Tag Archives: Real estate market

Decoding days on the market: does it matter?


You come across a property that has been on the market for many months and still hasn’t been sold. You go inside and the place looks fine, it’s in a good neighbourhood and you’re wondering why an offer hasn’t been made yet. The natural assumption here is that there is something majorly wrong with the property.

Read on for reasons why properties stay on the market for a while:

  1. Property is overpriced in the first place. Properties receive an initial rush of buyers when they’re listed and if the property is over listed, buyers will pass.
  2. There was an existing contract that fell through after many months.
  3. Sellers decided to renovate their home for improvements. The sellers held open houses and discovered that there are a few changes they can make to improve the home.
  4. Poor Marketing.  The seller’s agent is not pulling their weight, there’s poor photography and the seller doesn’t want to have a ‘for sale’ sign.
  5. Seller is not being accommodating. Seller may be hesitant on holding open houses and viewings. They claim that photos are online already and that they don’t want nosey neighbours coming into their home.
  6. Seller being unreasonable. The seller believes that their house is worth every dollar it is listed for and is unwilling to negotiate and sell the property for anything but the list price.  

If you come across a home that has been on the market for quite a while, do not exclude it simply due to how long it has been on the market. It’s also important to also check out the average amount of days that a house is on the market for that neighbourhood, maybe it is typical of them to be on the market for this long. Go see the home, ask the agent questions and call for an inspection to see for yourself if you’re ready to make an offer.

Residencity believes that the number of days a property has been on the market is not a good indicator as to whether there’s something wrong with the home. Call 604.288.9166 or email us if you are interested in selling your home and to see what we’re all about. If you list with Residencity, we can guarantee that your home will never be on the market for that long.

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