Expired Las Vegas real estate listings

If you are reading this, chances are that your home has been listed by a real estate agent but has not sold. Such a Sellers home is known as an “Expired Las Vegas real estate Listing” to other real estate agents. If your home has not sold during its listing period you are probably upset with the process and your agent. You are also unhappy because you have been unable to act on your plans to move and it may have had financial consequences for you and your family.
The purpose of this presentation is to help you evaluate why your Las Vegas real estate listing expired and your home didn’t sell. I'll help you choose a course of action that will get your home sold and you moving.

Listing your Las Vegas home for many months and having strangers invading your privacy at all hours 7days a week with constant pressure to keep it clean and in showing condition is a great deal of pressure and then not having it sell, and the listing expire, can be an enormously frustrating experience.

Did you know that on average about 20% of all home listings expire and do not sell during the initial listing Period. In Buyers markets that lack purchasers as high as 40% of all real estate listings in the market will expire.

Now on top of all this frustration, agents are now calling you and wanting to list your "Expired Las Vegas real estate Listing." Why are they calling me NOW! Where were they when it was listed with my previous agent? Why didn’t they sell it then? What could my previous agent have done, that they didn’t do, to sell your home? These are very good questions and deserve responsible answers.

Why are they calling me now?
The National Association of Realtors in its Code of Ethics stipulates that a Seller under contract with another real estate agent cannot be solicited for a listing while under contract. The State of Nevada also has this provision written into their real estate laws. This prevents you from receiving many calls from Las Vegas agents every day during your listing period trying to get you to cancel your contract with your current Las Vegas agent and list with them. Remember your previous agent was spending his or her money to market your home. This is known as interfering with a contract which could subject you and the other outside agent to damages from your Las Vegas real estate listing agent.

Where were they when it was listed with my previous agent? Why didn’t they sell it then?
This can be due to a number of reasons such as:
Perhaps they didn’t have a Buyer for your home at the time.
If your home was overpriced perhaps the client felt it was too expensive when looking at the listing and did not wish to see it, or didn’t see it at all because it was priced higher than the Buyer qualified.
Perhaps, the photos of your home did not look attractive to the Buyers. They passed up your home in favor of seeing other homes.
Remember agents are obligated to spend their time finding prospects for their own Las Vegas real estate Listings so they may not have had a Buyer in that price range or for the area that your home is located in.

What could my previous agent have done, that they didn’t do, to sell my home?
In order to discover this we need to take a look at the reasons most Las Vegas real estate listings expire.

Marketing
Was your home marketed in such a way as to attract your targeted Buying group?
Price
Was your house priced properly or over priced?
Condition and Curb appeal
Is your house in need of cosmetic improvements in order to attract a Buyer?
Quality
Is you house of equivalent quality with others in the same price range?
Showings
Did you and your agent get enough showings through the marketing to generate an offer? What was the feedback of those who saw your home?

In order to find out why your home didn’t sell, and your listing expired, let’s examine each of these items more closely. Keep in mind that selling your home is a complex team effort that requires your agent, the people who live in your house and you to all co-operate with the goal of selling firmly in mind.

Marketing - Expired Las Vegas real estate Listings
Marketing is provided by your listing agent and is defined as identifying the wants and needs of the target Buyer and then satisfying those Buyers better than the competitors. *This involves identifying your target Buyers.
*Analyzing their needs.
*Making strategic decisions and plans about advertising, pricing, promotion and distribution.
The objective of marketing is to get qualified Buyer who is ready, willing and able to purchase to view and consider the home for purchase.
Marketing includes:

The Greater Las Vegas Multiple Listing Service this is how other agents and their Buyers first see your home and it must be entered in such a way as to be attractive and interesting to them.

Open houses which have varying results based on your homes location and price.

Home flyers- reminding the Buyer of your property and its features that will make it attractive to them.

Local advertising this will have only a small impact on your homes exposure but can be effective when using the newspaper.

Internet advertising this is how most homes today are fist exposed to their Buyers over 79% of all Buyers use the internet to search for a home. If your agent has not embraced the new technologies then your home is not getting the marketing exposure it deserves.

Target marketing this is marketing that is specialized to target your prospects who might be looking for a home in your area and price. Examples of this are email campaigns to agents, post card mailings to your neighbors who may have friends or family that are interested in your neighborhood.

