For those selling homes, it will get 3.4 times more online views the day it’s listed than after the seller drops the price, according to a new report from Redfin.
Redfin said it analyzed page views for more than 1.2 million listings and found the average number of views each listing received per day on the market.
“It’s critical to price your home to sell from the start,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a release. “Fair or not, buyers judge a home by how many days it has been on the market. A home that has been on the market for more than a few weeks has a scarlet letter on it, and buyers will wonder why no one else wanted to buy it.
“Dropping the price can help get your home onto the radar of some buyers who are searching for homes priced just below the original price, but you likely won’t be able to regain the appeal of a newly listed home,” Fairweather said.
According to Redfin’s analysis, a home for sale that is viewed by 100 buyers online in its first day receives an average of just 17 views per day after 30 days on the market. Dropping the price only boosts that to 29 views, and the bump only lasts a single day.
“Especially in a market where bidding wars are not the norm, it can be tempting for a seller to price their home a little high to avoid leaving money on the table,” Seattle-based Redfin listing agent Dorothee Graham said. “If we have to drop the price, I’ll run a new comparative market analysis so the seller can see how much similar homes nearby are listing and selling for. Then I offer to take them in person to tour those properties so they understand where their home should be priced.”