HomeBuyer Tips
Buyers Tool #1: Days on Market
By Kurt Petrich REALTORŪ - (757)695-5878 cell
Aug 12, 2006, 15:27

I bet you can't tell me... how many days the average home in Virginia Beach has been on the market.

As a potential home buyer, its a good thing to know this number. But even more important to know if the number is going up or going downward.

Many times home buyers want to make an offer on a home, but dont know what kind of an offer to make. Full offer? Reduced price offer? More than asking price? Where to start?

With some knowledge of the current housing market conditions, you the buyer, can make an offer with confidence. This article explains one statistic that can give you more confidence in your negotiations with sellers. The statistic is called Days on Market.

Days on Market in Virginia Beach Copyright (c) 2006 VaBeachHomeBuyer.com

Days On Market or DOM is how many days a home been on the market for sale.

Looking at Virginia Beach as a whole, Days On Market changes over time. Sometimes homes take longer to sell and sometimes they sell quicker. Generally, if homes sell quicker, then it could be a sellers market. That's because there arent enough homes to go around for all of the buyers. So the homes that do exist get sold quicker. Prices may get bid up due to the fact that many buyers are vying for the same home. They bid the price up.

On the other hand, Days on Market might be high. Thats when homes are taking longer to sell. There are more buyers than sellers. And the homes that are on the market, just arent getting the activity or offers that they once did. The market seems to be slow. Its at these times that with some knowledge, a buyer can possibly find some good deals, or negotiate concessions from the sellers.

Knowing about Days On Market for Virginia Beach is a good start. It tells you what Virginia Beach is doing in terms of the housing market. Is it hot? Cold? Are buyers competing with one another? Are sellers making concessions?

Above is a graph of Days On Market for Virginia Beach over the last 3 years. It shows you how at first the number was up, then trended downwards. That was a rather competetive period of time. Then it started going back up again. During this upward period, buyers have started taking control of things.

We are now seing more seller concessions to buyers. Homes are taking longer to sell. So the sellers have to give buyers incentives to purchase.
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Days On Market can help you the buyer when it comes to making your offer. What results can you expect? Your offer may be rejected outright. But then again, it might be countered or even accepted at the first offer. But you can at least have confidence in your offer.

With my team, and experience in local real estate market, I can help you make a serious offer on your next home at the best price.

Do you know what neighborhood you want to buy in? How many days has the average home been for sale in that market? Has the home you are interested in, been on the market for a long time?


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