How long is it going to take for my house to sell is a question we get asked all the time, and I get it. You want to know how long it's going to take, and the answer is it'll take as long as the market says it's going to take.

Speeding up your home selling process

If your house is marketed correctly, there are things you can do to speed up the process, but we're kind of all at the whims of the market. There's no magic wand. I'm Brendan Moran with 5Star. In a hot market, when there are more buyers than there are homes for sale, your house is going to sell quickly. No kidding, but here's the thing, you got to allow enough time for it to be marketed correctly, otherwise you're leaving money on the table. Anytime somebody says, I sold my house in one day. I kind of just shake my head because I just know that they left money on the table, you got to give it some time.

What you need to apply differently this time

Now, depending on the market climate, you might want to do things a little bit differently than maybe two years ago. If you get an offer, you might want to look at it and seriously consider it, because in a normal market or even a buyer's market, sometimes the best offer you get is the first one. Now, if there are less buyers and more homes for sale, you're in a buyer's market and it's going to take a little bit while longer. We can discuss how long we think your home will take to sell when we meet with you.

Pricing: Absorption Rate

When it comes to pricing, it's important to look at something called the absorption rate. And the absorption rate is really just a fancy way of saying how quickly homes are selling, and you calculate it by taking the total number of homes sold in, let's say this month, divided by the total number of homes still for sale. A seller's market is when the absorption rate is 20% or more, and a buyer's market is 15% or less. Generally, it all depends on your neighborhood or how long homes take to traditionally sell and all that stuff. In a buyer's market though, if I see a house that's been in the market for longer than a month, I know that it's overpriced and needs what they call a price adjustment in the business. I'm Brendan Moran with 5Star.