Reasons Your Home May Not Be Selling
Most real estate agents have probably been asked, “why isn’t my home selling?”
The answer in some circumstances may not be abundantly clear. In other cases, there is no doubt why the house isn’t selling.
As a home seller, the thing you dread most is being unable to sell your home.
What if you put it up on the market, do all that hard work, and no one is interested? Dwelling on such thoughts can be upsetting.
But fortunately, your worries are probably somewhat unfounded. Most homes do sell; it just takes time in some cases.
There may be some changes; however, you can make to improve your odds of selling more quickly and for a better price.
Below you will find the most common reasons why your house isn’t selling.
Home seller mistakes are common. The key is making adjustments as soon as possible when your property isn’t selling.
Head the advice and make some changes!
Doing so will dramatically increase the odds of getting your home under contract and sitting at a closing table shortly.
1. Your Photos Don’t Do Your Home Justice
Taking pictures of your home with your mobile device might have been good enough ten years ago, but it is certainly not good enough now.
Today’s buyers expect high-quality pictures showing your home’s best features. Anything less than great pictures will turn away many buyers, which is precisely what you don’t want.
You can talk to your Realtor about getting the best pictures taken – whether the Realtor excels at it, knows someone, or can find a professional to handle the photos.
Beautiful photos will allow you to put your best foot forward in the first interaction buyers have with your home, which is online. You can also use image enhancement services to make your home look more alluring.
Most buyers will pass on your home and not read a single word of the listing description if the photography is poorly done.
There are a few things that many real estate agents do that are substantial home-selling mistakes when it comes to photography.
Common Photography Problems That Prevent a House From Selling
- Not having enough photos – most multiple listing services around the country and popular real estate websites allow you to have a lot of photos!
- Not having quality photography – your photography should be clear and vivid.
- Not shooting specific rooms in the home – the whole point of showing off a home online is to clarify precisely what you are selling to a buyer.
- Not showing off the highlights enough – for example, the kitchen in many homes is the most critical room. So many agents don’t give buyers enough shots.
- Taking pictures of furniture and not rooms – many agents don’t have the skill to take amazing photos.
- It is taking pictures that make the home look better than it is. On the opposite end of the spectrum is taking photos with a wide-angle lens that makes the rooms look double their size. This sets the buyers looking in person up for disappointment!
Many home sellers sign the listing contract with their agent and never check up on them to see what they are doing. This is a huge mistake!
Working as a real estate agent for the last thirty-seven years, some of the marketing I see is atrocious. Many sellers do not check up on their agents, or they will be fired!
Photography is one of the most critical aspects of real estate marketing. If your listing agent missed the boat here, you would suffer.
2. Your Price is Too High
Pricing a house too high is the #1 reason why most homes don’t sell. So when sellers ask, “why isn’t my house selling?” this is almost always at the root of the cause. A price that is too high is guaranteed to push away buyers.
Pricing a home is an art and a science, and the ability to price a home well from the start is a valued skill among Realtors.
One of the main reasons you hire a respected agent is because they can price your home right at the beginning, avoiding the stress and frustration that comes from pricing too high and having your home sit on the market for months.
Your home is only worth as much as someone will pay for it. It doesn’t matter how much you purchased it for, how much you spent on renovations, or how much you love it.
If people are not offering to buy it, you probably priced it too high. Many myths about pricing a house should be avoided at all costs. Many of these myths cause homes not to sell.
Luckily, getting new interest in your home usually only takes a noticeable price reduction. You will probably draw in new buyers if you are brave enough to cut the price by 5% or more.
And you may not have to sell for that reduced price, either. You can always negotiate and maybe even be fortunate enough to attract a few buyers simultaneously.
Having multiple buyers at the same time could start a bidding war.
3. You Hired a Weak Real Estate Agent
I am not saying your agent should be off lifting weights in their spare time – far from it.
So many consumers do not realize that, just like in every other industry, some excel at their craft, and others do not.
Hiring the wrong real estate agent is a common reason homes fail to sell.