Showings and feedback this is an important area often overlooked as this can reveal problems in the marketing plan and other areas of the sale such as price, curb appeal, and quality. What did the Buyers say about your homes price, quality and curb appeal? Why weren’t they interested in your home?

Offers this is the test of an effective marketing campaign if all the prior factors are in balance then an offer or offers should result.

Price - Expired Las Vegas real estate Listings
Everything can be solved with pricing. Anything can be sold if it is offered at the right price. I am reminded of an urban legend about a 16 year old newspaper boy that was delivering paper one mourning on his route. There was a shiny red Corvette sitting in the driveway. As the paperboy tossed the paper onto the porch of the house out stormed an angry woman. She takes one look at the 16 year old and said “Do you want to buy a Corvette?” The boy answered that he couldn’t afford it. The woman answered “I’ll sell it for $10 dollars.” She then went on to explain that her husband had gone on a business trip and that she discovered the he and his secretary were having an affair on the trip. The young man drove away in his shiny red Corvette. YEP, price can solve everything. Would you by a Corvette for $10 bucks? Price can solve any issue you have with location, quality, curb appeal, condition, marketing and often even showing.
And just as a lower price can solve these objections a price set to high can stop a Buyer in his tracks at ever seeing your home, let alone making an offer. The old logic of “I can always come down” should be ended with “but I’ll never have the opportunity too because I won’t get an offer.” If you think you can always come down, you are not thinking like a Buyer. If you go to the store and something is overpriced do you write an offer to the store manager to buy it for less, or do you move on to another store to make your purchase?
Does an auctioneer start the bidding over what an item is worth and then takes bids on the way down?
We live in a market driven economy which means the value of an item is what a normal Buyer will pay in a normal period of time. It is based on the laws of supply and demand so if there are few houses for sale and many Buyers then the value of those homes increase. If there many homes for sale and few Buyers then the value of the homes tend to decrease. So starting high and coming down is generally a bad idea unless you are in a huge Sellers market.

Over Pricing- Over pricing is an easy road to travel but a terrible disappointment in the end for you the Seller when your Las Vegas real estate listing expires. It can result in an advertising opportunity for a misguided agent and a financial loss for the Seller. Say a Seller overprices by 15% and lists for 6 months. The agent plants their sign, puts the home in the MLS, throws an open house to find Buying Clients that probably will never by your house, and the then agent prays for a miracle. That miracle is that your home will actually get an offer. But Buyers who could buy your home at its market value who are waiting for new Las Vegas real estate listings never see your home because you have priced it over what they can afford. But you can always come down, right? After two weeks with very few showings you call your agent and you are told “Well I think the price is too high, you need to come down 5% which you reluctantly agree to in the hopes of getting an offer. In the mean time Sally Jones of ABC realty has a new Buyer that would be perfect for your home but they do a search on the MLS and never even see it because it is 10% higher in price than what her client can afford so she never sees your home. But “you can always come down” right? Bob Buford of Big Bills realty also has a buyer in the price range of where you have your home priced. Bob and his client take a look at your home on the MLS and find that is expensive for its size and amenities and there are several others that seem like much better deals so they never call for a showing. But “you can always come down” right? Another few weeks pass and this time your agent calls and musters up the courage to tell you that you need to drop your price by another 5% because you just aren’t in the market niche for where your house should be. So you reluctantly decide after 4 weeks and no positive showings or offers to lower the price again. Your agent now throws another open house and collects some additional Buyers to sell homes to. Well guess what, its 6 weeks now and your home is still setting on the market, you have had 2 showings but then they just disappeared and bought other homes that were not asking more than market. That’s 2 more Buyers you have lost. But, “you can always come down” right? So at the beginning of 6th week you drop your home to market value. Remember that the previous Buyers that have not bought yet are looking for new Las Vegas real estate listings NOT old ones so they probably aren’t even getting your listing anymore. Now Jim Expert of Professional realty has a Buyer who is an investor looking for discount deals. On week 7 Jim spots your Las Vegas real estate listing and sees that it’s been on the market for 7 weeks and sees that you have been dropping the price which is a pretty good indicator that you haven’t had any offers. HOLY COW, your agents prayers have been answered you suddenly receive an offer. But its 15% below your current asking price so the offer is 15% below market. But” you can always come down, OUCH.” The reality is that you passed up many regular buyers and waited until your property started to look stale. You probably could have sold your property to one of the other buyers while the listing was fresh but they have all bought other properties by now based on value or have passed on your listing. Now you are forced to make a decision of trying to fight with a discount Buyer through counter offer and probably selling below market or waiting for another offer. By now everyone who sees your MLS listing wonders what is wrong with your house and generally will view newer listings before going to your “Old Listing.” Buyers and agents think that good deals don’t stay on the market long and yours is about 8 weeks old so it couldn’t be a good deal. If they can’t find anything else they will look at your house. But “you can always come down.” The moral to this story is that coming down in price usually ends up in you getting less for your home than if it was properly priced in to start with. Even if you were very lucky and found a Sucker Buyer the Buyers financier would probably not lend the amount required by the Buyer to by your home at the inflated price.

