Reasons why homes don’t sell

If you have had your home on the market for several months and haven’t seen much activity or any offers, chances are that one or more of the reasons below are to blame.

• Your price is too high
• The condition of your home
• Location, location, location
• Your marketing campaign is out of steam
• The market is slow
• Your home isn’t easily accessible
• You have an agent nobody likes

Your price is too high

No doubt about it, the most common reason for a home not selling is that the asking price has been set too high. The reasons for setting your price too high to begin with are many. Ranging from over enthusiastic listing agents to unrealistic seller expectations. Regardless of the reason though, if you’ve priced your home too high, you’ve set yourself up for a number of obstacles to selling your home. Even if you do get an offer for the overly high asking price, the deal may fall apart before closing because the buyer may have problems financing at too high a price. Look at other homes for sale, ones as similar and as close to yours as possible. If they are going for less than you are asking, you may be priced too high. The fact is, your home is competing against those other homes, and what buyers are willing to pay is what will determine final sales prices.

The condition of your home

There is a lot of competition out there to sell homes.  Your home has to compete against other similar homes for sale, as well as competing against shiny brand new homes.  The more you can do to make your home look appealing to a buyer, the better your chances for a quick sale.  Look at your home with a critical eye – put yourself in the buyers position.  A buyer doesn’t want to have to do anything except move in.  Your best “bang for the buck” in improving the condition of your home are:

• DE-CLUTTERING/ORGANIZING 
• DETAILED CLEANING
• Outside Cleaning
• Paint
• Flooring. 

Prior to starting your listing all the work needs to get done on the home.  Much of what needs to be done can be accomplished by you, the home owner, with lots of "elbow grease" and very little money.  Declutter and Organize both inside and outside of the home.  Include all closets and storage areas.  Have yard sales and donate items not needed to remove them from the property.  "Less is more" when showing your home for sale.  Less furniture make more room.  It also allows the Buyers to see the full potential of your home without the distraction of looking over your full house.

Once the de-clutter work is done, clean, clean and clean some more.  Imagine the toughest drill sergeant is coming over to see your house and will inspect your house with a white glove!  Yes, I do mean clean EVERYTHING.  Be as critical as you can be, because the Buyer will be so happy and surprised at your home, they will compare it against those brand new homes on the market.  If you can not get the item cleaned very well, you might replace it because the Buyer will start deducting their offer price for items that will need to be replaced right away.  Items broken need to be replaced/repaired.

Make sure that all of the paint is in great condition, both inside and out.  Repainting doesn’t cost too much, and will usually make the biggest impact on buyers.  Use more neutral colors when painting.  Rooms look larger with lighter colors.  You don't have to use white, but white works if you don't know what else to do.  Ask your REALTOR for advise on color and set up.

Make sure all of the flooring looks good too.  You may want to consider putting in new carpet or new area rug.  Again, it’s not that expensive but it sure does make an impact on buyers coming to look at your home.

Location, location, location

It’s the oldest cliché in the world, but it’s true.  When it comes to real estate, it’s all about location!  When it comes to homes, things like how good the schools are, crime rates, visual appeal of the neighborhood and noise or the smell of pollution can all effect how desirable the location is.  If you’re in a bad location, a good real estate agent may help to minimize some of the impact by suggesting improvements to the house.  But the only really reliable way to overcome a bad location is with a lower price.  Simply put, an identical home in a bad location won’t sell for as much as the same home in a better location.

Your marketing campaign is out of steam

The best listing agents all use an aggressive marketing plan to market their listings.  If your listing agent isn’t making sure your home can be found easily on the internet, isn’t actively touting his or her listings to other agents in the area, isn’t running ads in the local newspapers and real estate publications, then it might be time to change agents.  If all your agent has done is put a sign in your front yard and add your home to the local MLS, then that agent isn’t coming close to doing all that can be done to effectively market your home.

The market is slow

You’ll hear it described as a slow market, or a buyers market, or maybe a cold market.  But it all means the same thing.  That home sales in the local area, or market, are slow.  That there are too many homes for sale and not enough active buyers.  Even though Guam is in a good market, some areas are seeing slower sales and lower prices.  These are the older homes on the market right now.  There are so many new homes available it is a tough market for existing and resale homes.  There are several things you can do to combat a slow market.  The most effective strategy is to sell at a lower price.  Buyers are expecting to find bargains during a slow market.  You can also help yourself by offering to pay some concessions to help a buyer that might not have a lot of cash.  The ultimate way to beat a slow market is to simply wait it out.  But that’s not always an option for many sellers.

Your home isn’t easily accessible

To get your home sold quickly, it’s important that other agents in the area show it to as many potential buyers as possible.  When a busy agent is compiling a list of homes to show a buyer, the agent will naturally tend to show those houses that are easiest to gain access to first.  Many homes on the market have “lock boxes” on them.  The lock box is a device which holds a key to the home, that only qualified local agents can access.  Homes that are listed as being “lock box, no appointment needed” will get shown more often than homes listed as “agent has key, call for appointment”.  If at all possible, you should let your agent put a lock box on your home for easier showing.  If not, you should do anything else you can to make it as convenient as possible for agents to show your home. 

You have an agent nobody likes

Sounds almost silly, but it’s very true.  If your listing agent isn’t liked or respected by other agents in your area, it could slow down the sale of your home.  When an agent prepares to show properties to prospective buyers, the agent begins by talking to the buyer to find out what kind of home they are looking for.  Then the agent searches the local MLS and other sources for homes that fit the buyer.  If there are a number of good matches to choose from, and one of them has been listed by an agent that is hard to get along with, or arrogant, or has otherwise made himself unpopular, well…  It’s just human nature to tend to skip over someone you don’t like.  Selling property is also about relationships and working with people.  The listing agent can make or break a sale for you by their relationship skills and tools.