Your house goes on the market and then your neighbor’s does, too. Should you be worried?

Your house goes on the market and then your neighbor’s does, too. Should you be worried?

You’ve got the best Realtor in town, the ‘for sale’ sign goes up in the yard, and bam … three or four of your neighbors’ homes hit the market, too. What do you do?

Terry Lewis, associate broker with Legend Realty, says the additional listings could have been spawned by a group of homeowners that were already thinking about selling, and when they saw their neighbor put a home up for sale, it made them decide to put theirs up as well.

“Sometimes people see their neighbor’s home go up for sale and think to themselves ‘my home is in better condition, and if they can get the price they are asking, I should be able to get even more,’” Lewis says.

“The fact is homebuyers shop for their home by need – bedrooms, big yard, three-car garage, etc. If all factors are equal then condition of the home and price become the determining factor,” says Lewis.

Realtor Barbra Hubler with Averbuch Realty says Huntsville has become so transient that a lot of people are coming in and out with various companies.

“Explain to potential sellers not to be concerned or worried because the transient nature would be the basis for all of the homes going up for sale at the same time,” she says.

Huntsville real estate broker Robert Taylor says what motivates other homeowners in a subdivision to list once a neighbor puts their home on the market is the desire to piggyback onto the marketing efforts of the person who put their house up for sale first.

“Once two properties go on the market, some homeowners think their neighbor must know something they don’t. They think it may be the time to move, therefore resulting in more homes being listed for sale,” Taylor says.