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^ I will add that if you are in the growing subset of people who only want new homes, then you need to be very aware that when you sell, as long as there's "comparable" (and with 5% of price is comparable) new homes, then buyers are going to go for the new home, not yours.
As to the OP's house, you should ask your Realtor what the average DOM is for resale homes in your price range and general location. The market is good, but each area/price range has differences.
Selling a house above $500K that is not a new build and assigned to not-the-best schools that is further out from Wake Forest/close to Franklin County is going to have a small buyer pool at the moment, in my opinion.
We used to live out there, for many years, and loved it, but it was our starter house, so not highly priced, and the commute 10-12 years ago into Raleigh or even RTP wasn't as horrible then. We sacrificed commute time (that got increasingly difficult in reality) for savings on house, at the time, always thinking we'd buy "in town" (Wake Forest) or North Raleigh someday (instead moved out of state, and reducing our commute times here was a top factor in purchasing our house this time around). Bottom line, that's not a first-time buyer home, so that eliminates most young people. Those with kiddos are going to be looking at Heritage schools, or the better schools that feed into Wake Forest High (I still want to call it WFR), for that price point, and perhaps willing to give up new construction or custom features to get into those. Retirees are much more likely to build or look at custom homes across the border in Franklin Co. - Zebulon or Youngsville - to get more bang for their buck, or look into the 55+ communities like the one in Traditions. Workers in RTP are also highly unlikely to be interested, unless they somehow enjoy the daily flagellation that is now commuting from the outskirts of WF to RTP, or they're coming straight from the heart of Boston or something so they feel it's all 'not too bad' (yet) and want a nice home.
Having sold a home near there (not nearly as nice as yours), my advice, for what little it's worth, is to be absolutely sure you've got a realtor who knows what s/he is doing. We had a crap realtor who did little to nothing for us except make mistakes and I think had just gotten used to homes at our price point selling themselves (not helpful when you're in the process of moving far away). Really quiz your realtor about why the price point was chosen and how they're marketing it - who they're trying to reach, how they plan to go about it, and what the plan is going forward.
Many folks tell me they are bailing out of WF because of overcrowding and lousy transit.
Better tell the people here that because that would be news to them. Two of my neighbors are under contract to sell their homes. Each home was on the market a matter of couple days before they went contingent; my direct neighbor had 7 offers on his home coming out of a four hour open house.
A question to you (and the rest of the board).....Is Wake Forest really that "overcrowded"? By what measure? Population Density? "Oh it used to be all farm land and now its houses"? "The drive on 98 to Durham is worst"? "Capital North bound during rush hour sucks"? Of course it would be more crowded than dairy farms....
Other than too many/crappy timed traffic lights (which is hardly unique to WF; everywhere I have been in the triangle has the same issue; full disclosure, never been to Cary)
As a resident, I certainly could have bias, but I at the same time, I'm hardly "Rah Rah Wake Forest is the best", so maybe I am missing it.
Is your desire for it to be "like it used to be"? Or less crowded like towns further away from Raleigh? In my experience, having "towns like they used to be" is generally an adjective of a dying area; I went to College in Western MA; the area is chocked full of towns that epitomize "land that time forgot". If you prefer it to be more like further out towns; how can it be? WF is what, ~15 miles from downtown Raleigh? In every medium to large sized metropolitan area in the country that would be the first ring of suburbs; which tend to be, you guessed it, more crowded than the further out suburbs.
Please enlighten me. I know you have been on this kick for years, so maybe there isn't a real answer. But I'll ask anyway.
I've bought three houses, sold two and have first hand experience testing the rule that if the house is priced right, it sells. There's no mystery behind that logic, at all.
I'm in the process of selling right now, going with an as-is approach. Fixed up, my house is worth $419k, but it needs about $20k in updates and/or repairs. No one is going to buy my house for $400k and so I've adjusted the price enough below that so a potential buyer can see where they're getting a bargain. I'm willing to walk away with less in exchange for not having to manage all that work.
I'm being realistic, not optimistic.
If I can buy your house for an extra $20k but get it exactly the way I want it and brand, spankin' new, I'm going new.
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