6 Reasons Why Your Property Hasn’t Sold

There could be a number of reasons why your property hasn’t sold, below are 6 of the most common.

Coverage

Has your property got maximum coverage? Is it on the top 2 property portals? Many agents recently dropped Zoopla, for example. And Zoopla claims that nearly a third of their traffic doesn’t visit Rightmove.

So if you’re on with an agent that is only on with Rightmove, you could be missing out on a third of potential buyers! Digital market and video are playing a huge part in property marketing, we are finding that we are getting more than double the views on our digital marketing platforms than on Rightmove and Zoopla.

Ask your agent what their digital marketing strategy is. Finally, get a For Sale board up if you haven’t got one.

Presentation

Presentation is so important to get right. And I don’t mean the actual presentation of your home. I mean the way it is presented on the property portals. Rightmove suggests the optimum number of photos is only 5 to 9 photos. The better the photos the more clicks your property will get. Remember, the object of the exercise is to get clicks on your property. Clicks = enquiries = viewings = offers = a sale = happy people. And we like happy people!

Staging your home where possible, tidying gardens, and making sure cars are off the drive all make a difference! If you would like a copy of the staging tips we send to our clients before the photographer attends let me know and I will send you a copy.

So if your property hasn’t got good quality photos, a floor plan, and a good description that is enticing to buyers, then you need to look to get this right before you do anything else. It might be that you need virtual tours or a video tour, or perhaps you just need to move the photos around to attract a different type of person, but the bottom line is that your property needs to be presented in the right way to attract clicks on the various online platforms that will be used to advertise your property.

Pricing in the middle of two price bands!

So, for example, the price brackets you can search on Rightmove & Zoopla go up in £10k increments from £0 to £300k, then £25k increments from £300k to £500k.

If your agent prices your property at £499,995 it is likely to appear in one search, typically £475k to £500k.

If you were to price it at £500k it would appear in two searches £475k to £500k and £500k to £550k. Placing it on a Rightmove & Zoopla price band can get you up to 32% more enquiries.

Viewings

Who is doing the viewings? If it is you, then perhaps you aren’t selling the property properly. Similarly, if it’s the agent doing the viewings, then perhaps they’re not selling it properly! We would always recommend the agent carries out the viewings and really highlights the selling points of your home on the viewing appointment.

Length of time on the market

Recent research suggests that the property would need to sell between 9 and 16 days for you to get the maximum price. Every day past this normally means you will get less for your home. Your agent should be coming up with a plan if your property hasn’t sold within 2 to 4 weeks.

This could be changing the photos and descriptions, recording an updated video, creating a new social media campaign or simply giving you advice on any simple property improvements.

If your property has been on the market for over 8 weeks then buyers will start to think it’s overpriced or something is wrong with it, this may be a good time to take it off the market for a couple of weeks and relaunch it or even consider changing agents.

Price

The dreaded price discussion.

My view is that you need to try and be proactive before you reduce your price, by trying all of the ideas above. Then, and only then, should you look to reduce your price to try and attract more people to your property. Your agent should be keeping you up to date with local market conditions and how similar properties are performing.

We can all ask a lower price for a property and sell – that’s easy, but the vast majority of people, and I’m sure including you, want to maximise the price you are selling at.

Thinking of selling or Letting? Reach out for a friendly chat, advice, or a free home valuation.