{"id":1325,"date":"2016-03-23T08:55:46","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T15:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/?p=1325"},"modified":"2016-03-22T10:00:35","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T17:00:35","slug":"what-to-do-when-a-home-wont-sell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2016\/03\/what-to-do-when-a-home-wont-sell\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Do When a Home Won\u2019t Sell"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Start with an honest assessment, but don\u2019t stop there. Find ways to help discouraged sellers give their listing more gusto.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Who isn\u2019t frustrated by a listing that generates little or no buyer interest after months on the market? As your clients grow impatient, your relationship with them becomes tense. You, perhaps counting on the sale, begin to see your commission evaporating. Worse, you feel your reputation as a professional is on the line.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The best way to avoid this predicament is with an honest assessment of the property. If you see problems that are likely to reduce buyer interest, a frank discussion with the seller at the start is essential. Communicate the challenges and agree on improvements or a pricing strategy to overcome them. But if you should still end up with a listless listing, here are some tips to bear in mind.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Never Fake Perfection<\/strong><br \/>\nWhatever a home\u2019s issues, hiding them is never a good idea. Sellers are typically obligated to disclose known defects, and the Code of Ethics requires that the \u201ctrue picture\u201d of a home be presented in advertising. So when it comes to cosmetic flaws, don\u2019t Photoshop them out of listing photos, says Colleen Badagliacco, CRB, CRS, broker-associate with Legacy Real Estate and Associates in San Jose, Calif. Instead, suggest minor improvements\u2014paint a tired front door or set flowers on a table to counterbalance a less attractive feature \u201cand then take the picture,\u201d Badagliacco says. \u201cIf the house looks like it belongs in Architectural Digest online but it\u2019s run-of-the-mill in person, you\u2019ve set\u2014and shattered\u2014an expectation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Of course, not all problems can be solved with staging. If there\u2019s something disturbing in a home\u2019s history, like rumors of a haunted past, consider using it as a storytelling element. \u201cAsk the sellers what led them to the home, and use that in your marketing,\u201d says Keith Bennett, GRI, broker-associate at Comey &amp; Shepherd in Cincinnati. Do warn sellers that unusual traits sometimes slow a sale.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Get a Second Opinion<\/strong><br \/>\nIf showings are few and far between and the sellers seem frustrated, it may help to bring in an appraiser to reinforce the home\u2019s price point or a contractor to offer suggestions for improvements. Rather than bringing in your own appraiser, have the sellers find one through a lender so they can be assured of an objective analysis, says Deborah Winters Chaney with Keller Williams Realty Clear Lake in Houston. Explain that since lenders put up the money to buy properties, they \u201cwon\u2019t loan more than they think the property is worth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If a home requires updating, another tactic is to invite contractors to an open house. They can give buyers a vision of the improvements that are possible and an estimate for the work. Better yet, they may be able to convince sellers to tackle the job. Penny Clissold, broker-owner of Clissold Properties in Houston, had a listing that hadn\u2019t moved in six months, The cramped kitchen was keeping buyers at bay. A contractor offered her sellers a solution: For $1,800, he moved a set of cabinets to the dining room\u2019s outer wall. \u201cMy clients jumped at the low quote,\u201d Clissold says. \u201cWe were able to raise the price of the home $10,000, and it sold promptly.\u201d If sellers do make improvements or repairs, no matter how small, keep copies of the bills to show buyers what\u2019s been done.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">You can also ask your colleagues for their professional opinion. V. Faye Nelson, e-PRO, GRI, an agent with -RE\/MAX Professionals in Kennewick, Wash., invites other agents to lunch at a property that isn\u2019t selling. \u201cOver sandwiches, I\u2019ll ask: \u2018What are the problems here?\u2019 While we\u2019re competitors, we also work together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Show, Don\u2019t Tell<\/strong><br \/>\nSometimes sellers need to see the competition for themselves to better understand how their home stacks up. Take them on a tour of nearby listings, so they can compare features and pricing. Just be sure to let the listing agents know what you\u2019re doing. \u201cYou\u2019d be surprised at how often they have no idea what other listings in their neighborhood look like,\u201d Chaney says. After the tour, \u201cI ask them to think of their home as if they\u2019re walking into it for the first time: What would they want changed if they were the buyer?\u201d This can lead to a more meaningful conversation about the need to lower their price.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Be Direct<\/strong><br \/>\nEven after your best efforts, sometimes you get to the end of your listing agreement without a sale. If you feel the sellers won\u2019t take the steps necessary to sell, you may decide to diplomatically bow out of renewing the listing. Keep it positive, but be firm, Bennett suggests. \u201cTell them, \u2018you need someone who has new ideas.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cMy partner has told sellers, \u2018List it with someone else, and when it doesn\u2019t sell, maybe you\u2019ll listen to us,\u2019\u201d says Kevin M. Sears, broker-owner at Sears Real -Estate in Springfield, Mass. \u201cStanding your ground can be liberating.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.realtormag.realtor.org\/sales-and-marketing\/feature\/article\/2016\/03\/what-do-when-home-won-t-sell\" target=\"_blank\">What to Do When a Home Won\u2019t Sell<\/a> by Michele Meyer | RealtorMag<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Start with an honest assessment, but don\u2019t stop there. Find ways to help discouraged sellers give their listing more gusto. Who isn\u2019t frustrated by a listing that generates little or &hellip; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2016\/03\/what-to-do-when-a-home-wont-sell\/\">read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What to Do When a Home Won\u2019t Sell &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2016\/03\/what-to-do-when-a-home-wont-sell\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"What to Do When a Home Won\u2019t Sell &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Start with an honest assessment, but don\u2019t stop there. 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