HELP – I have not had a showing in 21 Days!

Showing

You have taken the time to sell your property privately. You took photos, filled out the listing forms, and have it live on the MLS ® .  But now you have one major problem – your house has not gotten a single showing.

You can not afford to have your property sit on the market too long, you need to take action now.

This is a common issue for private sellers.  Not knowing what steps to take to attract buyers after the initial live posting of your property.

This article will go over some important steps to consider after you have been ghosted by buyers your first month of listing.

 

You Are Priced Too High

Yes, you read that right. You are priced too high.  Before you get angry and email me, please ask yourself if you took the time to accurately price your property? Did you find comparables close by that sold within the past 3 months? Did you accurately value your property or did you calculate a dollar for dollar return on that garage you put up 8 years ago?

Pricing your property is one of the most challenging aspects of selling privately. For a bit of guidance check out Air Realty’s How to Price your Property guide.

 

How Do Your Photos Look?

Buyer’s first impressions are going to be through the photos you has posted for your listing.  This is their “online open house” and a way for you to showcase the property you are selling. How do your photos look? Were they taken on the first blackberry smartphone, or are they clear, straight and bright? If the photos aren’t wowing anyone you may want to consider bring in a professional photographer to snap the shots for your listing.

 

Know Your Market

Having an understanding of your market may help ease your fears. We don’t all live in hot markets the news is always talking about, like Toronto and Vancouver.  If the average list time for properties in your area is 3 months, you may have nothing to worry about. Reassess after your property passes the average listing time.

 

Are You Offering a Co-op Commission?

Are you offering a commission to the buyer’s brokerage? Which basically means, are you paying the other agent? Agents will check what the cooperating commission is prior to bringing their buyers around, especially on an Air Listing (Mere Posting). If you have left this blank on your listing form you can always update it. This can be a percentage of the purchase price such as 2.5% or a flat fee like $5,000.  

Regardless what you state on the listing cut this is always negotiable (even when selling conventionally). The buyer agent will confirm this amount with a Fee Agreement that they will have you sign.

 

 

Conclusion

If you haven’t had any bites in your first 21 days of listing, do not panic. Just make some adjustments to your listing to try and appeal to your markets buyers.

I would start by address the following 3 issues discussed above:

  • Price
  • Photos
  • Co-operating Commission

If you have any questions you can always reach out to me (Josh) by emailing info@airrealty.ca