Unfortunately, it is straightforward to break into the real estate industry. Real Estate agents are a dime a dozen.
Most people know multiple agents. How many doctors do you know? Probably not nearly as many unless you are riddled with health problems.
It takes a lot of hard work to be at the top of your game. You will likely get mediocre results if you hire just anybody to sell your home.
Here is a fact that will come as a significant shock point – 94% of all real estate transactions are done by 6% of all licensed agents.
There are a lot of real estate agents out there running around with next to NO business.
There is no 80/20 rule in real estate. It is no wonder why so many sellers make bad real estate agent choices!
If more sellers paid attention to who they were hiring, there would be fewer home sale failures. The key is asking a real estate agent the right questions. The answers will go a long way to making a good choice.
If you don’t want to ask yourself why your house hasn’t sold, then understand how to pick a Realtor to sell your home. You will get great advice from the start.
4. You Are Too Focused on The Open House
Open houses are not nearly as valuable as most sellers imagine. While it can feel great to open up your home and show it off to a long string of visitors, the people who come to open houses are often not your target market.
They may be nosy neighbors, window shoppers, fantasy shoppers, or sometimes even criminals staking out your place to rob later… it does happen.
Qualified buyers schedule showings with real estate agents. These buyers are vetted financially.
Open houses bring people who don’t belong in your home and anyone else with a pulse.
You may do open houses every weekend because the weak agent you hired suggested it. Many homeowners fail to understand that open houses benefit real estate agents far more than sellers.
Agents use open houses as an opportunity to prospect for business elsewhere. For example, the buyer who stopped by can only qualify to spend $100,000 under your asking price. They won’t be buying your home, but to the agent, they are a genuine prospect to purchase another home!
Your agent’s time and energy are far better spent marketing your home, making connections with other Realtors around town to find interested buyers, and generally doing the things that a good agent does best.
Open houses are not necessary to sell a home in the digital age.
5. Your Home Doesn’t Put Its Best Foot Forward
All the professional pictures in the world can’t fix an ugly house.
Whether you have a kitchen from the sixties or a lawn filled with old cars and appliances, if you have not gone to the effort to pretty up your home, you cannot expect to attract many buyers.
Your competition is decluttering their homes, renovating where necessary, and generally trying to appeal to today’s buyers.
They are staging their homes for maximum appeal.
If you want to be competitive, you must do the same.
There is no need to go crazy with renovations, either. In reality, many serious renovations do not pay out in the end.
It would be best if you talked to your Realtor about what needs to be polished.
You may need professional cleaners, a junk removal service, moving some stuff into storage, or a fresh coat of paint.
It would help if you also had someone do a sniff test.
Foul odors are a significant home-selling mistake. At times we all get used to the natural odor in our homes.
You might not even be aware that “Rex” or “Felix” is a significant distraction to buyers.
6. Your Home is Too Personalized
One of the great things about owning a home is that you can make it just like you like it. But when you are trying to sell, you want the buyers to be able to see themselves in your home – which may mean removing some of the personalized things that you feel make your house a home.
One of the more common reasons a home is not selling is over-personalization which buyers can’t see past.
It may not be easy to see what needs to go, so talk with your agent about best presenting the home to potential buyers.
You may need to store your collectibles, take down the wall of family photos, or clear out all your stuff from the garage. Whatever you need to do, know it will be worth it if you can sell the home.
It is essential to note that giving the buyer a clean slate to look at also means removing yourself and any pets in the home.
7. You’ve Made Home Improvements That Aren’t Improvements!
Many homeowners fail to realize that not everything you do to a home increases its value. There are home renovations that will decrease your property value. If you have items from this list, they may make your home more challenging to sell.
When sellers try to factor items into their price that buyers do not care for, it increases the chances of home sale failure.
8. You Aren’t Being Flexible With Showings
Without a doubt, there are things about selling a home that can be difficult. You are expected to keep a clean house and be ready for a showing at the drop of a hat.
You then must pick up the kids, the dog, and all their belongings. Of course, the agent is asking for a showing at 7 p.m. during dinner. All of these things can be a real pain in the neck.
