Top 10 reasons why listings expire on the MLS

#1 Bad Virtual Tour / No Virtual Tour

Every major real estate website including the MLS gives agents 3 tools to sell a home: 25 photos, a written description (limited to 1000 characters), and a “virtual tour link”.

The virtual tour link is by far the most powerful because it’s limitless in the amount of info it can contain.
For example, the standard for sale (or even for rent) listing at NJProper.com includes a tremendous amount of info that buyers & renters want including:

A cinematic, highly detailed property video with a comprehensive presentation of all the property’s features and benefits
An interactive 3D “virtual reality” digital dollhouse model of the entire house
An unlimited number of the highest quality photos
An interactive map showcasing the exact property location
A direct link to information about the town
A direct link to information about the school system
Info/ direct links to anything else that showcases/ explains the features/ benefits/ value of the property
A written description with no limitations
An easy to use mortgage calculator

Just take a look at the enormous amount of info we were displaying in this listing: https://njproper.com/3511-city The end of the video presentation even sells the entire community in which this condo is located. This is why we succeeded in selling the home after other agents failed.

#2 Important info was missing

766 Wooded Trail in Franklin Lakes ( https://njproper.com/766-wooded-trail ) was listed 2 times by different brokerages unsuccessfully before we took the listing over and got it sold in a bidding war. Here’s what the BUYER had to say”

“We recently had the opportunity to work with Jason Pierce on the purchase of a home that he listed. We were represented by our agent, but due to the complexity of the deal, we had a lot of interaction with Jason who represented the seller. The home had been previously listed with at least one other agent but never appealed to us while surfing the web and looking through the posted marketing materials. When Jason took the listing over, he revamped the marketing on the house, however the virtual tour was the real differentiator. We looked through that tour many times between showings to get a feel for the home and what we could do with it. Jason told us he produced these videos himself, using camera equipment including drones. The production was fabulous, and without that, we may not have been able to get to know the house as well as we did during our bidding process. To add to that, there were various inspection issues, one that was quite complex and not standard. We did our research, but Jason went above and beyond what we would have expected from any agent to research the issue and offer solutions. We would recommend Jason to any buyer or seller that values a rational thinker, with exceptional marketing and technical skills.” ~Harry M.

#3 Bad Photos & Description

With 96% of home buyers looking at houses online, the way you visually market your listings is critical to stand out from the crowd. The best way to differentiate your home and get more showings is with top notch professional real estate photography. Look at your favorite online retail store. The first thing you’ll notice is that they’re using professional photography for every product. From a $5 pair of socks to a $3000 pair of designer boots, the product photos they are using are high-quality and consistent. This is by design. They know that professional photography is a powerful marketing tool that can lead more consumers to click on a product and make that purchase. These companies also know that the images you see on their site are a direct representation of their brand. These two things should apply to an agent’s listing marketing. Home buyers are looking at dozens of listings online. If your thumbnail photo doesn’t draw them in, you could be missing out on clicks, showings, and a fast close!

Examples of good real estate photography: https://njproper.com/our-approach#proper-photography

Examples of terrible real estate photography: https://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com

#4 Home was hard to show

There are many legitimate reasons why a home can be hard to show. There may be tenants that are uncooperative, or lots of pets that need to be managed, or any number of other challenging situations. One solution to this problem is produce a much more comprehensive online presentation. Giving potential buyers access to an unlimited number of photos, an amazing 3d virtual reality model of the home, and a highly detailed property video cuts down on unnecessary showings substantially. The buyers who have seen all the available media, and are still interested, will be much more likely to jump through whatever inconvenient hoops in order to see the property...

444 Oncrest in Cliffside Park had this problem. https://njproper.com/444-oncrest <— In the begging of the video, you will see 3 GIANT dogs on the terrace of this 2 family house. They made the home very difficult to sell for the 3 agents who had it listed before us…

#5 Mistakes were made in the listing.

Everyone makes mistakes, (I’ve made plenty) but in Real Estate, small mistakes can have big consequences. Incorrect lot dimensions or taxes are very common errors. However, sometimes the mistakes are less obvious. 21 Mill St, in Westwood, ( https://njproper.com/21-mill ) is not in a flood zone. However, on the previous listing agent’s listing, the NJMLS “realist tax records” mistakenly stated that is was in a flood zone, so the MLS auto populated an incorrect “yes” to the question as to whether or not it was in a flood zone. The home did not sell with that agent… Of course, when we re-listed the property we did a much more thorough and comprehensive online presentation; but one of the key factors of our presentation was to show certified evidence that the home was in fact NOT in a flood zone… It sold very quickly..

