The Biggest Mistakes Sellers Are Making Right Now

The housing market is going through a transition. Higher mortgage rates are causing more moderate buyer activity at the same time the supply of homes for sale is growing.And if you aren’t working with an agent, you may not realize that. Here’s the downside. If you’re not informed, you can’t adjust your strategy or expectations to today’s market. And that can lead to a number of costly mistakes.Here’s a look at some of the most common ones – and how an agent will help you avoid them when you sell. 1. Overpricing Your HouseMany sellers set their asking price too high and that’s why there’s an uptick in homes with price reductions today. An unrealistic price will deter potential buyers, cause an appraisal issue, or lead to your house sitting on the market longer. An article from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) explains:“Some sellers are pricing their homes higher than ever just because they can, but this may drive away serious buyers and result in unapproved appraisals . . .”To avoid falling into this trap, partner with a pro. An agent uses recent sales of similar homes, the condition of your house, local market trends, and so much more to find the price that’ll attract more buyers and open the door for multiple offers and a faster sale.2. Skipping the Small StuffYou may try to skip important repairs, thinking you can pass the task on to your buyer. But visible issues (even if they’re small) can turn off potential buyers and result in lower offers or demands for concessions. As Money Talks News says:“Home shoppers like to turn on lights, flush toilets and run the water. If these basic things don’t work, they may assume you’ve skipped other maintenance. Homes that appear neglected aren’t likely to fetch top price.”If you want to get your house ready to sell, the best place to turn to for advice is your agent. They’ll be able to do a walk-through with you and point out anything you’ll need to tackle before the photographer comes in.3. Not Looking at Things ObjectivelyBuyers today are feeling the pinch of high home prices and mortgage rates. With affordability that tight, they may come in with an offer that’s lower than you’d want to see – especially if you didn’t stage, price, or market the house well.It’s important you don’t take this personally. Getting overly emotional can put the sale at risk. As an article from Ramsey Solutions says:“Remember, a buyer’s offer is not a reflection of their opinion of your home or your housekeeping abilities. . . The sale of your home is strictly a business transaction. If they start out with a low offer, don’t take it personally and get emotional. Instead, channel that energy toward negotiating. Work with your agent and make a counteroffer.”4. Being Unwilling To NegotiateThe supply of homes for sale has grown. That means buyers have more options, and with that comes more negotiation power. As a seller, you may see more buyers getting an inspection, requesting repairs, or asking for help with closing costs today. You need to be prepared to have those conversations. As U.S. News Real Estate explains:“If you've received an offer for your house that isn't quite what you'd hoped it would be, expect to negotiate . . . the only way to come to a successful deal is to make sure the buyer also feels like he or she benefits . . . consider offering to cover some of the buyer's closing costs or agree to a credit for a minor repair the inspector found.”An agent will walk you through what levers you may want to pull based on your own goals, budget, and timeframe.5. Not Using a Real Estate AgentNotice anything? For each of these mistakes, partnering with an agent helps prevent them from happening in the first place. That makes trying to sell your house without an agent’s help the biggest mistake of all.Real estate agents have experience and expertise in pricing, marketing, negotiating, and more. That knowledge streamlines the selling process and usually results in drumming up more interest and ultimately can get you a higher final price.Bottom LineIf you want to avoid making mistakes like these, you need to work with a real estate agent.

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Zillow’s forecast for the 2025 housing market in a word? Bumpy

