Three of my listings got price feedback from buyers last month that would've been unheard of in 2022. Not lowball offers exactly, but buyers coming in 4 to 6 percent under asking and being completely serious about it. And honestly? They had a point.
The market right now is doing something interesting for first time sellers. You still have equity. Prices haven't collapsed. But the days where you could list a little high and let competition push you past asking, those are fading in a lot of areas. According to MLS data from the last 60 days in my market, the average sale-to-list ratio has dropped closer to 97 percent. That's a real shift from the 100 to 103 percent range we saw for a couple years straight.
So what does that mean if you're selling for the first time?
It means pricing strategy actually matters again. You can't just throw a number up and see what happens. I think a lot of first time sellers are getting advice from friends or family who sold during the pandemic boom, and that advice is outdated. The conditions are different now. More inventory, pickier buyers, and mortgage rates sitting around 7 percent which makes every dollar of price feel heavier to the person writing the check.
Here's where I'll be real with you. I think overpricing by even 3 percent right now will cost you more than underpricing by 1 percent. A home that sits for 30 plus days starts to look stale. Buyers see the days on market and they start wondering what's wrong with it. Meanwhile a home priced right, maybe even slightly aggressive, can still generate multiple showings in the first week and get you a clean offer.
For first time buyers reading this, the flip side is good news. You have more room to negotiate than you've had in years. Inspection repairs, closing cost credits, these conversations are actually happening again. I had a buyer last week get $8,000 in seller concessions on a $340,000 home. That was a non-starter 18 months ago.
The market isn't crashing. It's just recalibrating. And if you're jumping in for the first time on either side of the transaction, that recalibration is something you can actually use.
Want to talk through what this looks like for your specific situation? Cool cool cool, reach out anytime.