Why Didn’t That Home Sell?

We know you’ve all heard the horror stories of homes being listed for months and never selling. What makes this happen? What can you, the homeowner, do to ensure your home sells?

A few lessons can be learned from homes that don’t sell. It’s not always that there’s something glaringly wrong. There are simply some mistakes sellers commonly make that can keep their home from selling. Use these tips along with the advice of our awesome agents to make sure you don’t make some common mistakes when selling your home.

Pricing

Yes, overpriced homes rarely go quickly. But did you know that those pricing tricks you may have learned about in business school don’t always work when selling a home? Pricing a pair of shoes at $39.99 is a great trick for shoes, while pricing a home at $399,900 may not be. This alienates buyers who are searching using a price bracket. Since many buyers will use websites that group prices into $50,000 price intervals, this could mean that your home price turns away a buyer.

Not Investigating

Check out the homes in your area. If you’re completely unaware of the trends in your neighborhood or state, you won’t be able to make your home appealing to buyers. Look for pricing trends, staging trends, and learn what must be updated before selling. If you don’t know what’s important to buyers in your area, you may make some major mistakes that could be the death of your sale. The Kerr Group would be happy to take a look at your home and share insight into what buyers are looking for in your area.

Availability

Make sure you’re available for showings when they happen. If you turn away a buyer, they’ll rarely make a point to come back. It’s a hassle for sure, but make sure you’re able to leave whenever a buyer wants to see your home.

Staging

You don’t have to hire the professionals to come and make your home photo ready, but you do need to declutter and do some minimal staging. Take away anything that distracts buyers from the purpose of a room. Your photos, artwork, décor, are all wonderful pieces that make a house a home, but they don’t need to distract buyers. Clutter never photographs well in listing photos nor does it look good in in-person showings. Take some time to clear and stage your space, it makes a difference.

DIY’ing It

In any area in life, it’s important to know when to hire professionals. Homes that don’t sell are usually not sold because a seller chooses to go it alone throughout the process. Selling a home by owner keeps your home from getting the exposure it deserves, the marketing help of a qualified agent, and forfeits the advice you’ll get by using someone who has made real estate their life’s work. An agent knows the area and the market where you live and knows what it takes to sell a home like yours. If you want your home to sell, find an agent before going forward.

If you want to avoid having to ask, “why didn’t our home sell?” then try to keep some of these things in mind before you embark on selling your home. Our agents are experts in home selling and know what to avoid. Call us today to see if we can make your home a real estate success story!