Market Pricing- A real estate agent can do a Comparative Market Analysis or C.M.A. for you. This should show three categories of homes.

Sold Homes and the prices they sold at. This is a representation of what you will receive for your home. This is the only category an appraiser will use when valuing your home for the Buyers mortgage company.

For Sale Homes this is the price that your competition is asking for their homes and is generally higher than the sold homes, unless they have a smart Real Estate Agent.

Expired Las Vegas Homes which are generally the homes that are over priced for their size, location, condition or quality. Thus they didn’t sell, and the listing expired. What if you were a Buyer and your agent turned to you and said “would you like to view over priced homes today?”

If you want to take the conservative approach to the pricing of your home it should fall in what we call the “sweet spot.” That’s at the top of the average sold homes pricing but towards the bottom of the For Sale Homes pricing. This is the way your home is going to get more showings and runs a great chance at offers.

The Under Pricing strategy- This is an advanced strategy that requires a better understanding of Buyer psychology. If you price your home at the average sold price in the market and below the asking price of your competition then every Buyer in the market place is going to want to see your home. No Buyer can resist looking for a deal. Now with the right strategy and marketing plan you may be in a prime spot to receive multiple offers on your home in a very short time frame. This puts you in the driver’s seat for gaining the most from your homes sale. Why? The answer is in the psychology of Buyers and multiple offers. If you have ever been to a live auction or sometimes even on eBay you can see this principle in action. The thought of being out maneuvered by the other Buyers and not getting as a Buyer what you want can drive you to pay more than market for a property. Once a Buyer tells their agent to write an offer they have mentally committed to by that home. But once the Sellers agent informs them that another offer has come in and to please submit their best and final offer or risk loosing the home then the Buyer wants the home even more because someone else wants it too!
This is where you see that properties have sold for more than the asking price in the MLS.. And that is how you can sell your house faster and net more money. If an offer comes in lower than market you can always negotiate. If the Buyer is unwilling to pay what you want then they will go away. But at least you are getting showings and offers. An offer is bound to come along that meets or exceeds the market value of your home.
In order for this strategy to work it takes an experienced agent that knows what they are doing with a precise strategy to accomplish this task. They must be competent negotiators with a well thought out marketing plan and have the ability to execute it.

Condition and Curb appeal - Expired Las Vegas real estate Listings
Properties must be prepared for sale before being put on the market. A property that shows poorly will help sell a property that shows well. An example of this is let’s pre-tend you were in the market for a new car. You went to the first dealership and on his lot where a number of cars that were priced competitively but had not been washed or prepared for sale before being placed for sale. They had plastic on the seats and hand written shipping numbers on the windshield. They still had the dirt on them from when the car carrier ran into the rain storm on its 900 mile journey to the dealership. Now let’s say you go to the next dealership and the cars are sparkling, shiny and detailed to the highest standard. Assuming the cars where of equal price and terms which would you buy? Yes if you are like most of us humans you would take the detailed car over the dirty one.
The same thing stands true of your home. Buyers like to see sparkling kitchens, well maintained landscaping, fresh detailed baths, roomy closets, clean uncluttered rooms and the pleasant smell of clean.
Buyers choose homes based on their four senses Sight, sound, smell, touch. Then they examine the homes they have selected and make their buying decision on price, location, features and terms by comparing the properties they have chosen.

