Selling a house in today’s market can be pretty tough depending on where you’re located. If you even make one mistake, your house could be on the market for a while. It can be very frustrating having a house that won’t sell, especially if you have to move out of the area soon. You want someone to buy your house so badly and can’t figure out why it’s still on the market. Here are six reasons your house is still on the market.
The Price Is Too High
One of the most common reasons a house doesn’t sell is that it’s overpriced. Just because you paid $400,000 for the house seven years ago and put a ton of money into it doesn’t mean you can sell it for $600,000 and expect it to sell. The economy is tough these days, so many people aren’t willing to pay as much for homes.
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http://www.realtydrama.com/is-it-time-to-sell-your-toronto-home-and-cash-in/
Your Home Doesn’t Have Curb Appeal
If there are very few people scheduling a viewing of your home, it could be because your house doesn’t have very good curb appeal. If your grass isn’t trimmed or you have a lot of clutter on your front porch, people are likely to pass up your home as they are driving down the street. They might think that if you don’t take the time to take care of your yard, the inside of your home probably doesn’t look good either.
The Photos of the House Are Poor
Because many people search for home listing online, it is more important than ever to have good photos. If the photos are very blurry or aren’t well lit, potential buyers aren’t likely to call you to schedule a viewing. Make sure to take photos of every room in the house and close ups of the best areas in your home.
Your House Smells Bad
Nothing will turn off a potential buyer more than walking into a house that smells bad. If the first thing a potential buyer notices about your home is that it stinks like smoke or animals, you’re in trouble. Before you let people view your home, make sure that it smells pleasant. If it does smell open your window for a few days, or use air freshener or light candles in your home, but be careful not to overdo it. If you have carpet it might be a good idea to use a stream cleaner. Repainting your walls is another good way to get rid of unpleasant smells like smoke. It’s also not uncommon to bake cookies and fill your house with that lovely smell.
You’re Not Available Enough
If you want people to see your home, you have to make yourself available. If you work Monday through Friday and only have an hour on Saturday to show your home, you really limit your chances of getting a potential buyer to fall in love with your home. If you are always busy, consider having your real estate agent show your home to potential buyers when you’re not home.
You Haven’t Marketed Your Home Well
If you want your home to sell in a reasonable amount of time, you have to put the effort into marketing it. Although necessary, placing a for sale sign outside of your home isn’t enough. It may also be a good idea to place a sign behind your home if it backs on to a street and/or has some foot traffic. Take the time to market your home on websites (hire a professional photographer and make sure home is tidy).
I think it’s a reality check that you need to work on your marketing and selling skills.
My friend’s home stayed on the market for two years because she refused to acknowledge that foreclosures were viable alternatives to her home. There are too many foreclosures out there to pretend that they don’t affect your home’s selling price.
I know that you have no control over this, but don’t discount the influence your neighbors will have on the sale of your house. My sister, unfortunately, took a hit on the price of her home and after 18 months on the market, she finally sold it during the week that her neighbors were away on vacation. Sad, but true.
LOL too funny but accurate!!
On two occasions in downtown Toronto i have had to “bribe” the owners of the adjacent semi (to which i had listed) requesting that they remove the junk from their porch and keep the fighting down to a minimum while my clients house was on the market!!
Honestly, I don’t like the idea of a sign in the yard. It just invites a bunch of nosy neighbors to be nosy! lol
The part about not being available enoug really rings true. My mom tried for two weeks to get a house with a small yard – not a big deal of a house – and finally, one day she needed to go to the doctor and she told me if the guy called about the house, to tell him she was no longer interested.
Well, he called, and went through this big speech about what all he needed from her (he was yada yadaing on and on before I could speak), needing her IRS forms, paystubs, etc.
When he got finished with his announcement, I told him his price was too high and she wasn’t interested. I added the part about the price on my own – it was a personal opinion – I was only sixteen years old, but my opinion didn’t really matter at this point with a NO SALE situation.
You make some good points but fyi statistically almost half of home sales are generated by an actual sign on the property.
Yes the neighbours can be a bit nosy but in many cases they generate a lot of potential buyers through friends & family.
But yes they are also “checking out” your home!
With so many foreclosures it’s a tough market. I like the section on curb appeal though, as this is so important. I ‘staged’ our last home before we sold it, made sure the grass was well trimmed and the paint all fresh. We were SO lucky, and sold to the first people who looked at it. I think putting in a little extra time before listing it paid off.
