Boston Condos for Sale and Boston Apartments for Rent
How to sell a South End Boston condo in a slow market
When selling a South End condo in a slow market there are a few things you must consider. The market conditions. The price. The marketing of the home. This is important to contemplate when a home is not selling. It could be just a slow market, and you need to wait for the market conditions to change? Does the condominium need renovations or something that can be improved with it? Perhaps the South End condo for sale price is too high? Or your home isn’t being marketing property? Are the pictures up to par, is the home listed in multiple MLS systems?
I’ve been selling homes in the greater Boston metro area for over 20 years now. Whenever I see someone’s home that is not selling I can point to at least one of the three reasons (sometimes it is a combination).
Pricing the home. Sellers have a tendency to overprice their homes, but it is the real estate agent’s job to help them understand whether or not the price fits the current market, and also to know whether the real estate market is actively improving (so it is okay to wait) or actively dropping (so they better act fast if they want to sell in that season).
Condition of the property. Secondly, sometimes homes simply need some paint, cleaning, minor adjustments to make them initially more attractive, or at least more attractive to a greater pool of potential buyers.
Marketing of the condo. Finally, I’ve found many discount the power of real estate marketing. Most people (homeowners and Realtors alike) understand the importance of great professional photography, but often it ends there. There is abundant research available that Boston condo buyers view properties first online. So, the Boston real estate broker you hire must have an online presence on the first page of Google for the term South End condos.
The 3 Broker Secrets – When You Need Them
Moving forward, let’s say everything above has been implemented, and your condo is stil not selling. What would I do as a Boston real estate broker?
Take the home off the market. What? Isn’t that the opposite of trying to sell something? It may seem counterintuitive, however, it is an effective marketing strategy to take a home off the market for 30 days and then put it back later. By doing so, It will reset the clock (new on the market) on the home search websites (i.e. MLS). This will encourage Realtors to tell their clients to act fast on this “new” listing. And no, this is not deceptive, it is a marketing strategy that’s allowed. Its important to note, all of the history stays forever in the MLS, the Realtor simply didn’t bother to look at it. (A few important things to note if you choose to try this strategy. First, don’t do this often, it will confuse buyers and Realtors if you do. This only works if it is done infrequently. Two, unfortunately other Realtors and Realty companies may instantly spam you when your home drops off the market.
Market your property with new pictures. If you take it down and put it back up with a new first photos, you will “trick” (I don’t think this is a mean trick) the homebuyer to consider the property again as they scan through hundreds of listings online. Maybe the first time that first photo simply didn’t speak to them. Perhaps at that time your home didn’t fit their criteria but now it does. Perhaps that new first photo is attractive to them and for the very first time they will look at the rest of the photos and, lo and behold, it is the fantastic kitchen and roof deck they’ve always wanted to own.
Adjust the price (a tiny bit). Okay, I said above the homeowner needs the price, but I’m not talking about a price of market significance, I’m talking about a tiny adjustment. When does a tiny adjustment have an oversized impact? I can name three different scenarios from experience. First, let’s say the home is listed at 555,000. Seems like a fine number right? No. It is a terrible, terrible price to list a home. Why? Homebuyers search primarily online in 50k and 100k marks (Realtors do this too). Nearly all sales occur because of online homebuyer or Realtor searches. So in the case above, homebuyers and Realtors are finding this home most often when they are looking up homes between 550k and 600k. How do you think that home will appear in comparison with all those homes listed at 600k? Not well. If the price was 549,000 instead for the home, how do you think it would look in contrast to all those homes listed for 500k? Pretty good! The same is true for homes listed close to 100k mark, say listed for 510K instead of 499K, etc. Secondly, many websites will push homes up to the top with a price change. Thirdly, whenever my team reduces the price of a listing we automatically contact all the previous Realtors who showed that home to inform them of the new price as a courtesy. This gives us a positive reason for repeat engagement with those busy Realtors, instead of simply calling and asking them, again and again, if their buyer is still considering our listing.
Boston condos for sale and the bottom line
If you’re considering selling your South End condo in the next twelve months or less, we would love to talk with you today. We can forecast out the market for your exact area and help you make any adjustments to the home prior to going live on the public real estate market. We love what we do and would be honored to stop by your home and share what we’ve learned along the way.
Boston Real Estate Blog Updated 2023
