By Jefferson Snow
Expireds usually fall into two major categories. The first is the expired listing that will end up signing with a new agent within the first 30 days. These are the owners you want to find. But unfortunately, the only make up about a third of total expireds. The other category of expireds is the owner who will wait 90 days or more to relist their home. They account for roughly another third of all expireds. Odds are you’ll end up talking to more people who fall under Column B (the 90-day waiters), so here are three things you can talk about to help sellers know that NOW is the time to list their home.
Home Value Is Rising
Yes, you read that correctly. Expireds should relist now because home values are rising. 2013 is turning out to be a great year for real estate. Many economists were predicting a recovering housing market this year but most estimates were very conservative. Now that we’re three months into the year, many experts are changing their figures based on how much growth they’ve seen in just this quarter. Home values are steadily climbing, and owners have the opportunity to sell at the best prices in years. While this is good news, it does have it’s drawbacks, specifically for those that are selling their home to purchase a new one.
The majority of 2nd, 3rd (or more) home buyers are moving up. They are getting into more house than before. As their current home price increase, so too is the price of the house they want to move to. This means that the amount of money they will net if they wait is less than the amount of money they will spend on their next home. Thus, it is NOT worth waiting. If home prices increase 3%, they are increasing on the step up as well, so waiting even three months can mean a big difference in how much more they will end up paying for that next home.
Interest Rates are Climbing
With a recuperating economy, it’s only a matter of time before interest rates go up. In fact, predictions are that interest will go up to around 4.5% by the end of the year.  As the year goes on, we’ll see interest rates slowly elevate.
This again is much more of an issue for the person who is buying another house, and especially relevant for someone buying up. Plus, buyers will be looking to get a deal done as soon as possibly. Let the owners of these expired listings know that they’ll see more motivated buyers start to disappear the longer they keep themselves off the market.
