When a listing did not sell
It expired. That is information, not a verdict.
A listing that ran its course and came off the market has told you something useful, and it is almost never that the house is unsellable. Here is what the numbers say actually happens, and what we would look at before putting it back on.
The thing that costs the most
Time on the market is expensive, and here is the size of it.
Measured across 32,870 sales in Southwest Florida over the last twelve months, comparing what each home first asked against what it finally closed at.
below the first asking price, across 9,896 sales
below the first asking price
below the first asking price, across 4,798 sales
Nearly six times the discount. Not because those houses were worse, but because a listing that sits stops being a home buyers are excited about and becomes one they wonder what is wrong with. On a $400,000 house that difference is about $59,000.
Before relisting
What we would want to know first.
Not to assign blame. Usually more than one of these is true at once, and two of them have nothing to do with the agent or the price.
Where the buyers actually stopped
Plenty of showings and no offers is a price problem. Almost no showings is a marketing or photography problem. Offers that came and fell apart is usually inspection, insurance or financing. These are three different failures and they need three different fixes.
Whether insurance killed it
This is the one nobody counts. A roof over fifteen years or an unexpected flood premium ends more Southwest Florida contracts than price does, and it happens in week six when everybody is already invested.
What the first price was anchored to
If the number came from what a neighbour asked rather than what a neighbour got, the listing started behind and never caught up. Asking prices are opinions. Sold prices are evidence.
How it looked in the first photograph
Most buyers decide from a phone screen in about two seconds. If the first image was a dark front elevation on a grey day, a great many people never saw the second one.
If a normal listing is the wrong tool
Sometimes the answer is not to relist at all.
A house that has already sat is the hardest thing to sell in the ordinary way, because the market has seen it. An auction resets that. It sets a date, makes buyers compete against each other rather than against your asking price, and gives you an ending you can plan around.
Our rate on an auction is 4.5%, and the buyer pays a 3% premium on top of their bid which covers their own agent.
It is wrong for most houses and we will say so. For one that has already been on and off the market, it is worth a conversation.
The one thing worth doing today
Whatever you decide about selling, find out what a buyer will be quoted for insurance on your property, and what FEMA says about the flood zone. It takes a minute and it is free.
If the answer is uncomfortable, better to know now than to find out in week six of the next contract.
Check an addressNo pitch, and no follow-up you did not ask for.
Ring and we will tell you what we think went wrong and what we would do differently. If the answer is to wait six months or to stay put, that is what you will hear.
Figures are aggregates from Florida Gulf Coast Multiple Listing Service data covering 32,870 closed residential sales in the twelve months to today, comparing the original list price against the closing price. Information is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS. They describe the market, not any particular property.