8 Reasons Homes Don't Sell And What To Do About It

Home sellers all have the same goal: sell your house as quick as possible for the highest price possible. Yet, there are beautiful homes that sit on the market for weeks and even months at a time with little to no action. Why? And is there anything that you can do, as a seller, to avoid or fix that? Luckily, there are 8 common reasons why homes don’t sell and there are simple fixes for each of those reasons.

Let’s take a look!

The Price Isn’t Quite Right

One of the top reasons why a home isn’t selling is the price. Pricing your home can be tricky, especially in an unstable market. If it’s priced too high, you might price yourself out of a larger pool of buyers as it would reduce the number of people who can afford your home. Also, if it’s priced too high then buyers’ agents will warn their clients that it’s not valued properly, and they’ll avoid your listing.

Interestingly, it can also be priced too low. If it’s priced too low, then potential buyers might wonder what’s wrong with it. They also might assume that you’re trying to start a bidding war and back away, not wanting to participate.

Luckily, an experienced real estate agent can help you navigate a fair price for your property by looking at market trends and pulling up comparables in your neighbourhood.

The Photos Are Not Conveying Your Home’s Worth

If you don’t have professional photos for your home, then you’re not doing it any justice. What’s the first thing that potential buyers do when they have a listing in front of them? They scroll through the photos. If the photos don’t capture their attention, they’ll move on to the next listing without reading any information. Your listing photos are one of, if not THE, most important part of selling your home.

A good real estate agent will work with professional photographers who have experience with real estate listing photos. They will capture your home in the best light possible, showcasing the most important angles and giving potential buyers a good understanding of the potential of your home.

The Home Wasn’t Staged To Sell

While not every home needs to be staged, some really do. When your home is staged professionally, they can help buyers see the potentials your home has. They can set up spaces that are attractive to buyers like a home workspace. A staged home will highlight its best features and minimize the less-than-ideal features.

You Tried To DIY Your Home Sale

Another reason why homes don’t sell is when people try to do for sale by owner sales. The numbers have shown time and time again that listing your home with a real estate agent pays off. Not only are they experts in navigating the market, pricing your home, and getting it picture-perfect ready, but the marketing that is at their disposal can’t be beat. They have spent their entire careers cultivating contacts and creating a network that just works.

The Photo Order Is Confusing

Okay so maybe you have beautiful photos of your home, but if they’re laid out in a confusing way people might not understand your home layout, and if they can’t visualize what your home looks like (like where the kitchen is in comparison to the family room), they will just move on to the next available listing.

You really want your photos to answer as many questions as possible that a potential buyer might have and to make visualizing your home as easy as possible for them. The fewer barriers that a potential buyer can have to be able to picture their lives in your home, the better. This is especially true whenever it’s a buyer’s market.

You’re Not Flexible With Your Viewing Availablity

People are busy and buying a house is time-consuming. When people cut out time in their schedules to look at houses, and request a viewing for yours, you’ll want to do everything possible to make that work. Some people, if denied a viewing time that works for them, won’t try again. Whatever you can do to make things as easy as possible for potential buyers and their agents, the better.

You Had On Rose Coloured Glasses

Okay, so you LOVE your home. That’s great! But if it needs a lot of TLC and that wasn’t reflected properly in the listing, buyers might be left feeling like they just had an ugly dose of expectations vs reality when they had a viewing. If this is the case for your home, you might need to be a little more upfront with your realtor about factors in your home that are less-than-ideal so that they can create a more accurate listing and attract the right buyers.

The Market

Sometimes there are factors that are affecting the market that have absolutely nothing to do with your home. Things like rising interest rates, high inventory and not enough buyers, and downturns in the inventory can affect the market and cause really great homes that are priced right and have beautiful photos to sit there and not sell.

If you’re feeling stressed, talk to your real estate agent and see if there are is anything you can do to try and stimulate interest.