Congratulations! You’ve just signed your listing contract and put your home on the market. You’re excited and a little nervous about the prospects for your sale, and you’d like to know whether or not your listing is on track as your marketing plan unfolds. So how do you know if your listing is moving in the right direction? Here are 3 forms of feedback that will help you answer this question.
Three types of listing feedback
Here are the 3 types of feedback that will help you track the progress of your listing.
#1: How many showings is your listing generating?
This first form of feedback comes down to whether or not your listing is generating enough showings in order to attract an offer. Here are a few guidelines you can use to evaluate your showing activity:
- If your listing is receiving 2 or less showings per week, it’s not likely to receive an offer. You may need to change the pricing and/or presentation of your property if your listing is generating this level of activity.
- If your listing is generating 3 to 6 showings per week, your showing traffic is typically good enough to attract an offer provided your pricing and presentation are on the mark. If no offers are presented subsequent to these showings, your listing agent should gather feedback directly from the showing agents. Based on this information, a modification to your pricing/presentation strategy may be worthy of your consideration.
- If your listing is attracting 7 or more showings per week, your listing activity is typically strong enough to generate multiple offers provided your pricing and presentation are on the mark.
#2: What are buyers and buyer agents saying about your listing?
This form of feedback refers to the written feedback that is submitted by a buyer agent after she completes a showing of your property. This type of feedback can sometimes be a little confusing. That’s because some buyer agents put a lot of thought into their written feedback, while other buyer agents don’t put much thought into it at all. Consequently you could end up with 5 agents saying your property is priced just right, and another 5 agents saying your listing is priced too high.
When you review your buyer agent feedback, don’t place too much value on the feedback from any particular agent. Instead, focus on the general themes that emerge from all of your showings. For example, what do buyers really like about your property? What do they wish they could change? And what do they think of your price? The answers to these questions will help you determine whether or not you need to make any adjustments to your listing.
#3: How many second showings and offers is your listing attracting?
Ultimately this is your most important form of feedback. If your listing is attracting a lot of great buyer traffic, but none of your buyers are scheduling a second showing or writing an offer, it’s time to make a change to your listing.
Every situation is unique
The recommendations above are general guidelines and may not apply to every listing. What's most important is that you and your agent are constantly seeking feedback and open to making adjustments when needed. When you're in tune with your feedback, you'll know whether or not your listing is on track and if changes to your pricing and presentation are necessary.
For more articles on the home-selling process, check out our seller's blog here.
