When it comes to selling a house, you really never know exactly how it’s going to go. You could do everything your real estate agent tells you to do and still might not sell. Or you might find that even though you’ve done everything you’re supposed to there are better offers nearby that sellers are choosing over you. Most of the time, however, there is a reasonable answer to why your house is still on the market for way longer than you expected. Here are six reasons why your home isn’t selling and what you can do about it.
The Price Isn’t Right
The most obvious and likely reason that your house isn’t selling is that there is something about your offer price that doesn’t speak to potential buyers. If the condition of the home is good and your presentation is on point, it’s almost always the price that holds a seller back. Pricing your house too high is a fairly common mistake that people make. They go into the process presuming that the buyers will ask for concessions and a lower price so they go over the market value to compensate. Obviously, you want to get the most money you can for the house but there’s a delicate balance between taking care of your investment and arriving at a price that buyers find attractive. The best thing you can do is look around the neighborhood and region at comparable homes that recently sold and see what they went for. Also, look around at the other homes for sale and see if you can undercut your competition, even if it’s just by a little bit.
An Acquired Taste
Sometimes the issue isn’t related to price or even anything to do with the market. Sometimes you are simply offering a house that is so unique that it can be a difficult sell in any market. If the house is out of step with the look and feel of the rest of the neighborhood, that can have a negative effect in the eyes of many buyers. You might also be dealing with a particularly large or small house, which demands a very specific set of buyers. The property the house is located on may be very isolated on a major roadway or full of quirky and odd features that most homes don’t include. Whatever the case may be, it’s possible your house may just need time to find the right buyer. This is where smart marketing and advertising can be very helpful, although it’s a cost you’ll need to be sure about. The more effort you need to put into finding buyers, the less money you’ll net on the final sale.
The Stage Isn’t Set
You’ve probably heard how important staging is in a home sale. Staged homes routinely sell faster and for more money than homes that do not get staged. Quite simply, buyers don’t want to see what it looks like for you to live there, they want to see what it might look like for them to live there. And if the home is full of your family photos and your particular tastes in furniture, that can make it hard for others to see your house as their home. If your house is sitting on the market despite plenty of visits, consider making some upgrades. Hire a stager to come in and remake your house in a more ideal image for buyers. See if you need to apply a fresh coat of paint, fix anything that might be broken, or do some decluttering. Take unique items or big pieces of furniture you can part with and put them in storage. The more you can do to make the house look clean and uncluttered, the more likely you are to sell.
Curbing Their Enthusiasm
You could wonder about the interior of your house but if the front lawn is wild and your property looks like a mess, chances are that most buyers are passing you by without stopping to take a look. Curb appeal is a seriously underrated aspect of the homebuying process and it’s critical that you make everything look as good as possible, not just the house itself. At the very least, make sure the lawn is mowed and the landscaping is up to snuff. Consider hiring a landscaper to upgrade your exterior and really make things pop. Give any fences a fresh coat of paint, declutter the garage in case the door is open when buyers drive by, and fix anything that is broken and will be noticed by others.
Funky Photos
Just like with home staging, the photographs that you use in your home listing can have a profound effect on whether or not your home looks appealing. If you’ve ever perused home listings with professional photographs for long enough and then stopped to look at a listing with bad photos, you know what a huge difference it makes. Professional photos can do wonders to find the best angles for your problem rooms and suss out the best details from each spot. If your photos just aren’t wowing buyers, consider hiring a professional. Of course, that will cost you money, but if you want to keep pursuing a sale on the open market, it’s necessary.
You Timed It Wrong
Depending on where you live, there are tried and true times of the year when it makes sense to list your house and when it doesn’t. Chances are, you may have chosen a particularly bad time of year to put your house on the market, presumably in the fall or winter when buyers are less likely to be looking around. You also may not have anticipated certain market conditions such as the arrival of many similar homes nearby on the market or lack of interest in your particular neighborhood or town. In order to fix the problem, you may want to consider delisting until a better time of the year, especially so your listing doesn’t seem “stale.”
Consider Selling As-Is
Of course, it’s also entirely possible that even if you make these fixes and pay the money needed for all the extra promotions your house won’t sell. Perhaps there is extensive damage or concerns that will keep buyers away no matter what. Perhaps the house is wrapped up in financial issues such as a foreclosure or tax lien, which makes it hard to sell. Whatever the reason, rather than letting it sit on the market indefinitely, consider selling the house as-is to a cash buyer like Nexus Homebuyers. They’ll make you a cash offer quickly, you won’t have to pay any Realtor fees, and you’ll be able to sell your house fast and move on with your life. If your house won’t sell and you don’t want to spend any more money on it, selling to a company like Nexus Homebuyers will remove the hassle from your life and let you focus on the future.
