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 Why Isn't My House Selling? 

Buying a new home or selling your old home can be exciting and stressful. When you are trying to sell your home, there is a lot of work that goes into it such as giving your rooms a fresh coat of paint, cleaning the carpet or laying new carpet down, redecorating, cleaning all the clutter, and trimming the bushes and hedges. Not to mention all of the work that goes into putting up signs, contacting a realtor, putting ads in the newspaper, and organizing open houses. So now that you have put hours and hours of work into getting your house ready to sell, you’re ready to get the house sold. But what if you aren’t getting the traffic you want or need? What if there haven’t been any offers made? If your house doesn’t sell quickly, it can be a big, worrisome, headache. Being able to identify some key things as to understanding why houses won’t sell could help you navigate thru that murky water.

Market Condition
As a seller, you need to know whether you are in a sellers’ market or a buyers’ market. A sellers market means that it is easier to sell homes because there are fewer homes for sale, there is less competition, and there are more buyers. A buyers market means that it is harder to sell homes because there are more houses for sale, more competition, and fewer buyers. Knowing what kind of market you are in is a key component in determining how to sell your home. If you are in a buyers’ market, you need to adjust your strategy by making your home stand out over others and maximizing your exposure.

Priced Too High
Everyone selling a home wants to get top dollar for their house, and most people looking for a house to buy wants to get a good deal. The key is to coming up with a price for your home that is comparable to the other homes in your area. Running comps on similar style, size, and age of your house will help you determine if what you are asking is what someone should pay for it. If you’re using an agent, make sure that they are educated on the price of houses in your area, and that the asking price is supported by the market. If you are using an agent because they are your friend, you may be putting yourself into a situation that could hurt your potential sale, if your friend is not as knowledgeable about your area as compared to others. The bottom line is, if your house is in good order but you are getting no traffic, chances are the price is too high.

Bad Location
A bad location for a home can depend on the future homeowner. If your sale house is near busy roads, you probably won’t get families with young children looking at the home. If you are in a high crime area, or have a poorly maintained neighborhood, these will all affect your houses ability to sell. A bad location won’t prevent you from selling your house, but it may prevent you from getting the price you want for your home.

Needs Repairs
Say your home is in reasonably good condition, but needs some repair. This may impact your homes ability to sell, especially in a buyers’ market. Most new home owners want a house that is move-in ready. The prospect of having to do repairs on a home they just purchased may turn a lot of your buyers off. To help this problem, before you put your home on the market, do simple things like repaint the walls and put in new carpet. You want to convey a sense of neatness and orderliness to your buyer, so make sure to have nice landscaping in the yard, clean the garage, clean the windows, and even pressure wash your driveway. First impressions can go a long way.

Fierce Competition
A buyers market, in which there are a lot of homes for sale, can create a lot of competition for sellers. There are some key ways you can differentiate your home from the other houses by renovating a little above the norm. Remember, you don’t want to overdo it, or else you won’t be able to recoup your renovation costs thru your sale price as the market won’t support it. Doing things like putting in new light fixtures, faucets, and countertops are relatively inexpensive ways to give your home a nice, new appearance. Putting out a new mailbox is a subtle but effective way to draw people in. If your home needs it, put in new kitchen appliances. Generally, kitchens and bathrooms are the two areas that draw the most appeal from a home, so working on those two areas will help your home stick out above the others.

Poor Marketing
As the homes seller, you want to make sure that you are doing enough to generate the right amount of traffic to sell your home. It’s important to have the home priced right and ready to sell first, and then to do all you can to drive traffic to your property. You want to make sure that the flyer box is always full, you have newspaper coverage, your signs that you put out aren’t missing or damaged, and that you are answering your phone at all times. If you can’t always answer the phone, look into getting a phone service. Selling the home yourself takes a lot of time, so make sure you are up to the task before you venture into this area.

Bad Agent
As with most industries, there are agents that are good and effective, and those that aren’t. You as the seller must determine if you want to use an agent to sell your home, who to choose as an agent and how to choose them. Bad agents can allow you to price the house too high, fail to market the home beyond putting it in the MLS (Multiple-Listing Service), be unresponsive to other agents, and have a poor demeanor. Make sure that if you decide to have an agent sell your home that they are doing all that they can for you.

Incurable Defect
These are things that are not able to be fixed with the home and can cause potential homebuyers to walk away. Examples are a bad floor plan, next to a busy highway, tiny yard, no basement, only 1 bedroom, bad schools, or close to a bar or seedy area of town. To compensate for these, the best thing you can do is price the home right so a buyer won’t walk away from a good deal.