4 Simple Signs Your House Isn’t Selling

Now that you’ve finished preparing all the necessary documents in order to sell your house, you may feel relieved and think to yourself, “everything’s gonna be easy from this point.” However, for months, your listing has only been showing and showing--- not actually selling. And the question is starting to bother you: “Why Isn't My House Selling?”

Before panicking and worrying about your listing taking too long to sell, make sure you’ve taken the average days on market, which is the average number of days it takes to sell a house (from listing to closing), into account. According to various studies, the average number of days varies in every state. In Portland, for example, the average days on market equals 76, while in Florida, this extends up to 114 days.

However, if your listing’s substantially exceeded the average days on market in your area, then you might want to rethink what you’re doing and begin making some changes with the way you’re selling your house. Here are some of the most common reasons why your house is not selling:

1. Your photos and descriptions are problematic

Studies have shown that the attention span for an average person is around eight seconds only, and so, you must be able to capture the attention of your audience in this short period of time. The problem with most realtors and house sellers is their inability to choose the best high-quality photos for their listings. Instead, they usually just put the front portion of their house as the first photos in real-estate websites and applications, and arguably, these are NOT the best photos to hold your viewer’s attention, as more often than not, the front of the house is not its most attractive part. In some situations, the descriptions are either poorly written, inaccurate, or too lengthy, and all these discourage prospective buyers from being interested in the lot

2. You have set the price too high.

HomeLight’s Q4 2019 Top Agent Insights Report shows that around 50% of all real estate agents have priced their houses too high, resulting in a lot of unsold listings. Clearly, pricing can be very tricky, especially for those who are newcomers in the industry, because apart from using data to determine the fair market value of your place, just as important is the agent’s invaluable experience in real-estate. Therefore, it is always best to consult a top agent with more knowledge than you to double-check if you’ve correctly priced your house. Another strategy is to look at the prices of comparable prices in your area and see how your prices to fair side-by-side with them.

3. Your staging is poor.

By now, almost all sellers and real estate agents already know the importance of decluttering and depersonalizing before making a house publicly available in the market, but most of them forget the next step, which is staging. Why so, you may ask? It’s because poorly staged houses give off the impression of emptiness, darkness, and defilement. Having said that,  we see how vital it is to fix even the littlest details such as paint, wallpaper, flooring, and fixtures in order to attract buyers. Lastly, and most importantly, do not forget to also improve the external section of your house because an ugly yard or a dilapidated facade would turn people off.

4. You are not marketing enough.

Just like selling any other product, the real challenge comes after finalizing your product, and this involves getting the word out there regarding your house. Houses do not sell on their own; no matter how good your photos are, how well-staged your houses are, or how low your prices are, if your marketing is insufficient, you’ve just been wasting your time. Hence, get yourself an agent that specializes in online platforms and audience targeting to maximize the exposure of your house to qualified buyers. Moreover, aside from solely depending on online listings, you must also consider placing your ads in more traditional forms of media such as newspapers, real estate publications, postcards, and flyers. You may also opt to hold open houses, so your buyers are able to see your house in person.

I know! It’s a frustrating feeling not to be able to sell a house fast in an instant but trust me; just be patient and simply follow our advice. You’ll be able to successfully close a listing in no time!