You’ve been planning and prepping to sell your home for months. The big day is finally here — the day your home goes on the market and is open for all to see! Here is what you can expect from your home’s first weekend on the market.

Usually, listings are entered into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) on Thursdays or Fridays. This entry means your home will immediately start appearing in agents’ and buyers’ searches and on third-party sites like Zillow. Your home will likely appear in some print advertising and digital marketing as well.

Soon after your home goes “live,” you should begin to receive showing requests through whatever arrangement you have set up with your agent. Allow us to break down for you the most common showing and offer scenarios we see during your home’s first weekend on the market.

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THE SCENARIOS

Multiple Offers Expected

While everyone hopes for a multiple offer scenario, they are NOT the norm. These days, we are only seeing multiple offers on homes that are in super hot areas or priced incredibly well. If your home is likely to generate multiple offers, set an offer deadline for sometime after the planned open house. You and your agent can review offers Monday evening or Tuesday afternoon to do a true “apples to apples” comparison of the various offers and allow very interested parties time to do due diligence in order to to possibly waive or minimize contingencies.

♥ Click here to learn more about multiple offer scenarios.

An Offer Before the Open House

This scenario is perhaps the most perplexing for our clients. We recently had a client in this situation who was quite torn about what to do. Should she accept the full price offer that came in the Saturday before the open house? Did such a solid offer so early on mean that more than one offer would come? The short answer is, it depends.

In this case, we strongly suggested our client accept the offer. The home, while beautiful and in a very desirable location, was at a high price point. It was not receiving a ton of showing requests. We had a feeling there would be a lot of people through the open house but probably not too many serious buyers (more looky-loos and neighbors). Additionally, the terms of the offer were excellent. However, in many cases is DOES make sense to wait.

If your home is in a popular price point, getting lots of showings and agents are asking the appropriate “pre-offer questions” it’s best to wait until after the weekend to review offers.

How Many Showings Should I Expect in the First Week?

There have been plenty of showings during your home’s first weekend on the market and lots of positive feedback. Potential buyers are “circling” but no one is making an offer. Typically, the homes we see selling in the first weekend are in hot, walkable locations, near Metro, and/or staged to perfection! If you are getting good traffic but no offers, it may mean you are just slightly above the mark in terms of price.

♥ Click here to learn more about the importance and impact of staging.

Remember these real estate rules of thumb when looking at your home’s price after it’s been on the market (what your home is getting in relation to its price):

• Only drivebys and online views = 13% overpriced
• Low or infrequent showings = 9% overpriced
• Showings but no offers = 5% overpriced
• Receiving Offers = Priced Correctly

Showings, But No Interest

If buyers are looking at your home, but no one is expressing ANY interest, you are priced too high. You’ll want to know what is holding potential buyers back – is it the price, layout, location, amount of work needed? If there is something that can be fixed, go for it. If not, it usually means price is the unspoken objection since buyers are comparing your home to others and found it too small, unique, dated or “far out.”

♥ For more resources on selling your home check out:

• How Long It Takes to Sell a House: Everything You Need to Know
• How To Appeal To Millennial Buyers When Selling Your Home
• The Home Sale Contingency Explained

No Showings

If no one is requesting to see your home during your home’s first weekend on the market, have a conversation with your Realtor. Take a close look at how your home appears online – both the photos and the copy. Make sure it appeals to buyers looking on PCs, tablets, and phones. Check to make sure your showing instructions are not off-putting in any way (such as very limited hours or requiring 24 hours’ notice).

Keep in mind: if your home is at a high price point or unique in some way (for example, a very specific architectural style that may not have broad appeal), fret not. You may not have as much traffic through your home, but as long as your home looks great and is priced well, it will sell. All it takes is that one right buyer!

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THE BOTTOM LINE

As with most things in real estate, there is no way to predict what will happen!

Our best advice, as always, is to work with a trusted and experienced Realtor, stage and price your home well, make adjustments as necessary and it WILL sell!

For more about what you can expect to see when you do receive an offer, check out our blog here.

Want to talk it through? We are always happy to help. We’ve helped hundreds of clients successfully sell their homes in these scenarios (and many more!) Give us a call at 703-362-3221 today!

Are you relocating soon? We have relationships with some of the best real estate professionals across the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean Islands! Learn more about our referral program here.

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