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Best Way to Sell When the Realtor Listing Expires

Posted Monday, August 10, 2015

Homeowners have choices when the realtor listing expires. The first choice, of course, is to re-list or to find another realtor whose experience more closely matches your needs. The second choice is to look at the opportunities that present themselves the listing expires. Here are some of the things to consider when your listing expires:

Listen to the Feedback

Hopefully, your realtor relayed the feedback they received from potential buyers when showing your home. Write these things down. The realtor probably gave you feedback as well. Go online and read some articles about preparing your house for sale. Carefully review where your house falls short and make the changes that are within your control and your budget. It is free to store your clutter and de-personalize your home. It is inexpensive to paint any rooms that have objectionable colors to a more neutral pallet. Make the outside more appealing by painting your door and doing a little inexpensive landscaping. Try to make as many of the suggested changes as you can to make your home more marketable.

Market Research

Look online at the other homes on the market in your area. Go to some open houses and get some ideas about the relative price of your home. Make sure you look at homes that have comparable square footage, comparable condition, comparable size lot, etc. If you plan to sell your home on your own, then there is no commission to pay to the realtor. This gives you the chance to drop the price on your home and maybe attractive a multiple offer situation. Make sure the price is attractive compared to the other prices in your area.

Sell the House Yourself

You can Google sites that help “for sale by owner” homeowners. Make sure to fully market the home on every site you can find including Craigslist. If the home isn’t properly marketed, it will be very hard to sell. There is also a lot of information on the web about different ways to manage the legal matters regarding the sale. Some recommend hiring an attorney or realtor. Some banks are willing to offer assistance to “for sale by owner” deals. Get numbers of off the "we buy houses" signs.

Take it Off the Market

Sometimes the best thing to do is to take the home off the market to wait until the next peak selling period. This will bring in a whole new set of buyers and offer opportunities to change the asking price.

Sell Your House for Cash

It may be worth the effort to Google “we buy houses for cash” websites and see what money your house will bring on that market. If you are in a hurry to sell your house, the lower price may be worth it.