How To Sell Your House in 2025: New Data Reveals the Gap Between Expectations and Reality

Massive Gap in Offer Price Expectations vs. Reality | Future Sellers Overestimate Number of Offers | Past Sales Faster Than Expected | Expectations vs. Reality on Compromises and Concessions | Past Sellers Made Fewer Mistakes Than Future Ones Expect | Methodology | FAQ

There are certain things a person can only truly understand by experiencing them firsthand. In some ways, it appears that may be the case with selling a house.

It’s particularly true in 2024 and early 2025 as the national real estate market continues moderating after the pandemic-inspired boom of the early 2020s. 

Although some parts of the country remain highly competitive with prices near all-time highs, many others have begun to see a shift in power from sellers to buyers as demand dips and inventory grows. Unfortunately for future sellers, many don’t appear to have updated their expectations to the new housing market reality. 

To find out more, Clever Offers surveyed 500 Americans who sold their homes between early 2024 and early 2025, as well as 500 more who plan to sell their homes between mid-2025 and mid-2026.   

Among the most notable findings, nearly three-quarters of future sellers (72%) are confident they’ll get offers above their asking price, a full 30 percentage points more than past sellers who say this actually happened (42%). Meanwhile, a substantial 43% of recent sellers say they had to lower their asking price, a stark difference from the 77% of future sellers who are confident they won’t have to do this. 

There are also noteworthy differences in how many offers sellers expect and receive, as well as the concessions they’re prepared to make and actually made — but not always in the directions others expect. 

Read on to see where future sellers are most realistic and most off base compared to the experience of past ones and what it means for upcoming home sales.

Thirty-Point Gap Exists Between Expectations and Reality of Offers Over Asking Price

There are many things home sellers want from their sale process, from an abundance of offers to a speedy closing. But naturally, what matters most to many sellers is typically their bottom line – how much money they’re making (or losing) on the transaction. 

Therefore, it should be no surprise that roughly 60% of recent sellers say they accepted the highest offer, regardless of contingencies, while 59% of future sellers plan to do the same. 

Still, finding the right price for their property may not be as easy as it seems. Although 85% of past sellers say they actually priced their home correctly, 93% of future sellers think they’ll be able to do this. 

This is about more than just how much they’ll clear on the deal, too. Only 9% of future sellers are concerned their home won’t appraise for the buyer’s offer price, even though a troubling 38% of recent ones say this happened. 

For sellers, this can seriously derail a deal, as many buyers who are getting mortgages don’t have the extra cash to cover the shortfall, forcing sellers to lower their price or seek other offers.

However, there are bigger signs that future sellers may be in for a rude awakening unless the housing market improves. Nearly three-quarters of future sellers (72%) are confident they’ll get offers above their asking price, a full 30 percentage points more than the recent sellers who say this actually happened (42%). 

Overall, almost half of past sellers (43%) say they had to lower their asking price, a stark difference from the 77% of future sellers who are confident they won’t have to do this. 

This is yet another sign that many recent sellers may have still been pricing their homes for the hot market of 2021 and 2022, before interest rate hikes and economic uncertainty shifted the balance more toward buyers. Whether 2025 and 2026 sellers will need to accept below their asking price will be determined, in part, by whether sellers have broadly adjusted to the “new normal” facing the market and set their price appropriately.

Decisions also seem to change for some sellers when things go from theory to reality, especially when it comes to price. Almost half of future sellers (48%) say they’d be willing to accept an offer lower than their asking price if it meant they could sell their home faster. 

Still, that’s eight percentage points higher than the number of past sellers who actually took a discount for a quick sale (40%), suggesting that seeing a lower-than-expected number on a sales contract could cause cold feet among sellers who consider themselves motivated to make a deal. 

Future Sellers Foresee Far More Offers Than Recent Ones Actually Received

When it comes to the amount of competition sellers expect for their home, there are more signs that those planning to sell in the year ahead are a bit more optimistic (or unrealistic) than those who have sold recently. Approximately 87% of future sellers are confident their homes will stand out when they hit the market, compared to 71% of past sellers who say their properties truly did. 

