Why Your Home Isn’t Selling
When selling a home, timing and location are often the biggest factors. But there could be plenty of other reasons why your home might not be selling – even if you think it’s perfect for the market. Here are some common challenges sellers face when trying to sell their house that may help explain why yours isn’t selling.
If your home has been listed for an extended period of time and continues to remain on the market unsold, it could be for any number of reasons. If you’ve gone through all the usual troubleshooting steps and have ruled out all of the typical issues that can keep a home from selling, then it’s likely one of these hidden challenges is keeping buyers away from viewing or buying your home. Read on to find out more!
The price is too high.
This is one of the biggest reasons a home doesn’t sell – because the seller is trying to get too much for it. It’s a fact that the more a home is listed above market value, the longer it will sit on the market. If you’re asking too much for your home, buyers simply won’t be able to justify the purchase.
Even if a home is in great condition and in a desirable location, if you price it too high, it simply won’t sell. A great way to test the waters on what your home is worth in today’s market is to have an experienced real estate agent come out to your home and do a market analysis. By reviewing recent sales in your area, recent comparable home sales, and how long your home has been on the market unsold, they can give you a pretty accurate idea of what your home is worth.
If your asking price is significantly higher than what they suggest, you may want to consider lowering it to generate more interest.
There are too many issues that need fixing.
Let’s face it, most houses have at least a few issues that need fixing. This could mean fixing minor repairs before they become major issues, or simply applying a fresh coat of paint. The trick is to get them fixed before putting the house on the market. If you don’t, and buyers discover problems, they’ll usually walk away from the deal. Even if you do get the issues resolved, prospective buyers may decide that the cost to fix them is just too high.
If it’s a big enough deal, you might even be able to get the sale of your home put on hold by the real estate agent while you get the repairs done. Known as a “seller’s covenant,” this is a legal agreement between you, the buyer, and the real estate agent to hold off on closing the sale until the repairs are done. If you can get the repairs done before putting your house on the market, that’s great. But if not, try to get a reduction in your selling price to cover the cost of repair.
For example, let’s say you have a cracked foundation that needs to be repaired. If the repairs will cost $20,000, ask for a reduction in the sale price of $20,000. That way, the buyer can still walk away from the deal with some of their money still in their pocket.
Not Properly Staging Your Home
One of the easiest ways to get your home sold quickly, is how you stage your home. It’s not just bringing in a few decorative items, snapping a few pictures, and hoping for the best. It’s a process that requires a lot of work and creativity.
Staging your home basically involves removing or hiding everything that is not essential to daily life. You want potential buyers to imagine themselves living in your home, not you. Staging can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. You can do a lot with just a little bit of creativity.
The home is in the wrong location.
Even if everything about your home is perfect, it’s in excellent condition, it has everything a buyer could want, and it’s at the right price. If it’s in the wrong location, it won’t sell. Most likely, you’ve heard the term “location, location, location” when it comes to real estate.
It’s a big deal, and it’s a problem that plagues a lot of homeowners who are trying to sell their house. The ideal location for your home would be an area with a good school district, a low crime rate, quick access to highways, a short drive to work, and other things that buyers look for in a desirable neighborhood.
If you don’t live in a good location, you can try to get the word out that you’d be willing to consider a different neighborhood for your home. Or, if the perfect buyer is in a desirable location but the area where you live just isn’t right for them, consider buying a home in a better neighborhood for your buyers.
It’s a mismatch between what you’re offering and what buyers want.
Will your home appeal to the type of buyer you’re trying to attract? Is it in the right price range for the neighborhood it’s in? Those are a couple of the questions you need to ask yourself. If your home is priced too high for the neighborhood it’s in, buyers will likely be turned off by the price.
If it’s priced too low, they’ll be turned off by the lack of value they see in your home. And if your home is only appealing to a very specific type of buyer – like someone who wants to live in a bigger home with a yard, but you’re trying to sell a home that is too small with no yard – it might be that there aren’t enough buyers who want the same things you do.
Buyers see it as a risk to buy from you.
Even if everything about the sale of your home is as perfect as it can be, buyers might be hesitant to purchase if they don’t feel confident in closing the deal. If you have a bad reputation for being a difficult homeowner to work with, or if you have a history of not completing deals, buyers will likely be hesitant to take the plunge.
If you’re selling a home in a hot real estate market where all the houses are selling very quickly, buyers may be extra hesitant to take the risk if they feel like they really have to jump on it. Perhaps you’re selling your home in an area where houses are taking a long time to sell, you might still get a few offers, but buyers might hesitate to be the first to submit one.
Conclusion
If your home has been listed for an extended period of time and continues to remain on the market unsold, it could be for any number of reasons. Perhaps you’ve gone through all the usual troubleshooting steps and have ruled out all of the potential issues that can keep a home from selling, it’s likely one of these hidden challenges is keeping buyers away from viewing or buying your home.
If your home isn’t selling, perhaps one of these reasons is to blame. Try to troubleshoot the problem and address it as best you can. And above all, be patient. It’s normal for it to take a while to sell a house, especially if the market is particularly slow.…