It seems that each industry has its own set of abbreviations and acronyms which become part of the lingo for the members, yet are a foreign language to nonmembers. The Real Estate Industry is no different, so this week I want to take moment to demystify “DOM.”
The abbreviation DOM is often used to represent the “Days on Market,” “Time on Market” or simply “how long a property was for sale.” This is a vital statistic used to measure the health of any real estate market, area or region.
In general terms, DOM is a measurement of how long a property was for sale before it received an acceptable offer or agreement to purchase. Another use of DOM is the length of time a property was offered for sale before its listing agreement with a broker expired and it was removed from the market.
One may then ask why it’s important to know this statistic for a street, neighborhood or town when you’re looking at home values. Very simply, the smaller the days on the market are and whether they are trending up or down are a reflection of the supply vs. the demand in a given area and where prices are moving.
When a member of the buying public looks at a property that has relatively high DOM vs. the neighborhood average, then they are inclined to assume the property is overpriced for its condition. If they perceive it to be overpriced, then they are more likely to only offer a discounted price or disregard the property all together from consideration.
As technology has advanced and transparency has increased in real estate, the public can even see when a property has expired with one broker and relisted with another. This combined total is generally called Cumulative Days on Market and again affects the perception of value by the buying public.
So the lesson is to consult with an experienced Realtor on pricing your property correctly, taking into account the average DOM for your neighborhood and sell it at the list price in a shorter time frame.
The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors is The Voice of Real Estate in Greater Chattanooga.
The Association is a regional organization with more than 1,700 members, and is one of more than 1,400 local boards and associations of Realtors nationwide that comprise the National Association of Realtors.
The Greater Chattanooga Association of Realtors services Hamilton and Sequatchie counties in southeast Tennessee, and Catoosa, Dade, and Walker counties in northwest Georgia.