Having a home that is listed for a long time presents a number of different problems for a home seller. Least of all is the stress associated with having a long-term listing and not being able to move on with life. Most sellers will need to sell their homes before they can purchase another home and this presents difficulties if work has required a move and housing needs to be dealt with quickly. However you still want to sell your home for a decent profit and not get taken to the cleaners on the price. Price, in fact is usually the biggest factor when a home isn't selling quickly. One must ask themselves if the home was priced correctly? Usually a home is priced in accordance with comparable homes in the area that are currently listed or have recently been sold.
There are a variety of other reasons that home may not be selling. It can take a trained eye to spot them or sometimes they are fairly glaring things. One truth is that dirty or unkempt homes do not sell quickly. People like to see that the home they are buying is well taken care of. A feeling of neglect in respect to the home can speak of other areas of neglect that could adversely affect the opinions of buyers. If certain things have been neglected, then what else has been as well? This is the way buyers think and unfortunately it is sometimes unjustified, but opinion is opinion and that is hard to change. Make sure that you listen to any feedback that your realtor gives you about the home and change the things they suggest. Remember this is what they do for a living so their opinion should be valued.
Another unfortunate aspect of a long listing is the fact that a home gains a bit of a stigma just by being listed for a long time. Buyers and realtors alike start to wonder if there is something wrong with the home. Regardless if these is or is not, just the rumor that there could be can be a huge drawback to a sale. Selling a home is a tenuous game that relies heavily on the impression that a home makes when first listed and on a reasonable price for what is being offered. The last thing any home seller wants is to make a bad impression when their home is listed be it for improper pricing or problems with the home itself, something like this is hard to recover from.
Doug Jones is a longtime realtor specializing in San Diego real estate. Doug's experience and commitment to customer service have distinguished him as a top San Diego realtor and a wise choice when looking for homes in Southern California.
