How to Go From House Not Selling to Sold

There are many reasons why you are struggling with a house not selling in a hot market.  Let us help you!  Usually something small that just needs to be fixed.  Once you address the issue you’ll get different results.  Treat this post like a checklist to help you find the reason your home is not selling and what you can do to fix it.  Let’s diagnose the situation and get you back on track.  So let’s get started helping you go from my house is not selling to, “Wow, I just sold my home!” 

The Top 5 Reasons Your Home Is Not Selling 

• Exposure – Not enough buyers know your home is for sale 
• Poor Messaging – Your home’s marketing is not targeting the audience segment who will most buy your home
• Bad Images – Buyers are having a negative emotional reaction to your photos preventing them from taking action  
• Negative Feedback – Prospective buyers viewing the home are discouraged by something 
• Overpriced – Overpriced do not sell 

Read on where we expand on each of these and give you information on how to evaluate your current circumstances and how to change those.

Your house is not selling because its exposure to buyer audiences has not been maximized.

The audience of active home buyers exists in many places.  They are on the websites, the apps, the social media platforms.  They are in the cars driving to the store or to a friend’s house passing homes along the way.  Ask yourself, “Have I exposed my home to the entire audience of active home buyers?” 

Any home for sale should be placed in front of the entire audience of home buyers in every possible way.  This includes online and in the email inboxes of active real estate agents with buyers just waiting for the right thing to come on the market.  Also, do not underestimate the power of signage.  A sign in the yard is really powerful to alert nearby foot and car traffic your home is for sale. Be a part of home buyers’ conversations and considerations by being certain they are aware your home is for sale.

Your home is not selling because your marketing is not speaking directly to the audience segment most likely to purchase your home.

When selling a home, you want to maximize exposure of the home to the entire audience of all potential home buyers.  However, identify the market segment most likely to purchase your home.  Your marketing message should be focused more on this most likely market segment.  

People most often buy and sell homes due to a major life event.  These events include marriages, divorces, births, kids getting bigger or moving out permanently, job losses/gains/promotions, retirements, aging or health challenges, deaths.  Getting a pet is even a major life event which leads to home sales and purchases.  Therefore, buyers are usually trying to solve a problem.  Buyers need to buy a home which meets their needs.

Marketing remarks and pictures should communicate and illustrate to home buyers, “This home solves your problems!”  I recently was working with a seller in an area unfamiliar to me.  I asked her, “Where is the closest Target store?”  She was shocked why I asked this.  The home she was selling was most likely to be bought by a family, and based on the price and location, it will likely be bought by people of upwards socioeconomic status.  Kind of like someone who shops at Target.

Work with your agent or feel free to contact us to discuss your home and better understand the target market for your home.  A home’s design, size, features, price, condition, and location all affect what market segment is most likely to buy your home.  Identify the market segment and develop marketing remarks and pictures which speak to that segment.

Your home is not selling because the pictures do not motivate a buyer to take action regarding your home.

Like it or not, we live in an instant judgment, swipe left, swipe right kind of world.  It’s just what it is.  When selling a home, you need to have imagery which stops a buyer in his or her tracks.  There are a few ways to do this. 

Professional Photos And Improving Aesthetic Sentiment Will Help Get Your Home Sold 

First, you or your agent should be hiring a professional photographer to take photos of the home.  Professional photography will increase the quality of the photos.  This will increase your home’s aesthetic sentiment. 

Aesthetic sentiment is a feeling you get when you view something.  A great example I use is food.  

Imagine these two plates of food in your mind.  I could serve you a boiled pork chop, with white rice and mashed potatoes.  Or, I could offer you a pork chop with diamond grill marks topped with cooked apples, buttered rice pilaf with almond slivers, and loaded mashed potatoes with bacon, cheese, and chives.  Which of these two meals do you think looks better?  

Increasing aesthetic sentiment is not too difficult. The right lighting, staging, and maybe adding a few small colorful items can greatly improve your home’s aesthetic sentiment and cure the problem of your home not selling in a hot market.  Crisp, professionally shot and edited photos will increase your home’s aesthetic sentiment, too.  

Capture Your Home’s Features In The Photos 

In the previous section we mentioned home buyers are often buying a home due to a triggering major life event.  One of those was getting a pet.  So, if you have a fenced yard, make sure you have a picture of the fenced yard.  Or, maybe the buyer is expecting another child so they need to trade up to a four bedroom home.  Have pictures of each bedroom showing the room’s size.  Make sure to capture great images of features which could be important to your target audience segment.

Ordering Your Photos & Goldilocks 

Order the photos of your home in a sense making layout which will help the viewer essentially walk through the home.  Proper ordering to help viewers understand your homes layout is important.  Also, Goldilocks the number of photos you post.

You want to post just the right amount of photos.  Not too many, but not too few.  Too many photos and you will bore a buyer who moves on to another home and does not take the action you want which is requesting a showing.    With too few photos a buyer just will not understand what he or she is viewing.  This, too, will end with the buyer moving on to another home.  For small homes, post about 16 to 22 photos.  For larger homes with lots of rooms only post about 25 to 35 photos.

Your Home Is Not Selling Because You Refuse To Accept Negative Feedback 

They call it constructive criticism.  And we all like to pretend we are okay with it.  Ha.  Yes, it is hard to hear negative things about your home.  But, don’t disagree just because it hurt your feelings.  You are here because you want to sell you home that is not selling. 

Real estate agents letting their buyer clients tour the home should be providing feedback.  If you are not getting feedback you as a home seller need to get on your agent and tell your agent to get you feedback from showings.  Then, once you have the information look for a pattern.  If numerous people are complaining about the same thing, fix it. 

I once went from a healthy amount of showings but no offers, to three offers in two days.  All it took was convincing my clients that when five buyers complained about there being no door between the living room and laundry room it was a problem.  My clients spent about $300 buying a sliding barn-style door to place over the opening.  We immediately received three offers afterwards. 

Don’t chase every rabbit.  Making changes based on every minor negative comment is not what we advise.  Instead, look for a pattern.  If multiple potential buyers are making the same negative comments it is a problem and a reason your home is not selling.  Respond to this feedback by fixing the problem, especially any issues mentioned by multiple people.

Your Home Is Not Selling Because It Is Overpriced

Pricing is incredibly important in our modern swipe left swipe right world.  Years ago, it was difficult for buyers to learn a lot about many homes in a short period of time.  Buyers looked at black and white photos in the newspaper, or flipped through magazines.  

Today, buyers can pull out their phone and see every home for sale  in seconds.  Buyers are making instant apples to apples comparisons.  If you are priced too far above other similar looking homes you will not get showings, and you will not get offers.  

If your home is not selling you should consider a price reduction.  Either price the home accordingly in comparison to other similar homes, or re-evaluate your marketing remarks and photos and try to communicate and illustrate you are similar to a different set of homes. 

Conclusion 

If you are asking why my home is not selling, we hope this post helps you.  This advice should help you diagnose the situation and give you an action plan to get you back on the right side of things.  

Maximize the exposure of your home to the entire audience of buyers and communicate a message crafted for the most probable buyer segment.  Your pictures should be crisp, bright, and professional to increase the likelihood viewers will have positive feelings upon seeing your home.  Pivot and respond to patterns of negative feedback by addressing those criticisms.  Lastly, be honest with yourself when setting the listing price. 

About Quadwalls.com 

Quadwalls is dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers save money and make better decisions when buying or selling real estate.  We do this by providing content on our blog. You can contact us to learn more about our consulting services.  Additionally, we offer to home sellers seeking full representation from a real estate agent the lowest listing rates in the areas we serve.  You can search for homes for sale in, too.