5 Reasons Why Your House Won’t Sell
Most Realtors work really hard to get listings as they say “you must list to last”. Finding homeowners ready to sell their home and list with us is very exciting both for the Realtors and the homeowners.
Realtors look forward to getting a commission check and homeowners look forward to selling their house. Unfortunately, listings don’t always produce same results. Some never make it to closing table! Here’s a list of 5 Reasons Why Your House Won’t Sell;
1. Your house won’t sell if it’s overpriced- No matter what part of the country you live in, number ONE reason why your house didn’t sell is because it is priced higher than it’s market value. If there are active listings in your immediate area similar to your house with lower asking price, they will sell before yours. If you were the buyer looking to buy a house and it’s between two houses with similar characteristics but one is priced $20,000 higher than the other, would you buy the one that’s priced lower or pay $20,000 higher?
If your house has been on the market for 30 days and hasn’t been shown, it’s overpriced!! It’s time for a drastic price reduction..not $500.00, not even $5000.00!! Meet with your Realtor and review all the Active, Pending and SOLD comps in your area and price yours accordingly. If you can’t reduce the price, perhaps you should think about taking your house off the market for 6-8 months and start fresh with a realistic price.
2. Your house won’t sell if it can’t be shown- Your house should be available to show any day of the week at any time a potential buyer would like to preview your house. I’ve seen showing instructions that read “can only show Wed and Fri between 2-5pm” or “no showings until further notice” Buyers are not going to wait around, there are other homes they can preview and possibly buy. I’ve written a post titled Houses That Can’t be Viewed will not be Sold.
House that is listed for sale must be available to show, no workarounds!
3. Your house won’t sell if it’s a secret listing- There are actually secret listings just as there are secret Realtors. It is very important MLS listing has the correct information on your house for sale. Correct zip code, correct city, correct number of bedrooms and bath. Tax Records does not always have the correct data on single family homes and if the listing agent is importing data from Tax Records into MLS, potential buyers will not be able to view your house online. For accuracy, ask for a copy of the MLS sheet from your Realtor.
Listing the house in MLS is not enough marketing to get your house sold. Your listing Realtor must advertise the listing on different websites as well as print media. Most buyers start their search online, be sure to choose a Realtor who is going to advertise the listing on multiple sites.
4. Your house won’t sell if it doesn’t show well- This includes, broken windows, weeds that take over the house, toys all over the house, garage filled with clutter, kitchen counter you can’t even see, finger prints on appliances, pet odors, dogs running around during showings, homeowners being present during showings, rainbow wall colors throughout the house are just some that contribute to your house not showing well. Buyers are looking for a home that is move-in ready. If your house is not listed as “Handyman Special” it must be in immaculate shape.
5. Your house won’t sell if photos are less than acceptable- No photos of dogs, unmade beds, toilets, dishes in the sink. There’s no excuse to have only 1 photo of the house that was taken five years prior to listing. Pictures worth a thousand words!! Get those potential buyers visit your house.
Sometimes even overpriced listings get traffic due to marketing, great photos as well as MLS description of the listing and Public Remarks but not enough to get your house SOLD!!!
Don’t let your listing show up on the list of “Expireds”, take action now so you could move forward. These are the top 5 Reasons Why Your House Won’t Sell! Can you identify with any of them?