Second Attempt at a First Impression

So you heard about the rocking seller’s market in Ann Arbor and the City of Ypsilanti. You looked at your mortgage balance and thought, “Let’s give it a shot! Selling should be easy and then we can buy our next home with a much lower interest rate.”

Except, your home hasn’t sold.

It’s now July, and your home has seen two solid months of “active” on the market, but no one has put an offer in on your home. The foot traffic of showings has worn a path from your front door, through your living room and across your calendar, as you make room for strangers peering at your home.

In a word, your home’s listing has become “stale.” There are any number of reasons why your listing has become stale, and the top two reasons are either a function of supply and demand or price. Perhaps it is time to consider giving you and your home a summer vacation.

Take the rest of the summer off. Give your home time to be a home for you and yours. Then, when September rolls around, put your home back on the active market. In fact, quick tip, list your home on Wednesday, with all the marketing behind it, and be resolute in allowing no showings until the open house the next Sunday.

“But Todd! What about the buyers in the market now? They won’t know that our home is/was for sale!”

Any buyer’s agent worth their salt will comb the MLS looking for unsold, inactive listings that match their clients’ needs and make an inquiry to your previous listing agent or contact you directly. There are also a few real estate portals that seemingly “forget” to remove your home from their sites, once your home comes off the active market. How helpful!

So, if a buyer for your home appears, while it is “on vacation,” chances are still great that they will contact you about your home’s availability.