Fix the problems that are preventing you from selling
There are a number of problems that can be preventing your home from selling, and some of them are completely out of your control. For example, it could simply be a slow time in the property market and that’s a factor that you have no choice but to accept or you could be selling your house with sitting tenants.
But for other issues that are hindering your home from selling, you do have choices for fixing them. They can range from major to minor, and the corrective steps can either be quick and low-cost or no-cost, or they might be time consuming or expensive to address.
Many homeowners who are looking for a swift sale turn by default to estate agents, hoping that this will help to quickly attract a buyer who will make a generous offer to buy their property.
There are certain benefits of selling this way, including that the estate agent handles all of the work needed to find a buyer – everything from creating your home’s listing that describes its main elements and includes photographs of the interior and exterior, through to scheduling viewings to give people tours of the house or flat, and finally hearing offers on the home.
If an estate agent manages to sell your home, they will profit from the commission that they’ll charge the seller, as an article on Indeed notes. This commission is often within a range between 1.15 percent and 1.40 percent of a property’s sale price but can be lower or higher than this.
But what might surprise some homeowners is that selling with an estate agent can take a very long time, possibly many months or even more than a full year before you get a legitimate offer. If you have been attempting for some time to sell your house or flat with an estate agent without attracting any serious offers, you might be wondering why it is struggling to sell.
Keep reading this guide to learn more about some of the typical issues that can arise when trying to sell a home that can end up making prospective buyers lose interest in your property.
You’ll also get to see advice on some ways that you might be able to resolve some of these problems that are preventing a sale. And there’s also information about other options for how to find a buyer, for example by contacting LDN Properties or another quick buyer, so that you can overcome the challenges of selling and instead enjoy a speedy, zero-commission sale.
You’ve got bad pictures in your property listing
Check the photographs that accompany your property listing, because bad photos can turn people off from even requesting a viewing. You want to avoid photographs that make rooms look dark or that fail to show off much space your place has available. It’s a simple fix for this problem, because you can take new pictures that show your home in a better light and should help to attract more potential buyers.
Your home is dirty or cluttered house
When you are trying to sell your home it’s imperative that you keep the property neat and tidy and remove any clutter. Having too many of your personal items littered around your house or flat can make the rooms seem smaller than they actually are. You can address this problem quickly and easily by reorganising the rooms and getting rid of unnecessary items, in order to make your home look more enticing.
The price you’re asking is not right
Whether you’ve researched your sale price yourself using resources like the HM Land Registry – which has an index of registered house sale prices in England and Wales – or whether your estate agent suggested the price, if you’re not getting any bids it might be set too high. If your home is priced far above other similar properties it’s unlikely to sell, so you might need to consider setting a lower asking price.
Your garden makes the home unattractive
Another visual flaw that can make it harder to sell your home is having an untidy or overgrown garden. It’s one of the first things that people see when they are going on a viewing, and an unattractive garden can be a negative factor for many people. With a little gardening work, you can make it look presentable for selling.
Your home has some structural damage
Another issue that might be delaying the sale of your home is if it has some type of structural flaw – such as flooding damage, subsidence, damp or more. The very presence of this problem can make some buyers no longer want to make an offer on your house or flat because they will have concerns both about the building’s structural integrity and the cost of fixing the issue as the next owner.
One way to resolve this problem is to repair the flaw before attempting to sell, although this might be very time-consuming and costly depending on the scale of the damage. If you do not have the funds, interest or time needed to pursue fixes before selling, you can speed up a sale by contacting LDN Properties or another quick buyer because they are experts are making competitive and fast offers to buy all types of homes, even those sold “as is” with damage.
The neighbourhood is not seen as desirable
You could also find that some prospective buyers are less interested in your property because of its location, and there are many reasons behind this such as the neighbourhood having a higher crime rate than elsewhere, having minimal amenities, lacking decent public transportation connections and other drawbacks compared to homes situated in other areas.
Obviously, you cannot change your property’s location but there are some solutions available, including promoting the beneficial aspects of your home – whether that’s a large garden, modern appliances, recent renovations and other factors. Or you could sell your home to a quick buyer that will give you a speedy and fair offer regardless of its location.
Consider alternative methods for selling your home
If you’d rather end your listing with the estate agent and consider another option for selling, the good news is that you have several choices that might help make a quicker sale.
One option is to list your house or flat for auction, a process through which an auctioneer will take care of listing and marketing your home at a minimum opening bid price that you have agreed on. The benefit of selling through auction is that you’ll get a specific date for selling, because once the auction takes place the sale is considered legally binding.
The downside of proceeding with an auction is that the starting bid price is typically set lower than most homeowners would prefer. The reason the auctioneer does this is to generate interest in the property with the hope of prompting a competitive round of bids that drives up the final sale price. But be cautious of this approach because you might only receive the opening bid and have to settle for a price far lower than you had hoped for your home.
You’ll also have to pay an auctioneer fees, so bear that in mind because you’ll have to subtract the total cost of the fees from whatever final sale bid you receive.
Another alternative to selling through an estate agent is to work with a reputable property buying company. These businesses work by making speedy and competitive cash offers to buy houses and flats without charging any fees, typically through a very straightforward process.
Selling to a property buying company therefore helps you to secure a fast sale and also avoids having to pay fees that an estate agent or auctioneer would charge you.
Recurring questions about homes that aren’t selling
As experts in the property market, there are certain questions that keep recurring from homeowners whose properties aren’t selling, including:
Yes. You can sell your house or flat at auction, where you’ll agree to a minimum opening reserve price and then hope that people will bid at higher levels before the final sale. Another alternative is selling to a trustworthy property buying company that will give you a swift cash payment for your home without charging any fees.
No. Many of your options for making it more likely that your home will sell won’t cost you any money, although they will require some investment of time. These choices include tidying your garden and rooms, or taking better photographs of your property for the listing with your estate agent.
Having large-scale structural damage at your property can be the leading reason why it is struggling to sell, and therefore you may want to spend money, time and effort on fixing the problem in order to remove it as an obstacle to selling. But not all homeowners will be able to afford such fixes, in which case selling to a quick buyer may be the simplest solution.
Generally, contacting a quick home buyer such as LDN Properties will be your best choice for securing a speedy sale. That’s because these companies make competitive and fast offers to purchase practically any type of leasehold or freehold home, including those with structural damage and other problems, and the entire process should take only a few short weeks.
If you continue with trying to sell your home through an estate agent or you switch to trying your luck with a property auction, both of these strategies will require that you pay commission that will be subtracted right away from the eventual sale proceeds. But if you sell your property to a quick buyer or without the help of a third party then you will not have to pay any commission.
Ask individual companies to prove whether they are registered with The Property Ombudsman (TPO) or not. TPO is an independent entity that writes regulations to shield owners from scams in the quick buying industry, and genuine TPO members like LDN Properties are required to follow these rules, which provides you with peace of mind when selling your home to them.
Although lowering the price of your house or flat can potentially encourage more interest from prospective buyers, this option will depend on your personal situation. If your financial needs are such that you truly cannot accept a lower price, consider some of the other steps that you have for making your home more appealing to buyers.
Contact LDN Properties for a fast and fair quote to sell your home
By clicking the "Request Offer" button below, or calling our team at 020 7183 3022, you can learn more about our hassle-free process for making a generous offer to quickly buy your house or flat, solving your problem of having a home that isn’t selling.
