Ok, so your house was on the market for six months and it didn’t sell. You’re frustrated and wondering why it didn’t sell. I've had a successful career selling real estate for 14 years and your situation is one I have encountered hundreds of times.
Good news - your home can sell if you make a few key changes. The following are the five reasons your home didn’t sell.
1) Your photos were not good.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. This is especially true with home buyers. 92% of home buyers found website information useful in their home search and most of those went to the web FIRST to look at properties.
I tell my clients that the house needs to look it's absolute very best the day it's had photos take - and that the first impression most home buyers have is the on-line photos. Professional photographs of your home are essential, so make sure the photos highlighting your home with proper lighting and show your home in the most appealing way possible. Bad photos mean fewer showings and fewer showings mean fewer offers.
2) You hired the wrong agent.
Your agent is critically important to selling your home. You need to hire an agent with a marketing plan and a proven track record of getting results for other sellers. Ask them what they do to to market your home outside of putting it in the MLS, placing a sign in the yard and hoping it would sell.
An agent should have the experience and track record of getting results. She should have a detailed plan of action to market your home and should know the market and be able to advise you on trends that will affect the sale of your home. Expect an open line of communication between you and your agent with scheduled and frequent updates as to the progress of selling your home. I sell every house I list in less than 2 weeks - it's my guarantee to my sellers.
3) Your home has no curb appeal.
A Buyer will decide whether they like a house or not the second they see it from the street. From that moment forward, your battle with them is to either look for things to confirm why they don’t like the house or to confirm why they like the house.
If your home didn't sell, consider the curb appeal, and create a more inviting environment by focusing on a few key areas: make the landscaping as inviting and neat as possible and do whatever you can with the walkway up to the front door. Pressure wash the sidewalk if you need to, and make check the paint near and around the entrance. Lastly....the front door: fresh paint and a new door handle are essential.
4) De-clutter.
Buyers want to visualize themselves in your home, not you. If your home has too much furniture or too many personal photos, the buyers will have trouble seeing themselves in your house.
Get rid of what doesn't serve the sale - put it in storage if you need to - let the buyer see a blank slate to move in to and call a home.
5) It’s all about the price.
The price you asked for your home is the single biggest reason why your home didn’t sell. You can always overcome bad photos, a bad agent, bad curb appeal and a cluttered house with the right asking price. However, no matter how good the photos are, how good the agent is, how good the curb appeal is, or how clutter-free the home is, if it is overpriced, it will not sell.
Let me give you some free advice: price your home properly. Look at comparable sales, the current trend of your market, your motivation and trust the professional you are hiring. Look closely at comparable homes sold and hire an expert in the local market that knows the comps and know how to advise you.
Explore with that agent the current state of your market. Listen to what they say - it's a real estate agent's job to get you the most amount of money they can, in the shortest amount of time - trust me we aren't looking for expired listings or unhappy clients.
Look at the trends. If prices are increasing, price your home a little higher than the comparable sales. If prices are decreasing, price your home a little below the comparable sales. Personally, I have never encountered a home that was price too low - the market will always carry it to where it need to be.
Finally, ask yourself about your motivation. Is a selling your home fast more important than maximizing your sales price or do you want to get as much as you can for your home no matter how long it takes. Only you know your personal motivation.
Make a change
People who want the same results, keep doing the same things. People who want different results, do things differently. Take professional photo. Call me, an agent that will market your home in a way that maximizes exposure. and get you the best results in the shortest amount of time with the least headaches.
If you do these things, your home will sell for the highest price possible and in the shortest amount of time.