Meanwhile, nearly all future sellers (92%) are confident their home will generate strong interest from buyers. However, just 77% of recent sellers say this really occurred. That 15-point gap manifests in a variety of ways, particularly in the number of offers sellers receive.  

Future sellers overwhelmingly foresee multiple offers in their future, with more than 1 in 4 (28%) expecting to receive six or more offers on their homes. Just 15% of past sellers say they got that many.

Even more notably, more than 4x as many recent sellers say they received just a single offer on their home (23%) compared to the number of future sellers who expect only one (5%). Naturally, getting just one offer on a home leaves sellers with substantially less room to negotiate — a change in dynamics that could leave unprepared sellers in a tough situation.

The same phenomenon can be seen at the opposite end of the spectrum. About 1 in 9 of those who plan to sell their home (11%) expect a whopping 10 or more offers — almost 4x the number of past sellers who say they had that many options (3%).

However, there’s no guarantee the housing market will remain the same through the second half of the year. Future sellers’ positivity may prove to be correct if the market heats up, although 70% of Americans in a recent survey say they are concerned about a housing crash instead. 

Beliefs like this may be the reason that 68% of future sellers are willing to wait for a better market, despite the fact that 66% think now is a good time to sell. 

40% of Recent Sellers Sold in Under Two Weeks — Yet Only 18% of Future Sellers Expect to

On the other hand,  future sellers may also be a bit pessimistic when it comes to the length of time it’ll take to receive their first offer. 

Just 6% expect to get an offer on their home within 24 hours of it hitting the market — half the number of past sellers who say this occurred (12%). Meanwhile, over half of recent sellers (54%) say they received an offer within a week of listing, 8 percentage points higher than the number of upcoming sellers who believe this will be the case (46%). 

These aren’t just casual or lowball offers, either. Roughly 40% of those who sold in the past year say their home was on the market less than two weeks before they accepted an offer, more than twice the number of future sellers who think they’ll sell in that time frame (18%).

The gap in expectations versus reality is even bigger when looking at the shortest timeline for sales. More than 5x as many past sellers (26%) say they sold in under a week than future sellers expect to do so (5%). 

However, reality isn’t always rosier than expectations, especially for sellers in low-demand markets or with hard-to-sell properties. About 1.5x more past sellers (18%) report it took four or more months to accept an offer than future sellers who foresee that kind of delay (12%). 

Length of Time	Expected Time on Market (Future Sellers)	Actual Time on Market (Recent Sellers)
Less than 1 week	5%	26%
Less than 2 weeks	18%	40%
Less than 4 weeks	43%	58%
Less than 2 months	68%	71%
Less than 3 months	87%	82%
Less than 4 months	92%	90%
Less than 5 months	95%	94%
Less than 6 months	98%	96%

Many future sellers seem to be working from a mindset of “better safe than sorry.” Almost two-thirds (62%) say they have a backup plan if their home doesn’t sell as quickly as expected. In a good number of cases, they may not need it. Barely a quarter of recent sellers say their homes sat on the market longer than expected (28%) or had buyers back out after making an offer on their home (25%). 

Those looking for an especially quick sale sometimes turn to cash buying companies or investors, even though unscrupulous operators have led 61% of recent sellers to label those cash buying companies as “scams.” 

Still, nearly two-thirds of future sellers (62%) would be willing to sell to these types of buyers, and 78% expect to get at least one offer from them. In any case, it may not be a concern worth adding to a long list of worries, as only 43% of past sellers say they actually received an offer from a cash buyer or investor. 

Future Sellers Expect to Make More Compromises and Concessions Than Recent Sellers

In many ways, future sellers seem to imagine selling as a grueling ordeal where buyers look to extract every dollar and concession possible. Reality appears to be a lot less troublesome, at least if the experience of recent sellers is any sign. 

