There are things you can do that will keep your home from selling in a timely manner. I suggest avoiding them! A good real estate agent won't let your home languish on the market, because the job of a real estate agent is to sell houses. When a house sits too long on the MLS, buyers and agents alike start wondering what's wrong with the home (or its sellers). You don't want that!

Why your house won't sell

1. Your asking price is too high
   Sellers who ask more for their property than the market can support usually end up with their house on and off the market several times, wasting time and money for everyone involved. An experienced agent can be trusted to get you the highest price possible in the market.
2. You're trying to sell your home "by owner"
   There are great tools and resources these days for do-it-yourself-ers wanting to sell their own home, but the fact is, most homes don't get sold "by owner." They stay notoriously long on the market, and usually end up with the demoralized owner taking a lowball offer, or finally listing with an agent. A good real estate agent works hard to get a sale for you and knows what it takes to get the kind of exposure necessary to bring in buyers.
3. You're not staging your home well
   It's important to stage your home, presenting it in an attractive manner to your potential buyers. See my tips on staging your home.
4. Your agent isn't marketing your property well enough
   It's not enough for agents just to submit their homes to the local MLS anymore. Real estate is competitive, and requires marketing skills and specialized knowledge to get your home exposed to the maximum amount of buyers. We will market your home tirelessly in print publications such as the real estate section of the local newspapers, and online media like Google and real estate portal websites.

There are many other reasons your home may not be selling well. If you have been trying to sell "by owner," give me a call and I can bring my real estate marketing experience.

There a lot of tips and tricks in staging your home to potential buyers for a quick sale. Sellers sometimes make the mistake of thinking of their real estate sale as a purely financial decision, but don't overlook the power of the emotional appeal of a home when presenting it to home buyers. This is called home staging, and we can take a look at your home to give you customized advice to help it sell.

Home staging quick tips

1. Take care of major repairs
   Obviously, the house should look its best cosmetically from the street. If there are repairs that need to be done, whether cosmetic or otherwise, don't wait another day. Get them done. Buyers want to see a home that's well cared for.
2. Use colorful landscaping for curb appeal
   When the seasons are on your side, it's helpful to put colorful potted plants around the front of the house. Consider adding flowers to your landscape border, and make sure you keep it reasonably weed-free.
3. Get rid of clutter
   The first step should be obvious, but it's worth placing at number one. Keep your house clean and tidy while it's on the market. It doesn't have to look like a model home (although that can help!) but it shouldn't look messy.
4. Clear out extra furniture
   Just keep the bare minimum of furniture you need in the room so that home buyers don't have to work too hard to picture their own furniture in your home. It's difficult for many home buyers to envision a space as their own. The easier you can make it for them, the better.
5. Use the sense of smell
   One of the best tricks for staging your home for potential buyers is to bake something that smells great. Pleasant aromas help make a home memorable after a long day of house-shopping. Cookies work great!
6. Take down most personal pictures
   You'll want to remove most personal photos on your walls. It will make buyers want to move on, because they will feel like they are violating your personal space. You want them to feel comfortable to spend as much time as they need in your rooms visualizing where their furniture would go if they lived there. Time spent in room helps them remember it after they leave.

Getting the best possible price for your home can be boiled down to a couple of factors:

1. Market
2. Marketing

You can't do much about the market you're in, but as marketing experts, we market your property to help overcome any negative market conditions that might be present. This is where an agent's experience comes into the picture. An agent who has never experienced anything other than a hot real estate market may not know how to market your property sufficiently to get you the price you want for your home in this market.

We've sold real estate in a variety of market conditions, and we know what it takes. List your house with us, and you'll get an aggressive marketing campaign, including, but not limited, to the following:

Strategically written MLS listings

We don't just fill out the fields in your MLS listing. We understand that the words contained in the listing are an advertisement that can make your property jump out of the page when written properly. We write each listing to highlight the features of your home that, in our experience, will get your home sold in this market.

Plenty of home photos

Some agents don't even post a photo on their MLS listing, and that's real estate sales suicide. If you're going to make the effort to get listed in the MLS, it makes no sense to leave out photos of your home. Most searchers these days expect a listing with numerous photos, and we give them what they want.

Aggressive online marketing

There's so much more to real estate marketing than the regional MLS. Our real estate marketing campaigns are designed to have a big Internet footprint, reaching far more than a simple MLS listing would. They include exposure to Google, Yahoo, Craigslist, and many other large real estate portal sites. This is in addition to the work that goes into maintaining our own network of websites as popular destinations for home searchers. Basically, if you list your property with The Gardner Team, we'll get it listed all over the Net.

Well placed traditional advertising

While the Internet is the place to be in real estate marketing, we can't ignore the traditional media for advertising opportunities. Many homebuyers still browse classified ads, the Sunday real estate section of their newspaper, and various regional real estate magazines. We focus our advertising strategies on the publications that have proven themselves over the years by consistently bringing in buyers.