Why Is My House Not Selling In A Hot Market?

It’s been a hot seller’s market since the tail end of 2020. Even adjusting for seasonal changes, we’ve seen days on market (DOM) continue to decrease with increasing prices since. According to the St Louis FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data), it’s selling in 43 days as of May 2023 and down from 68 days in May 2020. That includes almost a 35% price increase in the same time period and that includes almost a 9% decrease from quarter to quarter. 

Even with houses selling faster and for more money, the total number of housing not selling by that time is increasing. It’s leaving those home sellers confused and upset that their home isn’t selling and asking why is my home not selling? How can I get it to sell faster in a hot market? Keep reading to find out when to worry about house not selling.

Buyers Market Vs Sellers Market?

There are three different types of markets in real estate. They are buyers, sellers, and neutral markets. Let’s go over what each one is.

A buyer’s market is a market where there are more homes on the market than there are buyers. This typically leads to lower prices as demand wains. We’ll usually see months of inventory sitting around 8 or 9 and up. When you think buyers market, think of the market around 2008 and later. Read more about a buyer’s market here.

A seller’s market occurs when there are fewer homes on the market than there are buyers. This leads to an increase in demand and higher prices. The level of prices increases according to the number of buyers in the market. You will typically see an inventory of 5 months or less during this market. We’ve been in this market since about the time Covid hit and you can read more about it here. Even with prices decreasing and days on market increasing, we’re still sitting in a seller’s market.

A neutral market tends to favor neither buyers nor sellers. It means the months of inventory sit around 6 months, give or take a month. You generally don’t see many price increases or decreases. Neutral markets generally don’t last long. Find out more about a market-neutral position here.

Now that we know the different types of markets defined, let’s look at what is actually stopping you from selling your house in a hot housing market. And if you’re tired of letting your house sit listed in a hot housing market, fill out this form below to let us know about your house.

When To Worry About House Not Selling

No matter how you’re selling your house, FSBO (For Sale By Owner), or with an agent, when your house sits for a long time on the market, you start to ask yourself why is my house not selling? If it’s not selling, there could be numerous reasons why. We’ll tell you what the most common reasons are and how to address them. Read on to find out what the top 6 reasons are.

Reason 1 – Houses Not Selling And You Missed The New Listing Bump

When your home gets released to the market, it gets broadcasted to everyone who’s looking for a home like yours whose search criteria fit your house. This puts the most eyes on the home with the most likelihood to find a potential buyer. It also makes it easier for more individuals to see the home and not fight with numerous other listings that every new potential buyer gets when setting new search criteria. If you miss this important time to get your home in front of the most eyeballs, you will see a more difficult time selling even if all other areas are addressed and perfect.

Your Solution To Sell In A Hot Housing Market

Make sure that you’re ready to sell when you’re first putting the house on the market. You’ve probably missed this by the time you’re reading this, so read the rest of the article and make sure you have no other issues mentioned here. If so, use our tips to address each problem area you come across. Depending on your listing rules, your agent may be able to take the property off the market and put it right back to get it back in front of the people who missed it the first time. I would recommend some changes to it before relisting.

Reason 2 – Your Home Is Too Cluttered Or Unkept

Unfortunately, when selling your house and having people viewing your home, you have to think about it from their point of view. If you were a buyer, would you want to picture yourself living in a home in the current condition it is in? If it’s organized and tidy and looks functional, it makes it easier for a buyer to picture themselves in your house and obviously more willing to put in an offer to purchase. If the house is a hoarder house or even borderline, you will probably find it difficult when trying to sell and may want to look for a cash buyer anyway.

Solution Why My House Is Not Selling

This seems like it’s too late, but it’s not. Keep an open mind when assessing this and try to keep emotions out of it. First clean and declutter the home. Then work on finding a staging consultant to help revamp the look of your house. You may need to store a few things while waiting for the home to sell. Setting a good showing experience will be a big step to getting the house under contract and bringing the house to closing. If you’re thinking there are a lot of things you will need to do, check out what not to fix when selling your house.

Reason 3 – Your Curb Appeal Is Poor Or Unattractive

No one wants a home with overgrown grass and a drab appearance of a home. Good curb appeal makes the home inviting and makes a memorable first impression front the initial time a potential buyer sees the property. If you have long grass and weeds, untrimmed bushes, and little to no accent color to the front of your home, most buyers won’t find it inviting. You don’t have to go crazy to cure it and make buyers feel welcome in your home. 

Your Solution When Your House Won’t Sell

Some of this seems like common sense. Let’s fix the curb appeal. Address overgrown grass and clean up edges along sidewalks, trim bushes, pull weeds, add mulch, and plant colorful flowers or add potted plants. You can even spend small amounts to replace the mailbox and paint the front door. These changes will impress most buyers and make the home feel welcoming.

