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Agents and homesellers alike dread seeing days on market slowly tick up on their listing.
To homebuyers, a high number of days on market often triggers a warning signal: There must be something wrong with this property.
But with luxury and ultra-luxury properties, especially, it may simply be that the listing hasn’t hit the right eyes yet, Chad Roffers, founder and CEO of Concierge Auctions, told Inman.
“Do not cut the price,” Roffers said during a recent conversation. “The problem wasn’t the price. The problem was, the pool of buyers for your house is small, if not very small, and cutting the price isn’t going to expand the pool of buyers. You need an alternative strategy for expanding the pool of buyers.”
Still, if days on market for ultra-luxury properties continue to rise and exceed a critical threshold of 180 days, according to Concierge Auctions’ 2025 Luxury Homes Index released in April, the effects to seller returns could be significantly detrimental.
The report found that ultra-luxury properties that took more than 180 days to sell only received an average of 80 percent of their asking price. By contrast, properties that sold in less than 180 days received an average of 87 percent of the original list price. The report also found that, on average, ultra-luxury properties take 319 days to sell. But, for properties that take more than 180 days to sell, the average days on market swells to 569 days on market.
So, if an ultra-luxury property sits on the market for more than 180 days, the costs and additional headaches involved in selling multiply quickly.
Inman recently spoke with Roffers about Concierge Auctions’ latest findings to learn more about how luxury agents can minimize days on market and how the current economic environment is impacting the luxury auction space. Here’s what he had to say, edited for brevity and clarity.
Inman: There were some really interesting findings in this report surrounding days on market and how you identified 180 days as this pivotal time frame. And so I’m curious, just based on what you’ve seen, do you feel like agents are underestimating the potential negative impacts of days on market and how that can affect them and their sellers?
Roffers: Yes, very much so. It’s interesting — we have the good fortune of kind of pulling the lens back and looking broadly. We’re active in 40 states, 38 countries, right? So, very broad perspective. And I think when you have that perspective, and you look at what happens, and then kind of overlay this index that we’ve done now for a decade, initially it was pretty obvious, and now it’s incredibly obvious, that days on market are not your friend.
There are two camps: There’s the sell quick, it’s really like 90 days or less, if not shorter, or you’re in for the long haul. So these are the very clear patterns. And I think that the time to start having difficult conversations with your seller as a listing agent is Day 90.
Let’s just assume for a minute that the average listing agreement is still six months. It’s kind of an industry [standard]. And what we see is, people start having hard conversations with two weeks to go in the listing, and it’s almost too late at that point in time. The sellers are probably starting to interview other brokers.
And while there are clear rules about non-solicitation, it seems to me that sellers are really aware that they have alternatives coming up to a listing expiration, so I see agents wait too late. They’re too late, versus being proactive.
So what we have is, 90 days is kind of like the warning signal, like, you better do something about this. And then at 180 days, we start noticing these huge drop offs in sale price if a listing extends beyond 180 days, and also the days on market suddenly balloons to a huge average. So I guess I’m curious, what do you think it is about that kind of roughly six-month marker that makes the difference?
I think it’s the ‘Zillow-fication’ of it, if that’s a term. But, the Zillow-fication of the way consumers, buyers evaluate properties. And I think buyers look at days on market and the Zestimate, and we know the Zestimate can be really unreliable in the ultra-luxury segment of the market.
In fact, oftentimes it is because there’s just not enough data to accurately predict the value of a high-end property. But the days on market, there’s no interpretation needed. And I think that the typical consumer sees 180 days and immediately asks themselves, ‘What’s wrong with this property?’
That is tricky. I know another issue that you all discussed in the report is this kind of overly aspirational seller, who might be really wanting a certain [sales price] and that, of course, can contribute to the days on market as well. So I guess, what’s another strategy that agents can maybe use to try and address sellers’ aspirations?
It’s a great question. I have a lot of empathy for the brokerage community, because, talk about a tough business to be in when there’s literally an unlimited supply of alternative agents who will take a listing at any price versus an agent who’s trying to educate a seller about the essential nature of having the right list price. So that’s a very challenging backdrop for even the best professionals in our business.
So I think that ultimately, the key to success is leaning into the data. My hope this year would be that even if an agent’s not working with us, that they’re using our index data to show a seller how important the first 90 days is, and using our index to say — this is like the oldest adage in real estate — but, your first offer is your best offer. Take the first offer that works, especially if it’s not 90 days [yet], because the odds of a better one coming down the pike aren’t great, and even when it comes, you’re now, as a seller or an agent, battling those days on market — and with a buyer who thinks that they have all the leverage.
