Lillian Montalto Explains Time on the Market and Your Home Sale

ANDOVER, Mass. - Aug. 27, 2014 - PRLog -- We’ve all done it. While running errands or making the rounds around town, we’ve driven by a house with a FOR SALE sign out front that doesn’t budge or change day after day after day … and then the days become weeks and the weeks become months. We start to wonder why there aren’t any interested buyers. And then we ask ourselves, “Is there something wrong with that house? Why isn’t it selling?”

It’s a good bet that there’s something going on with a property that doesn’t ever seem to sell. Maybe (perhaps likely), it’s simply overpriced, and the prospective buyers who’ve visited it like it but not enough to spend that much money on it. Or maybe it’s the victim of poor or haphazard marketing, and it isn’t getting the exposure it deserves. Perhaps there aren’t any interior photos online – or the photos are less than enticing – and potential buyers don’t want to bother looking at it in the first place.

No matter the reason for the number of days that house has been sitting on the market, the longer it sits without an offer, the more it stagnates. Interest (if there is any) wanes. And the more its owners feel the increasing pressure of trying to entice a buyer to make a bid on it.

If you’re selling a house, chances are you are fairly invested in making a move. Perhaps you’ve even found a new house to move into, and if that’s the case, it’s likely that time is of the essence. The last thing you want is for there to be a lack of interest in your house.

In order to avoid having your house end up being that house that sits on the market forever, it’s important to price your home to sell. Your real estate agent is your best resource for figuring out how to do that. He or she will be armed with comparable recent sales (or “comps”) in your neighborhood or community. Working with an agent can help you to avoid the pitfall of having to reduce your sale price – which can make you look eager to sell and might even invite lowball offers from buyers who believe you’re desperate to move.

Your agent will have the experience to know what moves homes. And he or she will have valuable advice about how to make your home attractive to potential buyers. From unveiling an aggressive marketing campaign designed to get buyers in the door to staging your home so that it oozes curb appeal and welcomes visitors, your agent can help you make the right decisions regarding your home sale. By working together, you can eliminate the guesswork in how to drum up interested buyers.

Good luck!