What to Do (and What to Stop Doing) When Your Listing Won't Sell

speaker-1 (00:00)
Welcome to the Leaning Lane podcast. You know, despite all the tech issues and everything, we made it. We're here. Okay. ⁓ today, you know, I, feel like we've always seen like the market is weird. Everything's shifting, but specifically still listings, right? Like that's kind of just hanging out there. ⁓ I feel like the, least here in our market, sometimes they fly off the market and then it's like, all of a sudden there's a complete fault. Do you have that same issue, Ashley?

speaker-0 (00:30)
Yeah, and I think that a lot of times it's the ones that you think are going to move fast and then oddly they sit and then other ones that you don't think all this might take a while and then they don't.

speaker-1 (00:40)
Yeah. So what does one do when you have a still listing?

speaker-0 (00:50)
Wow. It's like on an open-ended forums, right?

speaker-1 (00:54)
Just tell me what to do to sell this house.

speaker-0 (00:58)
I wish there was a magic eight ball that would tell you that every time. ⁓ It's tough because we can't always have any control over some influencing factors. Maybe that's like for here when it was negative 50 two weeks ago, things halt, et cetera. ⁓ I think sometimes there's things you don't have control over like the weather, obviously, rates, what's going on in the world.

speaker-1 (01:27)
Government shutdown.

speaker-0 (01:29)
Yeah, right. Like we just can't see that in our crystal ball, unfortunately. I also think that everyone likes to just say that it's price too, which I don't always agree with. Sure. Just sometimes I think that price is an issue, but when you do like legitimately have like very good comps and things are just sitting like it lends me to believe that there's just a market staleness, if you will. I think every area is different.

our area may be like 50 50 on open houses as to whether they're attracting a lot of people. think, you know, really big cities have a lot more traction. You know, we'll get 10 to 20 people through their open house or more where we might see like two or three. So I try to tell people too, that it's not necessarily the traffic always of just the open house, but the actual promotion itself, right? It gets like extra videos posts.

you know, it shows up on Zillow, Realtor, et cetera, that they're, you know, open house coming up. So I think that there's some traction to that. I think that maybe in like almost 15 years, I've only had one person that came to an open house and bought that house. know, so there's other options. ⁓ I don't know, how do you guys see open houses in your market?

speaker-1 (02:49)
You know, I think that agents when they first get started, they're so, ⁓ know, great gung ho, let's do it. But then since they're not getting the instant gratification, then they taper off really quickly, right? For me, my personal opinion, right? In our market, not a lot of people do them. So that sets you aside right there. If nobody else in your market is doing it, great. That's a great opportunity for...

you to be even more noticed. And my personal opinion is you're not really there to market that house. Yes, you are. I get it. We're representing the seller. We're making sure that we're getting buyers to the door. But in reality, what you're doing is you're marketing for the next seller because you know there's going to be somebody else in that neighborhood that is going to be putting up their house on the market. So I don't go into open houses and I try to train.

sure you're not going to open houses for the instant gratification. It's the long haul. It's getting your name out there. But I do love being able to have analytics for my seller on those stale houses. So if I have done multiple broker opens, multiple public open houses, and all of these different things that I'm doing, what else can I do at that point? Because sometimes, I don't know if you've ever had a seller

point fingers at you that it's your fault that their house is not selling. So I think you have to be able to go through your toolbox, if you will, all of these different things, marketing tactics to ensure that you're pulling out all the tools. And you should be doing that anyway with all your listings. It shouldn't just be a pick and choose based on price or who it is. You should be doing the consistent marketing, the same across the board on every single listing.

and regardless of what it is. I know I kind of went on a tangent there. Did I answer your question?

speaker-0 (04:48)
You know, thing I think too is that I sellers might be misled as to what an open house means. So I think like they think that if you don't do one that you're not servicing the property. And so I like to try to address that in the actual listing presentation itself as that like happy to do one, but just know that it's not really probably the most beneficial of our time or, know, it will get traction, et cetera, but really it's,

other marketing, et cetera, that we can focus on to try to bring more traction.

speaker-1 (05:23)
Yeah, so when I shift this a bit, like when we do talk to owners, like when I do talk to an owner, what I say is we actually do an open house 24 seven. We have the virtual reality walkthrough, right? 3D Matterport. That is there available 24 seven. So we have a lot of people that are either overseas or, you know, not here. They're going to PCS here. That's how they're going to be able to tour the property and what better way to be able to do it at.

