Marketability Factors

I've developed a little chart that I use with prospective listing customers to help them understand the factors that go into making their homes marketable or which might hinder the marketing efforts. I call it the Marketability Factors chart. This isn't rocket science or even anything new to any good agent; but, much of it is new to home sellers; or, at least, things that they don't think about. So, this little chart provides a good visual aid for a discussion of these factors.

Location is, was and always will be the single most important factor in real estate and the one that no one can do anything about. If the house is located on a busy road it will be harder to sell. If the house is located next to a shopping strip mall, it will be harder to sell. If the house is in a run down neighborhood (no matter how nice it is) it will be hard to sell. Neither the seller nor the Realtor involved can do anything about any location issues.

Style - the architecture and features of a house are pretty well locked in, too. Several styles that were popular at one time have fallen out of favor with most buyers and, so, are harder to sell. These include tri- and quad-level houses, bi-level houses (sometimes called raised ranches) and many of the modernistic, flat-roofed ranches of the 60’s & 70's. Feature preferences have also changed, with buyers now looking for large kitchens and first floor master suites with walk-in closets and a master bath with separate shower and tub. You can have some impact on these factors by keeping your home updated over the time that you own it. You can't change the basic architecture of the house.

Price is what everyone looks for, after they’ve narrowed down the location and style choices. A low price won’t entice anybody to buy an out of style house in a crumby location, but it might lure in an investor looking for a rental property.

The 3-C’s – Condition, Clutter and Cleanliness come next on the marketability scale and they can be the biggest factors in differentiating between similar style and priced homes. A clean, uncluttered home in obviously good condition is the best thing a Realtor can ask for, especially in a crowded market.

Competition has certainly become a major factor in the current market. There are just so many houses to choose from that, if you don’t have the other factors above in order, there likely will be someone else who does and they will win. Of course, having no competition for the wrong reasons (like having the only house situated next to the city dump) isn't good either.

Ease of Showing – This is a factor that many sellers make much harder than it needs to be and which ends up affecting the ability of the listing agent to market the house. Once you’ve decided to sell the house you also need to decide that you’ve going to do everything that you can to assist in the process by making it easy to show. Real estate is often a spur of the moment things – “I’m sitting in front of your house and wondered if I can see it?” Within reason, the more you can accommodate the demands of the buyers for showings, the better your chance to sell. Owners that impose long showing lead-time requirements - "I need a 24 hour notice" - will likely cut the number of showings that they get by 50-60% (maybe more). Owners should plan for how to handle getting pets out of the way and should get into a routine of leaving home each day with the house in showing ready condition for that day. Owners who require the listing agent to be present for every showing also restrict the process too much and many showing agents will just by-pass such a listing, because there are just too many homes out there that are similar and easier to show.

As a Realtor it’s my job to do the best that I can to market the house, no matter how many of these factors may present problems. Like most Realtors, I’ll be focusing upon the factors that the owner and I can have some impact upon – Price, the 3-C’s and Ease of Showing. So, I advise owners who ask "How can I help?", to let me price the home to the market, keep the home show ready and then get out of the way and let the real estate process work.