The holidays are officially over, and it’s time to concentrate on finally getting your home sold. If your listing has been lingering on the market for longer than you expected, there are a few things you can do to try to garner more attention and possibly snag a buyer this month. 

Consider your motivation. 

What is your motivation for selling your house? Do you need to move soon, or are you flexible? Is the amount of money you want to make on your home flexible too? Or do you need to make a certain amount in order to buy a new home? Reevaluate your reasons for selling, as things might have changed since you first put your home on the market. Thinking hard about your motivation to sell can help you make decisions that might help you sell your home faster. But if you don’t have an urgent need to sell, you might be fine with letting it stay on the market. 

Ask your agent to do a new CMA.

If your house has been on the market for a number of months, you may want to have your Realtor® perform a new comparative market analysis (CMA). There’s a good chance other homes have sold in the area in that period of time, and their sale price might have an effect on the value of your home. If this is the case, you can come up with a price reduction strategy to help pique buyers’ interest.

Tour other similar homes.

Ask your agent to take you on a tour of other houses for sale that are similar to yours. Even better would be houses that are already under contract. This way, you can see what they’ve done (or not done) to their houses to help them sell. It never hurts to get secondhand ideas! 

Think about taking it off the market until spring.

If you don’t have an urgent need to sell your house right away, you might want to think about taking it off the market for a little while. The market tends to pick up a lot in the spring or early summer, so taking your home off for now and reintroducing it when sales pick up could be a beneficial move. 

Consider making improvements.

Take a look at any feedback you’ve gotten from showings. Is there something that’s come up more than once that you can fix or improve upon? Even if you haven’t gotten any negative feedback, have a talk with your real estate agent to see what they think you might be able to improve around the house. Small things like upping your curb appeal or having a professional stager come in and evaluate things can help a lot!

Evaluate your marketing plan. 

Sit down with your agent and go over your marketing plan. What has been successful? What platforms have you not gotten any hits from? Is your agent actively marketing your home or just waiting on interest to come in? Is your home being presented in an alluring way with professional photos? Take a look at what’s worked and what hasn’t, and adjust accordingly. 

Keep in close contact with your agent.

Speak with your agent about once a week for a progress report. They should be filling you in regularly about what’s going on and what they’re doing to try to sell your home. If your agent isn’t checking in with you and keeping you in the loop, it might be time to interview other agents.