their leisure at any point, not just a Sunday from one to three. And then typically sellers are like, ⁓ that's crazy. What a con.

speaker-0 (05:57)
like

Monday at 10.30 PM. Right. I mean, I do think too, like, you know, CMAs are important just as far as 30 days in, 60 days in, 90 days in. I think that's one of the ones I've struggled with where like, they're still like the lowest on the totem pole. I mean, it's, you know, just things, you know, then you start to just question, which I've told them like, is it truly like location that we just, don't have any control over and someone is seeing that as far as.

price point, you know, but it still goes back to trying to buffer that is there something wrong with the property? I just had someone call me this morning and they were like, how come that property is on the market so long? What's wrong with it? And I was like, literally, it's beautiful inside. You'll see it when you're there today. I don't know if it's just this weird price point, you know, or what it is. You'll be able to tell me when I have feedback for me today, but you know, we'd love to see obviously an offer. know, I think

speaker-1 (06:52)
When you say, the house hasn't met you yet. That's why it's still available. It hasn't met you.

speaker-0 (07:01)
That's a good one. I'll remember that for the next one. I think that there's other things you can do too. I think we might type out this one time, but even just like updating the description, which just comes across differently. That's supposed to help with Zillow and SEO searches, those types of things. I think even to just maybe like reorganizing pictures or if they are staged, you could maybe try a different theme of

virtually staging them, like maybe you did farmhouse and you want to change it to industrial and like, that paint the picture, you know, differently for, you know, someone else? ⁓ I think it's a matter too of just communicating with other agents, like maybe you have a ⁓ property that is in that same price point and maybe they're showing that one and then maybe just reaching out and saying like, great, like, have you considered this one too? Like, it doesn't work out with that one. So I think trying to just

be in tune with the market and what else is going on. And I think you have to just sometimes be like brutally honest with sellers too. And that, you know, like maybe the house was, was occupied and now it's vacant and it looks different. know, maybe we didn't see all the scuffs in the paint when they were there. now we do that are the stains in the carpet. So trying to figure out like what, what is keeping it, you know, on the market, are there little things that they're willing to do as far as.

So that paint, stretching the carpet, you know, whatever that might be. And if they're not, like is it time to consider a price reduction?

speaker-1 (08:34)
So the question was really, do I do to sell the house? Now let's flip it. What not to do. I'm going to give you my pet peeve. don't know your stance on this, so we'll see where this goes. It drives me flipping nuts when somebody, when an agent just wants to pop off the listing and throw it back on in 30, 60 days and nothing has changed with it whatsoever. Like, what are you, what are they accomplishing?

with that. Like, I don't understand it. I guess I should first ask your opinion on do you do that?

speaker-0 (09:10)
⁓ I don't quite understand it. It is a popular method here. I think that it goes back to maybe like 10 years ago when, you know, like days on market wasn't as easily accessible as it is today. So I think like the thing was we want to refresh the days on market is what people always say. like,

It is widely available to everyone that you were just on the market. in ours, it still shows cumulative days of market, even if you were off for 30 days. So I recently had a listing that they were with another company. ⁓ She called, they wanted to list it. And she specifically said, should we wait 30 days and then put it back on the market? And I said, if I were you, I wouldn't. I was like, I'd like to get it on as soon as we get our pictures and everything else done.

And the reason for that is I don't know who's coming through town in the next 30 days that now your house wasn't available and it would have been available. Have you left it on and 14 days in they got an offer. So right. Had we waited those 30 days that buyer very well could have found a different property and it could still be on the markets. think that like the refresh, I, to me, it just doesn't, I think it can be.

a disservice to sellers just because who did we miss in those 30 days that could have been a valid buyer? think that you just have to have the conversation more so with the seller. Like what else do we need to, is it the price? mean, like, are you gonna bring it back on and bring it down $10,000? Like, I don't know if that's really, depending on the price point, right? I don't know if that's really gonna help it. Does it need a refresh of pictures? Does it need to be staged professionally? You know, what is it that

