5 Mistakes That Keep Palm Springs Homes From Selling

By Will Cook

A seasoned professional with an unwavering commitment to excellence, Will Cook has firmly established himself as one of the top real estate agents in the Greater Palm Springs Area.

Across the Palm Springs area, beautiful homes have been on the market for three months, four months, and in some cases much longer. It isn’t always because something is wrong with the property. After more than two decades in real estate, I keep seeing the same mistakes again and again, and in today’s market, buyers are far less forgiving than they were a few years ago. Here are five reasons a good home can sit for far too long.

1. The seller starts high and plans to reduce later. This is by far the most common reason. The logic sounds reasonable, but it isn’t how buyers think. The first couple of weeks are when a property draws the most attention, and if buyers see the home and immediately judge it overpriced, they move on. Thirty days becomes 60, 60 becomes 90, and soon people are asking what’s wrong with the property. It has become stigmatized.

At that point, the price can be lowered to what it probably should have been from the start, but the excitement and momentum of a new listing are gone. The current median selling time in Palm Springs is 55 days, and that figure describes homes that actually sold. It also counts days in the MLS for the latest listing only, not the cumulative days across every previous attempt. If your home has passed 100 cumulative days, it’s time to examine the pricing, the presentation, and the competition.

2. The price is borrowed from a different house. This is distinct from simply overpricing. A seller may have a number in mind based on a beautifully renovated home that sold down the street, while their own home still has a 20-year-old kitchen, older bathrooms, dated flooring, and deferred maintenance. Buyers notice those differences, and they quickly calculate what it would cost to close the gap.

The seller sees that the neighbor sold for $1.8 million. The buyer sees $250,000 of work to make this house look like the neighbor’s. Those are two very different perspectives, and only one of them writes the offer.

3. The home isn’t presented for a visual market. Palm Springs is an unusually visual real estate market. People aren’t buying bedrooms and bathrooms here; they’re buying a lifestyle. They picture cocktails by the pool with the mountains above, indoor-outdoor living, and a response to architecture, light, landscaping, and design.

If the photos are dark, the rooms look cluttered, the landscaping is tired, and the property hasn’t been prepared properly, buyers never form an emotional connection to the house. And if they don’t fall in love with it online, many of them will never come to see it.

4. The obvious objection goes unanswered. Almost every buyer has something they might question. Perhaps the property sits on leased land, the HOA fees are unusually high, the lot backs up to a busier street, the roof and HVAC are aging, or the floor plan is unconventional. The mistake is pretending the objection doesn’t exist.

Good marketing anticipates what a buyer will wonder about and gives them the information they need to evaluate it. Something that looks negative at first glance is often far less problematic once it’s explained. Without that explanation, buyers usually assume the worst.

5. The seller refuses to respond to the market. A few years ago, sellers could get away with things they can’t today. Inventory was thin, buyers were competing, and multiple offers were common. Today, buyers generally have more choices and more time to decide.

Palm Springs area single-family homes are currently selling at a reported average discount of 4 to 5% off list price, and the city’s months of supply have risen from 5.2 to 6.2 over the past year. That doesn’t mean every home needs the same discount, but it does mean sellers need to understand their competition and be prepared to negotiate. When a seller refuses to respond to what the market is telling them, the property sits.

When I talk with someone who is thinking about selling, I don’t believe the only question should be what the house is worth. There is a second question that matters just as much: what strategy gives me the best chance of actually getting that value in today’s market. Pricing matters, presentation matters, photography matters, marketing matters, and understanding how today’s buyers think matters.

You don’t want your home to become the listing buyers have been seeing online for the last five months. You want buyers to feel that if they want it, they need to act.

If you’re thinking about selling in the Palm Springs area and want a candid assessment of what I think your property is worth, how I would prepare it, and what strategy I would use to get it sold in today’s market, call or text me at (760) 774-3066, email me at Will@cookrealestate.com, or visit palmspringsrealty.com.