It seems like home sellers have had the upper hand in the housing market for years now, but rising inventory has steadily increased the amount of leverage for buyers.That trend will continue in 2025, according to Zillow’s annual housing market forecast. The portal giant projects a “bumpy” year for housing but one that could ultimately result in buyers coming out ahead.This is particularly true in the Southwest. Zillow said that buyers’ markets will spread across the region, provided that mortgage rates don’t drop dramatically and increase pent-up demand.“More inventory should shake loose in 2025, giving buyers a bit more room to breathe,” Zillow chief economist Skylar Olsen said in a statement. “Americans are adapting to sky-high costs by embracing coziness, a term that for so long has been a thinly veiled critique in real estate lingo. “Zillow expects home-price growth of 2.6% in 2025, which is largely in line with growth from this year. It also projects 4.3 million existing-home sales, with some buyers reversing the post-pandemic trend of buying for more space by choosing smaller homes.But mortgage rates are a major wildcard. While the Federal Reserve was previously expected to cut interest rates throughout 2025, Donald Trump’s election clouds the picture.This week, Trump proposed a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods, with an additional 10% tariff on good from China. Economists broadly consider tariffs that large to be a recipe for reigniting inflation, which would likely prompt the Fed to hold off on rate cuts.Coupled with the potential for elevated mortgage rates, the tariffs would likely raise the costs of inputs for homebuilders and exacerbate affordability problems. Homebuilders also believe that Trump’s plan for mass deportation of immigrants would reduce the labor supply and thus make it more expensive. This could negatively impact new-home sales.Zillow is the latest company in the real estate space to publish a 2025 housing market forecast — and it echoes others.HousingWire’s forecast, compiled by Lead Analyst Logan Mohtashami and Altos Research President Mike Simonsen, projects slightly fewer existing-home sales than Zillow at 4.2 million. The pair expect home-price appreciation of 3.5% — higher than Zillow’s — and an inventory increase of 13%.Fannie Mae and the Mortgage Bankers Association downwardly revised their housing market forecasts after Trump’s election cast doubt on the direction of mortgage rates. MBA expects existing-home sales of 4.3 million, while Fannie Mae projects 4.5 million — 4% growth over 2024 levels.Expectations for existing-home sales vary. Of the forecasts analyzed by HousingWire, they range from 4.2 million to 4.9 million.

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Powell signals September rate cut: ‘The time has come for policy to adjust’

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Friday that “the time has come for policy to adjust,” signaling a cut in the federal funds rate at the September meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) as expected by monetary policy watchers. “The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks,” Powell said during a speech at the Kansas City Fed’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. That’s good news for the mortgage and real estate industries, which have been challenged for some time by higher rates. Following Powell’s speech, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield declined, and the expectation is that this will also be reflected in the historically correlated 30-year fixed mortgage rate, which currently stands at 6.67% for conforming loans and 6.73% for jumbo loans, according to HousingWire‘s Mortgage Rates Center.“The immediate reaction to the speech resulted in some reductions in longer-term Treasuries and secondary mortgage market yields, so mortgage rates may be somewhat lower in the near term. Our forecast continues to look for mortgage rates to drift down closer to 6% over the next 12 months or so,” Mike Fratantoni, senior vice president and chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), said in a statement.Powell said in his speech that his “confidence has grown that inflation is on a sustainable path back” to the Fed’s 2% target. He added that after a pause earlier this year, consumer prices have risen 2.5% over the past 12 months. Regarding the labor market, Powell said it “has cooled considerably from its formerly overheated state,” with the unemployment rate rising over the past year to its current level of 4.3%.According to Powell, rising unemployment has not resulted from a greater number of layoffs but from a substantial increase in the supply of workers and a slowdown from the previously frantic pace of hiring. “Even so, the cooling in labor market conditions is unmistakable,” he said.  After inflation peaked in the summer of 2022, it came down due to the reversal of pandemic-related distortions to supply and demand, which “took much longer than expected,” according to Powell.Prices also came down due to a restrictive monetary policy. The FOMC raised its policy rate by 425 basis points in 2022 and by 100 basis points in 2023, holding rates at their current range of 5.25% to 5.5% since July 2023.As of Friday, monetary policy watchers believe there is a 100% chance of a rate cut in September. Most of them — 65.5% precisely — are betting on a 25-basis-point cut, according to the CME Group‘s FedWatch Tool, which measures the likelihood of changes to rates at upcoming meetings. “Chair Powell just rang the bell to start rate cuts,” Fratantoni said. “The softening of the job market has given the Fed the confidence that inflation will not re-accelerate. There is certainly a risk that the unemployment rate could rise faster and further than the Fed would like, but Chair Powell indicated that they are watching and would react to such a further softening in the job market.”

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