Thread: Listed since April and no offers

Originally Posted by ithaca

Besides taking a Huge loss by selling low, what can I do to sell my house? I have it listed with a realtor, it shows well, is move in ready, but is close to a major road in the countryside. A few potential buyers turned away due to location. Do I wait it out? More possibility in the Fall? Take it off the listing and list it myself in the Spring (at lower price, since I will save on half the commission)? I bought it for $150K, put about 22K into improvements, and have brought the price down from $178 to $169,900. Looking for expert opinions since all I'm told is either sell low to get attention or wait for the right buyer.

Let's see, I've been fully exposed to the market and the market has chosen to go elsewhere, it must be the market that doesn't understand.

Ask your agent to recomp it. Overpricing it compared to other active & sold listings could be the problem. The 4 Magic Factors that influence a home selling are Price, Condition, Location and Marketing.

When a Denver home owner lists his home for sale with our company, we review two basic facts:

1. PRICE. We assess the current market value of the house. The current market value is not related to the price the seller originally paid. (The current market value might be significantly higher or lower than the original price paid by the seller.) We also do not factor in the amount of improvements made by the current seller. Most improvements (such as replacing worn carpet with new carpet, or old countertops with new countertops) are actually routine "maintenance" items.

2. CONDITION. The home might be exceptionally nice, but if noise from the busy road prohibits conversation in the front or backyard, or disturbs one's sense of privacy, most buyers will choose a different home. If there are 30 homes for sale in your neighborhood and 3 homes are sold each month, then your neighborhood has a 10 month absorption rate. Whenever a large inventory of homes is available, those with locational disadvantages go unsold.

At this price point (below $200,000), a drop in price will not have a significant effect upon the motivations of potential Denver homebuyers. Keep in mind that $1,000 amortized on a 5.5% 30 year loan is $5.67 per month. In other words, if you drop the price $5,000, the buyers will only save $28.35 per month. That's not enough savings to compensate for the busy road. Most folks are willing to pay $1 per day to have a quiet home located away from traffic.

If you were a Denver home seller, we would advise you to price your home according to its current market value and we would review the showing condition of the property with a professional home stager. We would also ensure your home was advertised as widely as possible to the Denver real estate market.

The only way to compensate for location is with the price. The reason why you keep hearing about the price is because it is the thing that matters the most and the only thing you can do to make up for the location.

Lower your price.

Price is your issue. Selling it yourself may end up costing you more in the long run if you are able to sell it at all.

Well, you are really fortunate if you sell and only lose this much. Most sellers, in Arizona are losing 6 figures on their homes and many are just walking away. I wouldn't recommend selling any home yourself even if you were a licensed realtor. There is too much liability.