Why isn't my home selling?

There are several possible answers to this question but the most common is the price.  If your home is not selling, buyers think the value of your house is less than the price you want.

In an article by the National Association of REALTORS, the author Rick Hazeltine explains this in a little more detail.

“The economics that goes into the buying and selling process is relatively simple. Anything is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay and a seller willing to accept. This is the same whether it’s a pack of baseball cards or a $1 million house.

Although the economics may be simple, arriving at that magical price is difficult. Just think of the cost, time and energy that companies put into pricing a product so it succeeds in the marketplace. It’s no different in real estate.”

As a Seller, you want to make sure to do the research before putting your home on the market. “If you’ve taken the time to educate yourself on the local market and are diligent in hiring a professional agent, and are willing to listed to them, you can get a lot closer to the magic number. But you are setting yourself up for disaster if you don’t do your homework and go with what you “feel” your house is worth. Worse yet, is interviewing agents and choosing one solely because they say they can get you more than what the other agents think the house will sell for.”

NAR gives a list of some of the most common mistakes sellers make when setting a price:

Price based on need

What you want to make from selling your home means absolutely nothing to buyers or the marketplace. So setting a price based on what you want so you can retire, move up, start a business, etc. will almost certainly fail.

Price based on ego

"Your neighbor sold for $200,000 last year so you want $210,000 because you “know” your house is better." 


Nearly every owner thinks their house is the best on the block but unfortunately for sellers, your opinion doesn’t carry any weight with buyers.

Price based on greed

Even if it’s been shown that your house will likely sell for around $250,000, you want to list it at $275,000.  

The Solution: 

To get the price right. This is done by using what is called a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). A CMA breaks down the sales price of homes that are similar to yours in location, size, age and condition.

If you’ve hired the right agent, you would have seen this at your first meeting. Your agent will also consider the currently Active, recently Sold, and expired/withdrawn when preparing this CMA for you. The market is always changing and your agent should be updating your CMA whenever anything comparable to your property sells.

Not every reason your home isn’t selling will be the price. Here we have that value vs. price issue. If buyers perceive imperfections in your listing, they will want a discount.

Here are some of the most common reasons buyers are turned off by a particular house, so make sure these are addressed before lopping thousands of dollars off the asking price:

Put on a good show

This is the second biggest reason a home isn’t selling. Buyers often talk of “connecting” to a house. This is not likely to happen if your house is not ready to show like a model. This goes for the outside as well. The way your home looks when you live in your home and the way it looks when you sell are completely different. If you don’t want to put the effort into doing this, then you’d better adjust your price to compensate.

Can’t buy what they can’t see:  No showings = No offers

If you make it difficult for people to see your property, then chances of a sale at

the price you want drops considerably. 

Out of your hands

Sometimes the market changes and buyers disappear. There are many things that can affect whether your house sells, which means you need to consider the reasons and make the necessary adjustments.

The Solution:

It is imperative that sellers do everything they can to eliminate any issues buyers may have with their house before listing. Obviously, you can’t do anything about a bad location but you and your agent should have factored any drawbacks into the listing price.

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