4 Possible Reasons Your Home is Not Selling
Chances are once you listed your home, you were hoping for a quick sale. It might feel like you are on pins and needles as you wait for the next showing or that call with the perfect offer. No one lists there home hoping it will sit on the market for a long period of time.
Everyone has heard a story about that couple whose home sold so fast that they had to find a temporary home to move to while they looked for their next dream home. So, if that’s true then why hasn’t your home sold?
Before jumping to conclusions consider the facts. According to Graphiq, a data-gathering company, a house takes on average 73 days to sell. If you feel your house has been on the market for too long consider the 4 following reasons:
- Poor quality images
The majority of homebuyers are now beginning their search online. This means that the photos of your home that are included with your listing are the first impression that you are giving potential buyers. Wrong angles, poor lighting and lack of focus are all reasons why your images might be turning potential buyers away. To put your house’s best foot forward, consider hiring a real estate photographer to the pictures for your listing.
- Poor staging
If you haven’t taken some time to make repairs, updates or stage your home you might be hurting your chance of receiving an offer. Buyers have a hard time seeing what is not there. It is important for you to show them exactly what you want them to see in your home.
Hiring a professional stager to arrange your furniture and help you make a few simple updates can make a big difference on the offers you receive. The average cost of staging will cost you less than $1,000 according to the National Association of Realtors and can improve not only how long it takes your house to sell, but also the dollar amount of the offers.
- You house is too personalized
When you want to sell your home it is important to create rooms that potential buyers can see their belongings in. This is hard for buyers to do when your personal items are all throughout the house. Give yourself a head start on packing and put away the pictures of your family and friends, your trophies, collections and knick-knacks. When it comes to selling your home, less really is more. Take the time to declutter and remove personal items to make potential buyers feel comfortable in your house. Remember, this is the time to turn your “house” into a “the home” for your buyer.
Most importantly, make sure you accommodate the showing times that work for potential buyers. Meet every showing request that you possible can to get the most amount of traffic through your house. Make sure to leave the house neat, clean and welcoming.
- The price is too high
Sometimes the asking price is just set too high. The market dictates the price that buyers are willing to pay for your house, so it is important to consider what is happening in your area when setting an asking price. If your house has been sitting on the market for a while, ask your real estate agent to check updated comps to see where you stand. If you are priced too high you will want to consider lowering the price.
Lowering the price into the next bracket can bring your home up in new searches with buyers that have never seen it before. Remember, even if you lower the price it doesn’t automatically mean you are going to lose much on the selling price. Attractively priced homes can result in bidding wars that drive up the selling price.
If your house has been sitting on the market for too long, begin working through these steps to see what you can do to help bring in the right buyer. Take a moment to look at your house through the eyes of a potential buyer to spot any areas that could use improvement.