Why Your Home Isn't Selling: Top Mistakes & How to Fix Them
It’s a tale as old as time—or at least as old as real estate listings. You excitedly put your home on the market, imagining the flood of eager buyers ready to outbid each other for your slice of paradise. Instead, weeks pass, then months, and that "For Sale" sign in your yard starts to feel more permanent than your mailbox and then your listing agreement with the agent expires and your house goes off the market.
Now The calls from real estate agents promising they can "get the job done" are non-stop, and at this point, you’re skeptical. You’ve heard it all before, and frankly, you’re tired of the runaround.
If your home didn’t sell, it usually comes down to one of three things:
The price wasn’t right.
The home didn’t get enough exposure.
The presentation didn’t make the right impact.
If the issue is price, the solution is simple— you don’t need a new agent, just adjust the price. But if your home’s lack of movement stems from poor marketing and presentation, that’s where a strategic approach can make all the difference.
In this episode, I’ll go over the common culprits behind poor marketing and presentation that lead to a stale listing and how you can turn things around before your property becomes the real estate version of an expired carton of milk.
Before we dig into why your home isn’t selling, let’s talk about why it matters, beyond you just wanting to move on. The longer a house sits on the market, the more buyers start to side-eye it with suspicion.
“What’s wrong with it?” they wonder. Why doesn’t anyone else want it? Is it haunted? Does it come with a basement full of clowns?” (Probably not, but you never know.)
I looked at sales in our MLS over the last 30 days at the recording of this video. As you might expect, homes that sell within the first 30 days typically fetch the best price
The median sales price as a percent of the original list price was 98.62%. Meaning a seller typically sold for 1.38% off their list price. So on a $400,000 home, that seller would’ve sold for $394,480.
But then when you look at homes that took 31 to 60 days to sell, things change a lot. The median sales price as a percent of the original list price dropped to 95.86%. That same $400,000 listing now sold for over $10,000 less at $383,440.
For homes that sold within 61 to 90 days, it changed a little to a median sales price to original list price of 94.29%. So now that $400,000 home would’ve sold for $377,160.
What happens if you take longer than 90 days to sell? Well, it gets a little bleak. The median close price as a percent of the original list price drops to 90.82% on those homes. So now that $400,000 listing drops to $363,280. That’s over a $31,000 drop from homes that sell in a month of listing.
One of the reasons behind this is the people who are willing to pay the most for your home are those who have been looking in the market and haven’t found what they’re looking for. They’ve seen what’s available. They know the market and they know it well. They know when something is worth jumping on. List for too much and they’ll say, ‘nah, we’ll wait for the seller to drop their price’. List for the right price, and they’ll say, ‘finally! We’d better get it before anyone else does.’
So, if you want to maximize your home’s value, speed is your friend. Now let’s figure out why your house is lingering longer than leftovers in the office fridge.
Possible Issue Number One: The Price is Too High
The number one reason homes don’t sell? Overpricing. It’s simple, if your home costs more than others with better features, buyers won’t bite. Worse yet, online search filters often work in $25,000 to $50,000 increments, meaning a home priced at $505,000 might not even be seen by buyers looking at homes up to $500,000.
What to do:
You’ll need to make a price reduction. If your home has already been on the market for a while, simply re-listing at the same price won’t change buyers’ minds. Those who have already seen it have likely ruled it out, and new buyers will see its history and assume it’s been sitting unsold due to being overpriced. A price reduction gives existing buyers a reason to take another look while signaling to new buyers that your home is now a better deal.
Have your agent sit down with you and go through comparable sales that have sold recently. Look at the difference in detail. Trust your agent and their experience with the market. You may have just installed the most expensive carpet throughout your entire house, but if that’s not something the market is interested in, you can’t put that upgrade into your price.
And don’t get too caught up with what’s currently listed on the market. I tell my clients, active listings are la la land for sellers. It’s what sellers hope to get. Pending sales show us the prices that encouraged people to make an offer, but we still don’t know if the offer was at asking price or 10% off. Solds. Solds are your tea leaves. Solds are what appraisers look at. Sold homes give you an actual read on the market.
Online estimates can be wildly inaccurate… I’m looking at you, Zillow.
Possible Issue Number Two: You Missed the Market Peak
Timing matters. If you listed your home when demand was high but the market shifted, your home might now be competing against newer, better-priced listings.
What to do:
Stay informed on market trends. Compare your home to new listings—are they priced lower or offering better features?
Consider adjusting your price or offering incentives like covering closing costs.
Possible Issue Number Three: Buyer Feedback is Screaming “Fix Me!”
If multiple buyers walk through and make the same complaints, take the hint. Common deal-breakers include:
Cosmetic issues that will require more work from the buyer to fix than they want to take on.
A Strange layout or poor lighting
And Staging issues like too much furniture, clutter, or taste specific decor choices.
