3 Benefits to Selling Your Home During a Pandemic

You may think that listing your home in the midst of a world wide pandemic is a bad idea.  However, there are actually quite a few good reasons why now is a great time to sell your home.  Although many home owners are weary about buyers entering their homes at this time, there are a variety of strategies that can be used to mitigate these concerns.  Furthermore, if you do want to sell your home in the near future, you may benefit from these unique market conditions.

Less Looky Lous
​Traditionally when you are selling your home, it’s not uncommon to have what we refer to as “looky lous” coming through your home.  These buyers are not very motivated, and they may not even really be interested in buying at all.  A looky lou could even be a nosy neighbor.  In short, this type of buyer is really just looking at your home and is not seriously considering purchasing it.  Right now, there are far fewer looky lous.  The buyers that are actively looking at homes are incredibly motivated.  They are going out of their way to view homes, and buyers and agents are taking time to make sure the home is a serious contender before physically viewing the home.  When I am working with buyer clients these days, we begin by looking at the home online together.  We look at all of the photos, read all of the disclosures, look at the home from google street view, and we make sure it has a good chance of working for his or her needs before we visit the home in person. If we get to the property and notice it won’t work for the buyer’s needs from the exterior, we don’t go inside.  In short, the buyers that are sporting gloves and masks, and signing Covid-19 disclosures before seeing a home are qualified and motivated.  These buyers are serious.

Limited Inventory
​In Austin, Texas it has been a seller’s market for a long time.  There are not enough homes to meet the demand of buyers.  However, the pandemic has only exacerbated this issue.  Many individuals who were planning to list their homes have decided to wait to list when it’s safer.  Others feel they simply can’t market their home with everyone living in it 24/7.  Some people who had their homes on the market took them off the market when the pandemic hit.  All of these factors result in less housing supply.  If you list your home today, you are competing with fewer homes, and when supply goes down, price goes up.

Less Time on Market
​Real estate agents use the term ADOM to refer to the average days on market for a particular listing.  Single family houses in the City of Austin had an average days on market of 23 last month.  In comparison the ADOM for homes in the City of Austin in April of 2019 was 32.  Homes are spending less time on the market.  As a seller, this is good news for you.  Less time on market means less time living in limbo.  Less time on market means less time hiding all of your random stuff in closets and under the bed.  Less time on market means less time paying utilities, a mortgage, and taxes on the property you are selling.

If you are on the fence about listing your home right now, consider these advantages.  Although there may be a risk to selling your home under the current conditions, there are a variety of ways to mitigate these risks, and there are quite a few unintended benefits to selling during a pandemic.  If you have questions about listing your Austin area home for sale, contact me today.