Smells bad does it for me! In fact, my parents were tricked into buying a house that truly did smell bad because the people selling the house knew they needed to cover up the smells. Every time my parents visited, candles would be burning throughout the 3 story house.
That makes me nervous when a house seems like it’s trying too hard not to smell. We had a bad experience involving cat pee. If your house smells bad, fix it, don’t cover it up.
I think marketing really makes a difference. In fact, it can even spell the key to closing a sale.
I’d prefer it to be private! I do agree about not having a sign in the yard and when I last sold my house I didn’t even have one, prefer things on the internet since you’d probably be able to contact me more easily. I didn’t have much trouble selling it though.
All good points to consider when selling. One big point, pricing yout home too high for the market. Your house will sit while others come on the market, as your house gets stale sitting with a price that is above what it should be. An updated analysis should be done and the price adjusted. Reintroduction of the home to the market, might also be considered.
You are so right!!
I suggest to my clients and new leads, who are stubborn about overpricing their home, that eventually they will benefit all of those other Seller’s whose homes come on the market!!
I call it “bouncing off!”
As agents will show the overpriced house and the new listings as a direct comparison. They will quite simply suggest that “this home is priced correctly so which would you rather buy?”
The overpriced home becomes a motivator for the buyer to buy the properly priced home.
Assuming that price is the only factor in the decision!
Thank you. The point you make about “bouncing” I don’t think I have heard before. Quite a tool for agents to use and awful for the seller whose house is being used that way. Should be a great point to make with such a seller, if they wiil listen. Cheers.
We need marketing skill before selling house to other peoples because that will be the factor for people buying it. We also need to added value to our house to attract buyer
I have to agree with the statements about poor photos (or not enough photos). I recently bought a home, but while I was shopping, I was constantly frustrated at the lack of photos for the houses I was looking at online. 3 pics are not enough people.
You have made a very good point!
In my opinion, it comes down to the economics and getting what you pay for when listing your home – condo for sale with a real estate agent in the GTA.
The post INTERVIEWING AGENTS has some interesting stats that may explain the “lack of photos” on those homes you were looking at on line.
Instead of trying to sell it on my own I would rather try to have a real estate agent handle it for me as I am not a professional in the domain and I don’t want to loose money or not sell the house. Of course if you want to sell you house on your own that you have to take this tips in consideration, otherwise you will most likely fail.
That is a very good point. A lot of sellers start out thinking it will be a breeze. Just put up a sign and wait for the offers to roll in. They wind up calling in an agent, when they face the reality of the situation. A professional agent is really the way to go, to save time and money.
If you’re going to hire an agent, the agent has to be a good one. Someone who has both marketing, selling and negotiation skills.
If there are no problems with the property or its location, it is the price. Properties sell when they are priced correctly. The value of your home is determined by what a buyer is willing to pay for it. If it is too high, you won’t get any offers. If you have had all those open houses with no offer, the property is over priced. If selling at a lower price means you won’t net enough to pay off the loan, then you need to consider other options.You can stay in the property until the value goes up. You can consider a short sale. Or you can pay the difference between what you owe and what you can get for it.
This guide is extremely helpful for people trying to sell their homes! I definitely agree that things like curb appeal are very important to potential buyers. I also know how important it is to de-clutter things in your home when trying to sell it. By keeping things simple, buyers will be able to envision themselves in the home. It’s difficult to do that when you have a lot of junk all over the house!
It amazes me how one house can sell within days and two houses down it can take months. The house next to me sold in about a month and my house was on the market and the next day it had an offer. And the house I live in hasnt been updated in a long time. We are just renters so we didnt do anything to make the house look any better to sell it. I just vacuumed the floor and did the dishes lol
This is why you need a real estate agent. I think pricing is a key point in the process. Sellers often regard their properties as being worth more than other properties on the market because of attachment. However, by making sure your home is priced correctly compared to other marketed properties, you can receive more than one offer and make sure that you find the right homeowners who will take care of your home.
There are some basic rules being as follows:
1) If your house does not sell in three months, then drop the price by 10%;
2) If you do not get a result in another month drop the price by another 10%;
3) If nothing happnes again, do not wait more than two weeks and take the house off the market;
4) Put it back again on the original price after a month.
All this is subject to having a stable Real Estate market..
Aside from making sure the house doesn’t smell bad it seems to me that the homeowner who goes to the trouble of properly staging their property would have an advantage.
From what I understand — i.e. from watching various shows on HGTV — even if the property is vacant it is best to have some furnishings as this helps the potential buyers to visualize what it might be like for them to live there.