Are you trying to sell your Boston house or condo right now?  Are you having trouble doing so?  Has it been sitting on the market for months?  You aren’t alone.  This market can be a scary one for any seller but there are things that can be done to sell your home faster.  Here are a couple of tips and explanations for why this could be happening:

1. Listen to your listing agent!  They do this for a living and should be able to tell you ways to improve your chances of selling.  If they aren’t forth coming with ideas then fire them or ask them for ways to sell it quicker.
2. Ask your agent for listings that are similar to your Boston condo or house that have gone under agreement in the past 3-6 weeks.  This will give you a good idea of what is selling in your price range and what features you could add or make better.  It will also might tell you that the price is a major factor if those other units were listed for less.
3. Ask your agent to follow up with buyers who were interested in your home but ended up buying something else.  Find out what they liked about the other house or condo better than yours and make the change.
4. Sometimes, no matter how good you clean, restate, or market your home it just comes down to asking price.  The market doesn’t lie and if you are asking above market value you WILL NOT SELL YOUR HOME.  We understand that sellers are usually emotionally attached to their home and see all of their past family gatherings and major life events, but to a new buyer, it’s just a house.  Every buyer’s agent is going to pull comparable properties for their buyer and tell them what the market value is.  If you want a chance at selling your home, you need to constantly be looking at what is selling and adjust price accordingly, even if its only been on the market for a couple weeks.
5. If you need to sell fast, under price your competition by at least 1-2%.  Who knows, you might get a bidding war.

My final thoughts on selling are this:  If you really need to sell, don’t wait out the market.  Who knows what this coming year is going to bring.  Economists have been going back and forth on it.  The only sure thing is the market of the past 30-45 days.  Nothing else matters.  Price it right, clean it up, and hire a professional agent and it will sell.

For more information on listing your home or to get an estimate of what your home will sell for, please contact Nick Warren at nwarren@warrenre.com or 617-848-9616 ext. 706.