Showings-25, Offers-0: Your Home’s Scorecard on the Market © 2013 by Wayne D. Lewis, Sr.

It used to be exciting when your Realtor used to call you, as the seller of a home on the market, to announce that potential buyers would be coming by to see your home.  As sellers, you would more than likely abide by the Realtor’s request to take a walk, or go to the store for a couple of hours while potential buyers would visit your home.  What has become a common response from your Realtor is: No offers.  After 10 or more showings, as a seller, you decide to just sit in the backyard, or maybe go next door until the potential visitors (no longer considered buyers) leave.  What are your options?

First of all, always consult with your designated agent for their feedback.  If anyone is going to have a true snapshot of what buyers see or don’t see, it will be your real estate professional.  Expect to be told the truth about buyers are not comfortable regarding your home.  And then, prepare to take positive action to attract a qualified buyer.

Your Realtor will more than likely make several suggestions to help you sell your home, but it will always be up to you to make the best possible decision.  Here are some suggestions that your Realtor is likely to make:

1. Reduce the price
2. De-clutter your home.
3. Repair or offer to repair an appliance or item that maybe crucial to a potential buyer’s decision
4. Offer to pay 1^st month’s mortgage, 1 year of Homeowner’s insurance, or 1 year of flood insurance (where allowable)
5. Check the outside of your home for detractors such as a disabled car on blocks, an overgrown garden, a garage that has a non-working garage door (repairing should be considered)
6. Or, any combination of the above
7. Check with your Realtor for more advice

The point is that, when you have shown your house more times than you can count, it’s a good bet that you are so close to the reason why it isn't selling that you can smell it.  But as a homeowner, you have to divest yourself from being the homeowner, to being the home buyer.  Look at your home objectively.  Try to remember what you expected when you first bought your home.  Once you do that, then you’ll understand that selling your home can be better accomplished if you focus on those things that appealed to you the moment you walked through the door.

It should not take 25 showings to sell your home if it is properly priced, clean, and staged properly.  The market notwithstanding, showings are an indication that your home is priced within striking distance, but that something needs to be tweaked.  Consult with your Realtor for the best possible course of direction to sell your home.

 Make Your Best Offer!