Selling a home, unfortunately, is all about being ultra-flexible. It would be best if you thought about the buyer’s schedule, NOT yours.
Every showing you turn down is someone that might have purchased the home. A possible reason for a house not selling is missing too many showings.
9. You Make Your Listing Agent Accompany The Showings
It may take a little trust, but the best environment for a buyer to get to know your home is without you or your listing agent.
Making the listing agent attend the showing is pointless and could make your home harder to sell.
Accompanied showings do not sell homes.
The buyer’s agent and the buyer will come to view your home and look it over, inside and out.
They need privacy to discuss what they like and dislike and the buyer’s goals. None of that can happen naturally if other people have opposing interests.
Your agent works for you. The buyer and the buyer’s agent know it.
The listing agent in attendance makes the buyer uncomfortable – they cannot speak freely.
You must understand that a real estate agent does not talk someone into buying a home.
Pointing out the nitty-gritty of your property is not going to sell it. Buying a home is an enormous financial decision.
In thirty-seven-plus years of selling homes, I have never once talked someone into purchasing them.
Don’t expect your agent to have these magical powers.
Pointing out your brick walk, granite counters, and central vacuum will not sell your place. Sorry, this is not how sales work. Don’t kid yourself.
The reason most real estate agents use lockboxes is to be more productive. If your agent has all the time in the world to accompany showings, you have hired someone who doesn’t have much business.
Making your agent attend all visits will cause lost showings. Lost showings equal lost opportunities. Stop thinking your real estate agent is a SUPERHERO.
Last year, I was trying to schedule a showing on a condo in Ashland, Massachusetts, that accompanied showings. The agent could not accommodate the buyer’s time frame, and they ended up purchasing elsewhere.
SO INCREDIBLY STUPID!
10. Bad Market Timing Could Be Why Your House Isn’t Selling
One of the more common questions real estate agents get from sellers is, “should I sell my house now?”
Homes sell at all times of the year. However, there is no question that some months are better than others. For example, here in the Northeast, where I am located, Spring is the best-selling season.
On the other hand, winter is the worst time of the year to sell a home.
If you want to maximize what your home sells for and how quickly, always consult a local agent who knows the market.
When you put your home up for sale at the worst time of the year, expect it to take longer.
11. A Mixture of All of The Above Could Be Why Your House Hasn’t Sold
There may not be just one cause of why your home isn’t selling. It may be a combination of many of the reasons I have mentioned. This is where you need to do a little bit of soul-searching.
Take your home-selling mistakes to heart and do something about them! You still have a chance to make amends and get your sale on track.
All of the items on this list if you had a real estate agent with a track record of success. It’s vital to remember that many agents do not.
Your Home Will Sell When You Avoid These Problems
If you follow the above home-selling tips, you’ll likely find yourself with an accepted offer. Your property will become contingent and pending when all of the buyer’s contingencies are satisfied.
Your home-selling journey, however, has just begun. Many home sales fall apart because of not paying attention to your home’s underlying condition.
The buyer will have a home inspection shortly, so you need to ensure there are no significant problems.
Look at some of the most significant issues that could kill your house sale. Addressing any potential problems in advance increases the odds of your sale staying together. These are the things that scare a large percentage of buyers away.
Use the information to your advantage now!
Final Thoughts on Houses Not Selling
The reason your house has not sold is probably easy to fix if you are willing to listen to all of these home-selling tips. Take the advice to heart, and you’ll likely have a big smile.
Selling a home doesn’t have to be difficult when you follow some sensible advice. If you are in the Metrowest, Massachusetts area and need assistance selling your home, please reach out.
About the Author: The above Real Estate information on why my house is not selling was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 37+ Years.
Are you thinking of selling your home? I am passionate about real estate and love sharing my marketing expertise!
I service Real Estate Sales in the following Metrowest MA towns: Ashland, Bellingham, Douglas, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hopedale, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Northborough, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sutton, Wayland, Westborough, Whitinsville, Worcester, Upton, and Uxbridge MA.
