You've had it! Enough is enough.
Your home's been on the market way longer than you expected and it still hasn't sold.
You had some showings at the beginning. But after the first couple of weeks, the showings dropped off to almost zero.
You have a showing here and there, still. But nobody has come back for a second look. And nobody has even made an offer. Don't they know your price is negotiable? (I mean, you don't want them low-balling you...but if they like the house, they should at least make an offer, right?)
And, you know other houses on the market are getting tons of showings. In fact, someone you knew got their home sold in the first week. Multiple offers! Over asking price! Annnnd...their house wasn't nearly as good as yours. That's why they were asking less than you are.
This sound anything like how you feel?
Maybe your agent isn't doing a good enough job.
You're probably wondering if your agent is doing a good enough job.
Your agent hasn't brought one of their own buyers through the house.
Heck, nobody from their office has shown the house!
Probably because they're not advertising enough...
And they really haven't held enough open houses...
Are they saying the right things to other agents and their buyers? Pointing out all of the features of the home? Saying what he should to get them to make an offer?
This house practically sells itself, if they'd just get people to come in and see it.
And every time you bring any of this up, alllll your agent does is push you to lower your price.
You're thinking about firing your agent...or just giving up altogether.
Maybe you should. But, before you do...take this objective opinion.
Maybe your agent is right.
Maybe you should listen and reduce your price.
There's a lot of reasons a home might not sell. More than we will get into here.
But the biggest, most common reason a house doesn't sell is because a homeowner has chosen to price their home too high. There. I said it. Not your agent. Somebody that has nothing to do with your home or the sale of it.
If a house is priced appropriately within the current market, it should sell within a reasonable timeframe.
No amount of advertising, marketing, salesmanship, open houses, or Internet exposure will sell an overpriced home.
Don't feel bad. People do this all the time.
But most people get frustrated. They resist lowering their price. And they start blaming the agent, the marketing, or whatever else for the problem.
Then they decide to either fire their agent, or just let their listing contract expire, so they can hire another agent.
When they do, the next agent gets them to lower their price. Sometimes right away. Sometimes not too far along the way.
And they eventually realize that they should've just lowered their price with the first agent. They realize they shouldn't have waited so long and wasted so much time.
And their first agent has nothing to show for it, other than a feeling of, "I told you so...", which doesn't pay any bills, or put food on the table.
So, before you go and fire your agent, please take a moment to think about whether or not your price is the reason why your home isn't selling.
Then why did they let you believe it could sell for more?
You might wonder why your agent would have given you any hope that your house could sell for as much as you are asking.
You might wonder why they let you list for as much as you did, if they were only going to push you to lower your price anyway.
Fair enough.
Even within the industry, agents complain about other agents "letting" homeowners list their homes for too high of a price. Brokers, managers, other agents, and real estate trainers alike, will all say that no agent should ever take an overpriced listing. That an agent should refuse to list a home if the owner doesn't want to list for a reasonable price.
By the same token, some people within the industry will say it's OK to do so...as long as you get the owner to agree up front to lower the price after a period of time.
And yet others still will argue that it's better to just take a listing, even if it is overpriced, and gradually get the homeowner to agree to lower the price. Basically...an owner will eventually be motivated enough to "see the light".
All of those perspectives are valid to some degree.
It isn't necessarily that some agents are out there trying to trick you (or anyone else) into believing that their home is worth more than it is, just to get business. Most are just being agreeable with homeowners...
... because another thing agents are told is that the homeowner is the one who chooses how much to price their home for. Not the agent.
And, if we're being honest, there's some amount of truth to an agent "just trying to get business". But it isn't with any bad intention.
The fact is, it's hard for most agents to get enough business. So, when they have a chance at listing a home, it's just downright hard for them to put their foot down and say "Nope, ain't gonna do it. If you insist on listing your house for more than my market analysis says, and I suggest, you need to find another agent to list your home."
It's a tangled web we weave, and there's a lot more spiders weaving it than just one agent and one homeowner. It's the pressure of the industry itself. It's the realities of the relationship between owner and agent.
Nobody is doing anything "wrong"...but a lot of people tend to not do things "right", at least not right out of the gate.
So here's what you should do...
You should give your agent a heart attack. Reach out and say that you've been thinking. And the more you've thought about it, the more you think that the reason your house isn't selling is because it's priced too high.
Even if your agent hasn't said that is the problem.
A good agent isn't going to push you to lower your price if it isn't warranted.
There's a saying in real estate that goes something like this...
Price isn't always the problem, but it's always the solution. OK, so here's what you should do, if your house isn't selling as quickly as you would like it to.
- Assure your agent that you're in it for the long haul with him/her. They need to feel like you will be patient and give them the time it takes. This is an important step.
- Next, talk with them about whether your price really is the problem or not. It might just be that the market is slow. If nothing else is selling in the price range, then maybe it's nothing more than supply and demand. Not much you or your agent can do about that, other than be patient.
- However, if other houses are selling in the price range, it probably is an issue of your house being priced too high. At least against the other options buyers have to choose from.
- If your home is priced well in the market, and justifiably against recent sales, and you just can't be patient... Then, as the saying goes, price is always a solution. You can always lower your price to a point where someone will buy it.
Hopefully hearing all of this from someone who isn't directly involved with the sale of your home helps. Now go reach out to your agent and surprise the heck out of him/her. You'll be surprised at how much better your relationship becomes when you can chat about this calmly and objectively. The whole blame game just doesn't work well, and it usually isn't the problem anyway.
