Price isn't only reason a home doesn't sell

My recent columns about reducing your asking price in order to sell your home generated more response from readers.



Question: To rebut your response to the homeowners trying to sell their 33-year-old rambler, there is more than one answer. In this housing market, it is not enough to be competitive; you absolutely must be compelling if you want to sell.

Yes, the house must be priced right; however, if the house is cluttered, in disrepair, dark, dirty, it doesn't matter what the price is, it likely will not sell.

People who want to sell will respect an agent who tells them the truth. If they don't want to buy into what I need them to do then I do not want to waste my time trying to overcome the obstacles to a sale.

We give our clients a price that I feel we can obtain if they are willing to do what we ask them to do.

We are not afraid to get our hands dirty helping out, but we must work cooperatively to create a compelling home that a buyer will walk in and decide this is "home" for them. That includes cleaning, repairing, staging, detailing the yard, getting rid of the junk.

Most agents are so focused on getting the listing and putting their sign in the yard that they do not take the time it requires to help the seller do what it takes to make it attractive.

Price is not the only reason a home does not sell. Marketing also plays a role, but first of all you've got to have a product that you would be proud to represent.

Question: How about addressing the main issue for not selling: "all the agents priced the home to sell."

You and most brokers will always agree with the listing price just to get the listing (and soon tell the owner to lower it if want to sell).

You on purpose left this out. Shame on you.

Why can't you be honest upfront and let the seller know that you wish to overprice it to get listing and then tell the truth a month or two later. Let's see you address this in The Herald.



Answer: These two letters illustrate the conflict that can arise between homesellers and real estate agents. And in a slow housing market, tension increases when a home does not sell as fast as the sellers and the agents hope.

I agree with the homeowner that some agents do attempt to "buy" listings by promising to deliver an unrealistically high price. They know that the home will not sell for their suggested price and they plan to force the sellers to reduce their asking price after a few weeks of unsuccessfully attempting to sell the home at the high price.

I specifically warned against this tactic two weeks ago in a previous column, but I did not mention it in last week's column to which the second writer was responding.

So let me repeat: If you are selling your home, I advise you to get listing presentations from several real estate agents who are active in your area. I would give preference to an agent who presents a well-researched suggested sales price based on nearby homes that have recently sold, especially if the price is lower than what the other agents suggest, because that agent is more likely to be telling you the truth.

Sellers do not want hear that their home is worth less than they think it should be, so it's easy for some agents to take advantage of that by promising to deliver an unrealistically high sales price.

But even though a high price is the primary reason that a home does not sell, it is not the only reason. As the real estate agent explained in the first letter, presentation matters.

I touched on this in my previous column, but it bears repeating. Most prospective buyers do not have much vision when looking at homes. They can't look past clutter and cosmetic damage to see the potential value of a home.

Real estate investors routinely take advantage of that fact and that's why they are able to buy homes, make relatively inexpensive cosmetic repairs and then "flip" those homes for a profit by selling them to buyers who want a house that is in perfect, "move-in" condition.

So if you are selling your home, price it right but also make it look nice. Otherwise, you will only attract bargain hunting investors who will want to drive your price even lower.



Steve Tytler is a licensed real estate broker and owner of Best Mortgage. You can email him at features@heraldnet.com.