Why Is My House Not Selling?

You may want to sell your house, home, and other properties prior to moving onto Ouray's 9 Acres and starting your dream project. We want to help - with many years of experience with various commercial and residential projects - here is a simple ten step guide to give you some ideas on why it may not be selling ...

The Simple Reasons Your House Isn’t Selling

- Price

- The House

- The Selling Efforts

- The Market

You have to have the right combination of above factors to conclude a sale on your house. Get the house properly priced; get it sparkling and attractive - WOW. Get views and showings to have offers, and if the selling efforts are weak, there won’t be many showings. So - ratchet up the selling and marketing efforts. Get the word out!

A reality is … houses are selling – just not yours. In your market area sales numbers may be low, and people stopping by are fewer, but we want to help you overcome this! We have created this simple check list, complete with helpful suggestions and tips, to help you see why your house isn’t selling, so you can finally get it sold.

Here is our Top Ten:

1. Price

2. Curb Appeal

3. Messy & Worn

4. Germ Test

5. I See Myself Living Here

6. You Stay When There is a Showing

7. Agent Working for You

8. Problems with Home

9. Marketing Off

10. Construction Zone

1. Is the Price Right?

As the seller, you want to maximize your selling price, minimize your selling costs, and have the transaction occur quickly and smoothly. These are your goals.

It may be helpful to understand that you may be at odds with some of the other parties in the transaction. Of course - the buyer wants a bargain, the agents want a commission and pay day, and the other parties to the transaction want to invoice someone for services rendered (title companies, inspectors, insurers, etc.). A price that is lowered until it is below market doesn’t typically impact the agents the way it will the home owner (see example below). So … fight for your fair market value by determining what it is and by executing the details of house preparation and sale appropriately.

There is a price that a home will sell quickly at, somewhere between $1. and its value, and that price may not be related to the costs sunk into the home, or the remaining mortgage principal on the home. You may not want to lower the price of your home, which is understandable. But if you need to sell, you may be better off lowering the price now and closing a deal on it, rather than waiting months or years and eventually lowering the price anyway.

“You’ve got it priced too high” is a common quote from lazy agents. Good agents will show you a market analysis with comparable sales in your market area so that you are priced fairly and accurately. They may also have the courage to tell it to you like it is regarding home condition and competition, even if you don’t care to hear their opinion. Push your agent to provide the price justification, and their opinion on “the keys to selling your house.” A professional agent welcomes this and wants to help. As your representative, you want a truthful, helpful agent that will provide you their honest assessment and recommendations.

Not to be repetitive, but … expect pressure to lower your price if it doesn’t sell quickly. Any suggested house price should be a justified, and a researched price. Keep in mind the impact of the selling price on your selling costs:

Realtor: “Your price is too high - drop your price by 10%” ...

Example home valued at ... $600,000., drop it 10% for quick sale

Selling Price $600,000. $540,000.

Payoff Mortgage $480,000. $480,000.

Realty Commission @ 6% $ 36,000. $ 32,400.

Seller’s portion of Closing Costs @1% $ 6,000. $ 5,400.

Net Seller Proceeds $ 78,000. $ 22,200.

Notes:

- In this example, a small amount of commissions for the realtors are gone ($3,600.), but much of the owner's equity is lost ($55,800.).

- The realty commission that you pay at closing is potentially split between a few parties, including the buying and selling realty offices and their owners, the buyer’s agent that brought the buyer through the home, and your listing agent. Commissions are often a shared item.

- Can a price too low hinder sales? Yes - sometimes searches and property showings are tied to price levels. We have seen cases where raising a price brought implied valued (there also needs to be true value), and resulting sales. The property was priced too low.

2. Curb Appeal

We like to call it a WOW factor – a delightful feeling you get when you experience an attractive home. Try this - imagine your house isn’t yours for a moment, remove yourself emotionally, and go across to the neighbor’s house. Now look back at that house that’s being sold and ask yourself if it looks appealing? Appealing houses sell.

How’s the paint color and quality? Does it need touching up? Is the siding and trim weathered? How is the lawn - is the yard green and weed-free? Is the landscaping alive with color and neatly trimmed? Does the overall layout of the lot, and the look of the house make sense? Is any personal property and junk distracting from the appeal? Is the front curb, gutter, and drive appealing?

As you look around the neighborhood, find houses you love, and find some that just sold recently too. How do they look? What is it about them that appeals to you? Is your house like those? Why did their house sell, and yours is still on the market? You must do your WOW work in order for your house to sell. Curb appeal is something that you may be able to spruce up inexpensively and the return is often the sale of the house! Remember to seek out inexpensive help and opinions. A good nursery may be able to suggest a few inexpensive landscaping touches that could make your house pop. Fresh paint can have a dramatic effect, at an affordable price – and brochures at the paint store are better than ever to help you color coordinate.

What about your neighbors? Let them know you are selling your home, and that you appreciate any referrals. Hopefully they will understand the importance to you of keeping their neighboring areas neat while your yard sign is up. They have a vested interest in your house selling well (it affects the value of their asset).

3. Messy & Worn

Buyers like “open, fresh, spacious, and airy.” Clean up and organize your stuff, and get rid of as much of the cluttered look and feel as you can. Knick-knacks and loads of stuff on the walls is visual clutter, and distract a looker from imagining the home as theirs. Those stacks of old “stuff” along the side of the home need to be gone. Your “special” furniture pieces can be distracting. To be serious about selling your home quickly and efficiently, do what you can to open it up inside and out by going on a straightening frenzy. A coat of paint and a can of polish can provide a bright, fresh feel to the home too.