Although 80% of future sellers say they’d be willing to negotiate with buyers over concessions, just 31% of recent sellers say they actually made unexpected concessions.

Some areas where this played out most notably include: 

• Over three-quarters of future sellers (76%) expect to make major pre-sale renovations or repairs, roughly 2.5x the number of past sellers who did this (30%). 
• Half of future sellers (50%) have considered offering financial incentives, such as covering buyers’ closing costs, about twice the number of recent sellers who actually ended up providing them (27%). 
• About 40% of soon-to-be sellers say they’d extend the closing date to fit a buyer’s schedule, higher than the 28% of past sellers who actually offered this concession.  
• Roughly 29% of soon-to-be sellers say they’d offer repair credits, while only 19% of recent sellers did so. 
• A quarter of future sellers (25%) are open to covering inspection fees, nearly twice the number of previous sellers who paid for this expense (13%).

Although sellers may have more leverage than they think, it’s also important to note that just 11% of past ones say they didn’t have to make any concessions, showing that compromise is likely needed in some aspect of the sale, whether it’s repairs, financial compensation, a flexible timeline, or other factors.

Sellers seem to be generally realistic about whether they’ll be able to sell their home as-is, without making any significant repairs or upgrades. Just over half of future sellers (55%) expect to do this, which is close to the 51% of past sellers who ended up selling as-is. 

Meanwhile, only 41% of recent sellers say they offered to make minor repairs found during the inspection, 11 percentage points less than the 52% of future sellers who say they’d be open to it if needed. 

Recent sellers also have some good news for future ones on this front.  Whether it’s truly as-is or with only minor changes, 69% of them were able to keep their expenses preparing their home for sale under $5,000 — 14 percentage points higher than the number of future sellers who think they’ll spend this little (55%). 

The most notable gap in expectations versus reality is for those who spent or plan to spend no money at all, with more than 1 in 8 past sellers (14%) saying they got away with this — almost 3x the number of future ones who expect to (5%).

Preparation Costs	How Much Do You Expect to Spend Preparing Your Home for Sale?	How Much Did You Spend Preparing Your Home for Sale?
$0	5%	14%
Less than $1,000	23%	39%
Less than $5,000	55%	69%
Less than $10,000	84%	85%
Less than $20,000	94%	95%

When considering money set aside for unexpected expenses,  the difference between what future sellers expect and the reality of past sellers becomes even wider.  

A substantial 56% of recent sellers spent under $1,000 on unexpected expenses when selling, although 82% of future sellers are setting aside more than this amount. One in three future sellers (34%) are budgeting $5,000 or more for surprises in the sale process, about 3x the number of past sellers who needed to fork over that much (12%). 

Again, almost a quarter of recent sellers (23%) say they spent nothing on unexpected expenses, while 94% of future sellers are setting aside at least some money to face surprise costs.

Preparation Costs	How Much Money Are You Setting Aside for Unexpected Expenses?	How Much Money Did You Spend on Unexpected Expenses?
$0	6%	23%
Less than $500	11%	42%
Less than $1,000	18%	56%
Less than $2,000	32%	70%
Less than $3,000	43%	78%
Less than $4,000	54%	84%
Less than $5,000	67%	89%

In spite of spending less money on unexpected costs, 74% of recent sellers say they were financially prepared for the unexpected costs involved in the process, a notable nine-point drop from the 83% of upcoming sellers who believe they understand the costs related to selling a home.

Sellers Continue to Use Agents but Aren’t Certain About It

2024 was no doubt a tumultuous year for real estate agents. They were forced to adapt to the biggest changes to the industry in decades, resulting from the consequential settlement in a lawsuit filed against the National Association of Realtors.

However, there are few signs that home sellers are actually abandoning real estate agents in large numbers. Nearly three-quarters of those who plan to sell in the next year (71%) expect to use a traditional full-service real estate agent or a discount broker for their sale. This is virtually identical to the number of recent sellers (70%) who say they actually did use these methods. 

This wasn’t an automatic decision for many, though. Over half of future sellers (56%) and 41% of past sellers at least considered or are considering selling without an agent to save money on commission. 

