Top Reasons Why Your Home Might Not Sell & How To Combat Them

There are many reasons why a home might not sell the first time it’s put on the market. It’s important to remember that this most likely has to do with a combination of these reasons, and not just one of them. These include:

1. Marketing

2. Staging

3. Photography

4. Price Banding

5. A Unique Home

6. A Home That Needs TLC

7. Timing

8. Pricing

Some of the above factors can affect the selling ability of any home and remedying them, or understanding how to work with them, could be the key to getting your house back on the market and sold!

Marketing

Marketing your home strategically is extremely important to ensure the quickest possible sale. If your property is not well marketed, so that the right buyers are able to see it, there is a much higher chance of it sitting on the market for months. An agent who has a successful marketing technique will sell a home far faster than an agent or owner who does not.

Staging

Staging is incredibly important because it allows a buyer to see the potential of your home, which makes it easier for them to picture themselves living there. It's putting your property's best foot forward in a way that will appeal to a varied set of buyers. It's not imperative that you get your house on the market immediately. What is important is making sure it is market ready so that when it is time to list, you have optimal interest.

Photography

Taking professional photos of your home can make or break someone's first impression, and any interest they may have in further inquiring about your home. A well-staged house makes for a great first impression, and what’s equally important is that it is captured well in the photos that will be used to market the property online. Photos taken by a professional in the right lighting of a well-staged home will allow potential buyers to get the best possible initial feeling. Some buyers are able to see potential in a property without it being really well captured, but most will skip right over a listing with photos that look messy and dark.

Price Banding

Something as simple as a Price Band Error could be keeping buyers from seeing your listing. This one's an easy fix. Many houses are listed at prices that end in 9's instead of 0's because the seller or realtor is trying to be strategic, but when buyers are searching Zillow for listings your home may not show up because of this simple mistake. Zillow's price bands all end in 0's, for example: $300,000 - $350,000, and $350,000 - $400,000. If you're listed at $349,990, none of the buyers in the second price band will see you. Now, only people whose highest number is yours are seeing your listing instead of letting both them and the buyers who have your number as starting point have access to it. The simple fix of rounding up to zero could be what maximizes your online exposure.

A Unique Home

If your home is unique in some way that might keep the average person from purchasing it, you may need more time to find the right buyer. Proper marketing techniques will be the key to finding those special buyers and getting your property sold. It is especially helpful to have a realtor with a successful marketing strategy for finding a buyer for such homes.

A Home That Needs TLC

If your house needs significant updating it may likely sit on the market for much longer than a property that does not. Simple investments like painting, landscaping, fixing specific areas that are in especially rough shape, or switching out very old appliances for new ones will go a long way in getting your home sold. Your Realtor will help you identify what is most and least important to tackle, and refer you to professionals who can help. It may feel like your spending money to make money. No doubt about it, you are; but the return on the investment made here will be huge. You'll be able to charge more for your home and much more easily find a buyer who wants to purchase it.

Timing

Timing can also make a big difference in a home's marketability. Spring and early Summer are the busiest time of year for the housing market. If you put your home on the market then, you are pretty much guaranteed a better chance of selling quickly. However, if you need to sell your home and it is not in the cards for you to do so at this peak time of year, using certain marketing techniques, staging properly, taking professional photos, and correctly pricing your property can more than make up for timing.

Pricing

Last but certainly not least, pricing your property accurately is imperative to ensuring your home sells. We all know what the negatives are of pricing too low, but many sellers don't realize the negative impact of putting a house on the market at a price that is beyond it’s worth. You might think that pricing slightly higher makes sense in order to leave some room for a buyer who wants to bargain. In reality, doing so could be what stops your house from selling. When a home is priced too high, buyers who are looking for a property like yours will likely not see it. Why is that? Your buyer has a realtor who is well aware of the accurate pricing point of home’s like yours. When they determine a budget with their clients, that budget is going to be on the mark, probably with just a little bit of wiggle room. When they send your buyer prospective homes (or when your buyer searches Zillow), your house will not be on that list. Their search only included properties around their budget, and the homes that were overpriced were not a part of that search. The people who will see those homes are people looking for a different size, style, location, or anything that would make another property worth more. Those people will skip right over an overpriced house that pops up. As a result, the property that is incorrectly priced might sit on the market for a long time before anyone shows interest. This can be quickly fixed by meeting with a realtor and going over Comparative Market Analysis data that shows what your home is truly worth to buyers. When you price your property properly and competitively, and the right buyers who are willing and able to pay the purchase price are able to see it, it will certainly sell in a seller's market like the one we are in today.

We at The Hajdaraj Group are available for all of your Real Estate needs: from simply answering questions you may have about the process, to representing you and together achieving your buying, selling or investment goals skillfully and efficiently.

We work with a variety of sellers, buyers and investors in Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts, and also specialize in selling homes that have already been on the market for longer than intended.

You can reach us at (508)-851-5888 or email inquiries@thehajdarajgroup.com