6 Steps To Taking Advantage of Maui’s Hot Seller’s Market

Over the past year, Maui’s real estate market reached extremes, helping my clients achieve huge wins in the process. At the end of Q4 2021, available inventory on Maui dropped to 1.6 months. That same metric at the end of 2020 was already an astonishing low of 3 months.

In recognizing Maui’s booming seller’s market, I aim to deliver as much value as I can for my clients. If you own a luxury property on Maui and are considering selling, here are 6 steps I recommend for anyone who wants to take advantage of the seller’s market.

1. Hire a Professional

A competitive agent will own all responsibilities during the listing process and find the right valuation for your home. From handling viewings to marketing and screening buyers, I assist my clients with every step. My goal is to maximize the value that you can extract from this hot seller’s market. 

2. Make Your Home Move-in Ready

Staging a home properly allows potential buyers to let their imaginations run wild, envisioning decor and personal touches as they walk through the space. To reduce the time it takes from receiving an offer to making the sale, it’s important to have your home in pristine, move-in ready condition. Why? Because a properly staged house will typically sell 87% faster than a non-staged house! And speed is everything in this competitive market. Additionally, having a clean and maintenance-free home ensures a fast appraisal and a higher quoted price. 

3. Limit Showing Hours

This is a specific tactic to increase competition among potential buyers. By restricting the days and hours when tours of your home are offered, you’ll have more buyers present at the same time. As a result, buyers will see the increased foot traffic and tend to act faster. 

4. Ask for the Right Price

Asking for the right price is both an art and a science. As your agent, I will help you gather comparable sales prices (comps) for similar homes and correctly price your home according to the market. Getting the right price at the right time puts you in the best position to close quickly. And once you do receive an offer, I ensure all the formalities of the offer are completed. 

5. Be Ready to Move

I understand that this can be a tricky one. While timing a move around the uncertainty of closing can be challenging, it is best to be move-out ready in approximately 30 days. Keep in mind that the buyer will likely be as excited to move into their new home as you are to sell it. If you’d like some tips or creative strategies for how to ease into this transition, check this post out: 5 Options to Consider if Your Home Sells Before You Find a New One

6. Open an Escrow Account

This is a key part of the closing process that your agent can help you get right. An escrow account is simply an account that is managed by the buyer’s mortgage servicer or lender. This account holds funds from the lender to cover monthly estimated property taxes and insurance premiums. An escrow account ensures that third parties, such as tax and insurance companies, are paid on time. This is established at closing, and the agent is entrusted with assisting the buyer in opening an escrow account and estimating some of the costs. 

These are a few of the important steps that a professional agent handles for their clients. These steps, however, don’t even begin to cover the marketing efforts needed to expose your property to both local and international buyers. 

Fortunately, as a real estate agent with Hawai’i Life, I can leverage the right online expertise, global affiliations, and marketing tools to achieve big wins for my clients. These tools all help me provide my clients with professional showings, digital marketing, professional photography, and virtual tours. If you are considering listing a home, or if you have any questions about Maui real estate, please don’t hesitate to contact me.