RISMedia
  • News
  • Premier
  • Reports
  • Events
  • Power Broker
  • Newsmakers
  • More
    • Publications
    • Education
No Result
View All Result
  • Agents
  • Brokers
  • Teams
  • Marketing
  • Coaching
  • Technology
  • More
    • Headliners New
    • Luxury
    • Best Practices
    • Consumer
    • National
    • Our Editors
Join Premier
Sign In
RISMedia
  • News
  • Premier
  • Reports
  • Events
  • Power Broker
  • Newsmakers
  • More
    • Publications
    • Education
No Result
View All Result
RISMedia
No Result
View All Result

New Data Finds Homeowners Struggle When Selling, Despite Hot Market

Home Consumer
By Sonia Krishnan
April 19, 2018
Reading Time: 3 mins read
New Data Finds Homeowners Struggle When Selling, Despite Hot Market

Hipster real estate agent with beard offering the house. Young broker with placard for sale and documents in hands standing on the background of house. Vector flat design illustration. Square layout.

Twelve days before Thanksgiving, Mark and Sue Meaney decided to put their 109-year-old house on the market. They looked at comps of similar-sized homes near their St. Paul neighborhood, agreed on a price with their agent and waited anxiously for their first offer to roll in.

Mark and Sue knew their timing wasn’t ideal. The holidays loomed, and the market was slowing; worse, St. Paul was entering its notorious subzero season.

The couple felt torn. After one year of searching for a new home, they had found the perfect place a few miles away. It was spacious enough to raise their kids and had a first-floor bedroom and bathroom for Sue’s aging parents.

As first-time sellers—Mark and Sue had lived in the house for 20 years—the couple took a leap of faith. They bought the new home, moved in Sue’s parents and dropped nearly $20,000 to spruce up their old house to help it sell quickly.

Several weeks later, their vacant home remains for sale, its exterior weathering the forces of yet another Minnesota winter.

Selling a Home: Truth in Data
Skim any number of news articles on the U.S. housing market and chances are you’ll run across the phrases “low inventory,” “sellers’ market” and “strong demand.” This rings especially true in larger metropolitan areas, where stories of bidding wars abound, leaving the impression that sellers in these markets simply list their homes, sit back and receive offers above the asking price.

For much of the U.S., however, the data reveals a starker reality.

According to new findings from Zillow Group—which used data from the Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2017—selling a home in the U.S. is not only fraught with anxiety, but often culminates in unmet expectations.

In fact, close to one-third of sellers said they felt unsatisfied with the selling process. Of first-time sellers, nearly 30 percent were unprepared for how long it took to sell their homes and said they wished they would have started the process sooner, according to the analysis.

Furthermore, 76 percent of sellers across the U.S. ended up making at least one concession, with lowering the price the most-cited compromise. Thirty-six percent said they either struggled to sell their homes within their desired price range or time frame.

“This data shows there is a huge opportunity to create a better end-to-end experience for sellers and help them turn over their homes faster,” said Jeremy Wacksman, chief marketing officer at Zillow Group.

More Information, More Stress
Much of the stress sellers feel stems from that nail-biting wait to get the right offer. Fueling this collective anxiety is, of course, more access to information.

While the internet has greatly democratized the buying and selling process, it has also created a state of seller vigilance. Sellers are more involved than ever in the sale of their homes—and more stressed out.

Take Mark, for instance. He’s constantly monitoring how many views his house gets on Zillow and how it ranks compared to other homes coming on the market. Despite working with an agent, Mark is immersed—and stressed.

While Zillow’s findings show that 82 percent of sellers valued having an agent guide them through the process, America has entered a new era of how deeply involved homeowners are in selling their most expensive investment, Wacksman said.

Krishnan_SoniaSonia Krishnan is a senior writer at Zillow Group. This article was originally published on the Premier Agent Resource Center on Feb. 16, 2018. See the full story here.

For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.

Tags: Home SellersHomeownersHousing Marketreal estate newsSeller's MarketZillowZillow Consumer Housing Trends Report
ShareTweetShare

Related Posts

New York-Based Marquee Realty Joins Howard Hanna Real Estate Services
Industry News

New York-Based Marquee Realty Joins Howard Hanna Real Estate Services

June 20, 2025
Cutting Out the Noise
Brokers

Cutting Out the Noise

June 20, 2025
RISMedia Wins Gold, Silver Awards, Special Recognition at 2025 NAREE Journalism Competition
Industry News

RISMedia Wins Gold, Silver Awards, Special Recognition at 2025 NAREE Journalism Competition

June 20, 2025
Mortgage
Industry News

Mortgage Mix: CFPB’s Attempted Rollback on Redlining Settlement Denied by Judge

June 20, 2025
Housing
Agents

The Housing Crisis Demands Action—Here’s a Blueprint

June 20, 2025
Empowering Female Business Owners on Their Path to Aligned Ambition
Agents

Empowering Female Business Owners on Their Path to Aligned Ambition

June 19, 2025
Please login to join discussion
Tip of the Day

Why a Dirty Car Could Cost You the Deal

Think a dirty car doesn’t matter? Think again. Learn just how much first impressions can make or break a deal. See how.

Business Tip of the Day provided by

Recent Posts

  • New York-Based Marquee Realty Joins Howard Hanna Real Estate Services
  • Cutting Out the Noise
  • RISMedia Wins Gold, Silver Awards, Special Recognition at 2025 NAREE Journalism Competition

Categories

  • Spotlights
  • Best Practices
  • Advice
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Social Media

The Most Important Real Estate News & Events

Click below to receive the latest real estate news and events directly to your inbox.

Sign Up
By signing up, you agree to our TOS and Privacy Policy.

About Blog Our Products Our Team Contact Advertise/Sponsor Media Kit Email Whitelist Terms & Policies ACE Marketing Technologies LLC

© 2025 RISMedia. All Rights Reserved. Design by Real Estate Webmasters.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Premier
  • Reports
  • News
    • Agents
    • Brokers
    • Teams
    • Consumer
    • Marketing
    • Coaching
    • Technology
    • Headliners New
    • Luxury
    • Best Practices
    • National
    • Our Editors
  • Publications
    • Real Estate Magazine
    • Past Issues
    • Custom Covers
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Podcasts
    • Event Coverage
  • Education
    • Get Licensed
    • REALTOR® Courses
    • Continuing Education
    • Luxury Designation
    • Real Estate Tools
  • Newsmakers
    • 2025 Newsmakers
    • 2024 Newsmakers
    • 2023 Newsmakers
    • 2022 Newsmakers
    • 2021 Newsmakers
    • 2020 Newsmakers
    • 2019 Newsmakers
  • Power Broker
    • 2025 Power Broker
    • 2024 Power Broker
    • 2023 Power Broker
    • 2022 Power Broker
    • 2021 Power Broker
    • 2020 Power Broker
    • 2019 Power Broker
  • Join Premier
  • Sign In

© 2025 RISMedia. All Rights Reserved. Design by Real Estate Webmasters.

X