Selling a house is a fickle business. After all, selling a house is not like selling freshly squeezed lemonade at the side of the road. Most people, in general, are not going to be in a position to purchase your house, and even if they were, they might not want to move, be interested in your particular piece of real estate, or are even able to sell their own house in the right amount of time.
Struggling to sell property, then, is nothing new. You can do everything right and still wait for longer than you had anticipated. That being said, there are certainly measures you can take to speed up the possibility of a worthwhile sale, and to grant you more autonomy going forward.
I’m writing about this topic because I’m the bestselling author of the Bounce Back Ebook loaded up with resiliency psychology tools. Plus I founded the groundbreaking video course called The Anxiety Cure.
I’m committed to helping people to reduce stress – especially during challenging times. So I put together this article with the top reasons why you’re struggling to sell your home or proprerty.
While not all struggle-sales are your fault, it’s good to make sure you have everything balanced before you move on. With that in mind, please consider some of the following advice:
They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but of course, a house is a little different. It’s not as if how the house looks is going to be a world of difference from how you live there – the layout will remain largely the same, and any under-surface rot or issues will be raised by the home inspector anyway.
For this reason, it’s important to improve your real estate photos where you can – so your property looks like a dream home. That might involve angling the pictures from more flattering perspectives, using better lenses that capture more of the room, or editing them so the colors are property balanced against the lighting profiles of each room. That way, the printed or online listing is much more attractive.
We know you want to get a top price for your beloved homestead, because you may have renovated and cared for this space for decades. But if that asking price is scaring buyers away, it might be time for a gentle reality check compared to the local market around you, especially during times where housing is more expensive than ever and often hard to penetrate for new families. Nobody wants to leave money on the table, but an overpriced listing can be a deal-breaker in this market.
Having a second valuation or researching recently sold homes in your area to get a feel for those going in your area can help you see if you’re in the right place. At the very least, you can reduce the asking price a little and see if you gain more offers or even viewings this time. Moreover, don’t forget to factor in things like condition, updates, and amenities that could shift the value one way or the other. Once you’ve got a realistic benchmark, you might have to bite the bullet and bring that number down a notch or two.
Sometimes the reason buyers aren’t biting comes down to one easy and understandable objective: your place just needs a little TLC. That doesn’t necessarily mean full-blown renovations here (unless you’ve got money to burn), but some strategic upgrades and fixes can go a long way in amping up that buyer appeal. If a window cracked during the hard winter? Well, that’s an easy fix.
Take an inventory checklist stroll through your place and make note of anything that’s looking a little worse for wear. That could include scratched up floors, dingy bathroom tiles, outdated light fixtures – sure, this might not call off a purchase, but everyone wants to put their best foot forward. You wear your best clothes to a first date after all, so why not spruce up the house a little?
It’s frustrating, but sometimes there are just going to be circumstances beyond your control that are making your listing a tough sell. Maybe it’s the shifting market trends in your area, or perhaps there’s a new development going up down the street that’s causing some competition and cratering the value of your street.
Whatever the case, it’s important to take an honest look at the bigger picture. If it seems like external factors are the main sticking point, it might be worth asking your agent about adjusting your marketing strategy accordingly. Or, you could opt to sit tight for a little while and see if those tides start to turn in your favor before relisting the house.
With this advice, I hope you can stop struggling to sell your property – and make a sale more quickly.
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