3 Reasons Your Home Isn't Selling in the Twin Cities

By Mark Callender

Hello, my name is Mark Callender and I am a licensed real estate agent with RE/MAX Results. Because I have been helping families buy and sell their homes for more than 18 years, I am now helping their children to buy their first homes and their parents to downsize. No matter the direction you’re moving, my goal is to make the process as calm and enjoyable as it can be.

A few years ago, selling a home in the Twin Cities was almost automatic. You put a sign in the yard, list it on the MLS, and it sells, often within days. Today, the market looks very different, and one of the questions we hear most often is: What do we do if our home isn’t selling?

Sometimes that question comes from our own clients, and sometimes it comes from sellers who are listed with another agent and just want a second opinion. If you’re working with an agent, the first conversation should always be with them. But if you’d like an outside perspective on a home that isn’t moving, here’s how we think it through.

It helps to start with why homes are sitting longer in general. Inventory has climbed across the metro compared with a year ago, and the strong sellers’ market we all got used to has settled into something far more balanced, with the scale tipping toward buyers. Across the country, homes are taking longer to sell, too, as buyers feel less pressure to rush. None of that means your home won’t sell. It just means the old playbook needs an update.

1. Showings but no offers. When buyers walk through the door but no offer is written, the price is almost always the reason. It’s worth taking an honest look at where you sit in the market, how long you’ve been listed, and what comparable homes are actually closing for. A fresh read on your home’s value usually tells you what you need to know.

2. No showings at all. No showings is a different problem entirely. It usually means buyers either aren’t seeing your listing or aren’t drawn in enough to click on it. More often than not, the fix starts with the photos. Professional images and a strong description do the heavy lifting online, and without them, buyers scroll right past. How your home is presented has a real effect on whether it gets noticed in the first place.

3. Time to reset the listing. When a home has sat for a while with no traction, the smartest move can be to take it off the market entirely and start fresh. That means re-evaluating the market, refreshing the photos and listing, and rethinking how the property is perceived.

When we list a home, we push it out across the major home-search sites and use retargeting to keep it in front of buyers as they browse elsewhere, so it stays visible well beyond the first week. Getting ahead of the issues that keep a home from selling is what makes the difference.

After 24 years in this business, the one thing we keep coming back to is simple: every home sells. It just depends on the price. There’s a buyer for every property, and the right price brings them together.

Here’s a quick snapshot of where things stand. More homes have come to market, and they’re selling more slowly across the Twin Cities, with the average home now sitting around 56 days on the market, up nearly 15% from a year ago, while sale prices have held essentially flat from last year. One bright spot for sellers: single-family homes priced between $300,000 and $400,000, right in first-time buyer territory, are still moving quickly and even drawing multiple offers. Even there, the price has to match the home.

If your home has been sitting and you’d like a second set of eyes on it, we’re always glad to help, whether you’re just getting started or rethinking a listing that hasn’t moved. Reach us at 612-961-9448, email mark@markcallenderhomes.com, or connect throughcallenderhometeam.results.net. We’ll always give you a straight answer about what it takes to sell your home.