So, you’ve tried various times to sell your home, but to no avail. Why is it that you can’t sell your home? The most obvious reason is, of course, the market. But let’s step back for a minute and analyze the current situation. Honestly, do you really think that buyers just stop buying homes? Do you really believe no one is buying a home these days? Are you saying that there’s not one single growing family that needs a bigger home looking in your neighborhood? Is there not a couple whose kids have moved out of the house and need to downsize their current home? Is there not a single young person looking for their first place? Do you thing there’s a divorced couple who who each need to buy a place of their own? Are you serious, not one person?
Assuming that no one is buying homes in Westchester County, I can’t vouch for the rest of the country, is like assuming that no one is going to buy an SUV because gas has gone up to $4 gallon. Is that really the case? Sales of SUV may go down and perhaps auto sales as a whole may go down, but assuming that no one is buying is absurd. You never know why people chose to do anything. Perhaps you’ve been mislead or discouraged by previous real estate agents promising that they would sell your home in 45 days or less. But the bottom line is homes are selling everyday. Sometimes it’s the price, sometimes it’s the agent, sometimes it’s timing, and yes sometimes it’s luck, but regardless of the reason why some homes are selling and others are not, the bottom line is that homes are still selling.
Let’s go over a few ideas to arm and re-energize yourself after failing to sell your home:
- Price: Was the home competitively priced? No, not what you think is worth. The price based on your home’s features and benefits, how does it compare it the other homes currently on the market. Contrary to past trends, homes that sold in the past have no bearing on the current state of the market. The only conclusion you can derive from previous sales information is that the market is going down. I know it’s hard to believe, but while you were not willing to ‘give your home away’ as I hear so often from sellers, your neighbor’s home sold. It is a cat and mouse race. Either you price ahead of the curve or you ride the curve, reducing the price every so slightly every few weeks to participate in the market instead of being ’sold’. I realize these may be harsh words, but if your agent can’t stomach to tell you the truth, then call me and I will tell you the facts. It is what it is, and unless you’re willing to wait 3-5 years for the market to level out, then price your home accordingly. Yes, I said level out. Who knows when the housing market will begin to appreciate again. Ask the folks in Detroit. The housing market has been sliding downward for the last 6-7 years. Westchester, being a bit more resistant to the wave, has only been depreciating since late 2005. Detroit has been waiting for a while. Can you hang on?
- Offers: Did you get offers and felt insulted? Chances are you did, but at that time you thought it was ridiculous. right? Unfortunately, today your home is priced below that offer and you can’t even get a bite. I believe that a home is worth what the next buyer is willing to pay for it. Your goal is to guess what that number should be. Real estate sales statistics indicate that 80% of the time, your best opportunity to negotiate a deal is with the first offer. Your opportunity to negotiate an offer decreases exponentially beyond the person who placed the initial offer. When you get a low offer, put yourself in the buyer’s position? Wouldn’t you do the same? So why would you be offended by the low initial offer? So the moral of the story is…negotiate negotiate and negotiate every single offer that comes in regardless of the priced offer.
- Marketing: If a tree falls in the middle of the forest and no one is around, did it make a sound? If you have the best home in the area and it’s aggressively priced and no one sees it, will it sell? I know it sounds like a silly analogy, but i hope you got the message. This is one of the reasons for sale by owners (people who forgo on an agent) fail to sell their homes. If 98% of all homes sold in the country sell with the assistance of an agent, why would you focus on the least traveled path? Money of course, but while your were trying it on your own, your home depreciated by 6%, which would have more than covered the expense of an agent. Read my post on the MLS vs the Stock Market.
- Presentation: Now that your home is priced aggressively, and it’s well marketed by a professional (hopefully it’s me), how does it show? How do people live like this? is the common comment I hear from buyers when previewing homes. This is not the impression you want to leave buyers with. Make sure your home does not warrant this type of comment. Perhaps it’s not going to stop it from selling, but the don’t be surprised when the offer is not what you hoped it be. Remember, you have to present the home in a way that visitors feel like they could live there. Show them how they could live and not how you live.
