Why Aren’t Buyers Coming to See Your Home? – Part Deux!

When I posted my first installment on answering the aforementioned question, I saw about four times more traffic in a short amount of time. Since I want my readers to know that I’m paying attention to their interests, let me hit you with my second answer to this popular question.

I’ve been known to answer questions with questions. This post will only support that reputation. You are wondering……Why Aren’t Buyers Coming to See Your Home?

Let me ask you a question. Is your home PRICED TO SELL?

Pricing your home is both an art and a science. Achieving the optimal price is the result of conducting OBJECTIVE research into comparable properties and a gut feeling about your property in relation to the current market. If you gut isn’t giving you the desired result, go and look at your competition.

Visit homes for sale in your neighborhood and analyze their asking price. If you home doesn’t show as well as your neighbors’ or isn’t priced as aggressively as your neighbors’, you might want to reconsider your asking price.

Price is the number one factor that most home buyers use to determine which homes they want to view. Furthermore, most Accredited Buyer Representatives will limit a buyer’s home search and their showings by analyzing the blend of price and value that is desired by their buyer client.

Even though the PRICE of the home is set by the homeowner, the VALUE of the house is determined by the buyer through influence from their research or from a real estate professional. (Note…I purposely used home and house in the same sentence.)

Attention Homeowners………..Try to avoid allowing your enthusiasm to impact your better judgment. Overpricing is a mistake that can cost sellers thousands of dollars.

As a proud member of the Council of Certified Residential Specialists, we would like to share some reliable guidelines to use for pricing your home……

FACTORS THAT SHOULD AFFECT YOUR ASKING PRICE INCLUDE......

• How Quickly Do You Need To Sell (click here for examples of recent sales)


• The number of homes on the market in your neighborhood or immediate area


• Availability, Flexibility and Affordability of Financing


• Sale prices of homes sold in your neighborhood/area during the past six months.

Factors that should NOT affect your asking price include..........

• Your purchase price for the home. Remember........Buyers Set Value!


• Today's cost to build your current home.


• Your emotional attachment to the HOME. (It's a HOUSE to the buyer.)


• The opinions of friends and neighbors....UNLESS that neighbor is a member of the Council of Certified Residential Specialists.

In Part Three of this series, I might give you some video for your viewing pleasure.

STAY TUNED!

Why Aren’t Buyers Coming to See Your Home?

In previous posts, I’ve discussed some common questions that are asked by First Time Home Buyers.

In this post, I’d like to address one of the most common Home Seller Questions.

Let me set the scene. (Dim the lights. Clear Your Mind. Focus on My Words.)

You have been trying to sell your home for more than 60 days with ZERO SUCCESS! As a matter of fact, you’ve only had about 8-10 buyers visit during this period of time.

You begin to Google information about ways to sell your home with the following question in mind…

Why aren’t buyers coming to see my home?

Let me answer that question with a question.

If buyers aren’t aware about your home being available for sale, what is going to make them interested in seeing it?

For those of you that listed your home with a real estate agent, you probably experienced a listing presentation. Let me see if I can recreate that event for you.


Mr. & Mrs. Seller,

MLS (MULTIPLE LISTING SYSTEM) IS A SYSTEM THAT REAL ESTATE AGENTS USE TO PUT A SELLER’S HOME ON THE MARKET. WHEN YOU ARE LISTING WITH A REAL ESTATE AGENT, YOUR HOME GOES ON MLS SO THAT IT IS SEEN BY EVERYONE!! THERE IS ALSO A SIGN THAT WE PUT IN YOUR YARD THAT TELLS NOT ONLY YOUR NEIGHBORS THAT YOU ARE SELLING YOUR HOME BUT EVERYONE THAT DRIVES BY. WHEN YOU LIST WITH (depending on your experience – you may choose to insert your past or current real estate agent’s name here) I WILL PUT YOUR PROPERTY IN THE NEWSPAPER AND A REAL ESTATE MAGAZINE AS WELL.


Did I come close?

If you are in the process of selling your home in Columbia or Irmo, SC, there are two pieces of information that are vital to your success.

1. In South Carolina, we have a document called the Seller's Property Condition Disclosure Statement. As required by South Carolina law, the Seller must provide the Purchaser this disclosure PRIOR to the acceptance of the Contract of Sale.

2. 86% of home buyers started using the Internet as part of their process BEFORE they started looking for a specific home; the other 14% did after they started looking.

Is it a good thing to have your home in MLS. Yes! However, your home is BURIED with everyone else’s home in MLS! Do you want to be part of the masses or do you want to stand alone to be recognized by the world?

If your are selling your home through a FSBO Strategy or through a listing agent that does not have PERSONAL CONTROL of at least five websites, you might not be getting enough exposure to your home.

Patterson Group Clients have experienced great success in selling their home through our online and viral marketing systems.

Here are some of our success stories and one of many testimonials –


Snow Lane - Sold in 34 Days
Saddlebrooke Road - Sold in 30 Days
Orangeburg Drive - Sold in 22 Days
Cressfell Circle – Sold in Less Than 21 Days
Windsor Point Road - Sold in 15 Days
Curlew Avenue – Sold in 10 Days
Legend Oaks Drive – Sold in 9 Days
Morninglo Lane – Sold in 4 Days

'Patterson Group provides excellent service. Everything was done that could be and was done in a timely, professional manner. Even Mark Thomas (Closing Attorney) did and adequate and wonderful job. Thanks to Patterson Group for changing our negative feelings about buying/selling a home. YOU GUYS WERE AWESOME!' -- SSG Jarrett C. Vandi - US Army


If you would like to discuss the sale of your home, please feel free to call or email me and schedule an appointment to meet at my Forest Acres office.

I look forward to hearing from you soon. P.S. -- Click Here for Part Two of this Series!