The House Won’t Sell: Checklist to Get Your Listings SOLD

It’s something just about every real estate agent encounters at one point or another, and for some agents something that is more the norm than the odd rarity – the house or property that just won’t sell. Your sellers start getting exasperated, you keep dropping prices, you wait for weeks and don’t even get so much as a phone call. What’s going on?

Well, if you’re desperate, you’re ready to try anything, right? I haven’t read this, but it comes with a 100% Money Back Guarantee: How to Sell a House in 21 Days.

I’ve seen a huge transition in real estate sales over the past years, especially with a housing slump and technology moving quickly in the realm of the internet – and the most noticeable thing to me that is different from today’s market than when I first started in real estate is you can’t just list a house in the MLS and expect it to sell like you used to be able to.

All the time I hear agents say “I’ve tried everything to sell this house” – but usually there is always something they are missing, whether from not thinking it as vital or from sheer laziness. So, if you’re stuck sitting on listings that just won’t sell, I’ve chose to make this checklist to help you make sure you really did try just about all of it!

Call Your SOI: Agents anymore despise picking up the phone. But it’s something that is pretty simple to do and really makes a huge difference over the non personal twitter messages and emails. Call up everybody on your list of friends, family, leads, and aquaintances that you haven’t talked to in the last month – it’s a excellent habit to start to get more business anyway – and you never know if they might know someone interested in your property. Question your sellers if they have anyone they’d like you to call, too. More Cold Calling Tips Here

Post a Virtual Tour: Most sites now that buyers go online to search houses show virtual tours. And as more and more houses and properties start showing these, the more people are wanting to see them – and ignoring those listings without them. You don’t need a video camera or expensive equipment – they are plenty of virtual tour software companies out there that can use your photos.

Take New Photos: If you are showing pictures of a house covered in snow in June, or have pictures of a house that has green grass and flowers everywhere in the dead of winter, chances are people are going to just automatically assume the listing is ancient and therefore must be something “incorrect” with it. In addition to making sure the pictures are recent, try shooting from different angles and make sure the lighting is excellent.

Try Craigslist: More and more people are starting with Craigslist to look for a house in hopes of finding a deal or bargain. It’s simple to post a listing – just try to have a headline that stands out from the rest and be sure to link to your listing page online to that virtual tour and show pictures. It’s free, what the heck do you have to lose?

Use the Right Words: If your description in your ads looks like “3BR 2BA cer tile, carpet, lvl yd, close to schools etc” that’s not going to attract people as much as say, oh “Seller Concessions $2000″ and “Seller Paid Closing Costs” and “$3,000 Credit to Buyer” – which really sometimes work better psychologically than the desperate “Price Reduced!”

Say Other Agents: We all know other agents are the ones with buyers in most markets, so make sure they’re aware of your house. If your market is saturated with listings it is quite likely they may have not seen it. Have an agent open house (with some nice incentives to get them there!) or send out emails to your coworkers.

Triple Check the Price: Overpriced houses aren’t going to sell, we all know that’s the #1 rule. Forget about “but it has this that etc.” – take your sellers on a tour in that price range and question them which house they’d buy first and which ones seem like the best value. That’s the most effective way to get them to sink into reality without seeming like you’re just terrible at marketing.

Blast it all over the internet: Your listings should be everywhere online. Here’s a quick and simple test – type in your seller’s property address into search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Hopefully the first result is a link to your listing on either your own or your company’s website – with plenty more links to your listing from other sites like Realtor.com and others. If it doesn’t, then chances are you haven’t promoted it online enough. (See 43 Real Estate Listing Sites

Stage It: A house needs to be clean and it needs to be go-in ready. Hideous orange carpet from the 70′s, no matter how excellent of condition it may be in, is not “go-in ready”. You’ve seen the TV show Design to Sell, right? A bucket of paint might be all you need and a simple rearrangement of furniture. I know you can’t control your sellers, but again, take them on a tour and show them what else is available in their price range – it should be a excellent wake up call. If they’re struggling, suggest professional help – most areas have a wide array of home stagers, junk removal companies, professional organizers, etc. who can make it simpler for you both.

Have an Open House: People do still go to open houses – if you know how to do it right. If you don’t market your open houses effectively though yes, you’re going to have no-shows and a dull three hours. (See Get More Traffic at Your Open Houses)

Get Feedback: You are doing your sellers a fantastic injustice if you aren’t following up with every single person who views the home for feedback. You need to know if the wall paper is a turn off or the yard is too small or the street is too busy. Even if there are things you can’t change (ie: a busy street) you can do other things to make the home more attractive. For example, on a busy street, try to accentuate ample parking or if a yard seems too small try rearranging patio furniture or changing the fence. The more feedback you have, the better you are able to get a handle of why the house hasn’t sold yet – and DO something about that quickly.

Relist It: There’s no harm in relisting a house to show up again as a “new listing” – especially if you’ve made some major changes or improvements. A lot of agents won’t even realize it’s not really new, and it will also pop up for any agent who is automatically told of new listings as a reminder that it’s available. This doesn’t always work, but at least it gets you a somewhat fresh start.

Network, Network, Network: The more people who are aware that a house is available for sale, the more likely someone is going to be interested in it. Make sure all of your networking buddies are aware of it – you never know if that mortgage broker you got coffee with last month might have someone interested in that price range.

Hit Up Relocation: There’s a very excellent chance your buyer won’t be from the same area you have the home listed in. Start hitting up relocation agents and share it with anyone in areas that often frequently transfer to your area. You might even want to consider getting in touch with HR departments to see if they have anyone moving into the area.

Document Everything You Do and Convince Your Sellers You are Awesome: The worst thing in the world is to place a lot of time, effort, work, and even money into trying to sell a house, watch it sit on the market forever, and then the listing expires and you lose it. You need to be in touch with your sellers on a regular basis, give them updates, show the “proof” of what you’ve done, and keep them hopeful and realistic.

Don’t Take Crappy Listings: I had to add this one in here because of a recent discussion I had with some agents not too long ago. One agent was moaning and whining about how the house still hadn’t sold. I said, well of course not. You should have NEVER listed it in this condition. Don’t be desperate for a listing just because you want it and you hope it’ll sell. Be very clear that you want to sell their house quick and for the highest possible price – and that means only once it’s in excellent condition and has no major turn offs and is priced right will you list it. Your time and your money is valuable – don’t waste it trying to sell stuff you know when you step in the door isn’t going to sell. Sellers rarely change until their listing sits there for a year or expires. If they’re not willing to do what it takes in the beginning, don’t waste your time – try again after it expires after someone else agreed to list it overpriced and in terrible condition.

Well, that’s my two cents, I’d like to hear yours in the comments section below – what do you do to get a house that won’t sell to finally get an offer?

And, if after you’ve done ALL of these things, you still haven’t sold the house, well, then you’re ready for Saint Joseph statues, witch craft, and How to Sell a House in 21 Days. (disclaimer: i do not in anyway shape or form endorse or recommend the book – but it does come with a 100% guarantee and the title is dreadfully appealing, isn’t it?)