A History Lesson for Southwest Florida Home Sellers

How a Poor Sales History Can Affect Your Home Sale.

If a house is on the market in Southwest Florida for a long time and the listing expires without a sale, and then gets re-listed several months or even a year later, this listing and re-listing information doesn't go away. The listing and sales history for every home listed for sale in the Multiple Listing System (MLS) stays in the MLS database and is available to all MLS Realtor_® members.

When a buyer's agent looks in the MLS for homes to show their buyers, they will look up the Listing and sales history for the homes they choose to show.

Homes that have been listed for sale several times without selling are a red flag to the buyer's agent. The agent will ask themselves the following questions to decide whether or not to show this home to their buyers:

1. If this owner couldn't sell the home, will that mean that future owners will have the same problem when the time comes for them to move?
2. Are there major condition issues such as roof, foundation, lack of maintenance, appearance..? If so, was it priced to compensate the buyers for those conditions?
3. Are there location problems such as a busy street, bad views, commercial area nearby...? If so, was it priced to compensate the buyers for those conditions?
4. Was the house overpriced against comparable properties? Was the price reduced during the listing period? If so, how many times was it reduced? Did the reduction bring it above or below the price of comparable properties?
5. If the house is overpriced does this mean the seller has unreasonable expectations? Will this seller be difficult to deal with when it comes to offers and negotiations?
6. Has the seller made the home available to buyers? Is it available to show on short notice? Can I get an appointment today to show this home?
7. If the price was right and the condition and location were good, and the home is available to show, what else was wrong? Was it simply not marketed well by the listing agent?

If the buyer's agent determines that the property is worth showing their buyers, they now look at this house as a possible buyer opportunity. From experience they know that this seller is either desperate to sell or completely unmotivated and unreasonable. They'll show the home to their buyer, and if their buyer likes the house, they will make a low offer based on both the house and it's sales history. They will also have back-up properties in line just in case the seller is unreasonable and not willing to negotiate.

This history lesson is to make sellers of property in Southwest Florida aware of the importance of your home's listing history. The decisions you make when you list your home can affect the outcome of your sale. If your goal is to achieve a successful sale, do everything you can to position your home to sell. It might mean being inconvenienced and having to keep your home ready to show at a moment's notice. You might have to spend some time and money on repairs, and you may have to list at a price that is less than what you initially wanted. Listen to the advice of your listing agent, don't take the risk of having your listings expire without a sale, or expire again, if it didn't sell the first time. Each time your home listing expires The sales history gets longer and your subsequent listing price will have to be lower.

For a season or a lifetime.... there's no better place to call home than Southwest Florida.

This post was written by Frances "Cheetah" Currier of Keller Williams Peace River Partners Realty. Real Estate as it should be done, Online and in Person...Quality Services in the coastal communities of Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Pine Island, North Fort Myers, Estero, North Port, Cape Haze, Placida, Englewood and all other areas of Charlotte County, Lee County and South Sarasota County.