“How Long Was the Home on the Market?” vs.
“How Much Exposure Did the Home Get?”
With multiple offers making a comeback in parts of the Twin Cities — I’ve been involved in three in just the last six weeks — it seems appropriate to ask, “Did that just-listed home sell TOO fast?”
It’s certainly possible, especially if the price was suspiciously low and the Buyer’s 
agent was — surprise, surprise — also the listing agent (called “single agent dual agency,” a classic conflict of interest in my opinion, and in the opinion of 17 states that forbade it).
However, the right question to ask isn’t, “how long was the home on the market?”
Rather, it’s “how much exposure did the home get?”
How Many Showings?
As I’ve written previously, the listing agent’s job isn’t ultimately about setting a price for a given home — the market takes care of that.
The agent’s job is to work with the owner to get their home in optimal condition; showcase the now-prepped home with flattering photos and marketing material(s); then expose the home to the broadest possible range of Buyers (and their agents) through a combination of networking, pre-list marketing, and open houses (Broker and Public). See also, “Realtor Job Description.”
Bottom line: testing the market isn’t ultimately
about days on the market; it’s how much exposure the home got.
As a general proposition, I’d say that any home that had at least 15-20 showings — whether those occurred in two days or four months — was fully exposed to the market.
Once a home has had that many showings, whatever sales price the Seller and ultimate Buyer negotiate is presumptively “market value.”
P.S.: What about the home that has been for sale for four months and has had three showings (or none)?
That, too, arguably counts as market exposure — and nine times out of ten implicates price (way too high).
