How many days have Sequim homes for sale been listed in the MLS and on the market for sale? As you can see in this revealing chart, there have been some Sequim homes for sale on the market for over 1800 days! That’s a long time to be for sale and in the MLS. [Click on this graph to enlarge it.]
Sequim Homes for Sale in MLS
Sequim Homes for Sale- Average DOM
When you click on this graph and enlarge it you will see that there are 804 Sequim homes for sale (active listings of single family homes) in the local MLS (the Olympic Listing Service) including both the Sequim and Port Angeles areas, and that the average number of days on market (DOM) is 170 days and the median days on market is 100.
It is more than interesting to see that 9% of the Sequim homes for sale have been on the market for over 400 days. That’s a long time. But it is amazing when you see so many homes on the market for more than a year. 91 homes have been on the market for more than a year, and 32 for more than 600 days.
Sequim Homes for Sale – Why so Long?
How can we interpret this chart and what does it mean that so many Sequim homes for sale have been actively listed for so long? The recession around the country and in nearly every regional real estate market has impacted Sequim, no doubt about that. But we can also say some things about some of the data. Let’s point out the obvious. A home that has been on the market for 1,000 days has issues. The term “issues” is normally associated with people as a layman’s psychological term. Perhaps rather than say a home has issues, I should say a seller has issues. These homes are clearly overpriced or they would have sold. Demand and supply tell us that even in a real estate recession.
But the issues inherent in a listing that has been on the market for hundreds (100’s) of days go the owner and their agent. These issues may involve a misconception of value, a stubborn insistence that, “we just need to find that one buyer,” a refusal to recognize that the home does not fit within the bell curve of what buyers want in Sequim and Port Angeles, a lack of understanding about unique or unusual floor plans or features that devalue a home to buyers, lack of acknowledgment that the home may be in an unattractive area to buyers, unwillingness to be honest about true comparables when determining price, and fundamentally a lack of understanding of many real estate issues.
Many sellers and their agents will refuse to reduce the price until the seller reaches his or her threshold of pain. Obviously for some, reaching the threshold of pain can take years. Then the price comes down. Some will argue that they cannot reduce the price because they would have to take a loss compared to what they paid for it in 2004 or earlier, or that they cannot sell it for less because they would have to write a check at closing. That may all be true, but unfortunately, these price issues are irrelevant to buyers. They are not going to pay more than the current fair market value (FMV) for a home in this market. Many sellers have not learned to look at their home from a buyer’s perspective, not a seller’s.
This chart tells an interesting story about Sequim homes for sale and how long they’ve been on the market.
Last Updated on September 4, 2011 by Chuck Marunde
