My Home Is Not Selling....

Isn’t this a truth of the year? Isn’t this heard all over from people who would like to move on with their life and not worry about.

I have been working with some sellers and do find the same issues. The sellers ask me the same questions – what’s going on? (No, not a part of the song from ‘Salaam Namaste…it’s a serious question.)

So, once again - What’s going on? Let’s start analyzing the market. Though each of these items is co-related, I’ll try to explain each of them separately.

1. Inventory: In the best times, in Massachusetts, there used to be about 15,000 single family homes on market. Most of them would take about 30 to 45 days to sell. The trend is now reversed. I have seen many homes on the market – looks like forever for me – as much as 8 months, without being sold or even getting an offer. The average days on market is almost double as compared to last few years. The net result? More homes on market for more days – leading to high inventory. Good for buyers, though. Now they have multiple choices. And they can bargain with each of them.

2. Low Demand: It does look like, but I think, this is not a buyer’s market – this is a ‘procrastinator’s market’. Buyers are waiting on the shore to see if some one gets out with some pearls. No one wants to risk and jump into the water. They are watching at some of them who are forced to take a dip. And their waiting game makes it a market with low demand.

3. High Interest Rates: The high interest rates have decreased the affordability of a buyer. At 4% mortgage interest rate, a buyer would qualify for a home of $400,000 even when he/she is not making 6-figure annual income. At 6.5%, that number is close to $300,000. If the buyer cannot afford the home, sellers have fewer buyers who can afford the home at that ‘high’ price. Result?

4. More contingencies: Because many home buyers are sellers also, and because their homes take longer to sell, there are many homes that do not sell because of these home sale contingencies. Working with an expert Realtor® may help you understand this and may help you know the workarounds and amicable solutions for the home sale contingencies.

And what is the answer to this question – My Home is Not selling in this Market…

Be realistic. If you get a buyer, negotiate to your best and don’t let the buyer turn away if the buyer has a reasonable offer.

Price the home to attract buyers. Forget the good old days of selling the home at $5,000 more than your neighbor’s home.

Price the home right. There will be a no-show for some homes at open house (even when you raffle an iPod – buyers believe, it’s not worth their time!).

Price the home right and market it. If people do not know your home is on the market, no body is going to stop by. (It’s been assumed that listing your home in MLS – Multiple Listing Service website is good enough to market your home.)

Price the home right and see what’s been selling and what’s not selling. If you are priced too high compared to what has sold in recent past, your price is ‘futuristic’ – not realistic. If you are within few thousand dollars of what has been sold in near past, well, you are on your way to get someone who’d like to make an offer!

Price the home right and work with a Realtor® who can explain you what is going on with the current market. If they say that exactly identical home in your neighborhood was sold at $700,000 few weeks back, so your home is worth $720,000, drop that Realtor® right there. The home prices – compared to last year – are not going up! Either they are steady or as per some of the graphs on http://www.Zillow.com, going down! A seller must digest this fact! A Realtor® must tell you the truth – and don’t just take the listing for adding one to the inventory that is so high anyways.

Price the home right and work with a Realtor® who can expose your home to maximum number of people. Do you remember the formulae e=mc^2? Here, ‘e’ is the exposure, ‘mc’ is the comprehensive marketing carried out by your Realtor®. If your Realtor® is not tech savvy and depends only on conventional marketing plans, think again. Today, more than 77% of home buyers look at the home first on internet and then in person!

The future is unpredictable. The housing market like all financial markets is a volatile mix of perceived values, real values, and future values. None of us really knows what tomorrow may bring although there is one thing we can all be sure of which is that - today, right now in almost every market in America it is absolutely one of the best times to buy a home! Take advantage of this timing. Be a home owner. Enjoy the best of both the world – soft real estate market and still, one of the best mortgage rates.

So put on your bathing suits, lather up that sun block, and start helping sellers to dive into the deep end of the market at the best price! And get a great home for yourself!

Need professional help buying your home – at almost no cost to you? The buyer’s agent would always help you get the right home at the right price. And isn’t that any homebuyer is looking forward to?

To start the process, simply go to http://VIP_Buyer.iPraful.com or http://FreeReports.iPraful.com and see how you can benefit when you have your own representative in home buying process.

|