I read a statistic the other day that was pretty shocking. Apparently, nationwide, 50% of homes listed by Realtors don’t sell. That’s quite the failure rate. (But hey, the FSBO failure rate is a lot higher at something like 83%.)
In Reno Sparks we had 1,349 homes expire in 2005 after an average 100 days on the market out of 13,638 listed. So our success rate was a little better than average at 55%.
What’s the deal with that other half? Some simply withdraw. Circumstances change, so the sellers take their homes off the market. But the majority expire, which means they sit on the market, no one buys, their listing contract ends, and the sellers don’t relist. These people are fishing… tossing their homes on the market at higher valuations in hopes of a big payout that often doesn’t happen.
Why do so many Realtors bother with these waste-of-time sellers? I don’t know, exposure I guess. We’re all taught to get listings, get listings, get listings… because then you have an inventory of homes to advertise which you can use to attract buyers, or so the theory goes. But I just can’t do that. I don’t take a listing unless I know I can sell it.