How long was it on before? What was the feedback? Can any of it change? Like those are the things I just feel like, right, we're coming into middle of February, which now we're talking about closings in April. Like it's a nice time for buyers to consider closing. Like I just don't, I wouldn't want to lose someone over a refresh, I guess, in 30 days.

speaker-1 (11:23)
And we have to realize all the portals are already tracking it. All the dot coms are already tracking it. It's pulling off. Zillow is part of the MLS. It's syndicating everything together. So it's getting that data, and it's publishing it. I just don't understand it. I do think that that's kind of an easy button for agents to be able to just hit real quick and say, oh, this is going to help.

versus maybe addressing what the real issue is. Because if we're getting the traction online, we're getting the views, we're getting the eyes, and we are getting some showings, like maybe the house smells horrible. Maybe it's something of physical in-person type of the feedback that you need to see, what do I need to do? Like when was the last time you walked through the house with fresh eyes or fresh nose, fresh senses to be able to see, is this something?

else going on that I'm not picking up or I didn't pick up before the sellers moved out or whatever the case may be. But yeah, no, I don't think that you're doing justice at all for yourself or for the other person. I actually think that it makes it look kind of bad, like wishy washy of what does a seller actually want to sell because they keep on pulling it off the market, putting it back on, putting it off like

I don't really want to go through negotiations if they don't know if they're wanting to sell. So that's my immediate gut reaction to it. I don't know. It's just, it's.

speaker-0 (13:01)
think it is, but here it is, right, because we live in cold temperatures, so like signs are hard to remove. So what they do is just remove the placard and then the actual like all sign stays in the yard.

speaker-1 (13:22)
I mean, if you're not willing to pull your whole freaking sign out of the ground, like, come on. Like, and that's not really, like, you're not pulling it. I don't know. Whatever. That's, that's a little strange for me.

speaker-0 (13:36)
I don't, again, like not, I think that's, I think it looks tacky. So like I was on a community tour the other day and I knew that the property was, had been for sale and that agent likes to take them off for 30 days. And so sure enough, there's just a huge, big old wooden sign in the front yard. And like the client was like, what, why is there this sign in the yard? I was like, I'd imagine they're going to be listing their house soon, but like how.

weird. Like I just feel like it looks tacky to the neighbors. I mean, I don't Then sometimes I'm like, that just their way of trying to find an off-market buyer? You know, cause why is that sign in the yard? But it's missing. I don't know. That's very strange to me that you're willing, even like for the seller, I think that would be weird to like have a half of a sign in my yard. just think it's true.

speaker-1 (14:29)
For sure. Well, I mean, from a broker perspective, right? Broker owner perspective, if I have an agent that was like, I'm going to pull it off the market real quick. And the seller said that everything's fine. This is what we're going to be able to do. Let's say it went expired. That's pulling it off the market. And I know that those are two different things, but it expired and you're pulling it off the market. We'll wait 30 days to relist it. That's 30 days now that you just broadcast and marketed to other agents.

buyers, whoever had eyes on it before, that now it's free game for you to be able to go and tackle. What happens? mean, there are legit automations that are out there that mass send, what are the snail mail letters? That's what they're called. Letters to the sellers like, hey, your house went off the market. I have a buyer, you know, trying to get the listing. So you're jeopardizing being able to lose out on the listing in 30 days.

So what do you think a seller is going to do if you weren't able to bring a buyer and then you pulled it off, you're expired and somebody says, I have a buyer. You think that they're going to have the loyalty to go directly back to you and say, gosh, let me help you out Ashley because you had it listed before, even though it's not listed with you right now.

speaker-0 (15:46)
Yeah, most aren't going to.

speaker-1 (15:48)
Yeah, I think it's just a hard pass. It's iffy. It's going to jump all over the place. You're giving too much area of opportunity. if.

speaker-0 (15:58)
What

if interest rates dropped in those 30 days? Like what if they dropped, you know, to something that somebody that was on the fence, you know, comes back and then it stopped there. And sometimes they'll call the agent. But again, like if somebody knew to the area and then they were just looking online or right, they don't live in the area and they're only looking at what's there. Like they've just, I mean, again, like lost out on a really well.

deserved property. you know, think, why do you think that agents have a hard time just telling sellers what they think the actual issue is?

