Marketing: What Works Best?
The 2 primary factors that determine if and when your home will sell are Exposure and Price. Exposure that counts is exposure that reaches buyers who are the most willing, ready, and able to buy. Setting the right price is crucial because under-pricing is like giving money away, and over-pricing is just a waste of time because nobody buys over-priced homes.
The best possible exposure is MLS and websites that display MLS listings. This is where the vast majority of buyers are looking for homes, and where the buyers are the most ready, willing, and able to buy. MLS and public MLS websites ARE the real estate market. FSBO websites tend to attract investors looking for a steal and buyers looking for owner financing.
National home prices forecast shrink
National home prices are forecast to shrink another 11%. That’s tough news for Miami, Las Vegas and Phoenix, reported to record steep declines, but a few cities will actually post gains.
If you thought home prices were bottoming out, you may be wrong. They’re expected to head a lot lower. Home values are predicted to drop in 342 out of 381 markets during the next year, according to a new forecast of real estate prices.
Why has my home not sold?
There are many reasons homes don’t sell. If you’ve had your home on the market for several months and haven’t seen much activity or any offers, chances are that one or more of the reasons below are to blame.
1. Your price is too high
No doubt about it, the most common reason for a home not selling is that the asking price has been set too high. The reasons for setting your price too high to begin with are many. Ranging from over enthusiastic listing agents to unrealistic seller expectations. Regardless of the reason though, if you’ve priced your home too high, you’ve set yourself up for a number of obstacles to selling your home. Even if you do get an offer for the overly high asking price, the deal may fall apart before closing because the buyer may have problems financing at too high a price. Look at other homes for sale, ones as similar and as close to yours as possible. If they are going for less than you are asking, you may be priced too high. The fact is, your home is competing against those other homes, and what buyers are willing to pay is what will determine final sales prices.
2. Very little or NO Internet marketing of your home
According to The National Association of Realtors more than 75% of all home buyers start their search on the Internet before contacting a real estate agent. What’s interesting is that while 85% of home buyers are shopping for homes on the Internet, many agents don’t spend the money to market their listings online. They don’t post multiple pictures of your home to attract buyers. Buyer shopping online want photos and information! Require any agent you list your home with in the future to post multiple photos of your home on Realtor.com and the Internet.
Ten tips to sell on your own
If you ask anyone who has ever tried to sell their home themselves, they’ll tell you that from the moment the “For Sale by Owner” sign goes up, the phone begins to ring. Unfortunately, many of those calls will not be from prospective buyers, but rather from real estate agents looking to obtain your listing. Obviously the idea of not having to pay a commission to a real estate agent is attractive to any home seller. But because of all the issues involved in the process, selling a home on one’s own can be challenging.
The key is to be properly prepared. If you are not, your home could remain on the market longer than you expect because you are not attracting and getting offers from qualified buyers. This can be a point where many homeowners become frustrated and consider giving up their dream of selling their home themselves. However, there are sellers who accomplish selling their own homes, very well. You can be one of them.
Pricing your home: What's it worth?
In these economic times, pricing your home right from the start could make a huge difference in the amount of showings, interest, and offers you’ll get.
The survey found that 63 percent of home owners believe the price their practitioner recommended is too low. About 45 percent of sellers think prices should be 20 percent to 30 percent higher, while 14 percent believe their home should be priced a whopping 30 percent higher.