If your property was listed for sale and did not sell, you are probably disappointed and frustrated. Although there are a number of reasons a property doesn’t sell, generally these boil down to these five situations:
It wasn’t exposed to a pool of buyers who were ready, willing, and able to buy
If the property wasn’t listed on the MLS, wasn’t listed correctly, or if there were just too few buyers in the market at the time in which your home was listed, that could result in a very small pool of buyers or no buyers at all.
It wasn’t marketed in such a way that the pool of buyers were excited about it, wanted to see it, and make an offer.
If the property was listed on the MLS, but the photos were not up to par, the listing didn’t include enough details or supplementary information, the showing instructions were too limiting, there weren’t open houses, the curb appeal or interior needed some love, etc, can all have an impact on how deep and wide the pool of buyers is. Ideally, the agent should make it as easy as possible for a potential buyer to get information on your property, be wowed by photos, and be able to set up a showing in short order. The more difficult it is for a buyer to get information or see the property, the less enthusiastic they will be about actually making an offer.
There were too many barriers in place for buyers to be able to evaluate your property as a potential solution to their buying problem.
Again, this could have been a challenge in the listing itself or it could be a challenge with other physical or environmental barriers. For example, a property with a very steep driveway will eliminate a number of buyers. A property that is bordering a busy street will eliminate a number of other buyers. Other barriers may include an older home with repairs needed, a home with no primary bedroom on the main level, a home in an HOA with high monthly dues, and more. In my experience, each barrier needs to be evaluated and either fixed with a physical fix or it needs to be fixed with price.
It was a unique property with a very limited pool of buyers.
Similar to the barrier problem, very unique properties will appeal to very unique buyers. The challenge is finding that unique buyer! For those sellers who want and need to sell quickly, adjusting the price can make the buyer pool deeper and wider and therefore you may be more likely to connect with that unique buyer. The challenge with unique properties is that finding them can sometimes take a while if the price was not adjusted and that long market time may actually cause the buyer to offer less when they are found.
It wasn’t priced in line with the market.
This is one of the most common reasons a home does not sell. Pricing a home can be difficult, but once the price has been established and the home listed, it is important to get that market feedback by way of showings and offers and adjust accordingly. Homes that sit on the market usually end up selling for less.
If your home did not sell, your listing has expired, and you aren’t sure about your next step, I would be happy to provide you with an analysis of your listing and provide you with my thoughts. I performed over 5000 appraisals in my former career, and that experience is invaluable in the research I perform today.