What Sells a House

When a house doesn't sell, the cause is nearly always one of three things, and they're not equally weighted.

The three, in order

1. Price

The great majority of failed listings are priced wrong. Presentation and marketing can widen the audience and sharpen the result, but neither overcomes a number the market disagrees with. If you're getting showings and no offers, the market is telling you the price; if you're getting no showings at all, it's telling you louder.

2. Presentation

Staging, cleaning, repairs, and photography. This determines how many of the people who could buy your house actually come to see it, and what they think it's worth when they do.

3. Exposure

MLS, the property website, print, targeted digital, open houses, and agent outreach. Its job is to make sure every buyer who might want your house knows it exists during the first two weeks.

What all three are really doing

Removing doubt. Every hesitation a buyer has is a reason to offer less, to go and look at something else, or to wait and see whether the price moves. Price, staging and presentation are three ways of answering a question the buyer has not asked out loud yet.

Which is why the blend matters more than any one of them. A well-priced house that shows poorly makes a buyer wonder what else was neglected. A beautifully presented house at the wrong number makes them wonder what the seller is expecting. Get the three in proportion and there is nothing left to wonder about, which is when offers arrive.

What buyers respond to

• Kitchens and bathrooms, disproportionately
• Natural light, hard to change and easy to maximise
• Storage, and evidence of it
• A sense that the house has been looked after; new furnace, new roof, and recent electrical work all quietly reduce a buyer's estimate of risk
• Outdoor space, more than before 2020 and it hasn't reverted