Special offer

You Have a Great House for Sale. Why No Offers?

By
Real Estate Agent with The DiGiorgio Group

You have a house for sale, and it has everything most home buyers want, plus some really nice features that home buyers love.

Why would a homebuyer NOT write an offer immediately?

Your house is for sale at just the right price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms meets or exceeds expectations, perfect size, great location with no negatives to overlook, great big yard.  And yet - tick, tock, tick, tock - day after day and showing after showing goes by with no one writing an offer.

***  If you're showing the house yourself, or staying home and watching the showing, that could very well be the reason no one has written an offer.  ***

I recently found a house that met all my clients needs AND wants, and they DIDN'T buy it.  The house even had the extras they craved - backed to a park, great mountain view, huge yard - and yet, they didn't write an offer.   Instead, they bought a house they love, but that didn't have a mountain view and didn't back to a park.

Why didn't they buy the 'better' house for sale?

They just didn't 'feel good' about it.

Now I'm going to tell you something you didn't know - out of all the homes I showed these clients, this is the only one that was shown to us by the seller themselves.  The seller (who was 'saving' big bucks by hiring an agent who offered lower service for a lower fee) scheduled the showing around her job and family needs, was there late to let us in while telling us how inconvenient it was for her to be there, showed us around at her pace, talked about a bunch of features my clients didn't care about, complained about the tenant who was currently living there, had to keep screaming out the front door at her kids to stay in the car, etc.

This house came closer than any other house for sale to having everything my clients wanted.  I had previewed it for them (which the homeowner found interesting, she commented, "I wish someone had done that for us!"), and I was worried that it would go under contract before my clients were able to get out to see it because it was immaculate and priced right.

But they just didn't have that good feeling.  The feeling a buyer will get within the first few seconds of walking into the home that they end up buying.

Instead, they were uncomfortable from the start.

Is that uncomfortable feeling enough to screw up the sale of your home?

You bet it is!!

If you're serious about selling your house, you would do well to consider hiring a full-service agent and letting them do their job.

Good luck to you on your upcoming home sale!

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Read about life in Arvada, Colorado. And here’s a little intro to Olde Town Arvada.

Find all the homes available in Arvada, Westminster, Broomfield, North Denver, Thornton, Lafayette, Louisville, Wheat Ridge and Golden.

Gardeners might enjoy my posts about gardening in Denver to Boulder’s front range.

I write posts on real estate issues and local events in the Denver metro area, especially those communities between Denver and Boulder, as a public service. My hope is to give people an idea of the ‘flavor’ of our community, in case they’re new or moving to the Denver area.

I am a residential real estate agent, happily helping folks buy a house or sell a house in the beautiful and friendly suburbs northwest of Denver.

Copyright © 2012 Joetta Fort, The DiGiorgio Group

Posted by

Joetta Fort, Realtor       720-353-8031       joetta.fort@gmail.com


Laura Allen, Lake Tahoe - Truckee Real Estate for Sale TahoeLauraRealEstate.com
Coldwell Banker Realty, Tahoe City, CA (530) 414-1260 - Tahoe City, CA
Tahoe Real Estate Agent Helping Buyers and Sellers

Joetta - Great post.  Sellers do a lot of things that can really hurt their chances of selling and being at the home is a big one!

Jul 17, 2012 04:40 AM
Beth and Richard Witt
New York, NY
The best Retired Brokers !!!!

Bravo Joetta... It would be so beneficial to sellers if they paid attention to your advice.

Jul 17, 2012 04:51 AM
Kristin Hamilton CA REALTOR
Berkshire Hathaway California Realty - Beaumont, CA
(909) 557-6966- Specialize 55+ Communties Banning

Hi Joetta,

It is never good to have the buyers and sellers meet especially at the first showing. Buyers need to feel like this could be their home and if the seller is there, it makes them feel like they are just visiting and not comfortable. I totally agree with your post and too bad this listing agent cuts her commission and doesn't do her job properly. A seller can kill a deal fast.

Jul 17, 2012 05:00 AM
Joetta Fort
The DiGiorgio Group - Arvada, CO
Independent Broker, Homes Denver to Boulder

Laura - so true.  I guess the agent feels it's a good job paradigm, but I don't get it.

Richard & Beth - thank you.  I would not list a house that the seller planned to show, although a couple of times they've 'tricked' me!

Kristin - the seller definitely killed this one!

Jul 18, 2012 12:03 AM
Michael Jacobs
Pasadena, CA
Pasadena And Southern California 818.516.4393

Hi Joetta -- sellers should be scarce as a potential buyer is looking at their home(whenever possible).  I let my sellers know this upfront.  I've experienced sellers giving out valuable information(info that hurts their negotiation strategies --- just bring me an offer) --- it's great for me when I represent buyers, not so favorable for sellers.

Jul 23, 2012 01:44 AM
Joetta Fort
The DiGiorgio Group - Arvada, CO
Independent Broker, Homes Denver to Boulder

LOL - you hit it on the head, Michael.  When working with buyers, you can sure see a difference in the ones who are uncomfortable with the seller being there, and those who are excited about the opportunity to dig up some info.

Jul 23, 2012 01:53 AM