speaker-1 (16:39)
they don't like confrontation. They don't have the cojones to be able to tell them the brutal truth, right? Like, I think that there's a way to package it to still be able to tell them the reality of what it is. Like, yes, it's their house. Yes, they have, you know, emotional attachment to it, but also they're hiring you to be the professional. So if that hot pink wall or whatever it is,

is completely wild. there's a mural in one of them, one of the listings, and I can't remember where it was. But we were like, yeah, you gotta go ahead and let's touch that up. Let's go ahead and paint that over. Right? Because you don't know what the perception is going to be on the other side. Make it to where that they can see and envision their stuff in here and then living in here. So I think that's probably the main thing.

just having the conversation, they don't like the confrontation. What do you think?

speaker-0 (17:40)
I so. think either that or I think some people maybe like over sell to get the listing to begin with. So, you know, like a seller might say, I want 550 for my house. And you might be like, I think it's like 475, right? But it's like it anyway. then knowing full well, and then is that hard to have like the reality conversation of like, we should have never brought it on at 550 or.

know, we say that sometimes that's people like buying the listing, right? Like they're just going along with whatever the seller wants so they can get it. But then they end up doing, you know, massive price reductions, which that can be it's on. I feel like there is always room for a price correction. I think when you're having to do massive numbers, that's a different concern as to how you got to that place. But I think that some of it could be just maybe the agent didn't do their homework right away or

Maybe the CMA they use was from a year ago and things aren't what they were a year ago. So that's why I think if you can have information, I just always like to provide like more information than they want. But just like these are the comparables. This is how long it took. This is the price they were at. Like kind of speaks for itself. And you know, sometimes there's just our sellers that it doesn't really matter what you tell them anyway. They might just not listen. So you kind of have to just

know that you've done your best to tell them that. at some point in time, you'll just have to say, this is what we've talked about, but you're the one that's going have to pull the trigger to make this happen.

speaker-1 (19:15)
Absolutely. One thing that you said that I've never heard, buying the listing for the agent, stealing that 100 % because that happens all the time. Like they're great at sales and just agreeing, like being the order taker. So of course it's easier to be able to get that listing. Oh, that's beautiful. You should point that because I've never heard that before.

speaker-0 (19:42)
That's what I think it is, right? Like when they go in and they tell them that, yeah, sure, you can get that price for it, right? And then I'm the one that came in and I'm like, I don't think we can get that price. Well, of course they go with the other agent. And then, I mean, I always kind of chuckled to myself when you see it sell like six months later for the price that you told them that it would sell for, ⁓ you know? So yeah, we call it buying the listing.

speaker-1 (20:06)
Do you have any other, I mean, we, know we both have a lot of pet peeves, but specifically stale listings, no-go's, things that agents shouldn't be doing just because it's a little stagnant.

speaker-0 (20:21)
I mean, I think also like, like giving up on it either, right? Like I think that some people just kind of like, well, like it's just not going to sell. I think, again, patience is a virtue, right? Sometimes it is, you have to, you have to wait it out. So I think just knowing, like if you're confident in your numbers, you're confident in what you've told them, like it's just sometimes it's a waiting game and it's, it's okay if you've kept your seller up to date and explain that to them. ⁓ You know, but I also just think,

making sure that you are doing the CMAs. mean, right? Cause it changes every week. There's new things that are on the market. There are new things that sold. did a, you know, an active that you used in your CMA now sell and it's sold for $20,000 less. Well, that's going to affect where we're at. So I think it's just a matter of, know, knowing your numbers and being confident in yourself and just knowing it. know, I think people like, like you said, like to point fingers or it's their fault or whatnot. like, it's no one's quote unquote.

It's just a matter of trying to keep up with the changes and making sure that you're communicating those.

speaker-1 (21:26)
Absolutely. And I think communication is key. Having conversations, giving the true updates, even if there is no update, that's an update. Not just being quiet, because I think that's where then sellers do get angry because they haven't heard from you. So make sure that you communicate with them too. So any last words of wisdom for us?

speaker-0 (21:46)
Well, mean, we're in middle of February, things are going to start to turn around. So just, you know, if it's a little stale or stagnant, keep your head up and keep on doing what you do best and connecting with people and it should turn around.

speaker-1 (22:01)
Well, thank you for tuning in for the Leading Lane podcast and tune into the next one.