home selling

by Jeffrey Halpern

Posted on Jun 1 2017 – 12:06pm by Housecall

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 1, 2017. Housecall continues to share this piece due to ongoing requests and reader interest.

By Charles Muotoh

When you first put your house on the market, you might be hopeful for a quick sale—especially if you’ve put a lot of money into improving the house over the years and if the neighborhood is one that has historically attracted a lot of buyers. While you shouldn’t panic if the house doesn’t sell the moment you list it, you should begin to worry if the months start flying by without any real offers. If this is the case, here are 11 reasons why your house may not be selling.

You overvalued your property. If your house is overpriced, it’s simply not going to sell. Compare your property to similar properties that recently sold within your area to get a better idea of its true value. An experienced real estate agent can give you an accurate value of your home. Additionally, don’t make the mistake of tacking on the cost of any renovations you made. You can’t just assume that the cost of a renovation translates to added value.

Your listing is poor. If the listing of your home includes a poorly written description without any images, a lot of buyers are going to skip over it. Make sure you and your REALTOR® put an effort into creating a listing that attracts the attention of buyers. Make sure to add high quality photographs of both the interior and exterior of your home. Don’t forget to highlight unique features as well.

You’re always present at showings. Let your agent handle your showings. Buyers don’t want to have the seller lurking over their shoulder during showings, especially during an open house. This puts unwanted pressure on the buyer, which will make them uncomfortable and likely chase them away.

You’re too attached. If you refuse to negotiate even a penny off your price, then there’s a good chance that you’ve become too attached to your home. If a part of you doesn’t want to sell it, or you think your house is the best house in the world, odds are you’re going to have a lot of difficulties coming to an agreement with a potential buyer.

You haven’t had your home professionally cleaned. A dirty house is going to leave a bad impression on buyers. Make sure you have a professional clean your carpeting and windows before you begin showing your house.

You haven’t staged your home. If you’ve already moved out, then don’t show an empty house. This makes it difficult for buyers to imagine living in it. Stage your house with furniture and decor to give buyers a better idea of how big every room is and how it can be used. You want the buyer to feel at home when they are taking the tour.

You kept up all of your personal décor. Buyers are going to feel uncomfortable touring your house if you keep all of your family portraits up. Take down your personal décor so that buyers can have an easier time imagining themselves living there.

Your home improvements are too personalized. You might think that the comic book mural you painted for your child’s room is absolutely incredible, but that doesn’t mean potential buyers will agree. If your home improvements are too personalized, it can scare off buyers who don’t want to pay for features they don’t want.

Your home is too cluttered. Even if your home is clean, clutter can still be an issue. For example, maybe you simply have too much furniture in one of your rooms. This can make the house feel smaller than it is.

Your home is in need of too many repairs. The more repairs that are needed, the less likely a buyer will want your house. Many buyers simply don’t want to deal with the cost or effort of doing repair work, even if it’s just a bunch of small repairs, such as tightening a handrail or replacing a broken tile.

You chose the wrong real estate agent. In my opinion, choosing the right real estate is simply the most important decision you make in selling your home. A good REALTOR® makes all the difference in selling your home within a reasonable time.

All these things can be fixed once you realize your mistake; however, the longer your property stays on the market, the less likely it will sell at listing price. One of the best ways to avoid making these common mistakes is by working with a professional real estate agent.

Charles Muotoh is the owner of dcrealestateguru.com, a full service real estate firm focused on leveraging digital marketing strategies to serve buyers and sellers of real estate in the Washington D.C. area.

Home NOT Selling – Have an Edge

by Jeffrey Halpern

To differentiate one product from another, you need an edge. (I know, Derek Jeter has an edge.) You see it in car dealerships whether it is a “no money down” lease or lower interest rates, you find it in foods stores when you receive a free drink with the purchase of a sub, retail stores with their BOGO’s and even mortgage companies that promote 0 bank fees.

It can be the same for a house sale. As the inventory of homes continue to grow, and the buyer pool either remains stagnate if not lessening, there must be something other than the price of the home, its location, or its condition to attract the limited number of buyers. That something is an incentive to buy one house over another. Selling a home is no different than selling any other product.

The following are some ideas that have worked for my clients for years in selling their homes faster and for more money:

Closing Costs. Saving money for a down-payment on a home is difficult enough, especially for first-time homebuyers, then adding on another 2-3% of their purchase price towards closing costs may make it cost prohibitive. As a home seller, you can offer to pay for a portion or the entire amount of closing costs of the buyer. It allows the buyer to use that extra money for the down-payment, which may just give them the flexibility to offer a little more for the home of their dreams. In actuality, no money is exchange. The proceeds to the seller is diverted towards those costs and the buyer is financing that amount. This would raise their mortgage payment by just small amount but alleviates the up-front costs. (Note: Any give-back to buyers cannot exceed 6% on a 80%LTV loan & 3% for any loan above the 80%LTV)

Real Estate Taxes. Since we all live it, New Jersey has the highest (or nearly the highest) real estate taxes in the country. The difference in many contiguous communities vary greatly, resulting in similar home’s selling faster in one town over another. If that is the case, a seller may consider paying a portion or all of the first year’s real estate taxes on behalf of the buyer. This could be in the form of a reduction in the selling price, a credit at closing, paying the town directly, or paying the three to five month tax escrow collected by the lender.

Mansion Tax. New Jersey keeping to their tax state name, adds a fee of 1% of the purchase price to be charged to buyers who purchase a home for one million dollars ($1,000,000) and above. By having the seller fully pay or a portion thereof, via the proceeds of the sale, will give the that particular home a better look at than one that is not offering it.

Home Warranty. Offered by most real estate companies, a Home Warranty is an insurance policy that covers many of the homes inter-workings such as: plumbing; HVAC; electrical; water heaters; appliances; etc. With just a small deductible, these items will be repaired or replaced by a licensed contractor and are covered from the day it is applied for and for a year after the buyer closes. The cost to the seller is between $450-650 based on the coverage, but only paid from the proceeds from closing. This incentive gives the buyer a comfort level in their purchase and has proven to sell homes for more money and in a shorter time period, and again with really very little cost to the seller. And it covers the seller until they close.

Maintenance Fees. Whether a co-op, condo, townhouse, PUD, lake community, private community, etc., there are fees involved in the form of maintenance fees, lake fees, or the like – adding yet another monthly expense to the buyer. By offering to pay a full year or a portion of it you will attract buyers over your competition. That can be done by sending the Association for said amount.

Renovations. If you are willing to and a buyer is willing to wait, renovate or partially renovate rooms that they would like done or give the buyer a closing credit for the same.

But wait, there’s more! Be inventive with your incentive by determining what buyers are finding detrimental to your home. You Realtor should know as well as prospects that walked through your home and has willingly given constructive feedback. But whatever the incentive, be sure to advertise wherever possible, so that the buyer will see it.

Incentives that do not work. Adding a Realtor bonus may incentify an agent but it does nothing for a buyer and cannot be advertised as such. Remember you are attracting buyers.

The best incentive to give a buyer. It always comes down to price. Price it right and the incentives are not necessary but they do help.

Looking for more incentive ideas or any other real estate questions please contact me anytime at 201.317.7527.

11 Reasons Why You Home Isn’t Selling

Home NOT Selling – Have an Edge

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