What To Do With a Stale Listing!

Question

Hey BP,

I am having a difficult time with one of my listings.  The property has been on the market now for 122 days.  Within those 112 days, the property was under contract twice.  The first buyer backed out after the radon level came in high even though the seller had it mitigated.  The second buyer backed out because of the inspection report and the fact that my seller would not give them more of a credit.  So now I am stuck with this listing and mind you, this house is in one of the hottest markets in my area! I, as well as the sellers, are very irritated and disappointed.  I have tried dropping the price multiple times and they don't want to go any lower than where it is at right now.  I am looking for some advice as to what I can possibly do to get this house sold!!!  Thanks

Mike Cumbie · Answer

Hi @Shawn Connors,

Depending on your MLS rules you could expire the listing out. Get new pictures that are brighter and showcase different areas, change some of the staging and relist. Possibly paint a room or two in a neutral color. Change your description as well so it is completely different (Have a friend/mentor or partner write it so it is not your words rehashed). Take your outside photo and change the direction a little bit. Objective being for people to not be sure they saw this house before when they are scrolling through and give it a fresh look.

Good Luck!

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

Here are a few things to consider.

- Offer buyers a 1-year home warranty. Home Warranty of America has a 13-month.  You don't need the most expensive plan - just something that offers basic protection.  It goes into effect right away and covers the sellers until the home is sold too.

- Offer the buyer's agent a $1,000 bonus if the property is under agreement by a target date.

- Offer the same $1,000 bonus to buyers if the house sells by a target date.  That can be something like an AMEX or Home Depot gift card.

- Make sure you're doing an aggressive open house schedule.  Every 2-3 weeks until sold.  Make sure you have signage that indicates the home warranty in in place.  Have a lender attend to answer questions and hand out loan sheets to potential buyers.  Use Open Home Pro or similar to capture leads.

- Run broker's open house (if those are done in your area), with a lender attending.  Have the lender bring food and have a basket full of scratch tickets, one for each agent who attends.

I just did all of this for my own home, which I sold at over 99% of asking price in the dead of winter.  It's a "pull out all the stops" strategy, but I felt like it worked very well.

Russell Brazil · Answer

Does your MLS have a temp off market status? In my MLS, if I put a listing into temp off market, then create a brand new listing it will trick the days on market into being zero, so it will show up as new on Zillow, redfin etc.

Shawn Connors · Answer

@Mike Cumbie With our MLS it has to be off the market for 30 days before the DOM will reset.  So if we did that we would essentially be missing out on prime time, but it may be a good choice.  @Bob Okenwa I know and that is what is really affecting this deal.  I had it listed at $514,999 and had a full price offer within 3 days and that buyer dropped out at the last minute.  Then we had it under contract for $480,000 and the same thing happened.  It is now listed at $489,995 and we haven't had much action.

Bob Okenwa · Answer

@Shawn Connors

I'd be happy to take a look at it. But people these days want what they see on TV or something close to it. Having that many types of floors and an old kitchen without reducing the price may make people uneasy to undertake a reno project. @Mike Cumbie has great ideas he listed in his post and I've follow that advice as it's very insightful.

Mike Cumbie · Answer

As far as relisting do you have the ability to control that with your broker? For instance if we had a 180 day and it was 122 now, by broker would let me write him a 60 day one without question. So you can explain to him that he isn't relisting for longer just giving the house a fresh shot.

Bob Okenwa · Answer

@Shawn Connors

Is the seller being unreasonable in terms of list price considering the condition of the property? If the house cannot sell in a hot market, something is wrong with the home or the price or both. Maybe the seller isn't being flexible enough. Have you considered delisting and relisting at a later date? Does the house need any kind of updating?

Russell Brazil · Answer

Depends on the mls rules and how they enforce them. I think it's technically against my mls rules, but I don't think there is any penalty for doing it. I do it all the time.

Shawn Connors · Answer

@Russell Brazil Great advice! I will have to try that.  Do you think there is a possibility I could get in trouble with my MLS if I did that?

What To Do With a Stale Listing!

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