5 Reasons Why Your Home Isn’t Selling
Your home has been on the market for a while and you’re not getting offers. In the Canton, Woodstock, Roswell area it’s a HOT seller’s market, so what’s the deal? You should be getting multiple offers the day it goes on the MLS, right?
I’ve been in the real estate business a long time and there are several reasons why a home doesn’t sell right away. Some reasons are easily fixable and others are not. Make sure your agent has the experience, the knowledge, and the marketing skills to back up any suggestions they make. Here are the top 5 reasons why your home isn’t selling.
#1 – The Price Is Wrong, Bob
Any house will sell, no matter the condition or location, if it’s priced accordingly. Your Realtor® should show you other homes for sale (your competition) and what has recently sold around your home. If they are bigger, newer, or more updated than yours, your home will not sell for that much. The next four reasons won’t mean anything if a house is overpriced.
Let me tell you a quick story – back in the mid to late 2000’s I sold a lot of foreclosures. I mean, a LOT of foreclosures. The bank would ask me where we should price the house and I would do a very thorough market assessment. And then they would often price it way higher than that. It would sit on the market and every 30 days I would do an updated market analysis, they’d drop the price a little, and finally after many months it would sell for less than my originally suggested price. So instead of selling for $200,000 in 30 days it sold for $180,000 in 6 months.
Why does it sell for less the longer it sits? Because buyers assume there must be something wrong with it. Nobody wants to buy a house that no one else wanted. So if they do come look at it they write a lowball offer, assuming you’ll be grateful to get an offer at all and they’ll have great negotiating power.
So what can you do? You can’t change the age or the location, and you’re not going to put on an addition just to sell it. So do everything possible to make it look great when it’s being shown to buyers and price it accordingly.
# 2 – Location
Let’s say there are three houses for sale on your street. One is halfway down the block, the other is at the end of the cul-de-sac, and yours is on the corner of the main road at the entrance to the subdivision. Which ones do you think will sell first? If parents are concerned their kids can’t play in the yard for fear of all the traffic going by, they won’t write an offer. If the cars whizzing by can be heard inside the master bedroom, they won’t write an offer. Unless the price is right!
These may not be ideal for the typical home buyer but if these issues are reflected in the asking price it is not an insurmountable problem. Just refer to rule #1 and it will sell.
#3 – Condition
I wrote a blog post a couple weeks ago on getting your home ready for the market. You already know that it has to be clean, smell good, and have curb appeal. If condition is why your home isn’t selling, check out these additional tips to spruce it up without breaking the bank.
#4 – Clutter
I see a lot of houses every day. My personal favorites (not!) are the ones where there is furniture in front of the exterior doors or blocking the traffic patterns. How can we go outside to the back yard if your recliner is in front of the door?! And why would you have your sofa sticking out into the hallway so that we have to scoot around it to get to the kitchen?
This just draws attention to the fact that the room is too small to accommodate your furniture. And who wants to buy a house that they’ll outgrow in a year? Nobody. So what do you do? Take some of the furniture out and stick it in the garage or in storage. Yes, you’ll have less seating in your living room while the house is for sale. Deal with it. It’s only for a short period of time and it could be the difference in why your home isn’t selling vs. getting it sold!
Go to Pinterest and search for something along the lines of “how to arrange living room furniture” and you’ll find a million photos showing you ideas. In fact, I already have a Pinterest board created so click here and go get some ideas right now.
#5 – You Won’t Go Away
I mean, you won’t leave the house when it’s being shown. I’ve talked about this before – the buyers want to walk through the house and visualize themselves living there. It’s actually a good thing for them to say, “I hate the paint color in the dining room. Wouldn’t it be great if we painted it gray with white trim?” If you are present for showings, they won’t say anything they dislike about the house, which prevents the whole process of envisioning living there. So GO AWAY. I mean that in the nicest possible way.
There are lots of other reasons too, such as your agent doesn’t have an aggressive marketing plan or it was entered into the MLS with the wrong area (sadly, I see this all the time.) Maybe you will only allow it to be shown certain hours of the day and you require 24 hours notice. You’ve got to make it easy to show! Two hours’ notice is ideal so keep the house clean and you won’t have to go on a cleaning frenzy every time a Realtor® calls to make an appointment.
But these are my top 5 reasons why your house isn’t selling. Want to know more? Let’s set up a no obligation appointment and I’ll show you my marketing plan and how I get homes sold fast and for as much money as possible.
About the Author: The above article 5 Reasons Why Your Home Isn’t Selling was written and provided by Karin Carr. Karin has helped literally helped almost 200 families buy and sell homes since 2005. If you are in the market to BUY or SELL a home, she can be reached via email at [email protected] or by phone at 404-855-1807.
Are you thinking of selling your home? I’m very good at marketing homes to sell quickly, and for more money. If you’re a first-time home buyer then you’ll be in good hands. I’ve helped countless first-time home buyers through the entire process of buying that first home! I have a real passion for helping folks buy and sell homes here in the great state of Georgia and I would love to connect with you!
I help people buy and sell real estate in the following north Georgia cities: Acworth, Ball Ground, Canton, Kennesaw, Woodstock, White, Roswell, Milton, Alpharetta, Dallas, Powder Springs, and the surrounding areas.
