4 Reasons why your home hasn't sold

The decision to sell a home is likely going to be one of the most important decisions you will ever make. It’s ranked right up there as being one of the most stressful times you will ever go through. To add to the stress of deciding to sell your home, imagine your home has now been on the market for months and it is not selling! Talk about stress! You may find yourself asking “Why hasn’t my home sold?!”

There are a number of reasons why a home doesn’t get sold.

1.       The price is wrong

“Price your home to sell”. Too many homes that do not sell once they are listed for sale are due to the wrong price being set; it’s that simple.  There is a prudent, tried and tested way to set a list price and it’s not about the mortgage balance that has to be covered, what a neighbor may say a home is worth, what a homeowner “feels” their home is worth, what Zillow says a home’s value is or what will enable a Real Estate Agent to secure the listing over other Real Estate Agents. Was this what happened to you and you wonder why your home hasn’t sold?!

A thorough analysis of the local Real Estate market must be combed through where closed sales, pending sales, active sales, price points and absorption rates are reviewed, so a home’s list price is set to sell.

 2.  Your home was not presented well

Presentation is always key in getting a home sold particularly with the vast majority of Buyers, over 90%, who start their home search online over the Internet.  If a home that is listed for sale is not presented well, how will a Buyer ever notice it?  A home has to be sparkling clean, brightly lit, neat and tidy both inside and out. Photos of the home must highlight these features that matter, and there must be plenty of photos that a Buyer can lay their eyes upon; a handful of photos is never enough.  I’m always amazed when I come across homes listed for sale that are showing just a few photos or photos that are dark and dreary, rooms a mess and just simply a poor presentation.  Was this what your home looked like while languishing on the market and you wonder why it didn’t sell?!  More times than not, a Seller doesn’t even know how awful their home has been presented.  A Real Estate Agent should always show the home Seller how they represent the Seller’s home across the Internet. 

3.  You were not cooperative in the home selling process

In any successful transaction, cooperation that avoids friction will lead to a favorable outcome. Cooperate and you’ll have harmony. This doesn’t mean that home Sellers need to throw up their hands and surrender everything, but understand that it’s a little give and take from both the Buyer and Seller.  It can never be about digging one’s heels in the sand. What requires cooperation when selling a home? Listed below are a few of the common things requiring cooperation:

•Ease of home showings – being too restrictive of when prospective Buyers can visit a Seller’s home can lead to the Buyer skipping the home altogether while deciding to buy a neighbor’s home down the street.  The home should be allowed to be shown during normal daylight hours and early evening hours.  And of course, there can be an occasional exception when something pops up and a showing may need to be rescheduled.

•Adhering to timelines of the Real Estate contract.  When a contract timeline requires that a signature and/or initial be returned by a certain date, this must be followed otherwise, the Buyer can cancel their original intent to purchase.

•Promptly providing return of documents. There may be times when a home Seller will be inconvenienced in order to get documents returned on time, but that’s okay as it’s all for the greater good of getting a home sold.

•Promptly responding to efforts of communication.  A preferred method of communication can be set at the onset of the home selling process and it’s imperative that you get back to your Agent in a timely manner, which is as soon as possible that same day. A reply shouldn’t be expected to have to wait for hours and hours on end; the sooner the better. 

4.  You hired the wrong Real Estate Agent

Where do I begin?  When the wrong Real Estate Agent is hired, it can pretty much be expected that #1, #2 and #3 will be what follows.  When a skilled Real Estate Agent has been selected she/he will know how to price a home to sell, will know how a home must be presented to sell, and will speak with the home Sellers on what to expect during the home selling process so communication will be that of cooperation.

This step can be downright terrifying, as it’s likely known by now, that far too many Agents will call themselves experts, experts at whatever it is a home Seller is in need of; whether it’s a Short Sale, a Relocation, representing young adults, older adults, multi family, single family home and on and on, everybody seems to want to call themselves an expert even when they’re not; talk about lacking integrity.  We cannot be a jack of all trades.

So what do you look for when selecting the Right Real Estate Agent? Some of the desired key traits are listed below:

•Professional who demonstrates high integrity and trustworthiness.

•Skilled at marketing homes and oneself which is evident in a Google search; Google their name and you should see them blasted across the internet as the Real Estate professional you’d hire. If they can’t market themselves they won’t be able to reach Buyers to sell homes.

•Proven track record of selling homes, not just a handful of homes each year.

•Proven track record of getting top dollar for homes sold.

•Knowledgeable of the local Real Estate market

•Passion for their job as a Realtor

•Excellence in communication and negotiation skills

•Favorable customer reviews. Quite often you can be assured of the above traits when you read a customer review. Many of my customers routinely spell it out in their favorable reviews they present of me.

Was the Real Estate Agent you had hired lacking in the above traits and now you likely know why your home didn’t sell.

Within the very first few weeks of a home being listed for sale is when a home needs to attract the attention of a Buyer, as this is when the new home listing is nice and warm, just fresh on the market like that freshly baked bread out of the oven and those Buyers who have been watching for new homes to become available for sale will be all over a hot new listing and also, any new Buyers just coming to market will also notice a new home just listed and when the 4 reasons above were avoided from day one, a sold sign will be showing in the front yard very quickly.

Know that the selling of a home doesn’t have to end this way, you can get off on the right foot by calling a trusted Real Estate professional.