#6 The home’s location was challenging

When I met the seller of 42 Spring Valley Rd in Montvale ( https://njproper.com/42-spring-valley ), she was highly discouraged. It can be frustrating for sellers when they spend time preparing the house for a showing that never happens. The problem begins with deceptive marketing that avoids showcasing the home’s location. If the buyer is expecting a quite secluded location and they show up to a house on a main rd that is noisy, they may decide “to skip this one” and not even bother going in. Now the seller is furious and insulted and it is completely unnecessary. Good marketing explains the pros AND cons of a property’s location. If the location is a deal breaker for a buyer, hiding the info in your online presentation isn’t going to help. Someone out there will want the busy road and the noise. You need to embrace reality so you can find the right buyer…. So that’s what we did with 42 Spring Valley Rd, and we found our own buyer to sell it to. Everybody wins….

#7 Unique Layout

160 Alpine Dr in Closter ( https://njproper.com/160-alpine ) was a unique house with a very strange layout. The only access to the 2nd floor was through a bedroom suite and there was an underground bomb shelter…. After being listed 3 times for a total of 458 days on the market with no success, the seller decided to interview the NJPROPER team. It took us 4.5 months to find the right buyer, but we got the job done with our comprehensive style of marketing….

#8 The community wasn’t properly showcased

How is possible that a Jersey City penthouse can expire off the market at $619,000 and then get re-listed by the NJPROPER team, and it sells for $632,000?! Simple: Not only did we make a much better presentation of the property, we also presented the community. And for an obscure enclave like Port Liberte, that’s all we had to do…. See our presentation here: https://njproper.com/204-shearwater

#9 Something simple, but important was missing

1566B Anderson in Fort Lee ( https://njproper.com/1566b-anderson ) was previously listed with 2 different TOP agents that could not get the place sold. One of the critical elements that was missing from the previous agents’ listings? An explanation of where the parking spots were in relation to this oddly laid out townhouse..

#10 The home is overbuilt / “too expensive” for the area

111 Overpeck in Ridgefield Park was on the market with a top producing agent for 444 days and it was getting nowhere. Then, after the sellers interviewed a dozen different brokers, they decided to hire the NJPROPER team because we weren’t shy to list it at a record breaking high price. That was a good move because we sold the home in just 26 days and broke a 12 year record for the most expensive home to sell in Ridgefield Park. https://njproper.com/111-overpeck So what did we do differently? 1st of all we showcased the value of the location (at the end of the video, we showed the short walk from this home to a park behind the property). 2nd of all, we included in the listing: an important link to an article about a A $1 billion town center that was being planned…. This is not typically the kind of info you’d see in a Real Estate listing, but it proved to be very helpful..

#11 The home’s condition

52 Barrett in Wyckoff was going to be a renovation and flip but the owners decided midway through not to do the work. When the NJPROPER team entered into the picture, there was no kitchen in the house! So, in our video, we had some renderings mocked-up to show some design ideas that could fit the space. We ended up selling the home for $4000 above the sellers’ previous asking price! ( https://njproper.com/52-barrett )

#12 Wrong targeted marketing / No targeted marketing

305 Blauvelt in Paramus https://njproper.com/305-blauvelt expired off the market with another agent that couldn’t generate any acceptable offers…. When we re-listed it, we targeted Englewood Cliffs buyers because there were no comps and no buyers for a $2.5m house in Paramus. In fact, before we sold this house at $2.5m, the previous mls record for a single family house sale in Paramus was $2.1m. We broke the record by $400,000; and a key part of the strategy was to target buyers from other, more expensive markets..

#13 Incompetent or inexperienced agent

This is an unfortunate truth: Some agents just don’t take this job very seriously, or they have another job that limits their time.. Either way, the listing agent has to answer their phone and follow up on leads quickly.

Sellers are a very high priority for agents; so if you can’t get your agent on the phone, odds are, no one can... An agent’s track record should be carefully considered. The easiest way to look up an agent’s track record is by searching for them on the NJMLS here: http://www.njmls.com/members/ If you notice that a seasoned agent doesn’t have much experience with getting listings sold, you may want to reconsider hiring that particular agent…

#14 Difficult Seller / Unmotivated Seller / Bad Pricing Strategy

If you take enough listings you will get a seller that is difficult to deal with. All showings have to be on their terms and they are not willing to negotiate on anything at all. Over the years, I have occasionally had a seller that would end up with several viable offers falling through just because they were so difficult to make a deal with. If the asking price was not an issue, then it would be a closing date or inspection date. Sometimes, the first offer is the best offer a seller will get. For some homes, during the listing time frame you will only get one offer and if you don’t at least make a counter offer and explore what the buyer is willing to do, you could miss out on an opportunity to sell… When our sellers receive an offer that I know they should accept, I tell them bluntly, both verbally AND in writing so we both have record of it…

Top 10 Reasons