Why didn't my house sell? It has a fatal flaw!

It is a very frustrating thing for a home owner to put their home on the market and then wait for 3, 4, or even 6 months, only to have their home not sell.  Along with anger and frustration comes a lot of questions about why the home didn't sell.

If you ask most agents why a home didn't sell, the typical answer you will get is that it must have been priced too high.  While price can certainly be the issue, it definitely isn't always the issue.  Often there is a fatal flaw that has been overlooked that makes the price not attainable.

For instance, we once took a listing that had expired with another agent, made a few recommendations that cost our clients about $200, and then relisted the home at $5,000 more than the expired listing.  The home had sat on the market for 6 months with the previous agent and didn't sell.  We put it on the market at $5,000 higher and sold it in 18 days.

In another scenario a home didn't sell for 6 months.  After looking at the home it was easily apparent the issue.  The home sat on a corner lot and bordered a busy street.  Most of the potential buyers envisioned children and/or pets running from the yard into the street putting themselves in danger.  

So, instead of dropping the price substantically as most agents had suggested, the sellers were advised to install a privacy fence in the backyard.  This would serve as a security buffer for children and pets.  The home sold in 23 days.

Our mission on an expired listing is to find the fatal flaw, fix it, and get the home sold.  Sometimes there are conditions that are the fatal flaw, sometimes it is price.  In either event, we do a full, top to bottom home audit and show the seller what issues need to be resolved to get the home sold.

Subscribe to the RSS feed