I talked to a local Realtor yesterday who has three listings that have been on the market for two months now, and have yet to be shown.  By yet to be shown, I mean that not a single buyer has come to view the house.

What is going on here?  Have all of the buyers left town?

There were some people who thought that after the home buyer tax credit ended, that the local real estate market would slow down to a crawl.  That didn't exactly happen, as we'll see in a few days in my monthly report.  So, given that properties are still selling in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, why are some listings not seeing any showing activity at all?

PRICE:  It is possible that the price of the home is simply too high to motivate any buyers to come view the property.  Some sellers figure "well, they can make an offer, so it's o.k. if my house is priced $10k, $20k, $40k higher than what I'd really accept."  This logic doesn't work well in today's market, as buyers will often not even go to view a house if they think the asking price is too high.  As a tangible example, I was talking to an agent in my office last week who had a house listed for around $225k.  After a month of very few showings, they lowered it to $215k.  After another month of very few showings, they lowered it to $205k.   Within two weeks they had roughly 10 showings, and an offer that was successfully negotiated.  (These prices have been changed slightly to keep things anonymous around here).  As you can see, once the property was at a price that made sense to the buying public, they were willing to come and see the house, in droves!

NO/FEW BUYERS:  It is (quite) possible that there are not very many buyers in your home's price range or "product range".  It is certainly obvious that if you have a house priced at $5,000,000 that there would be very few buyers, thus very few showings, thus very few offers.  It is also quite possible that there are (for example) very few buyers in the $250k - $300k range who would be satisfied with only having three bedrooms and two bathrooms.  If everyone looking in that price range wants four bedrooms, then you can lower your list price from $300k to $290k to $280k to $270k, etc., and you might still see very few showings and market activity.

POOR MARKETING:  Your property must be presented well and widely (primarily online, as that is where nearly all home buyers start their search) so that you can maximize the number of people who are even considering coming to view your home.  If the photos of your home are dark, or if there are very few photos, or if the square footage calculations are inaccurate, then you probably can't expect too many showings, or offers.

The good news here is that you (and/or your Realtor) can affect/fix any instances of poor marketing.  You can also fix a pricing problem --- to some extent, depending on how much you owe on the house and many other aspects of your personal financial situation. 

The bad news is that you can't do anything to fix the problem if it is a result of very few buyers looking for what you happen to be selling.  A house can be marketed wonderfully, priced very well, and may still have very few showings.  Again --- if there isn't anyone looking for what you are selling, then you still won't have showings.

Receive Updates by Email

Subscribe

Recent Articles:

• There Are Plenty Of Types Of Houses That Exist That Just Are Not Available To Purchase
• Home Sales By Price Range In The City Of Harrisonburg
• Are You Compromising On Aspects Of Your Next Home That You Can Or Cannot Change Later?
• How Much Slower Are The Winter Months In Our Local Housing Market?
• Rockingham County and New Home Sales Drive Surge in Area Housing Market
• Find The Balance Between Optimistic And Realistic Home Pricing
• Room Size Is Difficult To Understand Solely From Real Estate Photos
• How Much Would You Value Not Having To Prepare Your Home For Showings?
• One Out Of Four Homes Is Taking Longer Than A Month To Sell
• Consider The Cost Of Your Planned Renovations When Planning Your Offer

Have any questions? Contact Scott Rogers at 540-578-0102 or scott@funkhousergroup.com