Home relistings are rising. Redfin reports that almost 45,000 homes that were taken off the market last year were relisted in January — the highest number of January relistings since 2016. If you’re thinking about relisting your home, consider these six tips to ensure you secure a successful home sale.
1. Rethink your pricing strategy
It’s important to find out what kept your home from selling the first time around. The home’s listing price is an obvious consideration for selling in today’s housing market. Before you decide on what your asking price will be this time, get a fresh set of recent comparable sales.
Redfin senior economist Asad Khan notes that there are a growing number of buyer’s markets in the current economy, which requires more flexibility from sellers.
“Homebuyers are already scoring discounts because there are more homes for sale than people who want to buy them, and it’s possible those discounts will get bigger if relistings boost supply further,” Khan stated in an analysis. “Some sellers will be more flexible on price when they relist since they’ve already been burned once.”
2. Consider cosmetic upgrades
Resetting the “days on the market” of your listing is a frequent reason to relist. However, published price histories can make that strategy all too apparent.
Fresh paint and cosmetic upgrades to the home can revitalize your listing. Updated photos can highlight the improvements and spur buyer interest — maybe enough to ignore a history of rising and falling list prices.
3. Talk to a new real estate agent or two
Alex Rivlin, founder and team lead of The Rivlin Group in Las Vegas, says that for sellers looking to relist, it’s likely time to get a different perspective from a new real estate agent.
“That second agent typically has an easier time bringing the seller to reality,” he told Yahoo Finance, adding that some sellers confuse sentimental value with the actual value of the home. “The second agent comes in and gives them the reality check that this should have never been listed at $525,000. It should have been listed at $500,000 the entire time.”
4. Enhance the listing with virtual tours and added technology
Real estate firm Remax says that “the biggest blunder sellers can make while relisting is using the same content, photos, and details and then raising the price tag.”
To make your relisting more appealing and distinct from a previous effort, update your approach by using technology such as virtual tours, 3D walkthroughs, and videos. These tools, including drone shots to highlight unique features or the property’s surroundings, help present your home in a new and engaging way.
However, don’t misrepresent the home by using AI to enhance features that don’t measure up to an in-person inspection.
And leave the online house hunter wanting more. Rivlin gave the example of a listing showing four angles of every room.
“They uploaded 127 photos. There’s photo fatigue,” Rivlin said. “People can only click so many times before they get bored with it. And you leave nothing to the imagination. If you show them everything that the home has, then they don’t need to visit the home.”
5. Consider a relisting inspection
A home inspection by a licensed inspector is another relisting tip.
“What we do is we would have the inspection there for the buyer, right out of the gate, and they just feel like they’re buying a more sound home,” Rivlin noted, adding that buyers are often concerned about the expenses they may incur after moving in. “Having an inspection done up front, and then even saying that we had a contractor come in and make all the necessary repairs, that definitely sets the home apart from other homes they’re looking at.”
6. Hire a real estate agent with a marketing edge
As a final tip, Rivlin cites the “three Ps” of the real estate industry: “Put a sign in the yard, place it on the MLS, and pray a buyer’s agent raises a buyer,” he said.
But that’s not enough. Homes for sale in a tight housing market require marketing that “excites buyers,” and not listings that wait for someone to randomly search for them online.
“There’s a lot of agents that can go and show homes, and can go and list homes, and organize and coordinate everything, but they’re not necessarily marketers,” he added.
