A House Has Been on the Market for 90 Days… So What's Wrong With It?

You find a house you really like. The location works, the layout checks the boxes, and the price is within your budget.

Then you notice one number: 90 days on market.

Immediately, you start wondering: What's wrong with it?

The answer? Maybe nothing.

Days on market can absolutely be useful information when evaluating a property, but that number alone doesn't always tell the whole story.

What Does "Days on Market" Actually Tell You?

Days on market generally gives us an idea of how long a property has been listed for sale. Naturally, when buyers see a home with a higher number, they may assume it has been sitting on the market without any interest.

Sometimes that's true.

But sometimes the story behind that number looks completely different.

Imagine a home is listed for sale and receives an offer. The sellers accept, and the property goes under contract.

It remains under contract for the next 30 days, but before closing, the transaction falls apart.

Now the home is back on the market.

A buyer scrolling through listings may see a relatively high days-on-market number and think, Nobody wants this house.

In reality, someone wanted it enough to put it under contract.

Why Do Homes Come Back on the Market?

There are plenty of reasons a real estate transaction may not make it to the closing table, and they don't all mean there is something wrong with the house.

A buyer's financing could fall through. Their employment or financial circumstances could change. They may need to sell another property and be unable to do so. Sometimes buyers simply have a change in circumstances that prevents them from completing the purchase.

Of course, there are also situations where an inspection, appraisal, or another issue with the property contributes to a contract falling apart.

That's exactly why it's worth digging deeper.

Rather than assuming you know what happened based on days on market alone, your real estate agent can help you look at the property's history and gather more information.

Sometimes 90 Days Does Tell Us Something

We also don't want to completely dismiss a high days-on-market number.

If a property has genuinely been available for months without receiving an acceptable offer, that can tell us something about how the market is responding to it.

Maybe the home was initially priced too high.

Maybe its condition is limiting the pool of interested buyers.

Maybe it's a unique property that naturally takes longer to find the right buyer.

Or maybe demand in that particular price range or location simply isn't as strong.

Those are all things worth considering. The key is putting the number in context rather than treating it as the answer itself.

A High Days-on-Market Number Can Also Create Opportunity

There's another reason buyers shouldn't automatically overlook a home that's been listed for a while: it may create an opportunity.

A seller whose home has been on the market longer may be more willing to consider an offer they wouldn't have entertained during the first week of the listing. That could mean flexibility on price, closing costs, repairs, or other terms.

That doesn't automatically mean the seller is desperate or that you should submit an unrealistic offer. It simply means days on market can become one piece of the negotiation strategy.

Understanding why the home has been on the market is what helps determine whether that opportunity actually exists.

Look at the Story, Not Just the Number

Real estate websites give buyers access to more information than ever before—and that's a good thing.

But individual numbers rarely tell the entire story of a property.

Days on market is one piece of information. Price history is another. Previous contracts, comparable sales, property condition, current competition, and the seller's situation can all add context.

So if you find a house you love and notice it's been on the market for 90 days, don't automatically cross it off your list.

Ask questions.

Look at the history.

Find out whether it has previously been under contract.

Consider the price and condition relative to competing homes.

And most importantly, make your decision based on the complete picture—not one number on a listing.

There may be more to the story.