What to Do When Homes Linger on the Market

The showings have started to slow, interest from potential buyers is waning, and your home seller is getting worried. What should you do? Time to update your listing photos. The listing may benefit from having new photos taken of the home to post on the Internet, which may help to renew interest online and get more potential buyers to the front door, according to real estate professionals in a recent article in The Chicago Tribune. “Does the home still look as good as it did in the listing photos or does it look more lived-in now, a few months later?” The Chicago Tribune article also notes. Many real estate pros have also opted for staging homes to try to renew interest: Decluttering, make sure the home is in neutral colors, washing the windows, and paying attention to the smell of the home (particularly if there are pets) to make sure the home is more inviting to potential buyers. And if the home continues to linger, agents may need to revisit comparable sales in the neighbor and have a frank talk with sellers about the price they’re asking for the home. "At the end of the day, it's going to come down to the price," Kevin Tatum, an @properties broker in Chicago, told The Chicago Tribune. "We may be at the bottom, but we're not going to see a rebound. It's not going to be a V-shaped recovery. It's going to be a straight line. That's what we try to have (sellers) keep in mind." Source: “A Reality Check for Idle Home Sellers,” The Chicago Tribune (June 1, 2012)