Sight- In preparing your home for sale you need to start your packing now. If you are not going to be using an item in the next 3 months then pack it and label your boxes so that you can find things latter if you need them. This is the perfect time to spring clean your house and take what you no longer need to charity. Pack most of your nick knacks and try to use what you have in your house to turn it into a model home like you would see in new subdivision for sale. Get ride of the clutter on the countertops and put out fresh towels. We humans are funny creatures in that if we have a little dirt in our house it isn’t a huge deal. But if we go into a hotel room and it isn’t spotless then we are not happy. The bottom line is people don’t like other peoples dirt and it will stop a sale in its tracks. Clean the insides of your cupboards and organize them. Eliminate at least half of everything in your closets and cupboards by throwing it away, donating it to charity or packing it up for the move. If there is a question as to weather you should pack it or leave it, PACK IT! Remove all but a few of the family photo collection from the walls and furniture.
You also need to make repairs the home may need. If you don’t repair the items in and around the home the Buyer will wonder what else is wrong with it and look at properties without repairs. Buyers want everything done. If its not done then a Buyer will over estimate the cost of the repair by as much as 4 times and reduce the price of the offer by that much. Make the repairs and you will be rewarded with a higher offer in most cases.

Smell- Odors are another turnoff. Some air fresheners smell like air fresheners trying to hide bad smells. Buyers notice this. If you have a smell in the room you need to fix the problem not hide it. If you’re a smoker in the house consider smoking outside and having the carpets, drapes and upholstery professional cleaned and sanitized. If it still smells to a non-smoking friend then consider washing the walls or repainting. Don’t cook with garlic, heavy oils of fish and other smells that linger in the home with questionable odors. Consider the apple pie or chocolate chip cookie baking trick, use a little vanilla on the light bulb or boil some aromatic spices on the stove or some lightly scented candles. Smell is a powerful motivator that most people underestimate. Think about that perfume or cologne that turned your head as that stranger walked by.

Sounds- Turn off the TV. Turn on some soft music. Lubricate sleekly hinges and tracks. Close windows to noise distractions such as busy streets. Don’t run the dishwasher or washer and dryer during a showing. Contain or better yet remove pets such as dogs before showings. It’s hard to visualize a home as yours when you have a loud dog barking in the room next to you.

Touch- Do your interior doors all latch properly and are the handles tight? Do you cupboard drawers slide smoothly? How smoothly does your sliding glass door roll? Do your counter tops, stair rails and cupboards feel clean and smooth? Touch is one of the senses we use to determine quality.

Quality of location- How close is your home to the schools, shopping, medical care, recreation, major transportation routes and services. Unless your home is a trailer quality of location is not something that you can change. But if your home is located close to special or convenient services these things need to be included in your agents marketing plan. If your home lacks location in comparison to other homes in your price range then you may want to look at reducing your price so that you don’t sell everyone else’s homes while your sits on the market. If you have to drive 10 miles to the nearest grocery store or just 3 blocks the prices of the 2 homes are probably different, barring any other differences.

Quality of neighborhood- How does your neighborhood compare with the other homes for sale in your price range? As an example if one neighborhood has junk cars in the driveways and boats parked on the grass. While the other neighborhood has conditions, restrictions and covenants that stop such eyesores from occurring, then this neighborhood will prove to be more desirable and this home may even yield a slightly higher price. Another example would be guard gated entries, enclosed walled neighborhoods with security code entry, neighborhood swimming pools, tennis, equestrian facilities, fitness rooms, club houses and even golf. For many Buyers these extras are worth the convenience and cost adding value to your home.

Quality of home- If you own the smallest cheapest home in the most expressive larger home neighborhood you will probably get more for your home than the guy who bought the biggest home in the smaller cheaper neighborhood. The quality of construction of your home and the size in relationship to the surrounding homes has a direct bearing on price. For most Buyers they want more than they can afford and often living among larger homes with richer neighbors is what they choose to settle for, until they can move up.
Like wise if your home is in disrepair the chances are that your home will receive a discount offer, even if it is priced properly. The term Quality is easily exchanged with Condition.
If your home is highly upgraded while your neighbors’ homes are average then chances are you will receive only a portion of your upgrade costs in the selling price of your home. Buyers don’t value improvements at their actual cost and neither do appraisers.

Showings - Expired Las Vegas real estate listings
Leave the house- We need to talk about YOU. A Buyer needs to visualize themselves as the owner of the property. They need the freedom to open the cabinets, drawers, closets and walk through the house envisioning it with what furniture and personal property they have. They can’t effectively do that if you are in the home. Further more they won’t feel comfortable raising objections about your home if you are listening and in it. The objections may be able to be answered easily by the agent but they may never get asked or answered because you were there. Please, leave the home while it is being shown. I will increase your chances of selling.

