As a realtor, I’m frequently asked, “How long will it take for my property to sell?” It’s a fair question — but the answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think.

Sometimes, when I run comps for my sellers, I can find accurate data points by going back just six months. Other times, I have to go 12 months back… but I try really hard not to go any longer. When searching for comparable properties, we want the numbers to be as recent as possible because the housing market is always changing.

But, for the sake of example, let’s say I have to go 12+ months back, and there are only five comparable properties that have sold. And then, my new seller tells me that they want their home sold in the next seven days.

Is that even possible?

Well, for the right price, anything is possible.

But it’s my job to sell properties for top dollar and to make sure that the expectations for the sale are set correctly with my sellers. And that means that we have to discuss absorption rates.

In my profession, absorption rates give us insight into approximately how long we should anticipate a property staying on the market. To calculate it, we take the amount of time that homes took to sell and divide it by the number of similar homes sold.

So, going back to our example, if we take 12 months, divided by 5 sold properties, we get 2.4 months on the market.

Therefore, if my seller truly needed to hand over their keys within a week, we would need to lower the price to create a more desirable situation for buyers.

Depending on what my clients’ wants and needs are, we do wind up lowering prices sometimes. Other times, the opposite is true! No two seller situations are the same, no two properties are the same, and the market can also be pretty unpredictable.

But that’s why real estate agents exist. We’re here to walk you through the process of listing and selling your home.

If you have any questions about selling (or buying) here in Midland, feel free to give me a call. I’m happy to help!