If this is happening to you, it’s important to understand the reasons you may be stuck in this holding pattern.
The agent hasn’t brought any buyers Your listing agent should always have a list of potential buyers ready to show your house when it goes on the market. As soon as they get your go-ahead, your agent should start working their connections and making calls or sending out emails immediately to get those first prospective buyers through the door. If a week has gone by with no activity or no offers, then you need to find out why. The simplest explanation is that your home is priced too high for the neighborhood. It’s typical for agents to price homes right at what other similar properties have been selling for, which is probably where yours is if there haven’t been any major fluctuations in the local housing market.
High Price Point
One of the most common reasons for low property values is the price point. When you list at an unrealistic value, Colorado Springs buyers won’t take the time to look at it, even if it’s amazing! A high listing price often means you are not competitive in your area or that you don’t know what other homes in your neighborhood have sold for. Welcome to our platform where we can help you get up-to-date pricing information based on current sales trends in your area. If when looking at comparable homes and yours looks overpriced then you must reconsider your listing price to get the offers coming in the door.
Overpriced
When you are searching for home listings in Colorado Springs keep an eye out for homes that are priced below the average price. This might seem counterintuitive at first, but you’ll find that these homes sell more quickly than their more expensive counterparts. Sellers who underprice their properties often do so as a tactic to move the house following a sharp decrease in interest from buyers. If you want your house to stay on the market and not be forgotten about before it is sold, avoid pricing too high or too low. Somewhere between 85-90 percent of all home sales are achieved within 5% of list price.
Outdated
This can be difficult to hear, but it’s a necessary evil because you are likely to get back much more of your investment than if you updated and remodeled.
When you have an outdated or badly designed kitchen, people will often favor another house over yours. Remove the dated wallpaper and introduce lighter paint on the walls, which can make rooms feel larger. If you have older carpets, replace them with wooden floors for a cleaner look that is easier to maintain and gives a brighter appearance to your home. Landscaping is also important when preparing your Colorado Springs property for potential buyers as they inspect the exterior before even getting inside. Add new grass or fresh plantings in pots that match popular design trends of today rather than making them go on the market without these types of property upgrades.
Repairs
When you are dealing with a foreclosed property, it can be even more difficult to find out what skeletons are lurking in the closets of an old home.
Civil Code 1710(e) makes failure to disclose something you should have known about illegal. You can also be sued if buyers reasonably relied on their agent’s lack of disclosure, leading them to purchase that property they would not have bought otherwise. According to Art. 2 of Title 1 of the Civil Code, “The seller shall not exclude or limit the implied warranty if the buyer requests such exclusion or limitation thereof and pays a fair and reasonable price therefor…” (Art. 2 Sec. 1115).
Bad Advertising
Failure to understand why your house isn’t selling is a surefire way to be left behind in the rat race that has become real estate. With over 1 trillion dollars in yearly sales occurring virtually on the internet, it isn’t an option of whether you must market online or not, but how.
The following infographic outlines some reasons why your house may not be selling and some ideas for what you can do about it. For example, have there been too many price reductions? Is there negative feedback from showing the home? Are renovations needed in order to make it attractive to potential buyers? How has your current marketing strategy changed since the original listing went up? These are all questions that should come into mind when trying to understand why your house isn’t getting the attention from buyers that it deserves.
Staging
Baking cookies in the oven is an old realtor trick, but don’t be surprised if a buyer asks for them!
As with all other tips, you can use staging to create an emotional response too. For example, in the current market, many homebuyers are seeking single-family homes at prices or rents they can manage. In this case, you might want to stage the home as though it were already occupied by tenants because those looking for a bargain will immediately see its value.
Most buyers will use some combination of all these techniques when shopping for real estate. If your broker knows that you are trying to improve your chances and has advised you of what matters most in today’s market, these tips should help get you started on selling your home faster.
If it appears to be someone’s home already, this is a potential reason your Colorado Springs house isn’t selling.
Availability
Our sales agents are standing by to help you make the best decision on your Colorado Springs home, or any other property in your real estate portfolio.
If you have a Colorado Springs house that needs to move fast, then call us right now at (719) 286-0053. We are local experts and we would like nothing more than to talk with you about how we can relieve your stress and stop worrying about selling your Colorado Springs house.