What to do if Your House Isn’t Selling

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Scenario: your house is listed on the market, and it’s not getting any traction. Your agent took great photos, the sign is in the yard, they’ve advertised on social media and printed big glossy brochures. Still, no one has made an offer.

In fact, the agent isn’t even getting calls or showings. Oof. Not good. You are upset and want to know what your agent is going to do about it to get your house sold.

Rightfully so! So what’s the answer?

Stage the house? Take new pictures? Have the agent do more open houses? Offer incentives? Ask the agent to do more targeted marketing? Maybe.

But chances are, none of those are going to fix the problem. I know, I know, not what you wanted to hear. Trust me, no agent wants to have to tell you that the issue is the price, but 99% of the time, it’s the truth. Especially if you are in an area where the market is cooling off.

Here’s the thing. You *might* need new pictures, if your house wasn’t photo-ready when they were taken.

If your furniture is dated or you have too many personal items and the rooms look cluttered, staging might help. Chances are, though, your agent already talked you through all of these things before he or she put your house on the market.

Incentives really only work for things like major repairs that you know need to be done but are not in a position to do before the sale closes (think of things like replacing windows, repairing concrete in the driveway, a new roof). But what if I told you a secret? ALL of those things can be overcome by ONE thing. Yep. The price!

Some agents might try to make you feel good by offering to do any or all of the above things rather than discussing the elephant in the room. They don’t want to hurt your feelings or risk you firing them.

But in reality, I can tell you that the only reason the home hasn’t sold is because the price is too high. ANY objection can be overcome by price.

As a seller, there are only 3 things that you can control. Those are:

1. The price
2. The condition of their property
3. The accessibility (availability) of the property for showings by potential buyers

So if your house hasn’t sold, ask yourself these questions:

1. Is your house in good condition?
2. Have you made it easy to show?

If yes to both of these questions, then the price is the issue.

Again… any objection can always be overcome by price.

Don’t believe me? Think about this - your neighbors have a property listed with an agent and it’s in the worst location in your subdivision. It’s priced at $500,000, so people are always going to talk about the bad location.

Take that same property and list it for $10, you’re never going to hear that objection! Suddenly, location is no problem at all!

Now, there are also 3 things that you cannot control:

1. Market conditions
2. Competition
3. Value

Simply put, you don’t have any control over what the real estate market is doing at the time that you are trying to sell. No one does.

Your agent has probably already shared with you what is going on in the real estate market right now. And you know that interest rates have gone up significantly. What that means is that buyers’ purchasing power has decreased. As a result, prices are declining.

While you cannot control the market conditions, you can control how you adjust and adapt to what is happening. Maybe there are quite a few more homes going up for sale near where you live. You can’t control the competition, but you can make smart decisions in partnership with your agent to help give yourself an edge.

Value is something that is somewhat of a hot-button topic. It’s subjective. 100%. A house is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it in any given market. What does that mean for you?
That depends on your personal situation. Perhaps you are not in a position to sell for under a certain price. Maybe you don’t have to sell and you can hang on until the market improves. Or, you might be willing to “give up” a bit of money for being “done” with it.

The funny thing with real estate is that it’s a business transaction, but it’s totally fraught with emotion for many people. Sellers, buyers, agents, they all can get caught up in the personal feelings about a transaction. It’s just human nature to be emotional, but at the end of the day, selling a home really does come down to the price you have listed it.

If the price is right, the buyers will come.

Truthfully, price can overcome any objection to any condition, location, size, aesthetics - any and all of it.

If you are feeling stuck in the process of selling your home, reach out to your agent. He or she can advise if the price should be adjusted, and if so, by how much. Don’t worry, the decision is always yours to make.

We hope this has helped you in understanding that price will overcome ANY objection. Always feel free to reach out to the Spaniak Team at any time for a free evaluation of what your home is worth.
To watch a recorded webinar about what to do to update your home before you sell, click here.

The Spaniak Team - eXp Realty has sold over $325 million in residential real estate in the Chicagoland area. To watch They can be reached at (847) 318-3431, at Info@SpaniakTeam.com, or on the web atwww.SpaniakTeam.com

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