By: Kerry Close Kerry Close Has also written: See full bio
Published: Mar 21, 2016 1 min read
Looking to sell your home? You might have an advantage over the pack if it's built in the Spanish style or features stainless steel appliances.
Over the past three months, Realtor.com evaluated the listings on its website to see what homes sell the quickest. It tracked the number of days each home was on the market and the number of pages views it received, and compared these metrics with different architectural styles and amenities to determine which factors help a home sell the fastest—and which might hurt its prospects on the market.
Location, price, interior features, and architectural style can all have an influence on how quickly a home will sell. Homes that fall under the following categories tend to move faster than average.
Low Price Point
With the homeownership rate nationally approaching a 50-year low, home buyers are becoming more prudent. Houses listed between $200,000 and $250,000 sold in about 83 days, faster than those in any other price range. That's compared to 133 days for homes priced between $2 million and $5 million. On average, the pricier a house, the longer it takes to sell: Realtor.com pointed to the fact that Minnesota's most expensive home, listed for $24 million, has been on the market for about eight years.
Not Too Big, Not Too Small
Realtor.com says that large homes get more views on its website than smaller ones: For instance, an 8,000-square-foot mega mansion saw 30% more traffic than a 1,000-square-foot house. But in reality, the larger the property, the longer it stays on the market. The places that sold the quickest—on average, 86 days—were between 1,500 and 2,000 square feet and priced at about $194,000. Residences that are over 10,000 square feet, priced at an average of $3.45 million, stayed on the market for an average of 173 days, the data showed.
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Stainless Steel Appliances
Apparently, stainless steel sells. Listings with stainless steel appliances come off the market in around 79 days, 15% faster than the average. Those homes were priced at average of $300,000. Homes with granite countertops, listed at $320,000 on average, came in a close second, selling in about 82 days. On the other end of the spectrum, homes with fireplaces, once considered the focal point of a living space, took a longer time to sell, at 94 days. Those homes were priced at an average of $290,000.
Proximity to a School
Education is king, at least for home buyers. Homes located near a school, especially one described by keywords like "top" or "best," came off the market in about 76 days. With an average listing price of $330,000, they also saw the most page views on Realtor.com. They just barely edged out homes located near a stadium, which sold in 77 days on average. Buyers least value proximity to a hospital, with homes near major medical centers taking about 95 days to sell, receiving the fewest hits online, and being priced the lowest of the properties studied, at $192,000. Somewhat surprisingly, they also don't prioritize being near public transportation: Of the factors studied, listings described as such took the second-highest average amount of time, 88 days, to sell.
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Spanish Style
Spanish-style homes are in the minority, representing just 1% of Realtor.com's listings. They are also expensive, averaging $550,000. And yet they sell incredibly quickly, spending only about 47 days on the market, about half the national average. That's because they're mostly located in the hot real estate markets in metro areas in coastal California. Homes in the Victorian style took the longest amount of time, 122 days, to sell—despite an average listing price, $259,000, that's almost half that of Spanish-style residences. Realtor.com says this may be because their vibrant color schemes and asymmetrical shapes are out of favor with modern buyers. (Victorian homes also tend to be older, and fewer buyers want to deal with the hassles of a 100-year-old house.) Custom homes move slowly as well, taking an average of 109 days to sell, 17% slower than the national median.
City Skylines
When they're able to choose their views, home buyers prefer city skylines. Homes with city views, with an average price of $450,000, sold in about 83 days. They're followed by homes situated next to a golf course—which, with an average home price of $412,500, stay on the market for about 90 days. Oceanfront homes, perhaps surprisingly, spent the longest amount of time at the market, at 98 days. But that also might be on account of its average home price of $749,000, well above the national median price of $232,000.
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