Selling a home is believed to be one of the most stressful experiences that you can go through in your adult life. It’s not hard to figure out why this is. After all, selling a home will mean packing up everything and making sure that you don’t forget anything. It’s not just about uprooting your property, you’ll be uprooting your life and moving to a completely different place. It’s a fresh chapter and this is going to be daunting as well as exciting. If you don’t get this right, it could be quite messy as well and you might end up in a situation where you are struggling to hit the right marks with your home sale.
Essentially, it is possible for your home to get stuck on the market and not sell for months or even more than a year. To avoid this scenario, you need to understand why it happens and what you can do about it.
A Bad Market
Before we look at the reasons that your home might not sell that you can address, it’s worth exploring the problems that are beyond your control. For instance, you might find that you are dealing with a bad market. The problem with a bad market is that you’ll have no choice but to wait until things improve. You’ll need to decide whether to keep it on the market or take it off and try again at another time.
The Wrong Estate Agent
Next, you should think about your estate agent. Believe it or not, your choice of estate agent can have a huge impact on whether or not your home does sell and sells at the right price. An estate agent has the power to either make buyers feel at home or turn them off completely. Be aware that some estate agents leave the interactions in your hands. This isn’t always a bad idea as a lot of buyers are interested in meeting and speaking to the previous owner of the property before they buy.
Problems With The Area
It’s also possible that there are problems with the area that your home is in. For instance, you might find that there are issues with the surrounding neighbourhood. Buyers are always going to look into this a lot before they commit to a purchase. If there are problems with the neighbourhood then you’ll have two options. You can wait for the situation to improve. Or, you can lower the price of the home so that it counteracts the issues with the neighbourhood that a buyer might have discovered when completing their research.
Poor Outside Presentation
You might find that there are problems with the presentation of your property. This is an issue that you can address and that can be fixed. The exterior of your home will make up the first impression that buyers receive of your property. You need to make sure that there are no problems here. You should think about speaking to a landscaper about the best ways to improve your garden and ensure that it does look incredible. There are always going to be choices here that could work well for you and that won’t exceed the budget that you are working with.
Issues With The Interior
It is possible that there are issues with the interior of your property. A lot of people falsely assume that the interior of your property doesn’t matter. This is always going to be a mistake. The reality is that your interior can have a huge impact on whether a buyer decides to commit to a purchase. That’s why it’s worth getting rid of some of the excess furniture and potentially using a staging service. You can explore a mobile self storage solution to ensure that your stager isn’t working with an already cluttered space.
Wear And Tear
You might find that your home has seen significant levels of wear and tear over the years. If that’s the case, then you should definitely think about completing the right fixes before you put your property on the market. If you don’t do this, then there’s always the possibility that your home is going to be seen as a fixer upper. This is going to severely limit the asking price that you can put on your property. A few DIY repairs can do wonders for your home’s perceived value.
Bad Neighbours
It is possible that buyers are turned off by your neighbours. If your neighbours are the stuff of nightmares then they could obliterate your chances of a successful sale and that’s the last thing that you want. The problem with this is that it might not seem that there’s much that you can do to correct the situation. But there are going to be steps worth taking here.
For instance, you might want to think about speaking to your neighbours. If they play ball then you’ll be able to move faster and they might love this idea.
No Unique Feature
When you sell your home, there are always going to be other properties on the market that are similar to yours and in the same area. A big risk here is that you miss out on a great buyer because they choose the home down the street. To avoid this issue, you need to make sure that you do add a unique feature to your property. This is going to be something that perfectly separates your home from the rest and it can be anything. A 360 degree fireplace is definitely enough to get people talking and could help you secure that perfect home sale.
An Outdated Home
When you buy your home, it’s important to make sure that you are constantly upgrading it with the right changes. Essentially, you need to work to guarantee that your home feels fresh and modern. If you don’t do this, then you’re going to struggle to get the right level of interest from modern buyers. There are certain areas of your home that are going to matter here more than others. For instance, it’s essential that your kitchen looks modern. Don’t forget, making the right changes to a space like this can add as much as 25% onto the asking value of your home.
Cramped And Cluttered
Finally, it’s possible that your home does seem cramped and cluttered. If that’s the case, then it’s always going to be difficult to sell your home at the price that you want. There’s nothing people hate more when buying a home than a property that isn’t giving them enough space. As such, you need to make sure that you are creating the illusion of more space. There are various ways that you can do this.
For instance, you might want to think about exploring options such as additional storage solutions. Hidden storage is a particularly smart choice because you can clean up the clutter and free up some of the floor space around your home.
We hope this helps you understand some of the key reasons that a home can get stuck on the market and why this is such a significant issue. The good news is that it’s not that difficult to correct the problems here. You just need to make sure that you do prepare your home the right way before you start to even think about the sale. You should also think about approaching your home from a buyer’s perspective. You need to make sure that you understand how they are going to see your home.