The Ridiculously Obvious Reason Your House Isn’t Selling (Sorry, But It’s True!)

If you’ve ever sold or bought a house, you know that, at least before you get into the process, there’s a ton you don’t know. From navigating different mortgage products to understanding complicated contract language to figuring out what price to list your home or whether or not you should get a stager, entering the real estate market is no joke. There’s a thousand different things to learn about it. The process isn’t as simple as just slapping a “For Sale” sign on your lawn and hoping for the best — there are a lot of factors involved. 

However, if your home has been on the market for a while, the reason for this may actually be quite simple. That’s at least according to a popular TikTok video by Realtor Owen Costello, who says the “only reason your home isn’t selling” is its price. But is it actually that cut and dry? We talked to real estate agents nationwide to find out.

Of course, there’s a lot of truth to the phrase “cash rules everything around me.”

“There are several factors that influence the success of a home sale, but in the end it really comes down to price. Any house in any condition will sell if it’s priced correctly,” says Shannon Jones, a Realtor based in Long Beach, California.

Katie Walsh, who works as an agent in both California and Arizona, says price is “pretty much the most important decision a seller can make. If you get it wrong, and you stay on the market for too long, it is almost certain that your home will sell for less than asking.”

“Typically, a rule of thumb for me as an agent is if a house is not selling and it’s been on for a long time, it’s probably overpriced,” says Ashley Forman of Realty One Group West in Orange County, California.

Sometimes, sellers might have a specific price they’re married to, while others might just not understand the market they’re in.

“Many people already have an asking price in mind before contacting a real estate agent, because they believe online home value estimates,” Jones says. “Sometimes those estimates are right on target, and sometimes they are tens of thousands apart from the market value.”

While pricing your property correctly matters a great deal, it’s only one (major) part of the real estate picture. The housing market is always fluctuating in some way, which is going to affect supply and demand. You can make this work for you, but it’s not as simple as low inventory equals higher housing prices.

“Don’t think that because inventory is low, pricing high will work in your favor. It won’t! It will sit and eventually have to lower,” says Julie Gould, an agent based in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

“You have to base it off recent sales in the neighborhood,” adds Christopher Dicaprio, an agent with The Penn Team in Florida. “If you go high, it won’t get showings immediately. You actually typically lose money doing it this way with price drops [as] opposed to listing it correctly in hope of multiple showings and offers to drive the price up.”

“Every week, I educate my clients about what’s happening in the market. Right now I’m noticing that sellers are still wanting those spring prices. Which is hard, because we’re not in a spring market,” notes Forman. “Also, right now there are fewer buyers and more houses on the market, so the demand has gone down, which is hard when the inventory is going up.” 

Wait, spring prices? What is that?

The time of year also plays a role here. 

“Typically, spring is the busiest season where people will get the most for their homes across the nation,” Forman explains. This is partially due to lack of holiday travel, and partially due to parents wanting their children to be able to start school in the district they’re moving to rather than dealing with a mid-year school switch.

Summer is also historically a good time to sell. According to data from the National Association of Realtors, the most active months tend to be May through August, while the slowest time of year for home sales is January.

“If you don’t have to sell your house right now, maybe pull it off the market and repackage it in the spring. That’s what we’re doing with some of our listings,” Forman adds, saying that if it’s been 30 to 40 days with no bites, it might be time to reconsider your listing strategy. Jones’ window is a bit more generous — she suggests reconsidering after closer to 90 days on market.

While price is a big factor, it’s not the only thing you need to worry about.

“In my market, homes that need any work at all are not moving as quickly as homes that need no work,” says Jarrett Mann Martin, a Realtor with Corcoran Classic Living in Athens, Georgia. 

Obviously, if a house needs major renovations or repairs, that’s going to deter some buyers, but as Martin explains, “I have listings that need minor cosmetic work that have been sitting on the market. Buyers are more [discriminatory] now as opposed to the craziness of the 2020 to 2022 market, where the goal was just to get into a home.”

“Sometimes houses do need staging, too, or they need to be painted,” adds Forman, who says that “bright white” paint and “neutral carpets” seem to be popular these days. Gould suggests taking some new photos of your home and utilizing social media to show it off in a savvy way.

Whatever challenges you’re facing with your home sale, it never hurts to get professional assistance. “If the home is currently listed, they should ask their agent for some advice and guidance. Review what feedback from potential buyers and local agents has been,” says Jones. “If the homeowner doesn’t need to sell right away, it may make sense to take the home off the market and consider what strategic changes could create a different outcome in the future.”