This Is Why Your House Isn’t Selling

You Have a MARKETING Problem if…

• Few people are making appointments to see your home.
• The photos are terrible or non-existent.
• There is minimal information on your MLS listing: no room measurements, no captivating description of your home.
• Your agent’s website gets 50 visitors a month and she thinks online marketing means having your house on realtor.ca

You Have a PRICING Problem if…

• You’re getting lots of showings and no one is making an offer.
• You’ve received offers from a few Buyers and they are all clustered around the same price (and it’s not your asking price).
• The market has declined since you listed your house for sale and you haven’t adjusted your price to reflect the new reality.

You Have a SHOWING Problem if…

• Potential Buyers can’t get in to see your property when it’s convenient for them.
• You’ve restricted appointment times to 15 minutes with a 12-hour notice period
• You’re home during the showings.
• Your uncrated dog barks and intimidates everybody or your cat launches an attack the minute someone enters the house.
• Your agent’s office doesn’t have a receptionist or answering service, so it’s hard for other agents to book appointments.

You Have a STAGING Problem if…

• People can’t easily understand how the rooms are supposed to be used or how the TV can face the couch.
• Potential Buyers are too distracted by the clutter and mess to see the house.
• You have a giant clown collection, 23 framed wedding photos and a shrine to your dead cat.

You Have a LOCATION Problem if…

• You’re on a busy street, overlooking the train tracks, have a hoarder as a neighbour or are otherwise located in an undesirable area
• You can’t change location, so refer to Point #2: You have a pricing problem. Every location sells at the right price.

You Have a HOUSE Problem if…

• Your agent is repeatedly getting the same negative feedback about your house
• If you can’t fix the problem (ie lot size or lack of parking), then refer to Point #2: You have a pricing problem. Every house sells when the price is right.

You Have an AGENT Problem if….

• Your agent isn’t giving you feedback, updates and keeping you informed about what’s happening to the other houses for sale in your neighbourhood.
• Your agent isn’t suggesting new strategies to get your house sold and adjusting to a shifting market
• Your agent just listed your house on the MLS and is expecting it to sell itself.
• Your agent doesn’t understand the power of staging
• Your agent doesn’t know how to negotiate

You Have a TIMING Problem if…

• A bunch of your neighbours are up for sale at the same time as you.
• It’s the Christmas season. Or the first nice stretch of summer weather.
• Regulation changes have just been introduced to slow down the market or interest rates have just been hiked.
• Nobody else is selling either.

You Have a MOTIVATION Problem if…

• You don’t really need to sell – you’re really just testing the market.
• You aren’t listening to what the market is telling you, because it doesn’t really matter. You want what you want, and if you don’t get it, that’s ok.

Truth:

Market value is the place where how much a Buyer is prepared to pay for a home meets how much the Seller is prepared to accept for their home. While real estate agents look to recent and nearby comparable sales to help us predict what that market value might be, market value is actually dictated by the Buyers and Sellers.