Kansas City home sellers find it difficult to be optimistic after an expiring listing. Most are excited and nervous when that listing agreement is first signed, hoping that the home sells quickly and for a big profit. It’s frustrating to wait week after week for a purchase offer when that offer never arrives.
Regardless of the length of listing, whether the agreement was for a term of 90 days, 180 days, or a year, when the listing has expired, the broker/seller relationship has come to an end (more or less). This is when sellers often ask whose fault it is that the home isn’t selling.
Check Motivation
The first step is to review your reasons to sell. If you don’t fit one of the 15 reasons listed, then you might want to revisit why you are selling. In other words, maybe you don’t have a reason to sell. Perhaps you should temporarily take your home off the market.
If you are not motivated to sell, you are not a seller. You’re a homeowner with a sign in the yard. Without motivation, you’ve got about as much hope for selling as an owner with a sign that reads, “Keep Off the Grass.”
Review Marketing
Where is the business plan to sell your home? Review the marketing plan with your agent, step-by-step. Did your agent drop the ball? Did you? What worked, what didn’t pull ad calls or showings? Did you do a virtual tour, send out direct mail, put a lock box on the property?
Consider Your Kansas City House Condition
Go out and look at other homes on the market to determine if your home is in the same condition as those actively for sale. Perhaps you need to do house repairs before selling you house. Maybe your home needs to be staged. Does your home scream curb appeal?
Look Again at Home Buyer Objections
What have buyers said about your home? Review buyer feedback, which your agent should have obtained for you when your home first went on the market. Is there validity to what buyers were saying? How can you compensate for those objections?
Discount Sudden Activity
You won’t have to look too far to find agents because they’ll all come crawling out of the woodwork when your listing expires. Realtors are prevented from soliciting a seller when the listing is active in MLS. But you’re fair game when the listing has expired.
You may wonder why your expiring listing, now that it has expired, is so popular. Many agents specialize in contacting expired listings because they want the listing. Period. Moreover, realize that some agents will take an overpriced listing just to get signage.
You might ask your agent to make sure your name and phone number have been removed from MLS when the listing is withdrawn, canceled, or expired to make it more difficult for agents to call you irresponsibly.
Contact Several Listing Agents
Interview the Kansas City real estate agents. Ask the hard questions to determine if the agents are giving you the right answers. Find out what another agent might do differently. If another agent offers substantially more service than your existing agent, list with that agent. Check your criteria for choosing a listing agent.
Consider the Cash Options for Expiring Listings
Once you finally find a prospective buyer, he or she will probably have to qualify for financing, which can create further delay or even cause the deal to fall through. Private buyers also often make the sale contingent on your home passing an elaborate inspection – which is not always guaranteed, especially if you have a fixer-upper or an older home on your hands.
Cash investors, like KC Property Guys, are ready to buy expiring listings with cash and close the deal right away. This can be quite the advantage, especially if you’re in a situation where you need or really want to sell. Offers are presented you with a no-obligation cash offer for your house within 24 hours, and in many cases sellers walk away with money in the bank only a few days later.
Talk to Your Existing Agent About Why the Listing Expired
If your agent has fulfilled the marketing plan, worked diligently to sell your home, and the market is not answering the ring to your dinner bell, then you might need to conform to the market. This means a price reduction. Ask your existing agent to prepare another comparative market analysis to determine if your home is priced to sell.
If you respect and value your agent, relist with that agent. Adjust your price accordingly and follow your agent’s suggestions, even if it means making repairs or improvements you’d rather not do. If your agent is spending money on your listing through advertising, aggressive marketing, and networking that listing, that agent deserves your loyalty.
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