Many Home Showings and No Offers, What is Wrong?

Not too long ago we closed on a property that had many home showings and no offers, and there was nothing wrong with the property itself. It had been priced too high. Once we brought the price in line with what the market would bear, the home sold. Without question. Nobody asked why has this been on the market for so long? They could see why.

It was also a difficult sale for the sellers. They had no mortgage, so apart from paying for utilities and property taxes, it didn’t cost much to keep the home on the market. As the listing agent, I wasn’t complaining, either. The home’s location was excellent and it made the phone ring with buyers for others homes. I will be as patient as my sellers.

However, usually when there are many home showings and no offers, it generally means there is something wrong with the property. The way to cure that problem is to figure out what is wrong and fix it. If you can’t fix it, then lower the price.

What could be wrong, you might ask? It could be condition. Some homes without updates or the wrong kinds of updates will get passed over by today’s discriminating millennials. Buyers dislike oak cabinets, white ceramic counters or white appliances. In those instances, you have two remedies. Paint the cabinets, install quartz and replace the appliances. Or, substantially reduce the price. What first-time home buyers want today is very different from buying trends in the 20th Century.

It could be location. Some homes built in front of major freeways (what were they thinking??) are challenging locations to sell. Moreover, if you can see a school when standing in the front yard, that’s a bad location. In those situations, sellers have only one remedy. Make that house the cheapest home within a 1/2 mile radius. Same principle applies to a bad layout. It is generally too expensive to change the layout, which means the price needs to account for the configuration deficit.

Many home showings and no offers? Perhaps the home looks differently online than the photographs reflect. Once inside, buyers could decide it doesn’t meet their list of requirements. If the home could use a little TLC, it is OK to market it that way. Let buyers know what they are getting into, and they will be better prepared to view the home. When hopes are dashed the minute they step inside the home, that is not a good buying experience.

Sometimes it can be the season, typically the months of December through February can be slow. You also can’t count open house traffic because those people are not necessarily buyers. Those are people who like to attend open houses, or people walking and driving by.

Of course, the bottom line solution in just about any situation in which you have many home showings and no offers is a price reduction. But before automatically slashing the price, be sure to consider other factors first.