My first business call of 2020 was received on January 2 from a Centerville Ohio homeowner I had never met or talked to previously. After a brief introduction, the homeowner informed me that their house had been listed by a local realtor with one of the area's largest brokerages. Five months on the market, only three showings on the property, and unfortunately no offers.
“I need to know why my house isn't selling. I’d like for you to come look at my house and tell me why it hasn’t sold,” came the invitation.
Although this was my first call of 2020, this wasn’t the first call like this I have received. In 2019, I had received half a dozen similar invitations from frustrated homeowners.
Two similar situations stand out from 2019.
First, a Springboro homeowner in the $500k price range had their property listed with two well-known, reputable agents for about 8-9 months without a sale. One of the agents was recognized as among the top agents in Ohio.
The second homeowner was calling about their custom-built home on 8 acres outside of Wilmington in the $500-$600K price range. This owner had had their private retreat listed by four different local realtors during the last 2-3 years without an offer.
It’s a fact that not every house sells. However, I believe there are reasons a house typically doesn’t sell and those reasons can vary from house to house. Most common reasons are:
- The house is in poor condition or in an area that may not be as popular among buyers
- The realtor was just an average agent and did little to present the home properly to the buying public. By that I mean, a real estate agent who does minimal marketing for the home seller. (My description is an agent that takes a couple of poor photos with their phone, puts a sign in the yard, and put a little information and a few photos in the Multiple Listing Service, MLS).
- Outside issues are causing an issue (ie. high property tax, on a busy road)
- The home was overpriced for the current market.
- The economy is having an adverse effect on the housing market.
- The homeowner and/or real estate agent were unaware of or unwilling to address any issues causing the house not to sell.
The last one speaks to the issue that stimulated the homeowners to call me and the focus of this blog.
Either the previous agents failed to properly evaluate the house in hopes that it would be a quick and easy sale (not requiring much effort and receiving a quick paycheck.) Possibly the agent did evaluate the property and discussed the concerns with the seller, but the seller simply didn’t agree with the realtor’s evaluations and/or suggestion.
In all three of the above examples, homeowners indicated that their agents didn’t express any answers to their inquiry of “Why isn’t my house selling?”
I set an appointment with each of the home sellers and began my investigation for an answer to their question.
In each case, I had an assumption of the cause within 15 minutes of doing my online research. Then during my personal visit to the home, I was able to confirm my assumption.
In both of my 2019 examples, after the initial visit with the homeowners, I discussed my evaluation of their home with them, discussed our marketing, and asked them to sign a listing agreement. Then we got to work prepping the home and preparing our marketing. In both cases, we had their homes under contract within 2-4 weeks.
In future posts (Part 2) of Why Didn’t My House Sell, I’ll share with you more about the specifics of what we did (that other agents didn’t) to get a SOLD sign placed in the yard.
If you find yourself in a similar situation feel free to call Keller Williams Advantage agent Don Shurts at 937-241-2124 to discuss your situation.