A listing just won’t sell. Is it starting to look stale? Real estate pros recently shared with Forbes.com what they do when they get a listing that has started to overstay its time on the MLS.
Lowering the price is one obvious way – perhaps the only obvious way. But the property might just need a refresh.
“Reviving a listing, in my opinion, always includes staging, painting, new photos and new angles,” says Matthew Cohen, a Halstead broker in New York. He recently relisted a penthouse in midtown Manhattan by giving it a makeover, including freshly painted walls, staging, replacing light fixtures, ripping out most of the built-ins and having new professional photos taken.
More ideas
- Update the lights. This can modernize a place. “It’s a relatively inexpensive way to make the home look brighter and more refreshed,” says Nick Gavin of the Gavin Doyle Team at Compass. “Even changing the light fixtures themselves can really enhance the overall aesthetic of a room.”
- Enhance the outdoor space. No matter the size of an outdoor space, real estate pros look to maximize it by staging it as a cozy spot to unwind. Cindy Scholz, a real estate pro with Compass, told Forbes.com that she called in a landscape designer to maximize a small outdoor space in a New York City home she was selling. “Gardens in New York City pose logistical concerns that a designer can help navigate to make the space practical and beautiful,” she says. “In my experience, you always see a good return on investment when enhancing outdoor space.”
- Stage virtually – or for real. Call in the stagers to freshen up the home’s look. If Warburg Realty broker Claire Groome gets a stale listing, she says “sometimes I will virtually stage a photo or two to give it a new look online or rewrite the description that people read.”
- Generate buzz. “If you can partner with a social media influencer or get somebody to host an event there, that might get some press,” says Lindsay Barton Barrett, a real estate pro with Douglas Elliman. “All these strategies put the listing in front of a new audience.”
Source: “Have a Property Sitting on the Market? Expert Tips on How to Revive a Listing,” Forbes.com (Jan. 28, 20202)
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