Many times, the Realtor will get blamed when the house isn’t under contract in under 30 days. The blame can come from sellers saying the pictures are not good enough, to the listing language not talking about a porch swing enough, to the lighting that day when the pictures were taken. You can certainly guess as to how I know that. However, if several (4 or 5) showings have taken place with no resulting offers, then odds are very high that it isn’t the pictures that are holding back the sale of your home, or land tract.
The first indicator
Sometimes during the listing appointment, a conversation is had between the agent and the seller(s) about suggesting a strong asking price to make sure money is not left on the table. It is always much easier to lower the asking price, than it is to raise the asking price. If buyers are looking at your home and they aren’t buying it in spic and span condition, the pictures brought them to the property to learn more, whether you personally like the pictures or not. After several buyers have said that they are “deciding on another home,” or that your house is “not going to work for them,” or “it’s priced too high,” then something else is going on. If the buyers came to view the home with the intentions of making an offer if/when it further met their criteria, the price was not too high at that time. There was something that they saw that wasn’t what they could make a decision on to live with. This leads us to the next indicator.
The second indicator
After enough buyers have seen your home but haven’t bought it, what is missing? It could be that the pictures have created a lot of clicks and resulting activity, but your home just doesn’t have enough updates to justify the per square footage asking amount. In other words, if the asking price is $200 per sq. ft. for your home with carpet and Formica counters because the other comparable sales are at $200 per square foot, but have granite counters and newer hardwood floors, then chances are great it’s overpriced. Your Realtor is most likely doing a good job by getting people to the property, but when buyers are seeing granite counter tops compared to yours at the same asking price, it can create a problem if the price isn’t adjusted. If your asking price was lower, this would most likely result in a faster sale. Buyers are willing to work, but they are not willing to overpay when there is still work, time and money to be spent.
The third indicator
Getting stuck on the original asking price is another common problem. The conversation between the Realtor and the seller(s) can be had about what the dream price is and go ahead and ask it. The problem here is when the part of the conversation is later met with reluctance when the price needs lowered in order to get the property sold. If it is day 30, or day 180 of your listing, but the dream price hasn’t been lowered, and it’s still sitting on the market, it’s overpriced. Sure, that extra $30,0000 would sure do a lot of good things but what if it’s not realistic? A wise real estate broker once told me when I was starting out as a Realtor back in 2008 that 100% of zero is still 100% of zero. If you want to get ready to sell, you can call a Realtor licensed in TN and KY, or get started Here!