You had high hopes of quickly selling your home at a good price. You went through the time and effort to prepare your home and put it up for sale. But after months of waiting for a solid buyer, your listing expired. Now you are disappointed and frustrated.

If the above story speaks to you, then do not despair; we can help you. (On the other hand, if you’re not sure what it means for a listing to expire, check out our article here: A home buyer’s guide on property listings.) Before deciding to relist your home, it is vital for you first to examine why your listing failed. Doing this will help you make better decisions when relisting. 

An expired listing reflects at least one or more of three main problems. The price of your home, the condition of your home, or a poor marketing plan.

1. The price of your home

Is your home correctly priced? 

You may have heard this before – wrongly priced homes are the number one reason for expired listing. Many sellers have unrealistic expectations when setting the price of their home. A wrongly priced home will attract the wrong buyers or no buyers at all. Even if the house is priced just a little too high, you may still have buyers walk through your home. But the truth is that you will struggle to get serious offers. 

If you decide to relist your home, it is advisable to set the price of your home right. The best way to do this is to set it close to what similar properties around your area recently sold for. This will give you an edge over the overpriced listings still in the market.

An experienced real estate agent can search the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a database containing data of sold homes and homes for sale, for “comparable” properties, sometimes called comparables, in an effort to find an appropriate price range for your home. This agent will provide you with a report called a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). A CMA contains the market assessment of what competing properties sold for. Remember, when you sell your home, you are competing with other sellers.

People who buy homes aren’t shopping for a house based on how you felt about it. They are shopping just like they shop at the store. They are looking for the lowest priced home that meets their criteria. For most buyers, shopping for a home is not much different from shopping for food, but with higher stakes.

It can be hard to let go of the sentimental value you have placed upon your home. After all, you have spent years experiencing memories in your home that are special and sacred to you. You’ve had ups and downs, great times, and hard times. And now, you are facing the decision to walk away and start over in a new home and neighborhood.

When selling your home, you should remember that you are now at the mercy of the market. And the market doesn’t care about those memories you have in your home. It might seem harsh, but this is the truth; if your home’s price tag is inflated, you will have a hard time finding a buyer who will see its true value.

If your price is right, you will get offers for your property, even without an excellent buyer pool. The definition of “right” depends mostly on the market situation, the prices and characteristics of similar houses around you, and… yes, your home’s condition. 

2. The condition of your home

What is the first thing that comes into the mind of a buyer when they step into your home?

Is it “I will have to do a lot of remodeling here,” or “This could be my dream home”?

The condition of your home can close your sale faster than even the price. Many buyers make a decision to buy your home within the first 3 seconds of walking through the door. Most of the time, when a buyer reaches this stage of the process, the decision becomes an emotional one. When a buyer sees a home that requires little renovations, they become more enthusiastic about buying it. Properly staging your home (a process of arranging furniture and decor in an aesthetically appealing way) will help maximize the emotional impact by allowing buyers to picture how they can make your home their own. 

Also, your home has to always be clean during inspections. For example, imagine a buyer walks through the door and smells cat urine or sees stains on the carpet. The immediate thought that would go through their mind will be, “I’m not sure about this place.” It doesn’t matter if the property matches their criteria exactly and is a better price than anything on the market. If they walk in the door and are hit with a negative emotional experience, you will immediately lose buyers. Even worse, if the potential buyer has a pet allergy. They might not even be willing to walk through your home at all if they discover that a pet has lived there!

Therefore, ensure you do the necessary repairs before relisting, and be sure to have your home professionally staged, because staged houses in like-new condition that create a positive emotional impact on potential buyers always sell faster than homes that are not as well prepared. 

If you can’t commit financially to the renovations required of your home and need to sell fast, it is best to contact us. As an investor, we can buy your house as-is, to save you the trouble and stress of having to do the extensive repairs needed. If you’re not sure if selling to an investor is right for you, check out our article here: “Is selling my house to an investor a good idea?” 

3. Poor marketing plan

A good marketing plan can make the difference between a closed sale and an expired listing. It is not enough to set the price right or have your home in terrific condition alone. You also need a large buyer pool, and that requires good marketing. There are several techniques that allow you to maximize the power of your marketing:

1. Perform any required home renovations. (e.g., new carpet or paint to create an extra “wow” factor)
2. Professionally stage your home (we can help with this)
3. Use professional multi-layer photography, drone aerial photography, and virtual reality tours
4. Use AI-driven online marketing and automation that puts your property in front of all the right buyers

The first step to take as you relist your home for sale is to identify the current real estate market. Making a marketing plan is easy once you know just how competitive the market is. Next, you should adopt unique marketing strategies to catch attention and give your listing an extra edge. A savvy real estate agent can help you with all of these things. 

For example, you may have taken great pictures of your home during your initial list, but how about adding photos or videos of what your home looks like at night when illuminated by outdoor lighting? Did you ever consider that? 

After price and renovations, the secret to having a successful sale is putting together a well-thought marketing plan. This plan will help you attract a wide pool of prospective buyers.

Let Bost Redevelopment handle your expired listing problem

We understand you may feel demotivated or frustrated by being unable to sell your home. At Bost Redevelopment, we are experts at handling every home selling problem you may be facing. We will provide a no-cost assessment to help you learn what options are available for you in order to get the best outcome from your situation.

In addition to our marketing expertise, the seamless experience we provide, and our highly knowledgeable team, what truly makes working with us worth your while is that we hold ourselves to the highest standards of ethics, accountability, and transparency. 

Be sure to consult Bost Redevelopment before you begin the process of preparing your home for the market. Whether you need to sell your home quickly, or you’re selling a home that needs some TLC, or you just want to have a better experience throughout the process, Bost Redevelopment will save you time, effort, and sanity from start to finish.