Reason 4 – Your Listing Photos Are Poor

I’m not sure most people know how important good photos are to a listing. Over 97% of home sales are originally found on the internet. This means if your photos are causing anyone viewing them to scroll past your property and aren’t impressing the right buyers. They aren’t viewing your home in person and eventually not putting an offer in on it. Even good editing of poorly lit photos or amateur photos taken on a phone will not attract a buyer.

Your Solution When House Is Not Selling

Some agents or sellers aren’t willing to spend money on listing photos and think that their iPhone will take adequate photos. That’s the first place you should start. After having professional, well-lit photos taken from the right angles, you’ll want to make sure they are edited properly. A good professional real estate photo company will also edit them. If for some reason they don’t, you can check out boxbrownie.com to get them cleaned up for posting on the internet.

Reason 5 – You’re Priced Too High For My House Not Selling

I’m going to have bad news for you and you’re not going to like to hear it. This is the reason most professionals jump to when a house isn’t selling in a hot housing market and frankly, this is generally the case. But not always. After ensuring the quality of how your property is being presented, this would be the next thing to address.

Your Solution To Homes Not Selling

Let’s start by figuring out something. When was the last time a market analysis was done for comparable properties to your home? If that isn’t done frequently in a hot housing market, you may be missing the boat. Let’s start with that and compare your price to what the market may be dictating the expected value of your home is. If it is off, you should have a price improvement to reflect the current market condition.

Reason 6 – You’re Not Using The Right Agent

Let’s be honest about something. If a good agent is doing what the minimum expectations for listing, marketing, and selling your property, you’re probably not having issues getting your house under contract. They will have proper photos taken, 3D walkthroughs, floor plans, and even drone photos to market the property well. If they aren’t doing this with social advertising, it’s probably best to find a new agent because most of the good agents will use very similar methods to market the home today.

Your Solution When You Can’t Sell My House

This is not something you’re going to want to hear. You’ll need to find a new agent if they aren’t willing to do the minimum to sell your house. Agents should be marketing a home properly which includes all of the things mentioned above, at a minimum. If you’re not sure about the agent you’re using and want to hire a new one, read why you should be using an investor agent here. And if you want to find out what kind of cash offer or custom offer dependent on your unique situation to sell quickly, just fill out the short form below.

Questions To Ask When Stressed About House Not Selling and Good Signs Your House Will Sell

I Cannot Sell My House… Am I priced too high? Am I Priced Too Low?

Most of the time, there may need to be a price reduction. Sometimes it’s because you weren’t priced well from the beginning and other times it’s because the market has shifted. The best way to gauge this is to have another market analysis done. Most agents call them CMAs (Comparative Market Analysis) and your listing agent should be willing to help you with this. Even if you’re not too far out of a good price, a reduction will cause your listing to be rebroadcast to those who have search criteria that meet your home. It also may display it to a different set of buyers who had a little lower price point.

Will my home sell eventually?

There is no guarantee that your house will eventually sell. There are still steps every home sale has to go through and if you aren’t hitting those milestones, your house will continue to sit on the market.

How long should my house sit in a hot house market?

This will vary from market to market. There are a couple of signs to look for to know if your house is sitting too long. If there are few to no initial showings or no repeat showings also with no or lowball offers despite showings, those are big signs your house is sitting in hot house market too long.

What are good signs I’m going to sell my house in a hot market?

As mentioned above, having showings and offers are a good sign. One good predictor though is if people are looking at your house. More people looking means more showings. If you’re seeing a good percentage of showings to people looking at your house on the internet, no matter where it’s listed, it’s a good early indicator that your house will sell. You can even look at Zillow to see how times it’s been viewed and saved. 

Do I need to have an open house to sell my house in a hot house market?

This is something most agents won’t tell you. An agent’s job is to market your home(listing agent), find one for you to look at and help you buy (seller agent), and find new clients (both agents). Open houses don’t result in an offer very often, so this is more about the agent drumming up business and looking for new clients. Your neighbors are 3 times more likely to list with that agent when seeing them at an open house. While an open house may give you an idea of how popular your house is, it is not a key factor in selling your house.

If your house isn’t selling in a hot housing market, there are many different ways to address it. First, you should consider the condition of the property and how it is marketed and viewed on the Internet. If you’re getting showings but no offers, it could be the way a showing goes, and you may want to have a specialist look at how your house is shown. If that is good, it will be the price. If you need to sell fast because you have a new job and need to relocate, or you’re getting divorced, a good investor cash buyer like SILT Real Estate and Investments, LLC can help. Contact us to see what kind of offer we can get you. You can find out more about how we come up with cash offers here. One will be cash and you can always take that for your fast close. Just fill out the form below and we’ll get in contact with you shortly. If you have any questions, you can contact us here or give us a call at (708) 415-3801.