Here are the top three reasons why homes fail to sell in our market.
We’ve seen a crazy change in the marketplace over the last two years. We went from March 2020, when everyone stopped buying homes, to June and July, when everyone went right back to the market. In 2021, we’ve seen one of the biggest increases in home values that I think any of us will see in our lifetimes.
Now the market is shifting again. It’s not slowing down—we’re just not seeing the rapid pace of increase that we saw between February and July. Here are a few things we’ve noticed that are causing homes not to sell in this market:
“You can’t just take a couple of photos on your iPhone and put the house on the market anymore.”
1. Poor home preparation. Earlier this year, all you had to do was put your home up for sale and watch all the buyers flock to your listing, some of whom might even have offered $100,000 more than your asking price. Today, however, there’s more inventory available, so buyers are starting to become a bit pickier. The era of just listing homes and waiting is over; you need to clean from top to bottom, touch up your paint, and replace old and worn carpets. Simple projects like these add immense value to your home. Prepped homes sell for a lot more than homes with no work done.
2. Average marketing. If you were a real estate agent with a home to sell between February and June of this year, your job was a lot easier than it used to be. However, all that has changed. People are spending a lot more time studying listing photos and looking at media collateral before they visit a property, so make sure your agent is doing a full media package when it comes to marketing your home. They need to create a brand for your home to help it make top dollar. You can’t just take a couple of photos on your iPhone and put the house on the market anymore.
3. Pacing too far ahead of pricing. Over the last year, we’ve seen people listing their homes for thousands of dollars over what the last comparable sale was. Now, people are more realistic about pricing in the market, and they’re studying the pricing before they step foot in your home. The average buyer has seen all your comparable sales and has made offers on all of them, so they know what a house should be worth by the time they come for a showing. Buyers punish overpriced sellers by not making an offer at all or waiting for the seller to make a price adjustment. You can avoid that by simply listing your home at the market price.
If you’re looking for more tips on how to sell your home for top dollar or have any real estate questions at all, give me a call or send an email. I’d love to hear from you.
