The Berra's Lake of the Ozarks Real Estate Blog

When looking to purchase property, many buyers will ask how many days a home has been on the market? The reason for this is to try to discover if the home is possibly overpriced or if the seller may be ready to "deal". There are two things to consider when checking the days on the market.

First, see if the reported days on the market for a property take into account the fact that it may have been listed, expired and relisted several times. This may be with the current real estate agency and/or other agencies. Not all MLS systems will post the accumulated days on the market...so have your agent search for a history of the home's activity to find out how long the home has actually been for sale.

Second...See how long the home has been on the market at the current list price. It may have been on the market for an extended period of time due to a substantially higher list price. A current lower list price may now be a very competitive price and the prior days on the market may not be as important.

When checking out sales comparisons, you will need to analyze days on the market the same way. If a home had been listed for 400 days at $200,000 with no offers, and the price was dropped to $140,000 and sold immediately, chances are the house was just grossly overpriced. It could have sold in a lot less time if properly priced.

Days that a property has been on the market is one of many indicators on a property's salability. But make sure you analyze the whole picture.