How to Win the Spring Market in Fort Wayne: Pricing Your Home Right
Selling a Home · From Moving Fort Wayne
How to Win the Spring Market in Fort Wayne: Pricing Your Home Right
Every year, Brad Noll hears the same plan: wait until spring to sell, because spring is the best time. On this episode of Moving Fort Wayne, recorded with blue skies outside his office window and the spring market right around the corner, Brad takes a closer look at that idea and at the bigger issue underneath it, which is getting the price right.
Spring does bring more energy, he says. At least in the Midwest, more people are engaged in real estate in the spring. But whether it is the best time depends on strategy. And the most common strategy mistake, by far, is pricing.
Brad starts with a question many homeowners will recognize. Have you ever watched a neighbor's home sell and thought yours must be worth at least that much? Or scrolled the listings and thought there was no way a house was worth that price? Most sellers overestimate what their home is worth, he says, and most buyers misunderstand what homes are actually worth in today's market.
Why Sellers Misprice Their Homes
"Pricing is not emotional. It's strategic," Brad says. Part of the problem is something behavioral economists call the endowment effect: people value what they own more simply because they own it. Homes are no different. You raised your kids there, remodeled the kitchen, maybe planted a tree in the backyard. But as Brad puts it, "buyers don't pay for your memories."
Buyers pay for comparable sales, current inventory, current interest rates, and perceived value compared with their other options. Brad calls selling a home a price war and a beauty contest at the same time. The national data keeps showing the same pattern: homes priced too high from day one get fewer showings, fewer showings mean fewer offers, and fewer offers lead to price reductions and longer days on the market.
The longer a home sits, the more buyers wonder what is wrong with it. "It's a silent killer," Brad says of days on market. His team's market analysis looks at days on market, cumulative days on market, and median days on market to understand how quickly comparable homes are really selling.
On the other hand, getting it right shows up fast. Over one recent weekend, the team put two homes on the market at what they felt was the right price, and each drew at least 15 showings.
“The spring real estate market will never fix a bad strategy.”
Brad Noll
When Sellers Underestimate Their Value
Sometimes Midwest sellers go the other way. People here tend to be conservative by nature, and owners who have been in their homes 20 years may not know what their home is worth today. Brad shares an honest story. He once told a homeowner her home was worth roughly $325,000. Years later, he saw it listed with another agent and asked her what he had missed. She still remembered his number from five years earlier, but by then the home was worth about $450,000. Looking back, he says, maybe he should have communicated that better.
The answer is not to guess high or guess low. Brad's team reads the data: supply levels, days on market, and absorption rate, or how quickly homes are coming off the market. Four to six months of supply is a balanced market, under four months is a seller's market, and over six is a buyer's market. At the time of recording, Brad says, Fort Wayne was right around two months of supply, a softening seller's market, and demand can also vary by price bracket.
Spring Doesn't Fix a Bad Strategy
"The spring real estate market will never fix a bad strategy," Brad says. If the price or condition is not right, even the best marketing will not save it. Spring brings more buyers and more listings, but inventory is rising in many Midwest markets, including Fort Wayne, and homes are taking longer to sell than during the pandemic. Buyers are cautious because rates, while stabilizing, are still higher than the ultra low years.
Spring also increases competition. A seller is not just competing with homes that sold last year. They are competing with the new listing that comes up next week. That is why the team keeps watching new listings even after a market analysis is done. For buyers, the market is not the bidding war frenzy of 2021, but the best homes still move quickly, so a buying strategy needs to be active.
Brad also warns against applying national headlines locally. "Real estate is hyper local," he says. In many Midwest markets, he sees modest growth with steady appreciation, more balanced conditions, and strong demand for entry-level and move-up homes, while the luxury market is still moving.
A Spring Action Plan for Sellers
If you are thinking of selling this spring, Brad recommends:
- Get a real competitive market analysis, not just an online estimate.
- Walk your active competition. Drive by, attend open houses, or tour homes currently for sale.
- Prepare before listing: declutter, stage, and handle minor and cosmetic repairs.
- Fix what you can. Brad says buyers see a $500 repair as $5,000, and a $5,000 repair as $50,000.
- Price based on the data, not on hope or memories.
- Make the first two weeks count. That is when buyer attention and urgency are highest.
"The first two weeks on the market are your most powerful," Brad says. If a seller misses that window by overpricing, it is hard to recover the momentum.
What Buyers Should Do This Spring
Buyers need a plan too. Brad's first step is to get fully pre-approved, not pre-qualified, by sitting down with a lender with bank statements and W-2s in hand. "Pre-qualified is not worth the paper it's written on," he says.
Next, study the market for your own criteria. If homes across Fort Wayne and Allen County average about 30 days on the market, but homes in the neighborhood you want sell much faster, you know to move quickly there. Brad says the average buyer walks through 10 to 12 homes, which builds a feel for square footage, amenities, and what is priced correctly. And do not assume list price equals value. One question the team asks listing agents is who set the price, the agent or the sellers.
"The best buyers right now aren't emotional. They're prepared," Brad says. Over one recent weekend, the team saw multiple offers on a property, and three of the four were contingent on the buyers selling their current home. Talking with a lender and building a plan early may help some buyers avoid that contingency altogether.
Is Spring the Best Time to Sell a Home in Fort Wayne?
Spring brings energy, but Brad says most moves are not about timing the market at all. They follow life changes: a new job, a marriage, a divorce, downsizing, or kids leaving home. When life changes, real estate decisions follow, and that is why people trust the team to interpret the data and help remove as much emotion as possible.
His advice for this spring is simple: do not overestimate, do not underestimate, and do not guess. "Real estate isn't about winning the price game," Brad says. It is about aligning price with reality so buyers and sellers can move forward with confidence.
▶ Listen to the full episode
How to Win in the Spring Market, on Moving Fort Wayne.
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