If your home has been on the market for three to six months without a sale, you’re sure to wonder what’s gone wrong. Especially in a seller’s market—where there are more buyers than sellers—homes that are priced right and show well sell quite quickly, often within the first 30 days. Examine the full picture of selling to understand what happened rather than quickly jumping to a conclusion. If you’re listing agreement has expired without a sale, review the following factors before you extend the listing or switch to a different Realtor®.
Is Your Home Priced Too High for the Market?
An overpriced home usually will not sell—even if it’s a pristine home. Buyers are savvy enough to compare other types of homes that sell in their price range. If yours is way out of range, they probably won’t even make an appointment to see it. Or they’ll come through and instantly recognize that your home is just as nice as ones they viewed with listing prices of twenty percent less. If your Realtor® initially warned you that your price was too high, you now have evidence that he was right. If you priced your home high because you need a certain amount of money to sell, then you should probably reconsider moving…or reevaluate how you can sell for a more realistic price.
Did You Put Your Home on the Market Before It Was Ready to Show?
Most buyers are searching for move-in ready homes. If you didn’t take the time to prepare your home for proper showings prior to putting it on the market, buyers clearly noticed and weren’t impressed. Some of the more minimal efforts to show a home include painting where necessary, cleaning carpets, and clearing away clutter from all rooms. Buyers want to see space, not all the furniture, knick-knacks, and stuff you’ve acquired over the years. Also, if there are some obvious things that need fixing in the home—an unhinged door, a broken railing, a hole in the wall—take care of them. These signs of neglect bring down the perceived value of your home. However, if your home lacks some basic countertop and appliance updates in the kitchen or bathrooms, those are higher-priced fixes that lure in buyers. If you don’t want to invest money into updates (or are unable to), that’s totally acceptable as long as your price appropriately falls below the typical range of a similar home that is updated. If you expect the next owner to update the home on their tab, they’ll expect a lower price to reflect the need for improvements.
Was Your Home Properly Marketed?
Marketing a home well depends on quality photos that present your home in the best possible light, describing its desirable features, proper signage, listing on MLS (Multiple Listing Service), and getting the word out to as many Realtors® as possible. Compare online photos of your home to others. Do they look professional? Are the rooms presented at angles that give the full picture or are they cut off? Is the lighting to dark? Expert Realtors® know that great photos draw in buyers’ attention, so make sure that your agent did your home justice with photography. Also, ensure you did your part as well by removing clutter and background mess so that the rooms photographed better. As for the marketing description of your home on handouts and online, your agent should have used appropriate marketing language regarding energy-saving appliances, modern updates to specific rooms, charming architectural features, bonus spaces, outdoor living benefits, or anything else that is desirable or unique to your home. A good agent knows how to emphasize a home’s strengths.
If you’ve found that your agent did try to convince you the price was too high, the updates were insufficient to live up to your price, or that you didn’t properly prepare your home for the market, then it might be time to accept you should do more on your end to help sell the house. In such a case, it’s reasonable to stick with the agent who tried to put you on the right track to sell. In such a case, you’ll need to make the necessary changes and he can renew your listing. If you found that the agent didn’t diligently work with you on price, didn’t suggest appropriate house preparation, didn’t provide good photography, didn’t include appropriate marketing language, or other specifics mentioned, then it’s possible her effort was lacking and she only relied on the MLS listing and signage to draw in buyers. In this case, it may be prudent to find a new agent.
Leaving a home on the market for too long usually hurts its price potential no matter what the reason for remaining unsold. Buyers naturally assume that the home is generally undesirable and they’ll expect some kind of “discount” for presenting an offer. For this reason, it’s critical to course correct as soon as possible with a price that reflects the condition, size, location, or style of the home.
An expired listing isn’t a fatal blow for a sale—but you shouldn’t renew the listing without making changes, especially if your agent has been trying to convince you to do so. As long as you and your agent make the proper analysis on how to improve your listing, you can make the necessary improvements that will get the home sold.