Any Realtor with any experience in listing homes has had to deal with this question many times from many sellers.  Because I work exclusively as a seller's agent (we have other agents in our company who represent buyers) and carry a fairly large inventory of homes throughout the year, I have to deal with this question quite a lot.

I have spent countless hours trying to understand why some homes sell and others don't.  And this goes for our listings as well as our competitor's listings that I felt were priced right.  After 20 some odd years of selling commercial and residential property, I have arrived at a simple conclusion I believe is "bullet-proof". 

I firmly believe there are only three reasons why any property does not sell after a reasonable amount of time on the market.  Those reasons are ...

1. The property is overpriced at that particular point in time

2. The property has been mis-marketed

3. A combination of #1 and #2 (The Kiss of Death)

I would expect most people reading this article will think "If what you are saying is true, then why haven't you sold all of your own listings by now?"  That is a valid question, so please bear with me and I will address it. 

What is Considered a Reasonable Amount of Time To sell a home?

The reason I said "after a reasonable amount of time on the market" is because it takes a certain amount of time to sell any home.  It takes time for prospective buyers to find a home, shop the other homes on the market, drive the neighborhood and learn about the area, check into the schools, and finally, make a decision. 

So what is considered a reasonable amount of time to market and sell a home?  In Allen, it might be 45 days within Twin Creeks and 60 days in Watters Crossing depending on the time of year.  In Lucas, it might be 4-6 months.  On a million dollar plus home in Fairview or Parker, it might be 9 months to a year.  Every area, and even many subdivisions, have their own clocks, so there is no hard and fast rule. 

Problem #1

The property is overpriced at that particular point In time

I think most Realtors would agree if a home goes through an entire selling season (say late February through August) and doesn't sell, something is wrong.  But let's say a seller places their home on the market on November 1st.  Kids are already back in school and settled in.  All of the holidays in November and December are coming up.  The weather is usually working against them, the leaves are off the trees and the grass is brown so homes don't show as well, and people just generally have other things on their minds. 

At this time of year, the seller is probably hoping for an out of state transferee because they simply have to move.  Or it might be an "empty nester" who doesn't have kids to pull out of one school to move to another school.  It might even be buyers who have children in private schools and it doesn't matter where they live.  But other than this, there just aren't a lot of buyers circulating.  Realtors and sellers know their chances of selling their home at this time of year are going to be less than the peak summer months when buyers are out in droves.  The Realtor is sending the seller weekly updates letting them know that nothing has sold in their subdivision in weeks.  They aren't getting showings, much less any offers.  Does this mean their home is overpriced?  Or does it mean there just aren't any buyers out there? 

Remember, there is a buyer for every home at any time of year at the right price.  The seller might not like the price they will be getting for their home, but there is always a buyer out there at some price!  If that seller really wants to sell their home during the off season, they might have to make it more enticing by lowering the price enough to entice a buyer who is going to live in the home to make a move in the off-season.  There are always buyers who will inconvenience themselves if they know they are getting a great deal.  But if the seller has to sell quickly, the investor route may be the only way to go. 

An investor can usually close quickly, but this convenience comes at a considerable cost.  The investor is not going to give you market value for your home.  They have to make their money by buying low and selling high.  They are buying your home at wholesale with the hopes of selling it at retail.  The same thing a car dealer does on a trade-in.  You can be sure you will be leaving money on the table when you sell to an investor, but if you need a way out, they are out there. 

On the flip-side, we tend to work with sellers who are perfectly happy to price their homes at a fair market summer value even during the winter months in the event that a buyer comes along who really likes their home.  Although there are fewer buyers out in the winter, those buyers also have fewer homes to choose from.  Our sellers know full well they don't have to give their homes away in the winter because the peak Spring and Summer months are right around the corner.  They are patient and so are we.

Having said all this, there are times when a home is just plain overpriced for any season.  If our sellers have gone through a full winter season and we are nearing the end of the next Spring without some reasonable activity and interest, the market has spoken.  We know for a fact that the home is being seen from our website hits, Realtor.com hits, and physical showings.  We know the early bird buyers have seen the home by now.  The home has been on the market long enough for a conclusion to be made.  It becomes very difficult for us to blame the lack of activity on anything else but pricing. 

Problem #2

The Property Has Been Mis-marketed

This is an area we don't have problems with, but I will share with you exactly what the word "mis-marketed" means to us?  It means ...

• a flyer box with shoddy xeroxed flyers, a paragraph of text and room dimensions

• a beautiful home with many wonderful features and an agent who doesn't know how (or care to know how) to get the word out to the public about it

• a home sitting on a stale website

• a home sitting on a website with no traffic

• agents who don't take the time to understand their homes

• agents who don't take the time to understand the area where they are selling their homes

• agents who will not spend the money for a premier Internet marketing program

• agents who fail to take advantage of the Realtor.com add-on marketing (such as "featured listings" and upgrade packages) because of the cost

• agents who make no effort to capture traffic from Google (the most popular search engine in the WORLD)

• sloppy, grainy pictures of the home on the Multiple Listing Service

• sloppy, grainy pictures of the home on Realtor.com

• no safeguards against input errors on the MLS

• agents who don't return calls from the public

• agents who don't keep in contact with their seller with important feedback on their home

Problem #3

A Combination of #1 and #2 (The Kiss of Death)

If you were to ask me whether overpricing or mis-marketing is the more prevalent reason as to why a home hasn't sold after a lengthy time on the market, I would have to say it's a tossup.  If your home is severely over-priced, no marketing in the world is going to sell it. 

I have had sellers of overpriced homes ask "If someone really likes my home, why don't they just make an offer even though we are a long way apart?"  To begin with, most good Realtors are not going to waste their time with unrealistic sellers.  I know we don't, and our buyers are relying on us and our expertise on values.  In addition, I would say the great majority of buyers who don't practice real estate for a living are afraid a much lower offering will offend the seller (and quite often it will). 

If your home is mis-marketed, there is still a chance it could sell.  But if your home is both mis-marketed and overpriced, you have a real problem on your hands.  This is usually the Kiss of Death for a seller.

Tom Grisak Estate Homes Realtors, Inc - Texas License # 0329533

Your Realtors for Allentexas, Fairviewtexas, Lucastexas, McKinneytexas, Murphytexas, and Parkertexas 2-4-6