Revisiting a past episode of Inside Real Estate: “Why aren’t buyers looking at my home?”
This is a question I get quite often from sellers who are experiencing little interest and very little traffic. The simple answer is, it is not a compelling offering in the marketplace. What do I mean by that?
Buyers get to decide what is compelling to them. Ten, twenty years ago, buyers went to see homes in person. That was their first showing. If they were interested, they would come back for a second look. Nowadays, with modern technology, the buyer’s first showing is online. They decide at that point whether they want to come see the house or not. If your home is not a compelling offering in the marketplace, buyers are not going to come out to look at it. In essence, buyers are voting with their feet. If it is not compelling, it is not selling.
The question then becomes, what is a compelling offering or a compelling value? It is several things.
Up-to-date fit and finish
For instance, right now modern homes are very much in demand. If the home is nicely upgraded with modern finishes, it will get a lot of attention.
Outstanding amenities
If you have outdoor kitchen and pool and outdoor living room, all the bedrooms are en suites, things like that, buyers find that compelling. Great location is always important. Privacy, views, all these things contribute to the property being a compelling offering. And if you are missing any of them, it is not as compelling to buyers.
Price
Price makes any property compelling if it is at the right price. If people are not coming to see your home and you have checked all of the boxes, it is likely an issue where the price is just perceived to be too high on the part of the buyers. This is not what most sellers want to hear, but price is simply the adjustment mechanism between supply and demand. If you have weak demand for your property at a given price, if you lower the price and reposition it in the marketplace, that will normally compel more buyers to come out to see it.
If people are not coming to look at your house, “what can I do as a seller?” That is a great question.
Number one, change the online photographs. Virtual-staging is also an option. Changing some of the furnishings, make them more modern or up-to-date.
This is the type of adjusted marketing that we do at the 680 Doug Buenz Group. We can change the front picture of the property, add an aerial view. To drive online viewers to come see the property, we can change something to make the pictures and the visualization of the property more compelling to homebuyers. It is, however, important to remember, $100,000 in marketing will not sell an overpriced listing.
Those are some of the factors that influence whether buyers come out to see a home or not.
If we can help you or anyone you know with their real estate needs, reach out to us at 925-785-7777 or at
680homes.com.
