Why is our home not selling? Input wanted!

marie580

Hi Ladies,

We have had our home on the market since the beginning of July. We've had 20-25 showings and 2 offers. Both offers were EXTREME lowballs, and neither offer was willing to negotiate much. Our feedback has all been good, and the negatives are things are all things that we really can't change (busyish road, steep drive, detached garage, etc). Feedback for price has been anywhere from the showing agent thinks it's too high to acceptable. Our agent thinks we should price reduce in order to try to bring in buyers before we close the pool for the season, but I'm not sure if it's really a price issue so much as finding the right buyer. Our home is truly unique and definitely would only appeal to a certain type of buyer (old home, pool, fairly high maintenance yard) and I'm just not sure we've seen that buyer yet. Plus, our market totally stinks right now for sellers! Any input? I know Aug is slow everywhere. If anyone wants to see the house I'd be happy to link the listing, just let me know. Thanks!

GeorgiaRiah

I guess the only red flags I see in your original post are all about price.  Your house must show well if you have received 2 offers and that means that people are interested.  If you had 1 low ball offer I might discount it but 2 makes me think you may be overpriced a bit.  Also, the feedback from agents is that you are too high or acceptable.  I think in a tough market you would want 90% of agents saying you are priced right.  I would consider a price drop.  Granted I do not know your market or current price.  I am only going from what you said.  I cannot see an pics of your home so I cannot tell you what I would change on the inside.

KBabe076

I agree with Georgia - have you checked online at what all of the houses in your neighborhood are priced at? This could be a good way to tell if your price is too high or just right.

HarleyKins

Re-evaluate the comps in the neighborhood. Prices are down from the spring market.

if you do a price reduction, change up the primary photo at the same time.

Santorini2011

Your post answered the reason why it is not selling.  It doesn't appeal to the general buyer, has some undesirable features that you can't change, and price.  You mentioned the showing agents think it is overpriced but it is most likely both - agents AND buyers that think that. Def ask your agent to send you what comps sold for in the last 6 months.

At the end of the day, do you want to sell quick at a lower price or wait for that one buyer it is perfect for and they are willing to pay a premium for it?  This decision is really based on your current situation (financial, living arrangements, etc). I am a firm believer that you can eventually find a buyer for any property but is it worth taking a year to do so.

 

kaitylin

We had a tough time with selling our place too. We were priced very fair up front and had 1-2 showings a day for 60 days with open houses every weekend with 15-20 people at those.  We had one very low ball offer but decided to counter and after much negotiation reached a deal but the buyers ended up getting cold feet and deciding they weren't ready to purchase. We ended up getting another low ball offer but the guy wouldn't come up enough (we got stuck at a standstill 10 K apart in price). We needed to sell in order to move forward with our new build and so we decided to drop our price to only a couple thousand about our total bottom dollar and if we didn't sell so be it. Well, we held an open house and an instant offer (and the guy who previously wouldn't budge also came in with a better offer). It was a drastic move and we were ready to accept that there was a chance we would just pull off the market if it didn't work but at this point if you are having that many showings and only lowball offers I'd drop the price drastically (to the lowest you are comfortable selling) and hope for multiple offers or at least a bite. You've had a lot of people through and someone who already went through might jump on it or someone new might pop up. Then, if you don't have to sell pull from the market until Spring. If you do have to sell and it doesn't get offers at that price point than you know you are overpriced.

Also, spend a bit of money on staging. We spent a few hundred dollars before our big post price drop open house to buy a new rug, new curtains, and a plant and our living room looked like a new place! We also put TONS of stuff in a storage unit (it wasn't ever cluttered but we wanted to make it look like a show home) We had already made the place look really good but we brightened it up a bit and our realtors got an overwhelming positive response.

Good luck - It was a nightmare for us for so many reasons I won't go into but it was well worth it once we sold and we close on our new place next week!

atlcatlover

Sorry to pile on, but it sounds to me like it is a price issue.  You need to decide how badly you want to sell this house.  If it is priced right it will sell.

AurorasEnvy

I was going to say what PPs said, the price is probably too high for the current market.

bostongirl1983

I'm going to agree that it's the price and the fact that it's a unique property.  Unfortunately if your house itself doesn't appeal to the majority there's got to be something appealing about it, which would have to be the price.  Good luck, hope the right buyer comes your way soon!