Why Is My House Not Selling?

A question I often get asked by sellers is “how long will it take for my home to sell?”. If a house is presented well, marketed correctly and priced right then it should take no longer than twelve weeks. If you have been on the market for a while it can be a frustrating time, you may wonder why your home hasn’t sold. Maybe you see others being sold around you and you are wondering what is wrong with your home? Why is your home not selling? There are three core elements that increase your chances of a successful sale. If all of these areas are working together and are the best they can be, you are far more likely to sell quicker and for a higher value.

If you have found yourself on the market for a while and you are wondering why, it is highly likely it is down to one of these three key areas. The longer a house is on the market, the less chance you have of getting your asking price. Buyers are suspicious of a house that has languished on the market. They wonder why and assume there is something wrong with the property. Most of the time there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the home, but turning a buyer’s perception around can be challenging, not impossible, but challenging. Therefore, it is critical that for the smoothest sale possible, you get all three of these elements right, right from the start.

The three core elements to achieve a successful sale are:

1. Presentation:

How you present your home for sale has a huge impact on attracting a buyer. To appeal to the most buyers, you have to make a buyer fall in love with your home. To achieve maximum value, your home should be presented to the highest possible standards.

All DIY jobs should be ticked off. A buyer needs to imagine themselves living in your home. The best way to encourage this is to ensure that your décor is neutral and not over personalised. Create as much space as possible by decluttering and removing big objects of furniture. Make sure your home looks well maintained, inside and out.

Home staging really comes into its own here. Staging a home will help you sell faster and for more money. Staging is the art of dressing a home to appeal to the most buyers. You can pay for a professional to do this or you can do this yourself. You can read more about home staging here http://www.greenkeysalesandlets.co.uk/news/what-is-home-staging.

The best way to try and understand how a buyer will see your property is to try and get into their mindset. To do this, you have to be objective and try and look at your home through the eyes of a buyer. If you are struggling with this, rope in the help of a friend or neighbour. Ask them for their honest opinion on how your home is presented. What can be improved? What is good – what can you accentuate?

All in all, when it comes to presentation, your home needs to look, smell and feel irresistible to a buyer. Ensure how you present your home highlights the positives about your home.

2. Price:

How you price your home can impact the time it will take to sell. A house that takes longer to sell will go for less, so essentially it will affect your end price. It is critical that you market your home right, right from the beginning. If you want to sell within a reasonable time frame – say 8-12 weeks maximum, do not ‘test the market’ by putting asking for an overinflated price just to test what a buyer’s appetite is like. This can seriously backfire. When you get into the trap of reducing and reducing as your home was on too high to start with, it is a never-ending downhill spiral that puts buyers off.

You can do a bit of background research on the price yourself. There are many tools and method out there that savvy homeowners can use. For a more in-depth look at this see our blog http://www.greenkeysalesandlets.co.uk/news/what-is-the-value-of-my-home

3. Promotion

How your estate agent promotes your home is critical in achieving a successful sale. Your agent will promote your home through various means of marketing. This marketing should consist of professional property photography, an engaging and interesting description, floor plan, professionally printed brochure, online brochure and portal (such as Rightmove) advertising.

The job of this marketing is to attract buyers to your home. It’s the first step to them booking a viewing. If your property marketing is not up to scratch, you will not attract buyers and you will not have viewings. No viewings mean you are unlikely to sell. It is essential that your agent has the very best marketing. High-quality marketing will make your home stand out. It will place your property head and shoulders above your competition. Engaging, interesting marketing will encourage a potential buyer to click into your online listing. A professionally written brochure and professional photographs will keep the buyer engaged when reading the brochure or online description. It will entice them to want to know more. They will feel compelled to book a viewing.

All these three elements need to be working in harmony. The price shouldn’t scare them off to start with. The marketing gets the viewer through the door, then when they are through your door, the way you have presented your home makes them fall in love with it. How you present your home can also impact on how good your marketing looks. With the best will in the world, you could have amazing marketing, but if your house is uncared for and shabby it won’t look good in the marketing.

Get all three right and you’re onto a winner. If you have been on the market for a while, review each of these elements. There will be some sort of improvement needed, otherwise it is likely you would have sold by now. Speak to your agent about how you can improve your chances of a sale.

If you have already reduced, try not to keep doing this. Get the other areas to work harder. If you improve the presentation element and the promotion element, you may just be able to get away with a price reduction.

Do you want an honest opinion on why your home is not selling? If so get in touch. I would be happy to chat to you about this and can offer helpful advice on what you can do to get your sale going. Call us on 01522 904 904 or 0151 458 3183 or drop me an email on hello@greenkeysalesandlets.co.uk.