3 Mistakes That Are Killing Your Home Sale

What may not have mattered before, matters now. In today's real estate market, buyers are particular, diligent, have high expectations, and details that once slid by unnoticed can now stop a sale cold. To get to the closing table, sellers and their agents must be thoughtful, strategic, and on point from start to finish - from initial marketing until the sale closes. In this article, I'll identify three fronts where sellers may not have had to be on point in the past, but need to be now.

photo credit : Robert Starnes Sr

I've been in the Central Maryland real estate industry since 2008. I pride myself on understanding current market conditions, adapting my processes to help you attract buyers, and keeping the sale on track all the way through closing.

Tougher Markets Require A Careful Approach

Tougher markets require a more careful approach to your home sale. If you’re in tune with the real estate market, you know it has shifted. That said, properties continue to be listed and sold every day. Selling your home right now IS POSSIBLE, but it requires a focused, intentional approach. What may not have mattered in marketing and contract management in the past, does matter today. Some agents and sellers are making mistakes that I’ll help you avoid so you can attract buyers and keep them on the hook, all the way to closing.

The Lay Of The Land

Want the gist of the Central Maryland market right now? According to a recent market report from Bright MLS, which is the platform we realtors use to list properties, the average days of market across Anne Arundel County, Baltimore County, Harford County, and Howard County is 39-42. Baltimore City’s homes are moving in an average of 58 days. Inventory levels are higher – for the first counties mentioned we have 1.1 – 1.8 months of supply – meaning that if we stopped listing properties today, it would take roughly 1.1 – 1.8 months for us to get the homes on the market sold, given current buyer demand. Baltimore City has 4.2 months of inventory, indicating a shift towards a buyer’s market. The average 30-year fixed mortgage interest rate right now is about 5.9% - 6.25%, lower than it has been in recent years, but housing and the cost-of-living still feel expensive to most Americans. As a result, buyers that are shopping for a home are taking their time to find the right fit, and they are doing their diligence once they put a house under contract. As a seller’s agent, I am taking today’s discerning buyers into consideration. We have to adjust. Here are three actions I’m seeing regularly that may not have rocked a sale in the past, but can kill your chances of reeling in the right buyer and keeping them on the hook.

#1 - Not Making Qualitative Adjustments in Pricing

Expect buyers in this market to do their research on pricing, carefully consider your property as it stacks up to their “must have” list and every other listing in their price range, and possibly tour your home more than once, before putting forth an offer. Don’t overreach on pricing – you’re more likely to be passed over by serious buyers and later have to do a price drop while racking up days on market and leaving a trail of data in your wake that suggests you’re an unrealistic seller with a property that may have “something wrong with it.” Instead, we’ll use recent comparable sales to substantiate your price, but also make accommodations and adjustments for any differences your home has against those that have already sold. For example, if your home is on a busier street or less desirable lot than those that have recently sold, while not quantitative, these items are qualitative and you have to entice prospective buyers to overlook those factors, with price. Buyers have to love your home more than any other one available to them and they have to feel that the price you’re asking makes sense for what they are getting.

#2 - Overusing Chat GPT

Chat GPT is here and its use is running rampant in the real estate industry. Listing descriptions have never sounded more verbose. Sometimes the use of flowery words is so far from day-to-day conversation that the buyers’ eyes gloss over. 400 words in, they’re not even sure if they’re reading a home description or a Dickens’ novel. Don’t miss this opportunity to directly communicate exactly what your home offers to the buyer. I always ask myself “What are the 2-3 major selling points of this house?” Then I get straight to the point with what those are in the first sentence or two of the description. The trick is to get their attention fast and then keep it. And yes, of course I use Chat GPT to help make it sound smooth without requiring the buyer to pull up an online dictionary.

#3 - Approaching the Inspection Defensively, Not Offensively

I can almost guarantee you that the buyer isn’t going to waive their home inspection. As I said, buyers are doing their homework. If they’re going to buy now, they’re going to need to feel steadfast in their decision before signing. In fact, you may see the buyers asking for more inspections than they would have in recent years. To them it’s cheap insurance and reassurance that they’re making the right decision.

The current inspection process allows buyers to do inspections within a defined number of days and then request repairs, request credits towards repairs, or terminate the contract. When termination is on the table, why handle inspections defensively? Don’t overlook the things you have been “living with” in your home. Go through your home critically and compile a list of items that need to be tightened up – change the dirty furnace filter, tighten the hinges on that uneven door, fix the rail to that drawer, replace the batteries in your smoke and CO detectors – these can be small things that don’t cost you a lot of money but cut down on the list of items the inspector will find. Give the impression that your home has been well maintained, not neglected.

In addition to tightening up on repairs, communication is key. I call the buyer’s agent right after the inspection to find out how things went, keep the lines of communication open, ask the buyer to prioritize what is most important to them on the list they submit, ask the buyer if they prefer repairs to be completed or a credit to hire their own contractor later, and I keep the idea of issuing a home warranty as a solution if a functioning, but older, system is making the buyer nervous. The inspection phase is a critical hurdle we have to clear to get your home sold. We need to be on the offense and be proactive to ensure a smooth landing on this front.

What Didn’t Matter Before, Matters Now

In hotter markets, the above listed items don’t matter as much as they do in markets like the one we are currently operating in. Right now when it comes to selling your home, everything matters. You have to think like a buyer and be a step ahead of them to attract them and then keep them on the hook when the offer comes in. In doing this, we can absolutely sell your home successfully in this market.