By: Aurelio Mattucci of Mattucci Real Estate www.mattucci.com
Reasons why homes don’t sell
If you have had your home on the
market for several months and haven’t seen much activity or any offers, chances
are that one or more of the reasons below are to blame.
Your price is too
high
No doubt about it, the most common
reason for a home not selling is that the asking price has been set too
high. The reasons for setting your price
too high to begin with are many. Ranging
from over enthusiastic listing agents to unrealistic seller expectations. Regardless of the reason though, if you’ve
priced your home too high, you’ve set yourself up for a number of obstacles to
selling your home. Even if you do get an
offer for the overly high asking price, the deal may fall apart before closing
because the buyer may have problems financing at too high a price. Look at other homes for sale, ones as similar
and as close to yours as possible. If
they are going for less than you are asking, you may be priced too high. The fact is, your home is competing against
those other homes, and what buyers are willing to pay is what will determine
final sales prices.
The condition of your
home
There is a lot of competition out
there to sell homes. Your home has to
compete against other similar homes for sale, as well as competing against shiny
brand new homes. The more you can do to
make your home look appealing to a buyer, the better your chances for a quick
sale. Look at your home with a critical
eye – put yourself in the buyers position.
A buyer doesn’t want to have to do anything except move in. Your best “bang for the buck” in improving
the condition of your home are paint and flooring. Make sure that all of the paint is in great
condition, both inside and out.
Repainting doesn’t cost too much, and will usually make the biggest
impact on buyers. Make sure all of the
flooring looks good too. You may want to
consider putting in new carpet. Again,
it’s not that expensive but it sure does make an impact on buyers coming to look
at your home.
Location, location,
location
It’s the oldest cliché in the
world, but it’s true. When it comes to
real estate, it’s all about location!
When it comes to homes, things like how good the schools are, crime
rates, visual appeal of the neighborhood and noise or the smell of pollution can
all effect how desirable the location is.
If you’re in a bad location, a good real estate agent may help to
minimize some of the impact by suggesting improvements to the house. But the only really reliable way to overcome
a bad location is with a lower price.
Simply put, an identical home in a bad location won’t sell for as much as
the same home in a better location.
Your marketing campaign is out of
steam
The best listing agents all use an
aggressive marketing plan to market their listings. If your listing agent isn’t making sure your
home can be found easily on the internet, isn’t actively touting his or her
listings to other agents in the area, isn’t running ads in the local newspapers
and real estate publications, then it might be time to change agents. The best agents might even run radio or
television ads for their listings. If
all your agent has done is put a sign in your front yard and add your home to
the local MLS, then that agent isn’t coming close to doing all that can be done
to effectively market your home.
The
market is slow
You’ll hear it described as a slow
market, or a buyers market, or maybe a cold market. But it all means the same thing. That home sales in the local area, or market,
are slow. That there are too many homes
for sale and not enough active buyers.
There are several things you can do to combat a slow market. The most effective strategy is to sell at a
lower price. Buyers are expecting to
find bargains during a slow market. You
can also help yourself by offering to pay some concessions to help a buyer that
might not have a lot of cash. The
ultimate way to beat a slow market is to simply wait it out. But that’s not always an option for many
sellers.
Your home isn’t easily
accessible
To get your home sold quickly,
it’s important that other agents in the area show it to as many potential buyers
as possible. When a busy agent is
compiling a list of homes to show a buyer, the agent will naturally tend to show
those houses that are easiest to gain access to first. Many homes on the market have “lock boxes” on
them. The lock box is a device which
holds a key to the home, that only qualified local agents can access. Homes that are listed as being “lock box, no
appointment needed” will get shown more often than homes listed as “agent has
key, call for appointment”. If at all
possible, you should let your agent put a lock box on your home for easier
showing. If not, you should do anything
else you can to make it as convenient as possible for agents to show your
home.
You have an agent nobody
likes
Sounds almost silly, but it’s very
true. If your listing agent isn’t liked
or respected by other agents in your area, it could slow down the sale of your
home. When an agent prepares to show
properties to prospective buyers, the agent begins by talking to the buyer to
find out what kind of home they are looking for. Then the agent searches the local MLS and
other sources for homes that fit the buyer.
If there are a number of good matches to choose from, and one of them has
been listed by an agent that is hard to get along with, or arrogant, or has
otherwise made himself unpopular, well…
It’s just human nature to tend to skip over someone you don’t
like.
For more information contact Aurelio Mattucci 310-920-9233 or email am@mattucci.com
