The sky is blue. The grass is green. It's a seller's real-estate market.
The latter is a truth that's existed for a while, despite the predictions of a real-estate market crash or impending comedown of home prices. With homeowners who were able to snag historically low house payments seeing no reason to move now that mortgage rates are higher, there just aren't enough properties on the market to change the imbalance between supply and demand.
This may be welcome news to homeowners who are preparing to list their properties. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't go the extra mile by catering to buyers before listing. That effort may net the seller a higher price, or ultimately provoke a bidding war.
"Bidding wars are typically driven by high demand in a particular area and a low supply of homes," Jen Patchen, a real estate agent with Opendoor, told House Beautiful. "The features of the home are big drivers for multiple buyers to bid on the same property. That's why when you're selling, you need to be thoughtful about what draws people into your home, from pricing the home correctly to recent upgrades and even staging."
So what, then, are the features most likely to help a home sell for over its asking price? House Beautiful broke it down.