Some Reasons Why Your Home Won't Sell

The spring selling season has quickly faded. Homeowners who want to sell now pin their hopes on the third quarter of 2009.

With a strong buyers' market in place, many sellers are bound to be disappointed as buyers skip over their homes for others nearby.

Here are six reasons why your home won't sell:

It looks drab in photos Because the vast majority of home buyers start their search for a home on the Web, your house had better look fabulous in print. If it doesn't track well online, no one will take the time to see it in person.

It's overpriced for the neighborhood If your neighborhood is filled with foreclosures and short sales, you'll be hard-pressed to get top dollar, even if your home looks better than all the rest. However, if you have just a few foreclosures, you may be able to overcome any objections by pricing your home correctly.

In this case, correct pricing means figuring out at what price point buyers are looking in your neighborhood. If everyone is looking at homes priced at $250,000 or less, that's the price point you want to be at.

If you can't afford to sell at that price level, then you should consider removing your property from the market.

There's no "wow" factor inside Once you get buyers inside the house, you need them to be wowed by what they see. Hiring a professional stager can work wonders, turning a blah interior into one that looks sleek and polished, like the homes featured on HGTV.

If you don't want or can't afford to spend the money on a professional stager, consider watching a few staging videos online.

No one knows it's there Your agent isn't getting the word out, either because the property isn't listed properly on the multiple listing service, or because he or she hasn't posted it on Craigslist, Zillow or other online search engines that don't feed directly from the MLS posting.

Online marketing should include a Web site that has the address as the URL (you can sell it to the buyer as part of the deal) and as many photos, floor plans and video as possible.

Your commission isn't high enough or split equally Agents will tell you that they won't push a buyer to make an offer on a house simply because it has a higher commission. But many agents see no harm in making sure their buyers see as many properties that are in the right price range.

Some agents take 60 percent. But you need to make sure your agent is splitting the commission equally.

Your house won't pass inspection If your house looks great, but the faucets leak, the windows don't lock, the ceilings have water stains and the furnace is on its last legs, buyers may move on to the next house.

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Valerie McNeal, RE/MAX First Choice, 443-405-3587 or 301-704-8129 Cell - Valerie@TheMACTeam1.com, www.TheMACTeam1.com

Baltimore, MD