Why Isn't My House Selling? What the Market Is Trying to Tell You

If your home has been on the market longer than you expected, you're probably asking yourself some hard questions. Is it the photos? The agent? The market? Should we just wait a little longer?

Mike Pillow from our team, who covers central Ohio from Apple Valley Lake to Columbus, opened one of our recent weekly training sessions with a line that stuck with me. Most homes don't fail to sell because they're overpriced. They fail to sell because the conversation about price happens six weeks too late.

That session was aimed at agents, but sellers deserve to hear it too. Here's how to tell what the market is saying about your home, and what to do about it.

The market changed, and buyers changed with it

For a few years, homes sold in days. There were multiple offers, escalation clauses, and very little negotiation. A lot of sellers still picture that market when they set their price.

Today's buyers have choices, and they've done their homework. Before they ever walk through your front door, they've compared your home to every other one on the market from the comfort of their couch. As Mike Pillow put it, one of the biggest mistakes sellers make is pricing based on yesterday's market while buyers are shopping in today's.

The market doesn't care what a home was worth last spring or what a neighbor got two years ago. It only reflects what buyers are willing to pay right now.

It almost always comes down to three things

When a home isn't selling, the cause is nearly always one of three things:

• Marketing. Are the right buyers seeing it, and does it look its best online?
• Condition. How does the home compare with others at the same price?
• Price. Does the number match what buyers see as the value?

Your agent controls the marketing and the pricing strategy. Condition is your call. A good agent will give you honest advice on repairs, updates, or staging, but you decide what to do. If the marketing is strong and the condition is competitive, price is usually what's left.

What buyers think when a home sits

When buyers see a home that's been on the market 60, 90, or 120 days, they start asking one question: what's wrong with it?

The longer a home sits, the less urgency buyers feel. Every week without an offer costs momentum, and momentum is hard to get back. The first few weeks on the market are when your home gets the most attention, so a price that misses in that window costs more than it seems.

"Let's wait a couple more weeks." For what?

This is one of the most common things sellers say, and it's understandable. Nobody wants to lower their price. But Mike Pillow asked a question every seller should think about: what exactly are we waiting for?

A buyer who will ignore every comparable sale? Interest rates dropping soon? The competition disappearing? Most of the time we're just hoping something changes. And hope isn't a strategy. Data is.

Read the numbers, not the feeling

Your listing is producing information every day. Here's how to read it:

• Lots of online views, few showings. Buyers are finding the home and deciding not to see it. That usually points to price, or to photos that don't match the price.
• Plenty of showings, no offers. Buyers are coming, comparing, and choosing something else. That's usually price or condition compared with the competition.
• Very few views at all. Look at the marketing first, and then at whether the price is filtering you out of buyers' searches.

Scott, an agent with 52 years in the business who joined our session, described showing a seller that roughly 1,500 people had looked at their home online in two weeks and none had asked to see it. Then he simply asked what they thought that meant. The numbers made the case far better than any opinion could.

Your updates matter, but not the way you might think

One of the hardest conversations is with a seller who has put serious money into the home. "We just spent $50,000 on updates."

Those updates can make a home more appealing and help it sell. But buyers don't pay for what you spent. They compare value against the other homes they can buy at that price. The market rewards perceived value, and it ignores emotional investment. That's frustrating, but knowing it up front saves a lot of heartache.

Keep your eye on why you're moving

Scott made a point I think every seller should hear. It's easy to get tunnel vision on the number and forget why you're selling in the first place.

Maybe you have a new job starting in another city on a specific date. Maybe you're moving closer to the grandkids. Say homes in your neighborhood are taking three months to sell, and yours has been on the market a month with one showing. Is holding out for a few thousand dollars worth missing the date that actually matters to you?

Your price is a tool for reaching your goal. It isn't the goal itself.

Price, time, and terms: you usually need two

Scott shared a rule from Floyd Wickman, a well known real estate trainer from years back. A sellable listing needs a yes on two out of three things: price, time, and terms.

If the price is above the market, you need either a lot of time or flexible terms to make up for it. If you don't have time and you can't offer unusual terms, the price has to be right. Creative terms, including seller financing, can help in some situations, but they come with real legal and financial considerations. Talk with an attorney before offering them.

What happens when the conversation gets put off

Here's the pattern agents see over and over. A home is overpriced, the seller won't adjust, the listing expires, and the next agent lists it at almost exactly the price the first agent recommended. Months are lost, and the home is now stale.

Scott told us about a seller who wouldn't consider the price range his research supported. That home has now been on the market for a year and a half with three different agents, and the price still hasn't come down to the top of the range Scott suggested at the start.

What you should expect from your agent

A good listing agent should talk with you about pricing strategy at the very first appointment, including what you'll do together if the market says the price missed. That way, a later adjustment isn't bad news. It's just the plan.

They should also stay in close touch, especially when things are slow. Mike Pillow talks with his sellers at least once a week, and several times a week when a home isn't moving. His rule is simple: if your seller is calling you to ask what's next, you're already too late.

If your home isn't selling in Northeast or central Ohio and you'd like a second opinion on what the market is telling you, our team is happy to take an honest look.

Want to hear the full conversation? Watch the full training session with Mike Pillow and Scott.

Mike Ferrante
The Mike Team at LPT Realty
www.21mike.com
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