Selling Challenges

Most sellers are unsentimental about their homes, instead, they prioritize profits from the sale over concerns about the home’s future under a new owner. As reported in the Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report, half of sellers say maximizing profit is the most important goal, while 38 percent of sellers prioritize selling within their target time frame, and 12 percent say making sure their home has a good next owner is the most important priority.

TIMING CONCERNS

Urban sellers are more concerned compared to suburban sellers about selling within their target time frame. Urban sellers are usually selling in competitive markets where they often get their list price or higher, so it’s little surprise that these sellers are less likely to say that maximizing profits is a top concern.

SELLING FOR THE RIGHT PRICE

When sellers reflect on the entire selling process, they are overall satisfied. Sellers who do face issues during the sales process say the top four they find difficult are timing the sale with the purchase of their new home, selling within their desired time frame and price range, and entering a competitive buyers market after selling. As expected, younger generations seem to experience slightly higher levels of difficulty than older sellers. All generations find most aspects of the process easy to navigate or deal with. Baby Boomers and Silent Gen sellers report breezing through some of the activities that Millennials and Gen Xers rate difficult. Yet, as crazy as the selling process can be, most of those sellers will still go on to buy another house and find themselves back in the market as sellers in another decade.