Real Estate Investors: Why Isn’t My House Selling?

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Putting your home on the market and not seeing the offers come pouring in as quickly as you would like can be a very frustrating feeling. Having already listed the property, it is safe to assume you think the hard part is over. The reality is that we are still in a buyer’s market and selling your home is a difficult task. If you are not seeing the results you wanted as quickly as you would want them, you need to get to the bottom of why that is. In other words, find out why your home isn’t selling and act quickly to resolve the problem.

The sooner you can make an honest assessment as to why you are having trouble, the quicker you can sell your home. The biggest culprit always comes down to the price. Because you have spent time in the house and may have put a considerable amount of work in, you may feel it is worth more than it really is. Even if you haven’t put work in, it is the nature of a seller to try to squeeze every dollar possible out of the property. If you already have the house listed higher than it should be, you need to come to your senses and make a sizable reduction to generate interest. You can always get lucky and find a buyer, but odds are you need to get the price in line with the rest of the neighborhood if you want to sell.

If the house is priced right, the next thing you need to look at is the condition of the property. Buyers in today’s market want a home they can move right in and call home. They will examine every inch of the property, from the kitchen tiles to the bathroom tub. If you are going to put work in to update the house, you need to make sure you do it right. Details matter to buyers. If the work isn’t there, it will reflect in the interest and ultimately the sales price. Updated door knobs, clutter in the bedroom, the kitchen faucet and the dishwasher can all have an impact on buyers. If there have been showings and few offers, it may be a sign that your home is just not showing well.

If you know your house needs work and you are just trying to get rid of it, you need to show that in the price. The house either has to be a deal to an investor or a rehab project to an end buyer. Either way, the price must reflect the work that needs to be done. This comes at a cost. If this is the case, you can expect lowball offers to come in. You don’t have to accept them, but you can’t be offended when your realtor presents them to you. You tried to get every dollar out of the sale and they are doing the same on the buy side. You can either spend the money and do the work yourself or expect below market offers to come in and decide what is best for you from there.

The longer your home sits on the market without some kind of change, the lower the price becomes. Get to the root of the problem and act quickly to fix it.