Row Town Homes. As prices continue to fall at that development showings are greatly increasing leading to sales. If you don’t show it, you cannot sell it!