Top 5 Reasons Your Home Isn’t Selling… In a Seller’s Market!
1. THE HOUSE IS PRESENTED POORLY
The number 1 reason why your home isn’t selling is because it’s presented poorly. We know this may be a tough pill to swallow, but once you list your house it’s no longer your home, it becomes a product that needs to be marketed. Put aside your personal feelings and preferences and think about your space from an outsider point of view. Is your home cluttered with personal belongs? Is your home filled with very specific or dated décor? Are you trying to sell your home completely empty? These are all huge turnoffs to buyers. You must present your home properly and to the taste of today’s buyers even in a seller’s market. The solution to this problem is simple, have your home professionally staged or contact a stager for a consultation on how you can stage your home yourself. Stagers are the experts on presenting a home for sale, and it is the number 1 investment you can make when selling your property.2. BAD ONLINE PHOTOGRAPHS
The 2nd reason why your home isn’t selling is because your online listing photographs aren’t good. We’ve seen a lot of horrible listing photographs. Taken in the dark, upside down, crooked, with what looks like a first-generation cellphone camera. Almost 100% of potential buyers are going to look online first before they decide to visit a home in person. Your photographs have to be magnificent to capture the attention and interest of these buyers. If your photographs are bad, or downright off-putting, they aren’t going to visit your property. They won’t even consider it. They will just keep scrolling by and you’ll lose the sale with one click on the mouse. Having professional photographs is key to a good online listing and is a part of the overall presentation of your property. Most Realtors should provide professional photographs for their listings. If they don’t, you will need to hire your own photographer to make sure your listing has the best photos possible. Keep in mind that a photo is only as good as what goes into the camera, meaning that you home must be prepared properly so your photographs will shine. Staging your property before the photos are taken is a critical part of making your online listing look fabulous.3. THE HOUSE NEEDS UPDATES
The 3rd reason why your home isn’t selling is because it needs updates. We know that it’s no fun spending money on updates for a home that you’re moving out of, but avoiding them might be preventing the sale of your home. Even in a seller’s market, most buyers are still looking for a move-in ready property. You may not even need major renovations, but a few small updates can make a huge impact and can transform the overall presentation of your property. Dated wallpaper, window treatments and any non-neutral wall colors need to be removed and updated. Consider replacing dated light fixtures, knobs and cabinet pulls with more contemporary styles. If your home does need major renovations, think about what will bring you the highest return. Unless the home is not livable without said repair, like a roof that is falling in, obviously fix that first. If that’s not the case, an updated kitchen is one of the most valuable assets for new buyers, so if you do have a limited budget, this is the area of your home you should invest in. Depending on the condition of your kitchen there may be less expensive and simple solutions to update your kitchen without a complete renovation. A knowledgeable and educated staging professional can assist you with ideas on how to maximize your return.4. THE HOUSE IS PRICED TOO HIGH
The 4th reason why your home isn’t selling is straight forward, it’s priced too high. You may have thought that you could get away with it in a seller’s market, but most buyers won’t be fooled. The information regarding your home value will be publicly displayed on your listing. It may raise questions for buyers if you are asking way over the estimated value. It might be a better decision and strategy to price your home competitively and have buyers bid it up. Pricing your home too high is a big issue if your listing has problems 1-3 that we just covered. On the other hand, once you’ve corrected those problems, meaning you presented your home properly with professional staging, have great, professional photographs on your listing, and have done all necessary updates and renovations, you will increase the real and perceived value of your home. You may be surprised what price you’re able to list your home at and you will receive higher offers.5. THE HOUSE ISN’T BEING MARKETED WELL
The 5th and final reason why your home isn’t selling is because it’s not being marketed well by your real estate professional. Perhaps your real estate agent is very busy, or most of their properties are selling with little to no effort. Even in a seller’s market, your agent should be doing everything they can to market your property, it’s their job. This can include videos, drone footage, open houses, social media posts, brochures and more. If your home isn’t being marketed, it may not be getting seen by the right buyer.
Talk to your Realtor and ask them how your home is being marketed. It may be a tough decision, but you could potentially have to look for a new agent to work with, and if your contract and listing expires with no offers, you may have no choice. When you look for a new Realtor, check out their previous listings, social media profiles and websites to see how they typically market their properties. Great Realtors have comprehensive marketing plans for their clients and are always looking for new and creative ways to market their listings.
If you correct all 5 of these reasons, we can almost guarantee that your home is going to sell. Your home is probably your single biggest asset in your life. The longer your home sits on the market, the harder it is to sell and the more money you are going to lose. Our advice is don’t waste time thinking that your home is going to sell eventually, be proactive, hire the right professionals and do everything you can to sell your home quickly and for the highest price.
Feel free Contact Us for help preparing your property for sale!
