A client asked me how long it would take to sell a home in Sequim if they decide Sequim is not where they want to live. I’ve never had a client ask this question. I should add that in 20 years I’ve never heard of a single person who moved here to retire and then decided right away that they didn’t want to live here. Still, this is an interesting question that deserves an answer.
Time to Sell a Home
How long would it take to sell the home you buy in Sequim if you decide Sequim isn’t where you want to stay? That is the penultimate question. The market has improved in Sequim dramatically over the past one to two years. Demand has increased, prices are inching upward, and the inventory has been shrinking. Many homes are now selling at full listed price or a little more, and we have had some multiple bids on some homes.
Prices are largely a function of supply and demand, and the Sequim inventory of the ideal home for the vast majority of retirees has been shrinking for years until now many buyers are having trouble finding the ideal home. So this is putting pressure on prices, and buyers have been snapping up the ideal home when they can find it. Some people have started buying land and building agai
n, but that is more expensive than buying an existing home.
n, but that is more expensive than buying an existing home.If the market continues to improve on this same trajectory, slow and steady, and if home builders do not flood the market with new homes (unlikely), and if the future does not bring a major national economic reversal, the ideal Sequim home will be very sellable in the future.
Sell a Home – Timeline
Here are some interesting stats in the graphic above covering the calendar year 2015 for homes sold from $250,000 to $500,000. This shows 303 homes sold in 2015 in this price range, and the average time on the market was 92 days with the median at 39 days. The average listing price was $335,000 and the average selling price was not much lower at $326,000.
Of course, within these stats you have to look at individual homes. The ideal home that went on the market at the same time a retired couple just happened to arrive in Sequim to look for their ideal home, might have sold immediately. That could be 1 day, or 5 days, or 2 months, or longer since it was listed.
I’m reminded of a field of study called “chaos mathematics.” Originally, the idea was that chaos is unpredictable (like the stock market), but later mathematicians came up with another theory that posits there is order in the chaos. I suppose we could say that is true about the Sequim real estate market and how long it takes to sell a home.
To say the obvious, if you buy a very unique home that most people will not want, who knows how long it could take to sell a home? But if you’re going to buy a traditional open floor plan, a home that is fairly modern with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, 1,800 to 2,400 square feet on a nice lot with a little bit of privacy, your home would be right in the center or top of the Bell Curve, and your home would probably sell within 92 days. But even then, there are many variables that could change that.
Here’s the good news. Homes are selling much quicker now than they have been in a decade. I guess that’s good news for homeowners who want to sell a home, but not necessarily for buyers.
Last Updated on October 1, 2019 by Chuck Marunde