What to do:
Be open minded to the recommendations of your agent. Maybe you need to make a few more improvements. Maybe you need to move some furniture around. Maybe you need to start packing your things away.
And you might say, “My previous agent didn’t tell me to do anything.” So you might not think there’s an issue here. However, understand that Well-meaning agents sometimes avoid tough conversations with sellers about staging and personal design choices because they don’t want to offend or hurt feelings. While their intentions may be kind, this actually does a huge disservice to you, the seller. You’re paying for their expertise, not just their willingness to agree with you.
Think of it like going to a doctor. If you go in to find out why you’re not feeling well, you expect the doctor to give you honest feedback—even if that means being told to cut back on salt or get more exercise. If they sugarcoat the truth because they don’t want to upset you, it doesn’t help your health. The same applies to selling your home. If your agent isn’t honest about how your décor, clutter, or outdated finishes are turning off buyers, you’re missing out on valuable feedback that could help you make necessary changes to get your home sold.
A fresh coat of neutral paint, professional staging, or simply rearranging furniture to make a space feel bigger and brighter can make a significant difference in how buyers perceive your home. It’s not about changing your style—it’s about making your home appealing to the widest possible audience.
So Work with an agent who will give you honest, professional advice.
Be open to constructive criticism—buyers don’t have the emotional attachment you do.
Invest in minor upgrades and staging to improve your home’s appeal.
Possible Issue Number Four: You’re Attracting the Wrong Buyers
Not all buyers are willing to take on a fixer-upper. If your home needs serious work, you might be marketing to the wrong crowd.
What to do:
Consider investors. Investors might be more willing to purchase a home needing substantial repairs. Keep in mind buyers, including investors, always pad the costs they think they’ll incur to fix up the home and take that off your bottom line. If you want the work done but don’t want to pay upfront or don’t have the money to pay upfront, we offer a service to buyers through a partner of ours that removes the barriers to pre-sale renovations by doing all the work and you don’t have to pay until closing when your home sells.
Possible Issue Number Five Your Listing Photos Look Like They Were Taken with a Potato
Most buyers start their search online, and bad photos are an instant turnoff. If your listing photos are dark, blurry, or showcase the wrong angles, you’re sabotaging your sale.
Make sure your agent uses a professional real estate photographer. This is non-negotiable.
Consider adding a 3D virtual tour or video walkthrough. All of our listings, regardless of price, get a 3D tour and a video walkthrough because it makes such a big difference for keeping people engaged on your listing and creates more interest in your home.
Possible Issue Number Six: Your Marketing is Stuck in 1995
Simply putting your home on the MLS isn’t enough. If you’re relying on yard signs and newspaper ads, you’re missing out on a huge pool of buyers.
Leverage social media, Google ads, and YouTube video tours.
Work with an agent who has a comprehensive marketing strategy. The goal of marketing should greatly increase the frequency rate at which people see your home across multiple touchpoints.
To get a sense for a marketing mix that an agent could use, you can see our suite of services by going to marketing.thecrestedgegroup.com and you’ll also find a case study there to see how we helped a recent seller in an oversaturated market stand out and sell.
Possible Issue Number Seven: You’re a Helicopter Seller
And you know what, I’m a helicopter mom, so I totally understand that compulsion to want to make sure everyone knows what they’re supposed to know and is doing everything they’re supposed to do, the right way. However, if you insist on hovering over every showing or micromanage all the details without trusting the pros, you might be holding yourself back more than you realize.
What to do:
Give buyers space. Let them imagine the home as theirs without you following them around.
Be flexible with offers. If a buyer asks for small concessions, consider the bigger picture.
So now what? What happens next?
If your home isn’t selling or didn’t sell while it was listed, don’t panic—adjust. Here’s a game plan:
Reassess your strategy. Is price the issue? Staging? Marketing?
Relist with a fresh approach. New photos, new price, new energy.
Work with an experienced agent who knows how to put a strategic plan together for you.
Selling a home can be frustrating, but there’s always a solution. Pricing smartly, marketing effectively, and making the right improvements can turn your listing from stale to sold. And remember—every home has a buyer. You just need to make sure they see your home in the best possible light (literally and figuratively).
And if we haven’t met yet, I’m Jennifer Templeton. I’m a Realtor and Broker Associate with The Crestedge Group at Keller Williams Rockwall and we work with buyers and sellers all over the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. If you’re thinking about making a move in 2025, I’d love to be your real estate resource and earn your business. You can call or text me at 214-803-4444 or send an email to jennifer@thecrestedgegroup.com to get started.
And we found out from our staging video that we have viewers from all over. So if you’re looking for an agent like us with a similar approach to presenting and marketing homes, we can connect you to one in our national network. I’ll have a link in the show notes but you can also go to TopAgent.TheCrestedgeGroup.com