The number who sold or planned to sell with a “for sale by owner” transaction was also exactly the same —  1 in 12 (8%) from each group. Most other selling methods were within a point or two, with the exception of selling to a cash buying company, such as "We Buy Houses for Cash" or Clever Offers. Only 6% expect to sell to a buyer like this, while 1 in 10 (10%) did once their homes hit the market. 

Those who opt for an agent should ensure they’ve done their research and not get drawn in by flashy marketing or lofty promises. Nearly all future sellers (91%) are confident they’ll pick the right agent to represent them, even though only 74% of recent sellers think they truly made the best choice.

There’s evidence of this undeserved self-assurance elsewhere, with 84% of future sellers saying they are confident in the way they’ve chosen to sell their home  — such as using a real estate agent or a cash buying company — while the number of recent sellers who say they’d sell again using the same method drops six points to 78%.

Almost All Future Sellers Worry About Making Mistakes — Though Only Some Recent Ones Did

For most people, selling a home is the biggest financial transaction they’ll ever make. Some nerves are naturally to be expected, but Clever Offers found 94% of future sellers worry they’ll make mistakes in their upcoming sale process, showing just how widespread fears are.

Their concerns cover a diverse range of potential problems, most commonly pricing their home too low and losing money — held by more than 1 in 3 (35%) future sellers. More than a quarter (28%) also worry about picking the wrong agent.

In addition, a quarter or more of soon-to-be sellers confess worrying about:

• Their home inspection uncovering major issues (26%)
• Choosing the wrong time to sell (26%)
• Accepting an offer with too many contingencies or overnegotiating with the buyer (25%)

Only 16% of future sellers, however, worry about emotions clouding their judgment or choosing the wrong buyer, and only 12% say the same about ignoring professional advice from their agent. This suggests that future sellers mostly feel prepared on a personal level, if not a technical and professional one. 

It’s a different picture when past sellers are asked about what mistakes they actually made during their sale. Despite nearly all future sellers (94%) worrying they’ll mess something up during their sale, just two-thirds of recent sellers (66%) say they did.

The most cited mistake was underestimating the cost of selling, including expenses such as closing costs and needed repairs — just 14% of recent sellers say they made this error, compared to 24% of future sellers who worry about this. The next most common mistakes also overlapped with future sellers' fears, but they happened at only half to a quarter of the rate they expected.

Recent Sellers to Future Ones: Relax

Despite the potential for plenty of surprises, those who have sold their homes in late 2024 and early 2025 have a message for those putting their properties on the market soon: It’s not as bad as you might fear.

When future sellers were asked to rank how stressful they expect the home-selling process to be — with one being the least stressful and 10 being the most — almost two-thirds (63%) indicated high stress levels of seven or higher. Only 1 in 20 (5%) foresee low stress levels of three or below. 

However, if the experience of those who have sold their homes recently is any guide, they can breathe a bit easier. A comparably low 54% of recent sellers rated their actual home-selling stress as a seven or higher. Meanwhile, 3x as many recent sellers enjoyed low-stress sales of three or below (15%) compared to the number of future ones who expect this. 

A 43% plurality of recent sellers also say the experience was about as difficult as they expected. Even unexpected issues seem to break both ways. Although 30% of recent sellers say the process was harder than they thought it would be, nearly as many (27%) say it was actually easier.

Methodology

Clever Offers conducted a survey of 500 American adults who sold their homes between early 2024 and early 2025 and 500 American adults who plan to sell their homes between mid-2025 and mid-2026. The survey was conducted from April 3 to 10, 2025. 

About Clever Offers

Clever Offers is a platform that empowers sellers who need to sell quickly or for cash to compare their options and make informed decisions. Clever Offers' free service connects sellers with vetted cash buyers and top local Realtors, allowing them to evaluate traditional cash offers alongside options such as cash offers with a second payment upon resale, listing on the MLS for as little as seven days, and standard open-market listings. 

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