4 Lessons to Note from Your Neighbor’s Home Sale
Neighborly support doesn’t have to end when one neighbor decides to sell his home and move. Instead, a neighbor who has recently sold a home may be your best friend in the neighborhood. Whether you are anticipating selling your own home soon or just storing away knowledge for the future, you can learn a lot about the value of your home by learning about your neighbor’s home sale.
Here are four of those lessons to learn from your neighbor’s home sale:
- Home improvement Do’s and Don’t’s
If your neighbor has recently sold a home, it’s likely that he has also recently hosted an open house. Open houses are a great opportunity to receive feedback from the public about what they like and dislike in a home. Ask your neighbor about the feedback he received, or better still, if you catch him in time, ask to attend the open house so you can take notes.
During the open house, you may discover that prospective buyers fawn over your neighbor’s landscaping and painted deck, or you might find that buyers turn their noses up at the faux granite countertops, which you and your neighbor both installed a year ago. You can use this knowledge to make your own home more appealing to prospective buyers, when you are ready to go on the market.
- Time on the Market
Knowing how long your neighbor’s home stayed on the market can help you plan ahead to decide when you should place your own home up for sale. If your neighbor’s home sold in a wink, and you don’t plan on moving for another six months, you might be able to afford to wait. On the other hand, if you drove past the “for sale” sign in your neighbor’s yard for over a year before you finally saw the word “SOLD!” you should consider allowing for a long sale for your home as well.
- Asking Price and Selling Price
The most important financial information for you to know is probably the final selling price of your neighbor’s house. This can give you an idea of what buyers are willing to spend on a house similar to your own in your neighborhood. However, it can also be useful to know your neighbor’s asking price. The difference between asking and selling price can indicate how disposed buyers are to bargain for houses. In a buyer’s market, buyers often feel emboldened to try to drive prices down, so you should consider beginning with an asking price higher than what you actually hope to make.
- Neighborhood Demographics
You’ve helped your neighbor box up, and you’ve waved goodbye to the moving trucks. Now, it’s time for the new owner of your neighbor’s house to arrive. Of course, there is an abundance of reasons to be curious about the new addition to your neighborhood. One of them you may not have considered is neighborhood demographics. The kind of person who purchased your neighbor’s house may be a good indicator of the direction in which your neighborhood is shifting. Is your new neighbor a retired gentleman, a young family, a business shark? Knowing your neighborhood demographic can help you estimate your home’s value and know whom to market your home to when you’re ready to sell.
Saying goodbye to a friendly neighbor is always a downer, but it is also an opportunity to learn about how to sell your home. The more knowledge you have, the more successful you will be when it comes time for you to change your situation. And you can always call your neighbor up to say thanks after you’ve sold your home!