3 Costly Mistakes Sellers Make When Their Home Isn’t Selling

Home sellers across the country are facing more price-sensitive buyers.

Century 21 CEO Mike Miedler recently said about 42% of homes on the market were taking a price cut. And in June, homes sold below asking price in 38 of the 50 largest U.S. housing markets, CNBC reported.

If your home isn’t attracting offers, you may be tempted to host another open house or wait for market conditions to improve. But 86% of real estate agents in HomeLight’s latest Top Agent Insights survey pointed to one of three closely related pricing mistakes after a home sits without an offer.

“Sellers need to earn the buyer’s attention. The market doesn’t have to become bad for sellers to become less forgiving of them,” says Derek Bauer, a Michigan real estate agent with nearly 25 years of experience.

He adds, “If comparable homes are getting offers while yours is sitting, that silence is feedback.”

Here are the three costly mistakes agents say sellers should avoid when the offers aren’t coming.

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1. Waiting too long to reduce the price

In HomeLight’s survey of 715 of the nation’s top-rated real estate agents, nearly half, 44%, said the biggest mistake sellers make after a home sits without an offer is waiting too long to lower the asking price.

But agents also cautioned that, before dropping your price, you need to figure out what the lack of an offer is actually telling you. One place to start is with your home’s showing activity.

If few or no buyers are scheduling tours, it’s possible your home doesn’t look competitive enough to get them to the door. While price is often still the culprit, other factors can also turn away buyers. This can include poor online photos, a lack of marketing, or competing listings.

If buyers are touring the property and you’re still not getting offers, this is a clearer signal that your home may be overpriced. It can mean that they were originally interested in what they saw online, but what they found may not justify the asking price compared with their other choices.

“If the marketing is on point and the home isn’t getting showings, it’s usually a price issue,” says Wisconsin agent Duane Murphy. “If it’s getting showings but no offers, buyers aren’t seeing enough value for the current price.”

How long should a seller wait before making a change?

Surveyed agents were also asked how long a seller of a no-offer home in their market should wait before making a significant change.

• 47% said 3 to 4 weeks
• 36% said 1 to 2 weeks
• 8% said 5 weeks or longer
• 2% said more than 6 weeks

Together, 83% selected a window of one to four weeks. However, in the Midwest region — states like Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana — agents recommend a faster timeline, with 56% saying 1 to 2 weeks.

With or without showings, Murphy says sellers need to consider options that may or may not include a price cut. A significant change can also include getting more professional listing photos, staging, broadening marketing efforts, or making more repairs or upgrades.

“The key is to listen to the market and make a meaningful adjustment — not simply wait and hope,” he explains. “If you wait too long, the market will leave you behind.”

The longer you wait, the harder it can be to regain momentum

Because you’re so deeply invested in your home, you may want to hold firm, hoping a buyer will eventually come in with an offer at the price you’re looking for. But in HomeLight’s survey, agents repeatedly warned that waiting can create another problem: The listing itself begins to age.

“Waiting too long to make a price adjustment after a home has been sitting is a mistake. Buyers have already seen it, passed on it, and moved on,” says Texas agent Luis Carlos Perez. “If the market is telling you the price isn’t working, you have to be willing to adjust and give the property a reason to get attention again.”

Rather than reducing the price simply because a certain number of days have passed, you and your agent can review what has happened since the listing went live.

Sellers and their agents can ask:

• Have comparable properties gone under contract?
• Have new competitors come on the market?
• Is the same feedback surfacing after multiple showings?
• How does the home compare with what buyers can purchase for the same money?

If that evidence points to price, acting earlier can give you a chance to reposition your home before more market time accumulates.

2. Refusing to reset price expectations

The second-most common mistake agents identified in HomeLight’s survey is a seller flat-out refusing to adjust their expectations — even after the market has made it clear it won’t support their asking price.

It’s a reality you may not want to face. Perhaps you’re thinking about what your neighbor sold their house for, or what an online estimate says your home should be worth. Or you may be adding up how much money you’ve spent on renovations or how much in proceeds you need to walk away with after the sale.

You may also be comparing today’s market with one that no longer exists.

Agents repeatedly said sellers are still adjusting to buyers having more choices and being more selective about what they will pay.

“Buyers have choices again, and they’re using them,” says Barbara Zorn, a Florida agent with nearly 40 years of experience. “Sellers who price for yesterday’s market may spend tomorrow chasing it down with price reductions.”

