According to the National Association of REALTORS®, the median home buyer spends about 10 weeks searching for a home and tours seven homes before making a purchase. Nearly every buyer now uses online tools to search listings, compare homes, and narrow their options before ever scheduling a showing.
Those numbers raise an interesting question. If buyers can view hundreds of listings online in minutes, why does the average home search still take more than two months?
The answer has as much to do with the traditional home selling process as it does with buyers themselves.
Today's buyers have more information than ever before. Instead of driving across town to see every home for sale that fits their budget, they can quickly compare properties from their phone or computer.
Before scheduling a showing, many buyers have already ruled out homes based on factors like:
By the time someone requests a showing, the home has usually survived several rounds of comparisons against competing listings.
A seemingly endless supply of new listings, particularly in any mid- to large-sized metro area, reduces the pressure buyers feel to make a decision.
A typical home search often looks something like this:
Market data supports that behavior. Since 2024, nationwide median days on market has generally ranged from roughly a month and a half to more than two months. Even when buyers find homes they like, they may feel reasonably safe waiting a few weeks before making a decision.
Homebuyers typically don’t think about the structural dynamics that lengthen time on market. They just see the number and start questioning why a home still hasn’t found a buyer weeks after being listed. Is there something wrong with it? Is it overpriced?
Those questions become more persistent the longer a home remains on the market. When in doubt, many buyers will pass over a stale listing without giving it too much thought. Others assume that there is room to negotiate, since the home obviously isn’t selling at the current price.
Home sellers with stale listings may also begin adjusting their expectations as additional competing homes enter the market. The initial list price may have been slightly above what the market supported, but still within the realm of reason. Two or three months later, that same home may look significantly overpriced compared with newer listings in the area.
A home selling process built around weeks or months of scattered showings often works against the very thing most sellers want: creating strong interest while their home is still fresh on the market.
The 72SOLD process takes a different approach. Instead of spreading showings over weeks and allowing buyer interest to fade, 72SOLD concentrates attention while the home is still new to the market.
That includes:
Instead of letting the home become one more stop during a long search, the goal is to create an environment where qualified buyers recognize the opportunity, understand that other buyers may want the same home, and act before someone else does.
The median buyer may spend about 10 weeks searching and tour seven homes before making an offer, but that doesn't mean they're always unwilling to move quickly.
Consumers respond predictably to scarcity and competition, and that response can be fostered with a thoughtfully designed approach to selling your home.
If you want to sell without letting buyer interest drift over weeks or months, complete the form on our website to learn how 72SOLD concentrates attention, create competition, and recommend the right price for your home.
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