Top 10 things you might be doing that prevent your Fleming Island home from selling.
Has your house been on the market for 30 days without a showing? Maybe it’s been 3 months, 
and your Eagle Harbor home still hasn’t had that many showings, maybe you’re guilty of one, perhaps two or more, of all of the following situations:
1. You’re at every showing, following the buyers around reading off to them every upgrade done to the house, from windows to HVAC system, how to work every appliance, along with a personal demonstration. True story. It will drive buyers crazy. Instead of the buyers checking out your home, perhaps mentally creating an imagine of what it would look like with their belongings, they will be looking for the first available exit. Don’t do it. Leave for all showings or at least go take a walk when a showing is occurring.
2. In your showing instructions, you mention your pet snake might be roaming free in the front bedroom. Another true story. Buyer + showing agent scared of snakes=no showing. Make sure your snake is caged up or out of the house.
3. Along with info about your pet snake Snowflake, you also require 24 hour notice for showings. While that may give you time to clean, pick up, and perhaps remove Snowflake, if an agent is trying to set up 10 showing appointments with a buyer, your house may come out of the pile to be shown. Especially if the buyers are crunched for time.
4. Your house smells of, well, dog. Sorry, I know this one is really hard, because pets are our family, I love my dog Hailey, so I understand. However, when you are trying to sell your home and you have, perhaps buyers who do not like dogs (I know, weird) or buyers who may not have the money after closing to replace carpets, it could be a huge turn off.
5. Your house shows too small or is not very clean. Some houses are really too small, so not much you can do about that, but if you have over sized furniture, which will make rooms seem even smaller, you may want to put them into storage or see if a friend can store them. The cleaning part is pretty self explanatory, but just to reiterate, be prepared to show your house everyday and keep it clean.
6. You refuse to counter a low ball offer. In fact, the low ball offer thoroughly ticks you off and you are not gonna budge on anything. Every request made from the buyer, you refuse to even move an inch on. The first thing is to try to detach from your house emotionally. I know, easier said than done. Look at every offer as a starting point, and try to remember that sometimes, the buyer is just trying to test the waters, to see if they can get the price down some. They may be willing to go up more, but if you flat out refuse, you’ll never know.
7. You remove the appliances that were suppose to stay with the house before closing and in their place, you put in old, off color and crappy ones. Again, another true story. Although, this didn’t cause the closing not to happen, it did cause a bunch of hard feelings. If you plan on keeping the appliances and putting older ones in, always disclose in writing up front.
8. You house is unrealistically priced too high for what the market will bear. I understand you love your house and you have put time, money and elbow grease in it to make it your own, but if similar houses in your neighborhood are selling for less, buyers will overlook your home. In the rare event you find a buyer willing to pay, let’s say 20k more, there will be appraisal issues. Which will lead to a lower price or the deal falling through. A good question to ask yourself is, if you were the buyer and there were similar houses to choose from, would you choose to pay 20k more?
9. You chase the market. This is kind of like a part two of pricing your home too high in number 8. You start out too high, other available homes lower their price, you may lower yours, but still higher than your competition. The cycle then continues. You either give up and take the house off the market or you end up losing more money than you would have, had it been priced correctly from the beginning.
10. You hired the wrong agent! This agent went with your higher price, just to get the listing. They know it’s overpriced, but frankly, they just wanted a listing in Fleming Island, just to get sign calls. And because it’s overpriced and not showing, the agent doesn’t put much effort into marketing your home. You never hear from them. You don’t want that. You want an agent who is looking out for your best interests and will tell you the truth, even if it’s not what you want to hear.
Yes I know, it sounds kind of corny of me to say, if you want to talk to an honest agent, call me, so I’ll word it differently: If you’re thinking of selling your Fleming Island home or any home in Clay county for that matter, and wanting to hire an agent who will tell you the facts, then shoot me an email at pam@pamgraham.com or call me direct at 904-910-3516. I do have references of past clients, so you can talk to people who have worked with me before.
Want to know what your Fleming Island home is worth in today’s market? Fill out my FREE Home Valuation for and I’ll send you your valuation results within 24 hours via email.