When in the home selling stage - it helps to live simply and cleanly. Perhaps put things in storage, and get it done quickly. Make sure your stuff or clutter isn’t costing you the sale. Open up the home and only keep the bare essentials – organize your S$#& in a storage shed.

4. Does Your House meet the Germ Test?

The value of a sparkling clean home when showcasing it to potential buyers cannot be underestimated. Kitchen and bathrooms should shine. Are appliances clean (like ovens and refrigerators)? Is the kitchen sink clean and cleared? Is the tub shiny? Are clothes stuffed in corners and things out of place – if so, straighten up. Does the home look clean and tidy – no, really!

Cleaning services are available for scrubbing and shining your home from top to bottom. Think about it - a few hundred dollars to sell your house makes it well-worth it! Don’t let a messy house mess up your sale. It could cost you thousands, or worse - keep the home from selling.

5. I Could See Myself Living Here

What you want as a seller is for the buyer to look around the home and picture themselves in it with their stuff, their family, their collections, their friends, music, life, bbq, etc. When they imagine the home is their place, with the power of visualization you are half-way there. You want them figuring out where to place their photo montage, where to showcase their coin collection, etc.

We all love our families and our special memories, but all of your own personal holiday pictures, collections, and certificates hanging up on the walls makes the homebuyer think of you – and this is not good. De-personalize and “plain-Jane” the house as much as possible, but still with visually stimulating WOWs. Go to a furniture store to get inspired. Find attractive affordable ways to make your home POP. It doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming.

6. You Stay When a Showing Occurs

Have you ever attended a new development with model homes? There is a reason they let you wonder through on your own. You have the freedom to evaluate and visualize your lifestyle in the model, without someone on your tail. Shadowing a potential buyer makes them nervous. They won’t feel able to communicate freely about how they are feeling with you there – their likes and dislikes, oohs, ohs, aahs, etc. What if you slip up and mention something that happened five years ago that sours the deal? You want the buyer to be relaxed, not rushed, and not watched (but accompanied by an agent if you have one). Even if you FSBO your home, wait outside. You’ll have a much better chance of return visits, follow-ups, and closing the deal.

7. Is Your Real Estate Agent Working for You or Them?

OK – ouch. You select an agent and you expect them to hit the road running - bust their hind quarters for you and hurry up and get your house sold. Because after all, they are getting a commission, correct?

However …not all real estate agents are cut out of the same cloth; there are good, bad, and indifferent agents – they are not created equal. Not all of their motivations are the same. Not all of their experience and resource levels are the same. Some excel at getting listings, some operate within model homes, some are short-sale experts, some are good with new families moving to the area, etc. Agents have niche specialties.

Some look to get your listing and hope it just magically sells itself, or they get lucky with another agent finding and showing it from the MLS, and closing a deal on it. Perhaps they have too many listings and they have little time to devote to a single listing. It may not be their niche. Some agents focus on schmoozing and networking to get a quantity of listings, knowing that a portion of each closed transaction will come their way - quantity, not quality.

Make sure your listing agent (and their office) knows who you are and doesn’t forget you. Take the bull by the horns and initiate regular communication with the agent. Stay in touch with them and find out what they are doing to move your home. Listen, and act. Work it – the home doesn’t magically sell itself, and a lazy agent and lazy home owner isn’t the formula you need. Make sure your real estate agent is working for you, selling for you, and marketing for you. Help yourself. Good agents are worth their commission by working hard, applying their professional experience and network, and thus providing an excellent service that results in the best chance for the sale you desire.

8. Your Place has Problems

“My house should be selling … it’s in prime A-1 condition!” Every house can benefit from some work as most every home has a few blemishes. However, big, evident problems with your house means someone will inherit problems, and that can be a deal killer. You can expect a reduced number of offers, and those will reflect the problems with the house and the cost of repair, with a further discount thrown in. Even if you reduce the price as an allowance, expect further reductions on offers. So if you can do it, if you have the time and money, then correct evident and major problems prior to putting the home on the market. And, existing problems always need to be fully disclosed.

9. Your Marketing Descriptions Are Off

Don’t call your house “mint,” “perfect,” etc. if it’s far from it. When you lie in your home description, it hacks off potential buyers when they are viewing the home. They won’t trust anything about the home, and you have wasted their time. When a buyer sees a house with a description that is way off they ask themselves “what else is hidden and wrong here?” Overstating, embellishing, or “taking some liberties” in your description is something many house listings do, but shouldn’t. Avoid lying at all costs. Be accurate, or lose a potential buyer.

10. You’re Still Doing Work on It

If significant work is still occurring on the house – this doesn’t look good to a buyer. The house they are seeing is not complete. Yes, the work sounds like it will be nice when completed, but there is no guarantee to the buyer that it will be done well. And if you, the happy home owner, are the one doing the work, this sends a flag to the buyer, because everyone wants a job professionally done and up to code.

On these renovations and big repairs, either get them done before you put the house on the market, find a professional to do it, or understand that your house isn’t quite “ideal” and expect fewer and lower offers.

In Summary

Good luck to you on selling your home – sometimes good fortune helps, but your hard work is probably the best formula for success. We hope these tips prove helpful, and your next home, perhaps on Ouray's 9 Acres, is everything you need and want!

Take a step back, look at your house like it is someone else’s, and grade your house listing.

If you can’t do it, find a friend who can give you a fair assessment. Ask your agent to do it. Your goal is to sell your home quickly, efficiently, and at the reasonable price you want. As you are able to put yourself in the mind of the buyer, you will be better able to judge WHY YOUR HOUSE ISN’T SELLING, take appropriate actions, and ultimately sell it.

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