You put your house on the market and you expected the offers to start rolling in… but they didn’t. Or maybe you accepted an offer but it fell through in escrow. When you’re ready to move but you can’t find a buyer, frustration sets in fast. What are you supposed to do when your house is not selling? Here are five ideas.
1. Lower the Price
The most common and simple way to earn new interest in your property is by lowering the price. Do an honest check of comparable properties in the neighborhood to see where you stand. Sometimes after we repaint our living room and replace our appliances we overestimate how much value we’ve actually added. A good real estate agent should be able to suggest a realistic listing price — but it’s always possible you listed your house too high. Take your home off the market for a few weeks and then relist it at a new, more appealing, price to see if you can find an excited buyer.
2. Give Your Home a Makeover
Maybe everyone doesn’t love your lime green bathroom as much as you do. If you didn’t take your agent’s staging suggestions seriously the first time around, now is the time to revisit the notion. Or, if you already did some staging and redecorating, do an inventory of what you missed. Did you spend a pretty penny refinishing the kitchen cabinets but neglect the front yard? If people don’t like what they see from the street they’ll never make it in the front door. Repaint the rooms a neutral color, mow your lawn and plant some new flowers, and pack away the knick-knacks on your book shelves. These simple changes could be all it takes to solve the problem of your unsold home.
3. Offer Rent to Own
Just because you can’t find a buyer doesn’t mean you can’t move. Consider opening your mind to rent to own schemes. This means a potential buyer can rent from you for a few years, and you agree to put that money toward their down payment for an eventual purchase. This can help an interested buyer who can’t get home loan funding right now, and it helps you cover the carrying costs of the property. Plus, you still get to move even though you couldn’t find a buyer. If you can afford to find a new place without pulling the equity out of your property, rent to own could be the right savvy solution.
4. Switch to a New Agent
If your house is not selling, you need to ask yourself if your real estate agent is a good fit. Are they devoting enough energy to marketing your property? Do they hold open houses? Are they knowledgeable about your Sacramento neighborhood? The problem might not be your home, but rather an agent that is too busy to devote the time and energy you need to find the right buyer. Consider switching agents — focusing on using an agent who has had recent success selling a home like yours within a few miles of your address.
5. Try Selling Another Way
Finally, if you’re really hitting a wall, it might be time to consider a totally new selling strategy! Selling your home as the owner can yield some positive results — and you cut out those stiff agent commissions. When you sell your home to an investor like California Family Homebuyers, you don’t have to wait for a 45-day escrow to clear, either. We make you a fair all-cash offer, and you might close as soon as seven days. We buy homes in all sorts of conditions, so don’t worry about fixing your fridge or stress out about that dead tree in your back yard. We’ll take care of it all once we take possession of the home. Selling to an investor can be a smart way to quickly sell a home that has some issues or is nearing foreclosure.
If your Sacramento area house is not selling and you’re starting to lose sleep, give us a call at 916-496-3737 today! If we agree to buy your property, you can choose the closing date and we’ll pay all the closing costs.