Why isn’t my House Selling?
Pinpointing the Issues & How to Get Your House Sold
Written By: Mariko Baerg, REALTOR of Bridgewell Real Estate Group
If you’re looking for a second opinion on how to get your home sold, call me today!
A house that’s been sitting on the market with minimal showings and no offers can be frustrating.
If you haven’t found a buyer yet, it’s key to take a step back and assess why your house isn’t selling.
This blog goes through the top reasons why your house may not be selling, so that you determine the key factors that stand between you and an offer.
Be it in the marketing, pricing, or even your realtor, this blog will help find an answer to your question: Why isn’t my home selling?
The marketing is lacking
It’s important to know what your realtor has done in terms of marketing to ensure that your home has been exposed to the maximum amount of buyers possible.
The more buyers your home is exposed to, the more showings there will be, and the higher chance of an offer being received.
These are some signs that you have a marketing problem:
- Your photos are terrible, minimal or non-existant
- You don’t have a virtual tour or videography to market your listing
- You’re missing room measurements or a proper floor plan
- Few people are making appointments to see your home.
- There is no captivating description for your home, and the public remarks lack lustre.
- Your home is not being advertised on social media.
- Your pricing strategy is totally out to lunch. (pricing is marketing too!)
If you have a marketing problem, then you hired the wrong agent!
We are innovative, specialized online & offline, real estate marketers. To learn more about how we can increase your market exposure & provide you with the best marketing in the business, check out: Sell for More with Bridgewell
Questions to ask your agent about marketing: What marketing has been done on the home? Are you utilizing both online and offline marketing? What have been the results of your efforts?
Your MLS listing doesn’t entice people to book a showing
The majority of home buyers are starting their search online. With the MLS, there is access to thousands of homes for sale and it’s important that yours stands out enough for someone to want to view it in person.
To ensure that your home is showing it’s best online and enticing people to book showings, your agent should be:
- Hiring a professional photographer to shoot wide angle photos with plenty of light
- Requesting a minimum of 15 photos be shot by the photographer, preferably 20
- Playing to the homes strengths in both the pictures and description
- Taking shots of multiple areas (not just one), most notably the kitchen, master bedroom, bathroom(s), living room, and dining room.
- Photographing both the inside and outside of the property
- Writing an enticing description that matches the features of your home
- Describing the benefits of your location and the amenities in your neighbourhood
- Providing potential buyers with the option to view the home via a virtual tour
If your agent did not do all of the above, then you hired the wrong agent! To learn more about our world-class marketing & how we help sellers, check out: Sell for More with Bridgewell
Marketing is essential when it comes to selling your home – and it’s important that your home’s value is communicated and shown properly.
It doesn’t show well
It’s difficult for buyers to see the potential in a home, which is why it’s so important to have the home show it’s best during a showing or open house.
While you have your home listed for sale, you’ll need to make sure it is always ready to show. Here are some things to make sure it shows its best:
- Declutter – make sure every space is tidy
- Keep it clean – if you can’t keep up with the cleaning yourself (making the bed, dishes, dusting, laundry, etc.) then at least consider hiring a cleaning company to come once a week while your home is on the market.
- Depersonalize – you’ll want to allow the buyer to vision themselves in the home, rather than feel like they’re imposing on your personal space.
- Consider staging – if you live like a minimalist you might need more furniture to show your place, if you have too much stuff or out-dated furniture then staging can be a way to make your space appear new and modern.
If your home doesn’t show well, not only will they likely not be able to see the potential but they will also perceive the home as not being well-taken care of which will decrease the value of your property.
After the open houses and showings it’s important that your realtor gives you feedback on the home so that you can hear exactly what the buyer’s are thinking. Keep this feedback in mind and do what you can to make sure the home shows as well as possible.
“There’s too much work”
There’s two kinds of “work” in real estate:
- Cosmetic upgrades
- Maintenance/Necessary upgrades
When it comes to maintenance, it may be the rotting deck outside or the leaking roof that you’ve been meaning to replace. If you know there are things that need to be done on the property to bring it up to the basic expectation of a buyer coming through, then it’s best to do those before your list. If you’re not prepared to do them then you should mentally prepare for a negotiation on the buyer’s side after the inspection.
Cosmetic upgrades will often depend on your competition and how you price. Many buyers will want to renovate the kitchen, bathrooms, and flooring – so if your home has not been renovated but you’re pricing in line with renovated homes then the buyer will likely feel that your home needs more work than other competing properties.
When it comes to effort and cost associated with the work needed to be put in, this also corresponds to the value of your property. If you have not factored in the effort and cost it will take a buyer to perform these upgrades, then you likely have a pricing problem as the buyers can’t see the value in your home compared to other upgraded properties.
You haven’t priced your home to sell
Beyond the marketing, your realtor, and the temperature of the market, the most likely factor when it comes to a lack of offers on your home is the price.
Your realtor should be showing you the sales, active properties, and expired/terminated properties in your neighbourhoods in the last 30-90 days.
These recent comparable properties will help to determine your listing strategy and also a rough estimate of what your home should sell for. How does your home measure up to those properties? Are there any sales that have happened since you’ve listed it to the offer presentation date?
If you’re in a cooling market and still aren’t receiving an offer, it’s likely because you’re chasing the curve but haven’t priced ahead of the curve. (i.e. you finally agreed to reposition your home, but your new price is 2 months too late)
If you have had a lot of showings with no offers, it is a pricing issue. If you are having very little activity, it can be a pricing or marketing issue.
If you really feel that you’ve done everything that you can do, and that the price is right, then it might be time to get a second opinion on why your house isn’t selling from another realtor.
To get a second opinion on your home’s value, contact us today for FREE market evaluation
You hired the wrong realtor
You will know that you hired the wrong realtor if:
- You’re lacking professional photography, a virtual tour, and an enticing description
- You answered yes to any of the marketing questions (you have a marketing problem)
- Your realtor hasn’t shown up to any of the showings
- Your realtor hasn’t provided you with any feedback from the showings or open houses
- You’re feeling bullied
- Your realtor hasn’t provided you with proper comparable properties, a market update, or isn’t able to properly communicate what’s going on in the market to you
Regardless of whether it is them taking pictures off of their phone or them not attending the showing themselves and just putting the home on lockbox, it may be hard for your realtor to accept that they are part of the problem!
We see a lot of realtors with really terrible marketing that are just flat out lazy and cheap when it comes to marketing, sales, and showings.
If you’d like a second opinion on how to improve the saleability of your property, reach out to us for a free market exposure report or market evaluation today
You need to do more to help out
Selling a home takes more than just a realtor and marketing. It’s a two way street – and you’ll need to be on board when it comes to presenting your home to a professional standard.
You’ll want to leave the house during showings and open houses, hide the pet bowls, wash the dishes before you go, keep all the countertops clean, and make the beds.
The more comfortable the buyers feel in the home, the more likely they will want to buy it. Make sure you’re doing everything you can to make the property as presentable as it can be.
Questions to ask your realtor: Is there anything that I could do to help my home sell? Does it need to be cleaner? Should I leave the home during my showings? Should it be staged? What can I do?
—-
If you feel like your agent isn’t working smart or hard enough for you, we’d be happy to provide you with a free market exposure report to determine what we can do to get your home sold together. We’re okay with being the second choice, and have had a number of distraught sellers call us in the past to re-list their homes. Call 604-765-0376. Prefer text? 604-319-0200 or email [email protected] to start a conversation.
