August 31, 2021 | Selling
What Happens If My Home Doesn’t Sell On Offer Day?
It’s offer day, you’re excited, your realtor is excited, this is it! But then… crickets. What happened?!
A lack of offers on offer day is usually not just to do with pricing alone. It is likely the result of many missed opportunities throughout the listing process. Read on to find out more about why this happens, how you can turn it around and most importantly, what steps you can take to avoid it altogether.
Crickets on offer day, now what?
You hear of other houses selling for record prices with 10+ offers and you are feeling optimistic. However, on your scheduled offer day you receive no offers.
Even in a hot Toronto seller’s market, this happens more often than you think.
If you’re working with the right agent, they would have a sense of the interest and feedback from potential buyers. When the listing week isn’t going as planned, or the listing agent isn’t communicating with the buyer’s agent for feedback, you will know. So what happened?
1) Priced too high
When pricing to generate a multiple offer scenario, it is important to choose your pricing wisely. Listing too high can send the wrong message to buyers and make you seem unreasonable with your expectations, this can turn buyers off and stop them from participating in the multiple offers.
2) Poorly presented
Never underestimate the power of professional staging. First impressions are key. If a potential buyer walks into your home and all they see is clutter, scuffed walls, scratched cabinets etc. They are 100% going to be turned off. Your home may not be the only house they’re looking at, and when people think of a million dollar price tag, they’re expectations are high. A home listed for sale must have a deep clean, including carpets, windows and tracks and even the walls. A fresh coat of paint and a serious de-clutter goes a long way.
★ Click here to read our top 5 staging tips to help sell a home for more money.
3) Not enough quality marketing
With 81% of buyers researching potential homes online, professional real estate photos and lifestyle copy are an absolute must. A professional photographer knows what angles work best, how to properly light a room and also how to edit the photos after the fact. A professional copywriter knows how to position the property to the buyer, and next thing you know they are hooked. Both are very important when it comes to online marketing. Clear, beautiful pictures and meaningful copy are what stops people in their scrolling. It is what people forward to friends and family and it is what people save to their favourites.
Other pieces of important online marketing that are often missed are professionally designed property website with more valuable property info, search engine optimization (SEO) to drive more eyeballs to your listing, and of course paid social media ads. When a potential buyer lands on a property website, they need to be able to fall in love online.
★ Click here to learn about our bespoke marketing approach.
4) Lack of information during the listing period
As we mentioned earlier, buyers have high expectations and if they aren’t getting enough information, they will be hesitant to proceed. Online marketing is all about reducing barriers. The least amount of clicks away from a website, the better. Therefore, all relevant information for the home must be in one spot. The home inspection, the 3D tour, the floor plans, the photos, the price and the description. The moment a potential buyer is required to email for more information, potentially being forced into an auto-subscription situation, is likely the moment they will decide to keep moving. It’s imperative that all this valuable info, and then some, is available to them on the property website.
★ For more seller resources check out:
- Are You Truly Maximizing Your Home Sale?
- Key Steps To Selling A Home In Toronto
- The Real Estate Debate: Should I Sell Or Buy First?
5) Timing of sale
Poor timing of the sale can be a real issue. An experienced realtor will know when the ideal time to list will be. Based on years of experience, and actual hard data, a good realtor can determine the optimal time for your home to hit the market. There are seasonal lows, market fluctuations and even certain holidays that all directly impact the real estate industry in ways you would not expect.
6) Listing agent ego
If your listing agent is difficult to communicate with, not very responsive or even unwilling to help other agents, this can easily impact your offer day. It is important for the listing agent to be completely transparent with other buyer agents. Poor communication to prospective buyers, including making false statements about interest in the home, or making buyers feel like they won’t have a chance on offer night is the equivalent of turning buyers away at the door.
7) Elements that are beyond your realtor’s control
There are two elements that are hard to predict or control during the listing period. Market competition is number one. Although your agent will do their best to keep an eye out for coming soon signs and word of mouth about new homes coming in your area, this is not an exact science. Unfortunately, if there are many similar homes on the market at the same time, buyers will have more choice and could result in more days on market. To counteract the competition piece, there are a few strategies your realtor could employ to minimize the negative effect of this scenario. Number two is a sudden market shift. This is a bit of an insidious process that usually goes unnoticed at first. A market shift can happen within a week, but might take a couple weeks for everyone to feel the effects. If you find yourself in this scenario be prepared to adjust and work on a new strategy.
★ Click here to read up on the Toronto real estate market.
It’s not all gloom! Turn those crickets into offers…
Review all the points above and evaluate if everything was completed as it should be. Take a moment to view your listing objectively and determine if it is presented in a way that piques your interest enough to make you take the next step. If it all feels a bit lacklustre, and you did not receive any offers on offer day, now is the time to re-evaluate. It is not unheard of, or even considered bad practice, to take your home off the market and start again. Chances are your listing did not get seen by enough or the right people. A total reset will ensure your home is being presented in the best light and also to the right buyers.
If starting over is not possible due to timeline constraints; if you’ve already bought and have a hard close-by date etc. Then it’s time for plan B. Take your home off the market and re-list at a price you are willing to accept. To determine this price, your agent will use the information gathered during the original 6-7 day listing period. The feedback provided by agents and buyers will inform that number and you will use an “Offers Anytime” strategy. It is likely your home will sell within a few days from here. Make sure to address any issues noted above and ensure the MLS listing is reflecting those changes.
★ For more information on pricing strategies, check out our blog How To Successfully Price And Sell Your House
Not selling on offer day is, unfortunately, a reality of the real estate market. It doesn’t mean your home is not worthy, it likely just reflects a series of poor decisions made during the listing process or unforeseen competition. If you’d like to know more about the Toronto real estate market, please drop us a line, we’re always available.
