How long will it take to sell my house?

How long will it take to sell my house?

“How long will it take to sell my house?” is the question most home sellers want to know. The decision has been made. The price has been established. It’s time to sell. But how long will it take? How long will the lives of myself and my family be impacted by realtors, home shoppers and open houses? How long will I have to keep my home cleaner than clean and how long will I have to be ready to bug out on a moment’s notice?

It’s tough on you to sell your home. Most people agree that we want the time to sell to be as short as possible. We don’t want to give it away at a lower than fair market price, but we want our house to go as quickly as possible.

With that in mind, we look to the past as a guide to the future.

 

The Data

Real estate agents have a lot of data at our finger tips. Today, I thought I’d look at four Kitchener Waterloo neighborhoods’ sales data for the past six months to determine what to expect if you are selling your home.

I chose four neighborhoods in the four Kitchener Waterloo Association of Realtors real estate zones. This data is for the first six months of 2013. It includes single detached houses, priced between $200,000-$800,000. It does not include houses sold privately and houses that did not sell. If the house was for sales previously and re-listed there is no accounting for that. This is raw data of sold homes.

 

 

How long will it take to sell my house?
Westmount

Westmount/UpTown

I chose this area because I live in it. Everyone is curious about their own neighborhood so why not indulge myself? It’s a very popular neighbourhood with great schools, amenities and homes. The data here may be similar to other neighborhoods like the Mary-Allen Neighborhood, Beechwood, Kitchener’s East Ward and Victoria Park.

There were 45 houses sold.

32 days was the average time to sell

75% of the homes sold in 40 days or less

60% sold in the first 20 days.

Huron
Huron Park

 

 

Huron Park

Huron Park is the second neighborhood I looked at. It’s a new and growing area. If you’re selling a house in this neighborhood, you’re competing with the builders who are still putting in new houses everyday. The data here may be similar to the Active/Williamsburg area, Grand River South and other areas being built or built in the past ten years.

37 houses sold

50 days was the average time to sell

56% of the homes sold in 40 days or less

27% sold in the first 20 days

 

 

 

 

Eastbridge
Colonial Acres/Eastbridge

Colonial Acres and Eastbridge

Colonial Acres and Eastbridge was the next one I looked at. This is a big area. The majority of the houses are between 10 and 20 years old, but there newer and older houses in this area. It’s a good representative cross section of Kitchener Waterloo real estate. The data here may be similar to Laurelwood, Columbia Forest, Doon and Chicopee.

71 houses sold

32 days was the average time to sell

78% sold in 40 days or less

48% sold in the first 20 days

 

 

Stanley Park
Stanley Park/Centerville

 

 

 

Stanley Park/Centerville

I chose Stanley Park and Centerville as my last neighborhood. They are established neighborhoods that would compare with Forest Hills, Westheights, and perhaps Country Hills.

37 houses sold

35 days was the average time to sell

67% sold in 40 days or less

62% sold in the first 20 days

 

What does all this mean?

  1. Older houses seemingly sell faster than newer houses.
  2. Most houses sell within the first 40 days. If you’re selling your home and you’ve reached the 40 days milestone, some action may be required.
  3. A great percentage of houses sell within the first 20 days. Congratulations, you’re done everything right.
  4. The houses that take 90+ days to sell skews the data.
  5. Some houses don’t sell (but they are not included here)

 

Join the Conversation

1 Comment

Leave a comment
Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *