How an Agent Market Time Question Can Mislead

Often, you might hear real estate "gurus" share how you should ask about an agent or broker's median or average real estate market time, but if that's the only question you ask related to market time and you don't do any more digging, you could get a very misleading result to consider. In isolation, a low market time might seem good, but if the reason for a low market time is due to the listing agent intentionally undercutting the value for quick sales without even informing the sellers nor asking if they'd prefer a quick sale or selling for top dollar, that's not very seller-friendly. There are a number of other best practices that an agent might skip without ever informing the seller to reduce their median market time, all at the seller's expense if they'd prefer top dollar over a quick sale.

1. Inflexible Agent Policies Win w/ This Question

Knowing that many sellers are keen to look into this question, some listing agents won't even list a property that isn't at or below the list price that they recommend. Others (like myself) are willing to list properties for more than the agent/broker recommends. Inflexible agents get rewarded when potential sellers ask this question.

2. Pricing Strategies Vary

The pricing strategy that an agent pursues is also a significant factor. Some agents will intentionally price a property low, looking for a quick sale and ideally a bidding war. Sometimes they won't even mention to the seller that they're doing that. Other agents will try to price it higher than they think it's worth but within reach of what they think it might sell for, knowing that it's easy to come down but not so easy to come up. Other agents will try to price it right where they think it's worth.

On one occasion early in my career, I received 3 offers while representing a seller. The seller had not taken my dad & I's advice on what to do to the property and had wanted to start at an unrealistic price. While I was relatively early in my career, before my sales career started, I had spent May-January in the marketing department, so I knew a lot more than most newer agents about marketing. I did a lot of marketing for that home. I recommended that the seller accept or counter the 3rd offer, which was the highest of the 3. They didn't take my advice. Within 1 month, they passed the listing to another agent, who was one of the top agents in VA at the time. It sat on the market for a year with that agent with more than one price reduction. Roughly a year later, it sold at a sales price 8% lower than the 3rd offer we received.

3. Impact of Condition

Agents who aren't honest with sellers about what needs to be done to a property before it's listed to get max net profits do sometimes have the benefit of winning more listings, since real estate sellers often don't like to hear that a property could use some repairs, cleaning, or decluttering. If an agent doesn't educate sellers in these matters, a property will tend to have a long market time unless it's priced low. Some listing agents won't even pursue as-is sales, while other agents do mostly as-is sales.

A. Properties listed as is will tend to sit on the market longer than other properties unless they're priced lower than what they're worth. Also, what they're "worth" is typically less than difference between the property in typical shape for the area and the cleaning/repair costs. If that wasn't the case, house flippers would be quickly out of business due to the costs incurred in selling. Some sellers may like to list as is to get a property on the market faster, but an honest agent should still inform them unless the seller asks them not to about what should be done to get a home sold for the most net profits.

B. Even a property that's in otherwise great shape, if it has a few fatal flaws, can sit on the market a long time. I remember an occasion where I provided some feedback to a seller I represented before a property was listed on some things to do to it. He took some of my suggestions but didn't feel like doing the other things because they would be more costly than what he wanted to spend. The home sat on the market for 6 months until we eventually received a full price offer in month 7. The only offers we received prior to that were below the asking price. On multiple occasions, we received negative feedback from buyers who mentioned these few things. He dropped the price a few times, but refused to listen to the feedback from others that I had shared before it was listed. Each price reduction was significantly more than the cost of doing what I had suggested before the property was listed. If he had listened to my advice, the property may have sold more quickly.

C. While I've been involved in a number of above appraisal scenarios, & some no appraisal scenarios, on one occasion, a buyer paid my seller 6% above appraisal.

The seller took essentially all of my advice on things to do to the property's exterior and to do to the property's interior to get it ready to sell, most of which he & his wife were able to do themselves & with their family. Even the kids helped. It didn't cost them much more than time to get it ready. Once it was ready, we priced it at the peak of the comparable sales in a good time of year to put a home on the market. We received multiple offers, and the offer we chose had the highest appraisal gap coverage among the offers, where a buyer states that they will pay above the appraisal within the offer itself in the event that it doesn't appraise at contract price. The appraiser thought that I was spot on with my list price, so every bit of that appraisal gap coverage was used up, a 6% appraisal gap. The buyer said that one of the things that they liked about the home was the area, and I have to wonder if my unmatched area photos were a factor in bringing the buyers in the door.

D. I recall an occasion where I recommended some repairs and cleaning to a seller, they ignored all the suggestions, and then the property eventually sold after some time and some price reductions. The city assessor later called me asking why the property sold for what it did, which they thought was under the value. I let them know about the seller ignoring my suggestions to get the property ready to sell, and that part of the condition of the property was due to repair requests that occurred after the home inspection, where the seller preferred to acquiesce to those requests rather than the contract with that buyer falling through.

4. Marketing Quality (Much more important to focus on than market time metric, in part because low median market time could mean frequently selling for below what properties are worth)

While it's not a bad idea to ask about market time, as long as you ask about related factors like the agent's typical pricing strategy, suggestions on improvements, etc. marketing quality is a much more important factor to focus on when reviewing an agent's track record. One of the top reasons why is that an agent may have a low median market time because they frequently sell properties for less than what they could for them.

Properties poorly marketed will tend to sit on the market longer unless they're priced lower than what they're worth.

Examples:

A. I was representing a buyer on a property who got under contract quickly on a home with only 1 bad picture in a 2-offer situation within 72 hrs of it hitting the market. The home was gorgeous, and could have had more buyers making offers if it had been properly marketed.

B. Conversely, see section C in the "condition" section above, where a seller took my advice on condition at a low cost (mostly time) and where my marketing quality really helped to sell it .In that situation, the buyer in a bidding war paid 6% above the appraised price from an appraisal guarantee that helped them to win it against competing offers after the appraiser agreed that I priced it exactly right based on the comparable sales.

C. I recall another occasion where I represented a buyer on a property that I knew was listed for below what it was worth. I told the buyer before we made an offer, "Comps are great and show it is underpriced." The listing agent did a lot of sales and was very experienced, but priced the property for approximately 6% below what it appraised for with my buyer's appraiser. The buyer got it for roughly 4.4% below the appraised value.

5. Market Timing

The timing of when a property hits the market also has a major impact on market time based on the seasonal trends. I recall an occasion where a seller felt like listing their home in early January despite my warning the sellers that it was a bad idea and despite the fact that there was no strong reason for the sellers to sell then other than them feeling like it. It resulted in a below-asking price offer that they took despite my recommendation against it. Thankfully, that contract fell through last minute. They asked me if they should reduce the price when they put it back on the market. I told them that they shouldn't. Shortly after it went back on the market, it went under contract for substantially more than the prior contract.

The peaks with the highest median market time in the US graph above are always in January between January 2017 & January 2025. The troughs with the lowest market time are typically in May & June. An agent that informs sellers about the best time to sell will tend to have lower market time, though other factors like sales price are much more significant for the median market time.

6. Location

The location is also a major factor. If you're selling a property in Newport News, and most of an agent's sales are in the Northern Neck, their median market time will tend to be higher than another agent who mostly sells in more densely populated areas like Newport News & Norfolk.

7. Property Type

For instance, it's relatively common knowledge that commercial real estate takes longer to sell than residential real estate.

8. Price Range

Real estate that's at higher price points tends to take longer to sell than properties in prices that have a higher number of prospective buyers.

9. Listing Agents w/ No Offer Deadlines May Have Lower Market Time But Worse Price Because of It

An offer deadline, which isn't rare for sellers in residential real estate, is a way to both encourage offers and to let buyers know in advance that a seller won't be likely to accept an offer right after it's listed. That allows multiple offer situations to thrive and for offers to get higher over time as offers are pitted against one another. Agents who don't use them will tend to have shorter market times at the sellers' expense. While they're not done the majority of the time in Hampton Roads residential transactions, they're a best practice.

10. Listing Agents Who Accept Offers Without Back & Forth May Have Lower Market Time But Worse Price & Terms Because of It

A listing agent who doesn't encourage sellers to negotiate on terms much, even when they're poor terms, may have lower market times but at the sellers' expense.

Even in multiple offer scenarios, some listing agents won't inform parties of the existence of a multiple offer scenario. They often won't give many details about other offers to a buyer's agent even if the other offer(s) are better. I've seen a number of cases where by sharing the existence and certain terms of other offers on the table, my sellers have gotten higher offers and better terms. When an offer exists that's lower than asking price, on the other hand, it's often best to share about the existence of the other offer without sharing the amount or terms unless the existence of an offer alone isn't compelling enough to get additional offers in a short timeframe. By avoiding the back and forth between parties, again, you're looking at a potentially lower market time.