64 Reasons Your Home May Not Be Selling
- It smells like cat
- It smells like dog
- It’s overpriced
- It isn’t in the MLS
- You have no photos
- You have only one exterior photo
- Your photos is from another season – a snowy photo in June advertising
- Your exterior front photo shows one big tree with a hint of house behind it
- Your bathroom photo shows a corner of sink and the toilet
- Your bathroom photo has the toilet seat up
- Your photos are pixelated
- The basement is dank
- The house is dirty
- Your agent doesn’t respond to showing requests
- You don’t accommodate showings
- You don’t clean or prepare for showings
- You stay at the house during showings
- You leave an aggressive pet in the house during showings
- The house is overfull of furniture, toys, clothes, and “stuff” and potential buyers can’t see the house
- Bad luck
- Your school district has low test scores
- You don’t have central air
- You don’t have a dishwasher
- Your kitchen is closed off from the living space
- You’re selling a condo in a failed and half-built project
- You’re selling a spec house in a failed and mostly-empty subdivision
- Your house lacks curb appeal
- You’re at a price point that excludes most potential buyers in your city
- It was a meth house
- It’s falling down
- The neighbor’s house is falling down
- The neighbor’s yard has junked cars and trash everywhere
- The neighbor has frightening dogs
- The taxes and HOA/condo fees are high
- It smells like smoke
- You’re a day-sleeper and have painted all the windows black
- Frequent gunshots are heard during showings
- It has a “spooky dungeon-like” basement
- Obvious fire damage
- Mushrooms growing in basement
- Crazy neighbors harass potential buyers
- Your homemade indoor shooting range isn’t to code
- Your collection of 300 decorative Elvis plates distracts buyers from home’s best features
- No for sale sign
- 2×4 appears to be propping up joists in basement
- Built-in microwave in bathroom puzzles buyers
- Your house costs twice what anything similar has sold for recently
- Your valuing your $30k sunroom at your cost
- Wallpaper
- The fusebox is the most recent update in the house
- Fleas
- Your floors bounce
- Your floors slope
- Raccoons in the attic
- Carpet in the bathrooms
- You don’t negotiate
- Newer development is pulling away your buyers
- No yard
- Ugly yard
- Backs to industrial lot
- Next to Wal Mart
- Errors in property info – “0” square feet, incorrect bedroom count, etc.
- Your agent has a reputation that makes other agents prefer to not work with her
- Road noise
That’s a long list, and that’s off the top of my head. But if you categorized them, you’d quickly find there are really just a few groups:
- Price: self explanatory
- Presentation: Can buyer’s find the house is for sale and does it look great online?
- Preparation: Is the house clean, de-cluttered and free of the “ick factor?” Does it smell good? Does it appear to be taken care and give a good impression when you walk up to and into the house?
The most effective way to sell a house is to
- get a whole house inspection and fix the problems it uncovers
- hire a stager and act on their advice
- obtain an appraisal and price it at or below the appraised value
- hire a real estate agent who sells in your area
- use a professional photographer
Those five people will help you avoid ending up unsold and on a list like this. But it many cases it’s not practical or possible. In those cases, be sure you’re addressing the same concepts of price, preparation and presentation. If you have to pick just one professional to help you, go with a real estate agent, but only if it’s one who you are confident can reasonably stand in for the others.