Scott McGillivray’s 10 Reasons Why Your Home Might Not Sell on Offer Night

When an agent schedules an offer night it’s often a way of saying they’re expecting multiple offers. But in a buyers’ market, this can turn people off. Why get into a potential bidding war and/or spend more than necessary when there are so many other homes available on the market?

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Too many sellers set their price based on what they want to get for their home, not on what comparable homes are selling for. This is a big mistake. When you’re hosting an offer night it’s better to start a little low and hope to entice people rather than set the price too high and scare people away.

People who are eager to buy – particularly in a sellers’ market – may not be interested in waiting until an offer night. If it’s five or six days away, they may not have the patience to wait. If there’s another property available, they may decide to chase that one instead.

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Sellers who restrict when their home can be shown or require a lot of notice for showings aren’t doing themselves any favours. If you want to sell your home for top dollar you’ve got to make it convenient for potential buyers to see it. Yes, it can be inconvenient, but so be it.

Listing agents who aren’t available when someone has questions can be a real roadblock when trying to sell your home. Make sure your agent is a good communicator by checking with some former clients. Most agents will be more than happy to give you a list of references. A potential buyer who doesn’t have all the info they need likely won’t put in an offer.

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Your agent isn’t the only one with a responsibility to reply quickly. Once you’ve got someone interested you don’t want to lose them, so if your agent calls with questions, whether it’s something about the house or an offer, respond quickly! If you don’t you’ll have no one to blame but yourself for a lost sale.

There are plenty of buyers out there who will accept a home with original kitchens, baths and dated TV rooms, provided the price is discounted to reflect the work that will have to be done. If your house doesn’t sell on offer night make sure that the price properly reflects the condition of the house.

Never underestimate the importance of a clean, well-maintained house with some minor staging. A lot of people don’t have the vision to look beyond what’s in front of their eyes and imagine what could be. Dirty floors, ugly paint colours and cracked windows can be real turnoffs, so make sure you’ve made everything look as good as it possibly can.

There are a lot of reasons you might want to put conditions on the sale of your home. For instance, you might require that buyers be pre-approved for financing to ensure that a potential sale doesn’t fall through. That’s fair. But the more conditions you set, the higher the risk that people may not be able to meet them.

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Curb appeal is a big deal. If people drive by and don’t like the look of it, they may be tempted to just keep going. I’ve heard it said that as many as 75% of people who see a listing online drive by the property to look at it. So make sure it looks as appealing as possible at all times.