Top 10 Not-So-Obvious Reasons No One is Buying Your House

Is no one buying your house? Have no idea why? Read on to learn the top ten not-so-obvious reasons you’re not selling your house.

Selling your house isn’t slapping it on Zillow and calling it a day. There’s a reason many homes sit on the market for months, sometimes years! The seller is doing something fundamentally wrong… and that’s no good as the market moves on.

Let’s improve your home selling by sharing what not to do. This article shares 10 suggestions for those seeking to, “sell my house fast”.

1. The Photos Aren’t Doing It Justice

Amateur real estate photography undersells features. The drab lighting and staging fail to create an attractive, welcoming home. The uninteresting listing has people clicking to the next well-before they read descriptions.

Home listings rely on media to sell, much like books judged by their covers.

What can you do to improve real estate photography?

• Invest in better photo equipment or hire a pro photographer
• Swap photos for video or 3D VR presentations
• Compose the shoot with smart angles and lighting

Consider improving your skills by taking a real estate photography course.

2. The Listing Isn’t Optimized nor Exciting

Homeownership is a monumental decision one cannot decide on a whim. New owners want to know every detail for an informed decision. The listing info is your time to let property shine while injecting smart keywords.

Your listing is a sales page — treat it as so with these elements:

• Convey a wanted lifestyle with emotional hooks
• Highlight the unique features and benefits
• Use romantic wording (e.g. Beautiful)

See NAHB’s survey of most wanted home features. Have these features in your home? Talk about them! These guide your listing description, making it attractive while people sort through results.

3. You’re Asking Too Much

You don’t want to outprice your potential buyers else risk leaving the house on the market. The longer it sits, the longer buyers could feel it’s not a good value. Or worse, something is wrong with the place!

How can you estimate the home’s value?

1. Compare listings within a 1/2-mile radius
2. Check what’s sold in the past 3-6 months
3. Find a median between market and desired price

Don’t walk away from the listing and its pricing, either. Stay on top of the listing by updating pricing as the market changes. This should help you reach a respectable price buyer’s seek during their research.

4. It’s Missing that “Je Ne Sais Quoi”

Or specifically… curb appeal.

Photos and video carry online listings but the real convincing happens in the front yard. An unattractive outside won’t get people through the door. Get them inside and you’ll begin tapping emotions, helping sell the property.

How can you add curb appeal? Try adding:

• A touch of paint
• Fresh plants
• Shutters
• Updated trim
• Lighting

You’re staging the outside the same as you do inside. The buyer may swap your efforts but it’s about conveying a lifestyle. Project a happy lifestyle and you’ll get buyer’s interested in a showing.

5. It’s Too Busy

Staging a property requires hours of extra work. Yet, the extra effort goes a long way in attracting buyers and selling the dream.

Staging lets you:

• Show better listing media
• Let buyer’s imagination run wild

People mentally swap what’s shown for their items and activities. This projection is easier when the home doesn’t appear “busy” in its media. Cleaning up and decluttering is the gist of this staging activity.

Try this:

• Remove personal items (e.g. family photos)
• Rearrange items, free up more space
• Consider replacing items just for the staging

Less is more when selling the home!

6. There are Fears of a Money Sink

Ask yourself if you’d buy a home with these issues:

• Lopsided flooring
• Outdated appliances
• Dilapidated roof

You’ll scare many buyers away because the home seems like it’s too much trouble for it’s worth. They see the listing price, plus repairs and renovations.

You’ve got two options:

• Get flexible about the price
• Make the necessary fixes

Get estimates of fixes and subtract it from the home listing price. Else, pay for quality work and use it as an opportunity to align the price to fair value.

7. You’re Not Going the Extra Mile

Most sellers turn to two resources:

• Online home listing sites
• Realtors

… but there’s a lot you can do, too!

What about?

• Getting drone photography and video of the home
• Recreating and giving people options to tour the home in VR
• Creating a website for the home listing

Get creative with the listing so yours stands out from the rest. You’ll generate added interest through alternative media and listings. Seek local professionals or tap online freelancer channels for these items.

8. Your Realty Agent is Lagging

Tech-savvy realtors offer an expansive realty toolbox, helping your listing reach more people. You don’t get this if your realty agent is behind with the times.

What sort of things can a new-age realtor do?

• Show prowess at local listings and ranking in search
• Being active with social media like Pinterest boards or Facebook
• Tapping email lists of interested leads they generated through ads

Your agent is as much a marketer as they are a home seller these days. See what tech skills they bring to the table when sourcing them. These skills could be the difference in helping your listing get found!

9. It’s Not Open to an Open House

You can’t expect someone spending hundreds of thousands to not set foot in the home. Forgoing open houses and showings negate your listing efforts!

Two options:

• Find time to do an open house or showings
• Hire an agent with showing availability

Consider recording video for a virtual tour for listings, too. This lets people preview the home before requesting your time. The VR tour also “weeds out” people on-the-fence, so you’re not wasting time.

10. Understand the Home Listing Trends

Joe Manausa Real Estate shares a breakdown of how things changed when selling your house. The main takeaway is the speed to which you’re listing and adapting to the market.

You should prepare well in advance:

• Read realty and industry blogs
• Swap stories with those having sold in the past 3-6 months
• Follow realty influencers on social

Get involved with the industry to stay ahead of its trends. This lets your listing shine while others feel outdated to modern buyers.

Wrapping Up and Moving On

Selling your house is a job of its own complete with education and action. Do what’s listed in this article and you’ll sell at a price you’ll find fair and respectable!

Want more info to improve sales? Want a community to discuss the ins and outs of effective realty? Get active on the forums!