Secure your valuables- Put all jewelry and valuables away so that Buyers will not find them, this includes your prescriptions. Although most agents stay right with their Buyers some times Buyers are not as honest as they should be and slip away from the agent by one going one way and another going the other. At that point the agent can’t watch everything going on so secure your valuables.

Children- If your child is under the age of 18 and home alone when the home is going to be shown, have them go to a friends house until after the showing. In today’s world we want to protect our most precious asset, our children.

Pets- Pet waste should be removed daily during the period when the home is being shown as it creates odors that will turn Buyers off. If possible remove your pet prior to showing. We find many pet owners are able to arrange for friends or relatives to take their pets during the day while their home is on the market. This solution minimizes the chance that your cat will sneak out or the dog will bark the entire time the Buyer is in the home as well as the pet waste smell.

Preparing the home to Show- Lights ON!, scented candle lighted, home clutter picked up and cleaned, beds made, soft music on, secure your valuables and prescription, pets and children gone and you out the door. Your house is now ready to show!

Conclusion - Expired Las Vegas real estate Listings

By now you probably have a pretty good idea of why your home hasn’t sold and your listing has expired. If selling your home is still important to you lets look at a couple of decisions you will have to make in order to see this goal come into a reality.

Even though you are frustrated, because your lising expired and your Las Vegas home didn't sell, renew your resolve to do what it takes to SELL your home.
Get with a professional full service agent to review with you the condition, curb appeal and price that your home will sell in.
Price your home in the price range of what other homes have sold for NOT what others are ASKING! Remember real estate agents do not set the sold price the Buyers Do!
Do the list of things that your Real estate agent suggests to make your home Salable.
Pick a full service agent with a targeted specific marketing plan to get your home sold. This is not the time to pick an agent that sells real estate part time and has another job to support them selves. This is not the time to pick a friend or family member who is an agent that you cannot have a professional relationship with or fire for nonperformance as it will upset your personal relationship. This is not the time to choose an agent based on price that they say the home will sell for. This is a mistake because they don’t control the market “The Buyers Do.” Some sellers pick an agent based on a discounted commission rate. This is a mistake for several reasons: 1) Usually, it takes 2 agents to sell a home. One represents the Seller and on the Buyer. Let’s say that most agents in your area negotiate a 6% commission and your home value is $200,000, if you reduce the commission by 1% you have cut each agents income by $1,000. As an agent, would you be selling your buyer on a house that offers you a $1,000 less in income than a comparable home down the street? 2) Do you really want an agent to negotiate for you who can’t even negotiate their own commission? What kind of skill does this agent have to get you the most for your home if they can’t even get themselves the average negotiated rate? 3) Selling agents put their own cash into selling your home. They pay for adds, fliers, sign companies, internet, mailings, refreshments for open houses, email flyers to other agents in the MLS just to name a few. These are real dollars they spend to sell your house. So if they know that your house is priced to high or you have cut their commission what will happen when it comes time to spend their cash on marketing your home? This is where you get the agents that put a sign up, put it in the Greater Las Vegas Multiple Listing Service and prey. Then they call you for a heavy price reduction that will cost you more than if you had hired a full service agent who would probably get you higher offers in the first place. 4) Professional people who are excellent at what they do cost more. When was the last time you negotiated a rate with your doctor, attorney or accountant. Did someone you know go looking for the cheapest heart surgeon? It takes a great deal of effort on your part to Sell your home, don’t sell yourself short by hiring a cut rate agent and then have your Las Vegas real estate listing expire again without your home selling!

This IS the time to hire a full service professional agent that will design a specific targeted marketing plan for your home and execute it in a professional manner.

Information is knowledge and knowledge is POWER. You now have some of the power you need to sell your home. We hope this information will lead you to a more informed, knowledgeable decision making process. The agent that gave you this disc has done so in an effort to help you and wants to help you further in your process of selling your home. Please call them. Their information is at the end of this CD. They will review with you the history of what may have gone wrong in your previous efforts and help you correct and position your home for a successful sale.
Remember that some times even the best homes don’t sell the first time around but your chances improve greatly with a full service professional.

Prudential Americana Group, Realtors®
Max Schmidt P.C. dba Max Schmidt
Broker/Salesman
871 Coronado Center Dr., suite 100
Henderson, Nevada 89052
(702) 334-2200

Expired Las Vegas real estate listings

Expired listings in Las Vegas real estate- Why homes don't Sell