LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – With interest rates rising and homes selling more slowly the past few months, it may seem like it’s not a good time to sell your house.
But Matt Mick, owner and real estate agent at Lincoln Select Realty Group, said not to panic too much.
“For the first time since about 2019, the amount of homes for sale in Lincoln are getting back up to what we would consider a neutral market,” Mick said.
Once the pandemic hit, Mick said, interest rates dropped to historic lows and homes started selling way faster than usual.
“The amount of days homes spent on market, we saw a drastic decrease in that,” he said. “It got as low as three or four days for a while, which is at least 10 to 20 times quicker than we would see historically.”
And Mick said that trend continued for years.
But in the last few months, things have started to cool down a bit, and the amount of time it’s taking to sell a house is increasing.
So it may seem like it’s not going well if you’re trying to sell your house, but Mick said it’s actually closer to normal.
In Lincoln, it’s taking about 11 days to sell a house now, but in a normal market, it would take between one and two months.
October to December is usually slower as well because fewer people want to move around the holidays.
Still, Mick said there’s never a bad time to sell your home.
He said buyers in those slower months are usually more serious.
“People that are just out there looking aren’t going to be doing that in the winter, so you can get some really good buyers during that period of time,” he said.
Mick said if you’re thinking about lowering your price to get a buyer, don’t do it too early.
The largest influx of buyers comes in the springtime.
“I would start talking with a real estate agent now so you can start preparing yourself and your home so you can get the highest offer come the springtime,” he said.