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7 Reasons why your house won't sell!

Back in August of last year, I published a post called 6 Reasons why your house won't sell. It garnered anunbelievable (at least unbelievable for ME) 192 comments, after being viewed 8667 times, and having 7,934 people"click" on it. That means that 2.4% of the people who viewed the post, were moved enough to leave a commentbehind.

The average, at least for me, has been less than half of that return... more like sightly under 1%. It was also"reblogged" by an astonishing 47 Rainers to share with their readers.

Soon after posting, a local Realtor publication contacted me, having found the article on Active Rain, and asked ifthey could publish the article, with my byline, of course. As you might imagine, I said "yes", and picked-up 438 copiesof that issue (my mother loved them). So I thought it might be time to review and revive that post, and let the "nextgeneration" of readers have their shot at it:

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7 Reasons why your property won't sell1. Your property won't sell because your photos are "less thanimpressive". The vast majority of home buyers start their searchfor a home on the Internet, so your property had better lookfantastic in print. Not just nice, it has to look downright fabulous. Today an internet view is the same as a 'virtual showing'... if yourhouse gets past that, then they might (just might) make anappointment to see it in person... You should really consider thatyour SECOND showing. Today's online viewers are expectinggood quality photos (and lots of them...the picture below... takenfrom Google Maps... is completely unacceptable. That's a$500,000 listing, take a moment and your digital camera andforce your agent to go earn their commission), a virtual tour,maybe even a floor plan, and they need to be high-quality, ordon't bother.

2. Your property won't sell because it's overpriced. It's importantto be as objective as you possibly can. Look at the home asthough you were a "buyer"... if necessary, make an appointmentwith your Realtor to view other properties that are pricedcomparably to yours. Be brutally objective. Given the otheroptions on the market (and yes, you DO have to include shortsales and foreclosures on your list... your potential buyers are!),would YOU buy your home, over the others that are currentlyavailable on the market?

If the answer is "NO", (and try to be as honest as you can) well then you have your work cut out for you, don't you?

You either have to "update" your home to meet or beat the competition...(that might mean an updated bathroom orkitchen, or neutralizing some decorating... remove that oldwallpaper that was there when you bought the house or loweryour price to adjust for it. if you can't afford to sell it for the price,that you KNOW it should sell for, this may not be the right marketfor you to sell. Consider taking it off-market.

3. Your property won't sell because it shows badly. This couldmean almost anything... from the 60 pound Rottweiler, barkingand drooling at the potential buyers from behind the safety of theflimsiest child-gate, to the lingering smell of 30-years of smoking. Maybe the carpeting shows traffic-pattern wear, or your windowsallow in slightly more than daylight. All things that aren't visiblefrom the internet, but whoa.... once you get inside the house...they show up, like a cat-urine-soaked-shag carpet on a 95 degreeday in New Orleans!

4. Your property won't sell because you're invisible. Today's buyercomes from the internet, almost exclusively. Have you (or youragent) simply plopped the property on the MLS, and startedpraying? Are you on all the websites...(Trulia, Zillow, Craig's List,Google Base, etc...) all the places that buyers are searching? Ifnot, you need to be, now! Don't try to be a secret, in today'selectronic world. You want to be found, and the sooner the better.

5. Your property won't sell because your listing is tired and stale on the market.Okay... yes, you overpriced your home initially when you first came on the market ayear and a half ago. But since then you have reduced your price almost monthly,constantly chasing the market down. Now, finally you're truly priced where youbelieve should be, but your listing (not your house) has become tired and stale. Everyone who is looking for your type of property (ie: 3br/1.1 bath) in your area hasalready seen the listing online, or in person and they remember that there was"something" about it that they didn't like... but what they don'tremember is... what they didn't like.... was the price. Time to takethe listing off market. Let it cool off (3-6 months), and bring itback on fresh in the Spring. Yeah, you'll have 6 mos. worth ofholding-costs... but you'll more than make up for it in yourpurchase price.

btw... Resist the temptation to bring the house back on at a higherprice, than when you left the market. Just "don't do it"!

6. Your property won't sell because your house won't appraise.The house looks great... you've finally gotten someone to bringyou a bid on your slightly over-priced, but beautiful pied-a-terre. But the bank appraiser says it's worth $20,000 less than yourbuyer has agreed to pay. Heavy sigh... bite the bullet.... negotiatewith them. If you have to drop the price $20,000 to make it work.... "make it work"... chances are, anybody else tryingto buy your house will run into the same problem. If you're not willing to negotiate the difference, you may find yourselfwith no buyer, and accepting a lower offer somewhere down the line.

7. Your property won't sell because it's unavailable to show. You have a baby, and a 1-year old. And they need their

naps. So you've told your Realtor in no-uncertain-terms, that you'll only allow showings between 9:00a.m - Noon, andthen again from 2:30-5:30 p.m. And no showings on Saturday or Sundays. "After all", you've told him "we still live here.. it's our home!". Well guess what? They can't buy it, if they can't see it. As good as your online photos are, they'reno substitute for an in-person visit. "If they really want to see it, they'llreschedule", you're already answering as you read this. Nonsense! What they'lldo, is they'll just move on to the next property in line (there are dozens like yoursavailable) and maybe they'll buy that one instead. Once you put your property onthe market it stops being your "home", and has become your "product". And youwant your product to be seen by as large a buying audience as possible.

So, there you have it. Stick around another year and half. Who knows, maybeby August of 2013, I'll have EIGHT reasons why your property won't sell!

ALAN MAY, Realtor®Specializing in Evanston Real Estate and North Shore Real EstateColdwell Banker Residential Real Estate, 2929 Central Street, Evanston, IL 60201847.425.3779 Cell: 847.924.3313 Email: Almay@aol.com

Evanston Real Estate & North Shore Real Estate

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