IRVINE, Calif. – Jun 12, 2019 – More than three-quarters of millennials feel very confident about how to sell a home, but very few have actually done so, according to a recent survey by sold.com.

Despite millennials’ high confidence in knowing how to sell a home, they don’t have the home selling experience to support it. Sellers ages 28 years and younger composed only 2% of the share of all home sellers last year according to the National Association of Realtors 2019 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report (April 2019).

With older millennials (29-38 years old), 76% were selling a home for the first time.

Misplaced confidence could be detrimental financially, given that 59% of consumers between 18-34 years old plan to sell a home within the next three years, compared to 35% of people between ages 35-54 and 15% of consumers over 55 years old.

“In today’s world, it’s easy to build misplaced confidence due to the vast amount of information available online,” says Matt Woods, president of sold.com. “While having many resources at our fingertips is certainly a good thing, it’s important to utilize them effectively and to realize which ones are trustworthy and unbiased. This is particularly true for millennials who are selling homes for the very first time.”

Millennial knowledge gap

The knowledge gap among millennials exists across many facets of home selling. For example:

• 81% said a good credit score is important when selling a home – but a good credit score is only necessary when purchasing a home.
• When asked whether buyers or sellers are typically responsible for repairs to homes discovered while under contract, 42% said buyers will pick up the tab – but most repairs prior to closing are paid for by the seller.
• When asked what they’re most worried about related to a home sale, millennials selected finances (30%) and with getting a home ready to sell (32%).
• Across all age groups, over half of respondents were unfamiliar with any options for selling a home aside from a traditional real estate agent or For Sale By Owner (FSBO).
• 60% of millennials check their home valuation online at least once a month.
• Millennials are more confident than any other age group that online valuation estimates are accurate, with 46% saying so compared with 32% of people ages 35-54 and only 6% of people over 55.
• Millennials have more of an appetite and aptitude to research options and use disruptive methods for selling a home. However, half of millennials invest less than three hours researching the resources and methods available to sell a home.

© 2019 Florida Realtors®