As a seller, looking backward can blind you because today’s buyers aren’t evaluating a home based on your perspective.

“Buyers aren’t comparing your house to what you paid for it or what you hoped it would bring,” says California agent Chase Whitney. “They’re comparing it to every other active listing in that price range.”

For sellers, that means recent comparable sales are only part of the picture. It can also help to look at the homes currently competing for the same buyers and, especially, which ones have gone under contract since your listing went live.

Another tip surveyed agents suggested is to physically tour competing properties — similar homes in your market that are receiving offers. Compare your home with these houses and review any feedback you’ve received from buyers who decided against making an offer on your house.

“Once you see what they’re seeing, the feedback stops feeling personal and starts being useful. And don’t get offended by buyer feedback. It’s free market research most sellers never get,” advises Whitney. “And stay realistic.”

Price for the market you’re in now

Surveyed agents said too many sellers are hung up on what they saw in the pandemic-era market, when tight inventory and extremely intense competition gave homeowners more room to test higher asking prices.

Today, buyers in most markets are more price-sensitive. They have more options. Regardless of how much you think your home is worth, or your target proceeds goal, if a price feels high, buyers will simply move on rather than negotiate.

“Some sellers make the mistake of pricing their home based on what they ‘need’ to sell it for rather than what the current market supports,” says California agent Todd Riccio.

After doing your research, you may confirm that your home is priced appropriately, and it simply needs more time and exposure. But if nearby comparable properties are attracting offers while yours continues to sit, holding onto your original price expectations can make it much harder to respond to the signals buyers are sending your way.

“Let the data guide the decision. Ultimately, the market determines a home’s value,” Riccio says.

3. Making too small a price reduction

Eventually, after waiting and reconsidering your expectations, you may agree that the price needs to change. That creates another opportunity to get the strategy wrong.

Sixteen percent of agents report that the biggest mistake sellers make is reducing the price, but not by enough to change the home’s position in the market.

“Waiting too long to reduce the price, and then reducing it too little, is a mistake,” says Wisconsin agent CJ Lewandowski.

Ohio agent Abigail Miller cautions that a minor or token adjustment can leave your home competing against the same properties as before — and reaching essentially the same pool of shoppers.

“You want to reposition the home so it appears new and competitive again, ideally putting it into a new buyer search bracket.” She adds, “A strategic price adjustment can be much more effective than a series of small reductions.”

Multiple, less significant reductions can leave you chasing the market and attach a stale-listing stigma to a property, leading buyers to wonder if something is wrong with the house.

“The goal isn’t to chase the market. It’s to get back in step with it,” says Bauer.

A price cut should change something

To make certain your price cut is meaningful, it needs to shake the shoulders of buyers to get their attention. Which means the new asking price must alter your home’s competitive position.

This might mean re-pricing your home to a new online search range to expose it to new buyers. If your original list price was $510,000, lowering it to $499,000 can shift it into the “$450,000 to $500,000” search bracket.

Depending on what you’ve learned from buyers, you and your agent might decide to combine a price reduction with all-new photos, improved staging, a better listing description, or additional repairs.

In HomeLight’s survey, agents repeatedly pointed to some combination of price, condition, presentation, and marketing when diagnosing a listing that isn’t selling. But many also emphasized that once the home is well presented and marketed, the price becomes difficult to ignore.

The goal of a price reduction, then, isn’t simply to show buyers that you are willing to negotiate. It is to put your home in a position where buyers see enough value to act.

If you decide a reduction is needed, South Carolina agent Leslie Laith Henke says to make the cut count: “Adjust the price once, and make it significant.”

Respond to the market, not the calendar

Your home may not be overpriced. Many factors combined can all be part of the equation.

But HomeLight’s survey suggests that when the evidence does point to price, the costliest response may be to delay. Acting sooner can give you a better chance to reposition your home rather than chase the market later.

“The market will help you sell if you’re willing to listen. Refusing to do so can lead to longer days on market and, ultimately, larger price reductions,” says Tennessee agent Jo Reimer.

With a well-calibrated pricing strategy, Mississippi agent Barry Monday assures, “The right buyer may be the next person who comes through the door.”

To learn about less obvious reasons your home may not be selling, such as neighborhood perception or odors you no longer notice, see HomeLight’s post that reveals 10 Overlooked Deal-Breakers.

To see more common reasons a home isn’t selling, check out our Reason Randomizer below:

Header Image Source: (HomeLight AI photo illustration)