Why Do Some Listings Don’t Get Offers?

If you currently have a house or a condo listed in Toronto for sale, you might wonder why don’t I get any offers on my property? That is more common than you think. Even in a hot real estate market like Toronto’s real estate market that happens more often than you think.

I’m a Toronto Real Estate Agent who has been helping clients in the ups and downs of the Toronto’s market and I can tell you the reasons why that happens and how to prevent it. When I, as a Toronto REALTOR, look at the listings every day, I see some common patterns in the listings that don’t get offers. Yet you hear it from sellers or other agents, that we did everything but why don’t we get any offers? We’ll discuss those reasons down below.

Read More : Top Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Home

Pricing Strategy

Before moving forward I’d like to add that all 3 pillars that are being discussed in this article are in par in terms of importance. Yet I start  with the pricing strategy to tell you how it will affect the listings and why some listings don’t get offers.

In Toronto’s real estate market, post pandemic, the behaviour of the buyers changed. That resulted in some areas and some property classes to be more in demand, and some others less in demand. But if you are a seller who must sell, and wants to get the best price possible, what should you do. One simple solution is that, sell before your competition. So in order to sell before your competition you need to show the market that your property is the next in line.

If you read the Positioning part down below, I’ve explained why in a downward market it’s better to sell before your competition. Literally just because your competition will set a new price.

Another mistake in pricing is to price it very high ( more than what your unit worth ) to leave room for negotiations. Top Toronto real  estate agents know how the market works, and if the buyers work with one of the best Toronto real estate agents, they would know what is the value of your home. So price it right accordingly, I know that’s hard but a buyers market is not a place for sellers to gamble.

Read more: Listing Strategy in Toronto Real Estate Market

Marketing Strategy

Another reason why some houses don’t get offers is the marketing strategy. Marketing is very important as well. In a buyers market, where you have tons of competition and your property is not the only one in the market, you need to stand up.

As a Toronto’s Top Real Estate Agent, I can tell you that maybe approximately less than 10% of the properties that come to the market up for sale are really unique in a way that they will beat the market whatever it is. So ask your realtor and find out if you are one of the 10% unique properties that beats the market, or there are other properties that are similar to yours and compete with your home on the market. If that’s the case, you need to make sure that you stand up, and have proper exposure in order to get offers.

Regardless you need to stand up, so property tours, photos, and maybe staging would help to boost your property’s exposure. In order to choose the best marketing strategy for your property you need to talk to a realtor who knows how to sell in the buyers markets as well.

Read More : How To Sell My Home Fast

Positioning based on the overall market conditions

The third reason why some property listings don’t get any offers, is their positioning in the market. If you are a seller in a buyers market, you need to adjust your positioning accordingly. Many of the home buyers, sellers, or real estate agents in Toronto have been used to sellers markets, so it’s harder for them to adjust to a buyers or balanced market. Especially newer agents, or sellers who bought their homes originally in the peak of the market in 2015 0r 2016, still try their luck. Not knowing that might hurt the sale if they don’t position themselves properly based on their local micro market.

In order to position yourself properly, you need to consult with a Top Toronto real estate agent, who knows how to analyse your market. If by analyzing your market you find out the market is moving towards a buyer’s market, meaning the sales are on a downward trend and so the prices might follow this downward trend, you need to position yourself based on that.

For sure nobody can predict how long the downward trend will last or where the bottom is and when the market will be back up again. But if you really need to cash out, the best strategy in a downward trend is to sell before your competition, or keep it and sell it when the market is back up again. Because if your competition sells with a discount, because they need to sell fast, your property will be hit with that discount, and an additional price depreciation because of the downward trend of the overall market in your micro market.

An example of this can be the Condo market in downtown Toronto. Downtown Toronto’s condo market was dependent on tourists, Immigrants, Foreign Students and Office workers, and because of COVID, all the above got affected. So until the government opens the borders on foregin students and eases the working from the office restrictions, this trend might be there more or less.