Why is my house not selling? Price, presentation and strategy

When a home will not sell, Jon’s first answer is short: it is most commonly the price, the strategy, or both.

The market gets the blame more often than it deserves. Homes sell in every month and every market, including slow ones. When one sits on the market while others around it sell, the cause is usually something the seller can change.

No viewings, or viewings but no offers?

The two problems point in different directions:

• Few or no viewings means the home is not catching attention. Buyers scroll past it on the portals or never hear of it. Price, photography and how widely it is marketed are the first suspects.
• Plenty of viewings but no offers means the listing works but the home does not live up to it. Buyers arrive, compare it with what else they have seen at the price, and move on. Presentation, condition and price against the competition are the first suspects.

Knowing which one you have saves you from fixing the wrong thing.

Strategy: what buyers see before they ever visit

Poor strategy, in Jon’s view, usually shows up in three places.

Presentation

Buyers decide quickly, and a home that looks tired, cluttered or dated asks them to imagine past it. Many will not. Presentation is also the quickest problem to solve, and Jon has seen it turn homes around many times. In one case, a home held back by poor presentation and a green-painted exterior was transformed over a single weekend.

Photography

The photos are the first viewing, and most buyers see them on a phone. Dark, cramped or badly framed pictures lose buyers before they have read a word. If the photos do not do the home justice, nothing else in the listing will make up for it.

The For Sale board

Some sellers refuse a board for privacy: they do not want the neighbours to know. Jon’s answer is that this assumes the neighbours are looking. If they are, they will also notice the three agents who came to value the home, the cars slowing outside, the buyers meeting the agent on the doorstep, and the listing on the agent’s website and every major portal. A board rarely gives away anything that is not already obvious, but it does reach buyers who already want the street.

There is a further cost. To Jon, a seller who will not have a board raises a question about how serious they are about selling, and buyers and agents can pick up on that too.

The one fair exception is where boards are not allowed. Many developments of flats, and some developments of houses, ban For Sale boards through the lease or the estate rules. There, the photography, the listing and the agent’s own buyer list have to do more of the work.

Price: the nuclear button

Price is the biggest lever a seller has, and it changes interest faster than anything else. In Jon’s words, it can be, and often is, the nuclear button.

That speed is the reason to hold it in reserve. A reduction cannot be undone, and it tells every buyer watching that you are willing to move. Strategy says you do not have to press it on day one, especially if the marketing plan fits how soon you need to sell. Fix what the presentation, the photos and the board are telling buyers first; then, if interest is still not there, look at price.

When you do, base it on evidence: what comparable homes have actually sold for, not what neighbours are asking. For real sold prices by area and type of home, see our house-price pages or the price check.

Your timescale decides the pace

How quickly to act depends on how soon you need to move. A seller with a fixed date has less room to wait for presentation changes to work; a seller with time can try them first and keep price in reserve. The right order for your home, and the moment to change price, is where your own situation decides.

If the problem is the agent

Sometimes the strategy is the agent’s: weak photos, little marketing, no board put up, no ideas when interest dries up. Our guide to choosing an estate agent covers what a good agent should be doing and what to check in the contract before you think about switching.