My advice to you is see if your Realtor is using latest technology to market ans sell your property. Ask her or him to prepare Virtual Tour and it will help tremendously with advertising and selling of your home. You can see Virtual tours on my web page or you can go to http://www.Visualtour.com for samples

I live in the 29229 area and have traveled these roads for 20+ YEARS. Most likely you are competing with builders. This area is saturated with new tract housing and is still growing. I'd suggest speaking to a Realtor that is living in the area. You can get advice from anyone you want and have different theories on why your house isn't selling. If you ask me, your competition has the upper-hand in the market. If you are trying to "flip" or make a large profit on your house I think you bought in the wrong area or paid too much. Most likely your Realtor is doing his/her job if their office is in the the area. Ask your Realtor who your competition is, then plan your strategy. What sets your house apart from others being built? How's your neighborhood sales and DOM? Visit our website for some free tips. By the way, the market here is not so bad.

Hi Theresa,

There are several factors that influence the sale of your home. The way it is marketed is certainly a big piece of that puzzle, however there are so many factors that influence the sale, it is next to impossible to give you an absolute "Here is the reason it hasn't sold" without knowing more about your home's specifics. Here are some things you may want to think about:

Location: Are you in a neighborhood? Or are you on a main road? Is your home convenient to shopping, interstates, etc.? Or is it in a more remote area? There is nothing you can do about the location, but just keep in mind that if there are any issues with the location at all, this may influence the number of potential buyers in the pool.

Condition: This is huge! Odds are, there are several similar homes to yours very close to yours and most of them are going to be in "pretty good" condition. You have to make your home really stand out from the other 10 homes that your potential buyers are looking at the same day they see yours. Make them to walk into your home and say "WOW! This is only $_______?" It is exhausting for buyers to look at homes all day and see a bunch of houses that all look the same - same # of bedrooms, bathrooms, same average condition, etc. Your buyers will appreciate you making the effort to make your home stand out from the rest. (This can potentially mean more $$ for you at closing too!) There are so many ways to do this and I am sure your agent can give you several things that you can do to create this effect.

Price: Everyone else mentioned this already and they are right. Pricing is extremely important. If it's too low, you'll lose money and if it's too high, it won't sell. Without knowing specifics of your home, there's no way to know if you are priced right. If you have concern about this, you may want to get an appraisal done to be sure that you are asking the right amount. This is something that you will need to talk with your agent about so that you can see what your competition is actually selling for.

This is not an all-inclusive list of what may be influencing the sale of your home, but I hope that it at least gives you a good place to start. Good luck!

Heather Mullennax
ERA Wilder Realty
803-479-1259
heather.mullennax@era.com

This is not intended to be a solicitation of any business currently listed with another sales associate.

Theresa,

What has been said is correct. You have has to have maxium exposure and the right price in this market. Yes, the market is warming, but its still a buyers market and no matter where your home is posted if it is over priced it will not sell.

Talk to your agent and have him complete a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) for your. If done properly, this will show you:

(1) What the market is willing to pay for a house such as yours.

(2) The average time houses were on the market before being sold.

When used properly this tool has proven to be a great assest in assisting with buying and selling a home.

I hope this and all of the great information that you have received helps.

Howard Rose III, Army (Ret), Realtor
Coldwell Banker United Realtors
10040 Two Notch Road
Columbia, SC 29229
803-788-2811
803-800-4448 http://www.cbunited.com/howardrose
hrose@cbunited.com

David Patter is correct. If your home is not priced right, you are going to be the proud owner of it for a long time. In this market, PRICE IS KING! Lose sight of that and you are dead in the water.

Three things stop a home from selling: Price, condition and location. Location you cannot control. The other two you can. Make them the best they can be and better than your competition.

Keep in mind, all the marketing dollars in the world will not get an over priced home sold. Also know the market does not care what you need or want to get out of your home. The market is what it is. I don't mean to sound cruel, but you need to accept this if you have any hope of getting your home sold. The market is what it is.

I would call David Patton and ask him what homes like yours have sold for and see if your price point is right. He seems to have a good handle on the reality of real estate in this market.

Good luck to you.

Theresa,

One thing to keep in mind with this 'days on market' measure: it ONLY measures the days that it takes homes to sell. It DOES NOT measure the number of days that unsold home have been on the market. So, while homes that are reasonably priced may take 106 average days to sell, the homes that are not priced reasonably may sit on the market for 206 days, or a year or more, for example. These unsold homes have zero effect on the 'days on the market' measure. It measures only sold homes.

Just something to know when thinking in terms of 'days on market'.
Have a nice day,
Dan

Theresa:

There are two important factors in the successful real estate marketing.

1. If your home is not on at least TEN DIFFERENT WEBSITES with many pictures, you might not be getting the maximum amount of exposure for your home. Working with a residential sales specialist that has a web presence (do a GOOGLE SEARCH on "Columbia SC Homes for Sale" or "Homes for Sale in Columbia SC") will help you with getting maximum online exposure for your home.

2. The market is warming. However, if your home is not priced properly, it might not matter how many buyers are looking for homes. They will rarely visit homes that are perceived to be overpriced.

You must have solid pricing and a proper, multiple web presence with tons of pictures. If you aren't being marketed in that fashion, you could experience a negative impact with your DAYS ON MARKET. (By the way, the average DOM in the last six months for zip code 29229 is 106 days.)

Hopefully, this helps with answering your questions.

Good Luck with your real estate sales goals!

Sincerely,

David A. Patterson, Broker CRS
Keller Williams Realty
4400 Saint Andrews Road
Columbia, SC 29210
(803) 429-9010

Visit My Blog - Your Comments are Welcomed
http://www.ThePattersonFiles.info/
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"A journey begins with a designation in mind."