Top Reasons Your Home Isn’t Selling and What You Can Do About It

Many people put their homes on the market, hoping they will sell in the shortest time and for the most money. However, most people end up disappointed when the house does not sell. Many may not even receive an offer, with showing requests being next to none.

This response can be frustrating at the very least, but waiting for it to sell any longer isn’t going to change anything. You need to find out why the home is not selling.

Statistically speaking, every day your home sits on the market, it becomes harder to sell, and often, it will sell for far less than your asking price. Statistics show that homes sold within ten days were often at or over their list price; after 120 days, the sale-to-price list ratio decreases.

If you’ve tried selling your home, and all attempts have stalled, make sure that these roadblocks aren’t the main culprit. Identifying them will require taking an unbiased look.

Pricing The Home Too High

When selling your home, it isn’t always the condition that plays a factor in selling, but also the price. Homebuyers are always price sensitive and may overlook an overpriced property, even in a strong seller’s market. Starting from Q3 of 2021, real estate agents began to experience buyers abandoning a deal because they thought the home’s value was inflated.

So, how do you, as a homeowner, know that your home is overpriced? This is where a very skilled and well-experienced licensed real estate agent comes in. They will know the local sales and trends and be able to find comparisons. It is not a simple number based on square feet because homes commonly have different positive and negative things. Part of it is knowing what trend the market shows month after month. If the market depreciates, the most recent sales might be too high.

You can also use an online home value estimator tool. All you need is to answer a few basic questions about the home, and a valuation will be provided in a couple of minutes. These are fun tools, and in an ever-shifting market, they can be off. If a fire burned down a house and were never rebuilt, the online tools would not know that, giving it an improved-lot value. This is true to tell if your neighbor has a bunch of cars in the backyard and you have a two-story home staring at them.

Online estimators are just the starting point. Instead, you will want to seek the help of a licensed realtor to price it correctly. Leading brokerages like DORRMAT® know how to price a home to sell.

The other way to check the price is to pay close attention to feedback from people who are seeing your home. Think if they were disappointed at what they saw compared to the price they heard.

Another way is to know if you are getting traffic to your home. In a neutral market, we like to see at least three unique home buyer visits weekly to a single-family residential dwelling to make us feel we are near the ballpark on the pricing.

The fix: The only way to fix this is to drop the price. You might want to mark down the price by around 1% to entice buyer offers if you have showings but no offers. If you have not had any showings, think about up to a 3% reduction in the price. You might also want to be mindful of placing your home in the right price bracket because buyers tend to search in the $25k to $50k range.

You might consider offering closing costs and home warranty assistance as part of the selling campaign to get your home sold.

You Missed the Market’s Peak

The fact is that real estate does not suffer from the same volatility as the stock market, but it does often shift when owners aren’t paying too much attention to it.

Towards the tail end of 2021, the housing market started to cool after just 18 months of it being part of an intense bidding war, with double-digit price increases in most parts of the US. Many sellers were planning to sell and cash out on the market when it peaks, but some buyers were retreating from what’s referred to as market fatigue. Then the FEDs increased their rates and caused the market to come to a screeching halt.

The fix: The key is to keep abreast of what is happening in the market. Make sure that you know what similar homes are selling for around you. The price depends on how competitive the market looks. One way would be to bring the house up to the standard of the asking price or to bring the asking price down. For instance, if competing listings have a furnace that is just a few years old, but yours is two decades old, you may want to add a new one or adjust the price to reflect it.

You Need To Address A Specific Problem

Even after a showing, it should offer you intel if it does not yield a buyer. Feedback from the showing is essential because this is often actionable data.

It would help if you asked what’s wrong with the home after the showing. What would you need to change to make the prospect want to buy it? If you get the same answer from multiple people, then there is a problem that needs fixing.

The Fix: After an issue has been identified, find a way to fix it. If, for instance, you have multiple buyers saying that the home is too dark, then find a way to add a source of natural light, like opening the curtains and decluttering the space. The same goes for if buyers say they don’t know where to hang their TV or put their king-sized bed in the small bedroom, then you’ll want to update the staging of your room. You will also want to address all of the cosmetic flaws.

Your Potential Buyers Are The Wrong Types

Take, for instance, if your home needs a bit of work, maybe the roof is getting old, and the construction materials include asbestos; regardless, the buyers seeing your home don’t want to buy because of it. That’s mainly because you’re attracting the wrong types of buyers.

Perhaps you might have listed your home quickly because you needed extra cash to pay for medical expenses, but your home isn’t being sold as fast as it should.

Sellers who need to sell a home in a hurry will find it's better to go for an off-market sale. Most regular or average buyers are sticklers for the condition of a home. We have found that many homeowbers don’t want to spend much money on repairing their home. On the buyer side many of them would prefer to buy a home they could move into immediately.

The Fix: You will be better off selling your home to a real estate investor or a company that buys houses. They will pay cash and do it fast. If the route interests you, you will want to get a cash offer. So, instead of pricing your home and trying to stage it for the market, all you need to do is answer a few questions for an offer. Some companies buy a home in as few as ten days. The other fix is to have a contractor come in and fix it up. Some contractors have incentives where you pay them once the home is sold. DORRMAT works with cash buyers and contractors who take payment later.

You Have An Unconventional Home

Often unique properties like high-end or maybe expensive homes located in an otherwise unusual part of the state with particular quirks aren’t going to sell as soon as you might imagine. You might have to wait a while.

In other words, owners of so-called unconventional properties will have to change their approach, using a different marketing strategy. Usually, this will take a bit of creativity.

The Fix: The first thing is that you need to be patient. If you have an unconventional home, it will take time to sell. Then think about whom the house will potentially appeal to or why you purchased it. After all, others have got to prefer this home style. The marketing and advertising efforts need to highlight the home’s distinctive features to resonate with potential buyers.

You Aren’t Staging The Home Successfully or Maybe Not Staging It At All

Showings aim to show potential buyers your home, giving them a feel for the space. It is an opportunity for them to envision themselves in the room.

However, envisioning living in the space can be challenging if they see pictures of your family, bump into kids’ toys, and are overwhelmed by your selection of books.

Unstaged homes are cluttered, small, and dark. In our experience staged homes sell for more, and these homes commonly get snapped up unusually fast.

The Fix: You will want to remove family photos, toys, books, and other personal items from home. Make sure the space reflects your personality and the home’s salient features. Plus, you’ll want to fix the house, even issues you might have ignored for years. The right approach to staging your home will double, if not triple, your investment. When it comes to staging, less is more.

The Curb Appeal Is Non-Existent

Buyers will sometimes not be able to appreciate the excellent interior if they don’t enter your home or even get out of the car. Certain turn-offs like an overgrown yard and a rundown facade will cause most buyers to avoid seeing your home from the inside.

Fortunately, a coat of paint, pressure washing the driveway and/or sidewalks, and planting flowers or trees can help immensely. We have found that a well-landscaped home can help you sell for more and quicker. Boosting curb appeal is highly effective at improving the home’s selling ability.

The Fix: You can hire a professional landscaper to fix the home’s landscape, and a contractor should be able to clean up the facade. The result will be a home with a fresh facade, perhaps even the envy of the neighborhood.

Final Words

Many sellers may feel discouraged by all the buyers passing them by and all the new properties in the neighborhood being sold like hotcakes.

The good news is that you can sell your home with the right plan. We would advise taking your home off the market for a while to address the issues mentioned above and then re-list it. You may also want to choose a new agent to handle the sale.