Why Hasn't My Home Sold?

I was asked this question this week by a client. This is a conversation we had prior to listing, but since the market was so incredibly hot at that time, I think most of what I said was forgotten. So lets talk about it.

There are three things, and only three things, that sell a house. 

List Price

Presentation

Marketing Exposure

The easiest one is marketing exposure. Close to 90% of buyers find their new homes either from their agent, or by themselves on the internet. The listing agent's job is to make sure that local agents know about the house and are telling their clients about it. We have systems and tools available to us to make that process simple and effective. If you have had 3-4 showings a week, then the marketing is working.

Presentation is all about the condition and staging of your property. If you want the most money possible for your home, clean it up. Power wash the driveway. Clean up the landscape. Repair anything that isn't working. Paint. Clean the carpets. Put away all the clutter. Seriously, pack everything you don't need to live your day to day life before closing in boxes, and put it all in storage. Clean out closets, cabinets, storage areas. Make it look like your house has so much storage you couldn't possibly fill it all up. Then think about upgrading any seriously deficient items.

List Price is the hardest thing to come to an agreement on. Setting a list price isn't an agent vs. seller argument. It should be an agent and seller vs. the market conversation. Ultimately, a home is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it. Overpricing a house insures that no one will come and see it, or if they do, they won't make an offer. Under pricing a house is impossible. Putting a low list price on a house will bring multiple offers and a bidding war until the market value of the house is reached. 

Ideally, that's where you want to be. You want to make your home one of the rare and desirable properties that hit the market on any given day. You want to set a price that reflects the market value of the property and will encourage multiple offers. Then it's your agents job to get the word out.