My Home Listing Expired, What Are My Options?

If your agent did not belong to the MLS  or is out side of their normal market area, then your home may not have been exposed to the right number of agents. It’s imperative that your property be in the correct position in the local MLS to gain the maximum exposure to the agents selling property in your area.

Did your real estate agent help stage the home? If not, this could be one of the problems for finding a buyer for your property. Remember that you can do all of the staging in the world but if your real estate is priced too high then staging will not work. One of the ways that you can determine if staging is a factor is to the number of showings you had. A lot of showings and no offers then staging might help. It could also be related to price but this is an area that I can assist with as a real estate professional.

Sellers are sometimes unwilling to either make the effort, or unwilling to compromise how they live in their home during the time the home is on the market for showings. Serious sellers realize that by depersonalizing the home and removing unwarranted clutter, it allows potential buyers to more easily visualize their own things in the house.

When you live in your home day in and day out, you become comfortable with your own ‘things’. In many cases, however, your ‘stuff’ can make a room feel smaller than it actually is and in some more extreme cases, your ‘stuff’ can completely distract someone from visualizing the potential of a room. We know you are proud of your kids as the shrine in the living room displays all of their ribbons, trophies and diplomas from the last 20 years. But for a buyer, this is only a distraction.

Many agents will make recommendations about ways to remove clutter or depersonalize your home. Some will even suggest that a professional homestager be brought it to completely maximize the space and create a setting maximizes the buyers ability to visualize their own things. The key thing to remember here is these suggestions are not personal and you may have to be a little uncomfortable so that your house puts it’s best foot forward.

As a seller, the most important thing to realize is that, yes, your crapola means a lot to you. But it means nothing to anyone else. Especially a buyer trying to visualize their own stuff in your house.

This one will most likely fall on your real estate agent. But knowing that bad photos in the MLS can be an impediment to the sale of your home, as a seller it’s imperative that you demand great photography from your agent.

Studies show that greater than 85% of people are going online as a part of their research for buying a home. Most buyers will probably first be introduced to your home online. Poor photos could be cause for them to disregard your home before they ever set foot in it.

The photos used to market your home are generally the first impression any buyer will have of your home. When picking an agent to list your home, ask to see examples of photos from previous listings. Do their photos make you want to take a look at the home?

Never let your home go on the market without photos! If it means waiting a day or two before listing, wait. A large number of potential buyers in your market will be exposed to your home the first day it goes on the market. Having great photos the first day the home hits the market is a must

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The chances your home will sell when buyers can’t get in to physically inspect the property are minuscule. Sellers need to understand that listing a home for sale is going to lead to some inconveniences in your normal routine. Many serious buyers may want to physically inspect a property during times which may not be convenient for the seller. Knowing this, motivated sellers need to understand that flexibility in when you allow the home to be sold could have a direct impact on the sale of your home.

It’s not uncommon for sellers to see 8, 10, even 20 homes during a showing tour with their agent. If your house isn’t on that list because you only do showings on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm, you will miss out on ready, willing and able buyers.

As a seller, realize that the more people that can see the home in person, the more chance you have to find the buyer that wants your home.

 

Do not have a Stinky House!

Most agents aren’t going to be this blunt. But in some cases they wish they could be. They’ll take a more tactical approach and say something like…..’During the time your house is on the market, it might be a good idea to smoke outside’.

But what they know is that nothing will stop a potential buyer in their tracks faster than a strong odor of any sort. In some cases this could just be the left over smell from last night’s dinner. In more extreme cases, agents tell horror stories of entering homes that have a bad smell of pet urine or smoking.

The main concern for the buyer is, of course, ‘is the house going to smell like this once we move in?’ Real Estate agents confirm that many a buyer has passed on a home after coming to their own conclusion on that answer.

Your agent isn’t suggesting a fresh coat of paint and new carpet because they don’t like how things look. They are making this suggestion because they realize that the smoke odor in your home is going to be a major turn off for anyone thinking about buying your home.

Homes with bad odors don’t sell because buyers are having intense and complex negative reactions that are beyond working around.

No seller wants to spend a few thousand dollars making repairs to a house you are about to sell. Agents understand that. But they also understand that few buyers want to move in to a house that needs a bunch of work done immediately upon moving in.

One of your objectives to selling your home is to make it as appealing as possible to as wide of an audience as possible. If the seller is unwilling to make repairs, and a buyer doesn’t want a bunch of work upon moving in, you’ve shrunk the pool of potential buyers for your property.

Some sellers may want to offer the buyer a credit at closing for certain repairs.  Most lenders underwriting guidelines will not allow for repair credits as of late.

