$\"That$ \n

Open up a home search and you\u2019ll see them. Listings that have been on the market for two months. Three. Some longer.<\/p>\n

Most buyers scroll right past them, assuming something\u2019s wrong with the house. But that instinct could be costing you, since the longer a home sits, the more motivated the seller usually gets.<\/p>\n

Where Some Buyers Are Finding Better Deals<\/strong><\/h4>\n
If affordability<\/a> has been your #1 hurdle to buying, here\u2019s a surprisingly simple strategy that could help you finally get your foot in the door. Start with the homes that have been sitting the longest. That\u2019s often where the best deals are.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s why. Data from Realtor.com <\/em>shows<\/a> there\u2019s a connection between longer time on the market and lower sales prices. Basically, the longer a house sits, the more likely it is that the seller will reduce the price <\/strong>(see graph below)<\/em>:<\/p>\n
$\"a$ <\/p>\n
The blue line tracks how long homes stay on the market, while the green line tracks the share of homes getting a price reduction. As one climbs, so does the other. \u00a0<\/p>\n
And if you focus on these homes that are just sitting and waiting, the opportunity for you is bigger than you may think right now.<\/p>\n
Redfin<\/em> data shows there\u2019s $347 billion worth of stale listings on the market right now \u2013 more than ever before for this time of year. So, ask your agent to filter listings for you from oldest to newest. The home that fits your budget might already be there. Just further down the list than you thought.<\/p>\n
Lingering Doesn\u2019t Always Mean Something\u2019s Wrong\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Let\u2019s say you do that and something catches your eye. Still, you might be questioning why the home has been sitting in the first place. Just remember, sometimes it has nothing to do with the home itself.<\/p>\n
According to Redfin<\/em>, common causes are:<\/p>\n
\n
\n
The asking price was set too high to start<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n
The home didn\u2019t show well online<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n
There are a lot of homes for sale in the area, so it just got buried<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
So, nothing that\u2019s necessarily a dealbreaker, or even anything that\u2019s wrong with the home itself. If there\u2019s a real issue, a thorough inspection will surface it. And that\u2019s information you can use to negotiate. Not a reason to assume it\u2019s a house worth skipping over.<\/p>\n
How To Turn a Lingering Listing into a Win<\/strong><\/h4>\nSo how do you capitalize on a lingering listing? According to USA Today<\/em>, you have two main levers<\/a> to pull.<\/p>\n
The first is price<\/em>.<\/strong> Work with your agent to study what comparable homes recently sold for, then build an offer around that. Coming in below asking price is fair game when a home has been sitting.<\/p>\n
The second is concessions<\/em>.<\/strong> If a seller won\u2019t budge much on price, they may still help in other ways, like covering some closing costs, repair credits, or even a mortgage rate buydown that lowers your monthly payment.<\/p>\n
A local agent has the context to tell which homes are the real opportunities and which are skippable.<\/p>\n
Bottom Line<\/h3>\n
A house sitting on the market isn\u2019t always a glaring red flag. In today\u2019s market, it may be your best opportunity yet.<\/p>\n
For help deciding which lingering listings are actually worth a second look, connect with a local real estate agent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Open up a home search and you\u2019ll see them. Listings that have been on the market for two months. Three. Some longer. Most buyers scroll right past them, assuming something\u2019s wrong with the house. But that instinct could be costing you, since the longer a home sits, the more motivated the seller usually gets. Where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6474,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[29,27,20,18,28],"class_list":["post-6473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-insight","tag-idaho-real-estate","tag-north-idaho-homes","tag-rain-silverhawk","tag-real-estate","tag-sandpoint-idaho"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t