Listings that turn you off

Kenneth R. Harney Apr 26, 2013

WASHINGTON — With full-fledged sellers’ markets underway in dozens of metropolitan areas around the country, new research has found curious statistical patterns emerging: Even in cities where listings get multiple offers within days or hours, significant numbers of homes are sitting on the market for six months, 12 months or more with no takers.

Call them turnoff listings. Despite roaring sales paces all around them, for one reason or another these houses send shoppers scurrying away, often because of mispricing, excessive restrictions on access to buyers and agents, failure to clean or make repairs, and a variety of other marketing bungles.

Researchers at Trulia, a real estate listings site, say the existence of large numbers of unsold houses in the midst of high-activity markets is more common than generally assumed. Jed Kolko, chief economist for Trulia, suggested that “even in the tightest markets, there is a ‘long tail’ of homes languishing” unsold for extended periods.

For example, in one of the fastest-paced sales areas in the country, San Jose, Calif., — where the median time from listing to sale is just 20 days