Setting a market price on a home is not an exact science. Many real estate agents will give the seller a range in which they predict the home will sell. As a seller, you should always want the most money the market will bear. That being said, the unwillingness to negotiate with buyers can turn away even the most serious buyers.

Price is not the only condition which is open to negotiation. Buyers and sellers can negotiate on dates, fixtures that might stay with the home, repairs and a host of other sticking points. Sellers that refuse to negotiate and are set on digging in their heels are much less likely to find a willing and able buyer.

Don’t be insulted by low offers. Buyers want to get the home for the best price and on the best terms they can. Just like a sellers wants to sell for the best price on the best terms. It’s rare that either party walks away from a negotiation with everything they want. Motivated sellers understand this and are willing to negotiate.

One thing we caution sellers against is being unwilling to negotiate as well as second guessing your original listing price.

Almost every real estate agent who participated agreed that sellers should leave the house during showings. Some sellers want to stick around and make sure buyers see all the important features of a home. The problem with that………as a seller you don’t know what’s important to a buyer.

Sellers that hover around during a showing will make the buyer nervous. They won’t feel comfortable discussing things they like or dislike about the house with their agent. In addition, most buyers like to explore a little bit. Interested buyers tend to do things like open cabinets and check in closets to get a better sense for the entire home. A hovering seller can make this very uncomfortable for some buyers.

Bottom line……leave the house when it’s being shown. Your presence there will only make things worse.

Who better wants to sell your home than the neighbors? That’s not too say that your neighbors will be glad to see you leave, only that they will have a concern as to who might move in. Many times the neighbors in your area would love to help find the right family that they are acquainted with and know on a personal level. There’s something about having friends living close by that is a good feeling. Usually if your neighbors can help in selling your property they will! This is generally a winner for everyone involved. As a real estate professional if I’m chosen to work for you I promise to work closely with your neighbors and make sure they have the needed information to share with any friends or acquaintances they may know who might be interested in your home.

Unfortunately many real estate agents still do not have their own web sites. Many buyers are going to the World Wide Web to get information about homes for-sale. If your property was not properly positioned on the web for these new tech savvy buyers then you’ve missed a golden opportunity for potential buyers. I will make sure your property is placed on our web site and given full exposure to internet buyers shopping for a home in our marketplace.

On a typical day, more than six million people view virtual tours. A real estate listing with a virtual tour will receive 50% more views than a competitor’s site without a virtual tour.

• According to the NAR home buyer and seller profile, the Internet has tied with the agent for most important information sources used in the home search (84%).
• 79% of repeat buyers & 84% of first time buyers use the internet to search for a home.
• Images are one of the biggest reasons Internet marketing has become so popular.
• 54% of home buyers, who are searching for their next home on Realtor.com, will skip over listings that do not provide virtual tours and multiple images.
• Home Buyers who used the internet as a significant portion of their homebuying experience spent an average of two weeks with a Realtor® looking at homes, compared to those who did not use the internet, who spent an average of seven weeks looking for their home.
• After gathering information online, nearly three-quarters of home buyers reported that they drove by specific properties, and 57% walked through a property viewed online.
• A compelling use of virtual tour technology will keep visitors on your site, and will also keep them coming back.
• We use Narrated voice over tours!

One of the main goals and functions who lists a property is to a make certain the listing is conveyed to the other real estate agents in the community. Marketing flyers, property data sheets with detailed information in flyer boxes, along with other important features about your home need to be readily available for the buying public. Perhaps your property needed a little bit more of a push to the other agents in the area. One of my main functions is to always keep our properties in front and promoted to the other real estate agents throughout the community. My philosophy is that the agents in our marketplace may have a buyer on any given day. Making sure they are exposed to your listing is exposed to the agent population and in front at all times is essential to help speed up a sale for your property. After all, most homes are sold by someone else other than the listing agent and seeing that your property details are in front of the other top agents in our board is essential!

Buyers want instant information.  Sometimes they will not get out of their car to pick up a flier. So you need to have a text to tour rider on your home.

Unfortunately you can used the services of any agent in your market area and chances are your house would not have sold. As I’ve noted earlier there are a lot of great real estate agents in community and many work very hard at what they do. Unfortunately not all properties sell nor can we always show your property in every situation. It’s never a good idea to make the seller “think” we are working hard or have prospects when we don’t.

You decided to list with your aunt or with your friend that just got in the business. You paid no attention to their experience or what they do to market a home. Maybe not the best idea.

Real Estate agents will often suggest interviewing more than one agent. You’ll never know if your aunt is going to do a good job of marketing your home for sale if you have nothing to which to compare her.

Don’t be scared to ask a real estate agent questions about why they are a better choice than anyone else you may be considering. Just like with any profession, there are good real estate agents and there are bad real estate agents.