So, ultimately, the bottom line is, with agents, it’s like getting comfortable having uncomfortable conversations with your sellers at every stage, from before you get hired to immediately after you get hired, to 90 days in. And, actually, the payoff for those hard conversations is great.
It’s great for the consumer, because they’re taking a proactive approach, helping them take a proactive approach, versus head in the sand and hope for the best, which I just I don’t think that’s a great strategy in life, and it’s certainly not a good strategy when it comes to selling your luxury property.
How I see this, too, is that some agents will go the auction route as an alternative once being on the open market or whatever other strategy doesn’t work. At what point in this days on market cycle do you think that it’s most advantageous for them to do that, if they don’t choose an auction as the primary way that they’re going to market this property?
Agents that consistently succeed with their clients as a result of using our platform introduce us Day 1, Day Zero, and they can kind of shift into gear at whatever inflection points necessary, because they’ve already laid the foundation with the seller. So what I would argue is, we should be a topic of conversation at the listing stage, because we’re the most potent tool for fixing that days on market problem.
And what works for an average house, which is a price reduction, does not work for the typical incomparable property. In fact, price reductions are counterproductive to selling luxury properties.
Concierge Auctions also sometimes preps properties for auction while an agent is simultaneously listing it. How well do you feel like that works typically? Is that a good second choice as opposed to purely auctioning the property? Or where do we see that in terms of ideal marketing?
Interestingly, we’re seeing a lot of sellers and agents using us right out of the gate, like Day 1 of the listing, and they tend to either be a repeat seller or a repeat agent. So it’s somebody who’s worked with us before, and they learned the power of bringing everybody to the table early, and the duration of a property being on the market, and so that works incredibly well.
What I would say, in general, if I were to say kind of a default best practice for a seller and agent is, one, I think it’s important for sellers to get feedback from a handful of top agents in their respective market. So even if you have somebody that you know and trust that you worked with before, who you’re probably going to want to use, I would still get the feedback of two or three other top agents in the market.
And I would, as a seller, be asking them, please be honest with me about price. Don’t tell me what I want to hear. Tell me where you think the market is for my property, and regardless of who you pick as an agent, whoever gave you the lowest suggested list price is probably your list price.
Interesting.
And then from there, what I would say is — I used to say it was 180 days, now it’s more like 120 days — call me. Do not cut the price. The problem wasn’t the price. The problem was that the pool of buyers for your house is small, if not very small, and cutting the price isn’t going to expand the pool of buyers. You need an alternative strategy for expanding the pool of buyers. I think that’s where we come in and where we shine.
Right, Concierge Auctions has that network and that wider exposure.
Yeah.
I also wanted to ask you to just about the current economic uncertainty, and if you think that that’ll impact the luxury auction space at all, either positively or negatively?
You know, I think a couple of things. Our process shines when there’s market uncertainty, and the reason is that sellers value liquidity, and buyers want to know that they’re paying a fair price. So environments like 2025, which as far as I can tell, we’re in a choppy environment for real estate, it is a type of market where our platform really benefits everybody.
It benefits a seller by giving them a predictable sale timeline. It gives agents the ability to sell something that, there’s a good chance, is going to go unsold. And I think for buyers, there are always buyers for quality properties.
I’ve been at this a long time now, I started this business in the middle of the Great Recession, and even then, there were buyers who were willing to line up for the best properties, but they do hold back unless they feel like they’re paying a fair price. And I think when we can show them you’re competing against seven other people and you know and everybody knows exactly where everybody is in terms of price. I think that’s really important right now.
I know it’s still a bit early, it’s been about a month since this kind of global trade war started, but I’m curious if you’ve noticed any kind of trends, maybe either away from investment in US properties, or like towards certain countries, or anything like that.
It’s interesting. Here’s the one thing that I’ve noticed: Even when the majority is going one way, like selling off, there are always people who, in markets like this, kind of buck the trend and march to their own beat. And it gives me a lot of confidence in our year in the market, in that there are always plenty of people who kept their powder dry and are looking for opportune times to buy, and I think this year is going to represent one of those times for buyers.
Any final tips for agents who are getting ready to list an ultra-luxury property this spring?
This sounds counterintuitive, and I think it requires some sincere self-confidence of the agent — but I would be asking the seller, ‘Who else are you talking to? What are they telling you about price?’ It’s almost like a tee-up to having an uncomfortable and honest conversation with a seller about what’s the best way to price their property, and I think that’s something that, again, somebody’s got to be pretty comfortable in their skin to do that, but I would encourage them to do that.
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