Answers by John Salidas

Generally speaking, a home stays on the market without selling because they are priced too high (as long as there are no more than 4 months inventory). Don't worry about the other listing selling first (unless its the same exact model as yours and you are pricing higher). It will have very little impact on the sale of your home. I would not be afraid of selling now, even with current interest rates. Yes, some buyers have left but alot of buyers remain. To answer your question, I need to ask a few questions. These are also good questions to ask your local real estate agent as well. Why are you selling? Are other homes selling quickly right now in your market? If so, Is it just updated homes, homes that are priced at fair market value, etc. If not, Why? What type of home do you have? (Single family, condo, townhouse, etc). Do you live in the city or suburbs? Or how far outside of the city do you live - do a lot of family's move from the city to your suburb? Do you have extreme winters that reduce the number of listing or buyers by a wide margin? What is your current interest rate on your home? Have you thought of renting it out? Or do you need the money from the sale in order to buy? Or no interest in renting?

Hi Mina, As you can see most of the realtors are in agreement that this is most likely happening because your home is likely overpriced. The only other possibility could be because of potential financing issues with your building, maybe too much inventory in your building alone, or work that needs to be done to your unit? I do have some questions just to make sure tho: Are there any upcoming special assessments, projects or lawsuits with the HOA in your building? Are less than 50% of the units rented out? Does 15% of the HOA income go towards reserves? How many units are for sale in your building? Are you priced above them? Are you more or less updated? What did your Realtor say the AVG market time was?

Unfortunately, that is just the market. You can continue to save more money or you can b uy a different type of building/unit/sfh. Maybe you can search for a couple of condos in the area that allow rentals that are also affordable. What is the rent you would receive of each unit on a duplex? If you purchased 2 condos instead you may be able to increase your rental price and attract a more desirable tenant. Or even a Single Family House? SFH have a bit more maintenance, but generally appreciate at a higher rate. The issue with buying further away is the drive if anything goes wrong, or the cost increase of hiring someone for maintenance if something goes wrong.

In my experience a condo is less maintenance but also less appreciation over time. Amber (the agent below) has great questions to ask the HOA - if you think the HOA is in a good place and will not keep raising assessments and the location is also good, you should be just fine. Generally speaking, a single family home will give you much more appreciation (which is great if you want to borrow against it and purchase another property). However the cost of managing/maintenance is much more (roof, siding furnace, AC, etc) which you don't normally have with a condo. The purchase will also be much more expensive. I would ask these questions: Are there highly rated schools in my area that a family or single mom would want for their children. Rental price on a 3BR 1.1BA home vs 2BE or 1BR condo (depending on what your purchasing). Is this a growing/desirable/established area? Are people moving in the area or leaving, why? That should help you judge the appreciation a little more to see if a SFH is worth it... Either way, as long as you are investing in real estate - there is not a bad or wrong decision.

Marketing is important because it provides you with more exposure.. However a few typos in a marketing plan/remarks should not and will not kill a listing. If most of the pictures show the updates of the home - the remarks don't necessarily need to say that - remarks should point out the things you don't see in the pictures. Of course, you should bring up any errors and your findings to the agent, but this is not the reason your home is sitting. To find out why its not selling, we can narrow it down. Did your agent use a professional photographer? Is your listing syndicated to other websites, like Realtor.com, Redfin, Zillow, etc? Have you hosten an open house or gotten any feedback from showings? Did you listen to your agent on pricing? What is the average market time for similar homes in the area (ask your agent). Is this a luxury listing ($1M+)? I can spend a million dollars on marketing, but if the home is largely overpriced, the market is going to reject it and it wont sell.