Weston Homes That Did Not Sell: 5 Fixes to Relist

Why didn’t your Weston home sell?

In my own review of the Weston MLS, more than $370 million in Weston single family homes, at their last asking prices, came off the market over the past twelve months without selling. That is 171 homes at a million dollars and up. If your home was one of them, start with price, then check the other four.

In my review, the Weston homes at $1M and up that did not sell were priced a median of about 13% above similar homes that sold nearby, so check price and marketing before you decide the market is the problem. I filmed a full breakdown of what I found, and this post walks through each fix so you can relist with a plan instead of just a lower number.

The five fixes before you relist your Weston home

These are the five things I would check on a Weston home that came off the market unsold, starting with price.

Fix one. Price it to the recent sales, not the old list prices

A home gets the most attention it will ever get in the first two or three weeks. Every buyer with a saved search and every agent with a matching buyer gets pinged at once. Price above the market in those weeks and you will likely lose showings, not just offers. By the time the price catches up, those buyers may have already bought something else.

In my MLS review of Weston single family homes that sold over the past year, the ones that sold at or above their first asking price went under contract in a median of nine days. The ones that sold below their first asking price sat for roughly two months and sold for a median of about 93% of that first price, roughly $67,000 less on a $1M list, plus about two more months of mortgage, taxes, insurance, and upkeep while it sat. That carrying cost is easy to overlook, and it is exactly what a Weston and Davie seller net sheet makes visible before you list.

Your number will differ, so price against what actually closed on your street, not what your neighbors are still asking. You can confirm recent sales and a home’s assessed value through the Broward County Property Appraiser. If you have owned your Weston home a long time, the equity math changes what a price cut really costs, which I broke down separately in selling a Weston home you have owned twenty years.

Fix two. Make the first photo the one that stops the scroll

Buyers find your home the way they scroll social media. One photo decides whether they tap or keep going. When I went through the Weston million dollar listings photo by photo, a number of them described a lakefront or a pool in the text but opened with a plain shot of the front of the house. The best feature of the home was not in the one photo a buyer sees in the search results, so buyers scrolling past never saw it.

Lead with the reason someone would pay more for your home than the one down the street. In Weston that is often the water view, the pool with the view, or the lot. Then let the photos walk the buyer through the house in the order they would actually tour it, from the outside to the entry to the living space to the primary suite. Shoot in good light. Harsh midday light and photos that do not look professionally shot can make a million dollar home look less special than it is. You can see current listings and how homes in each community present themselves on the Weston pages.

Fix three. Write the description for the buyer’s real questions

In my review of 120 Weston listings over a million dollars, only 34 had what I would call a strong description. The rest left out at least some of what a buyer actually wants to know. In Weston people buy the community and the location as much as the house. Answer the questions an out of town buyer actually has. What community is it in. Is it gated. Is there a water view. When was the roof done. How old is the air conditioning. Does it have impact windows or accordion shutters.

Roof age and impact windows are two major drivers of a Florida homeowners insurance quote, so pull the roof and window permit history from the City of Weston permitting portal and put the real dates in the listing. For work done before 1997, the record is with Broward County. Buyers relocating here will want to know what hurricane season means for the home, and you can point them to the National Weather Service in Miami for what that season actually means. If the home sits in a flood zone, say so and link the map, because a careful buyer or their lender will check the FEMA flood map anyway. Your description also syndicates to Zillow, Realtor.com, and the rest, so the words you choose are what buyers read on every one of those sites.

Fix four. Use a real video, not a slideshow

Of 120 Weston homes for sale over a million dollars, 98 had a video link, but 80 of those 98 were a slideshow of the listing photos set to music. Only 18 of the 120 had a real filmed video. Among the homes that did sell, a true video showed up more often than it did among the ones that did not.

At my Weston open houses, I meet people already here moving up, and people relocating from New York, Chicago, and California who cannot always tour in person. A real walkthrough can help get your home onto their short list and quietly filter out the buyers it is not right for, which saves everyone a wasted showing. It does not need to be flashy. It needs to show the home the way a buyer would walk it. I film a property tour almost every week, so I know the difference between a video that works and one that just looks pretty.

Fix five. Make the home easy to see

The last one can cost you buyers quietly, and the seller may never hear about it unless they ask for the numbers. 69 of 120 let a buyer’s agent request a showing through ShowingTime. On the other 51, the buyer’s agent had to call or text. Limits like weekday afternoons only, or a request that sits for a day, can cost you buyers too. A buyer flying in for the weekend lines up several homes for Saturday. If yours is the one they cannot get into, they will likely skip it.

Ask for twenty four to forty eight hours notice if you need it, but open your home to evenings and weekends. Then ask your agent for the numbers. How many showing requests came in, how many turned into actual showings, and what the feedback was. Plenty of requests but few showings may point to an access problem. Showings but no offers may point back to price or something buyers are seeing in person.

One more move before you relist. Ask your agent about launching as coming soon. In my MLS review, the Weston homes over a million dollars that went out as coming soon came off the market unsold less often than the ones that did not. There are rules on how long a coming soon listing can run, and listing practice has changed over the last couple of years, so plan the timing with your agent before you relaunch. If your home already expired, I put together a full expired listing audit that goes well past these five. And if you are still deciding whether to stay in Weston at all, I made a companion piece on the five pros and five cons of Weston.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why didn’t my Weston home sell?

In my review, the Weston homes at $1M and up that did not sell were priced a median of about 13% above similar homes that sold nearby, so check price and marketing before you decide the market is the problem. Price is the first fix. The first photo, the description, the video, and the showing access are the other four places to check before you relist.

How long should a Weston home take to sell if it is priced right?

In my MLS review, the Weston single family homes that sold at or above their first asking price went under contract in a median of nine days, while the ones that sold below their first asking price sat for roughly two months. Confirm your comps against the recent closed sales on your street before you set a number.

Does a real estate video actually help sell a Weston home?

In my review, a true walkthrough showed up on about 15% of the million dollar homes that sold and about 8% of the ones that did not, so I treat it as worth doing, especially for out of town buyers who cannot tour in person. A slideshow of listing photos set to music is not the same thing and does not show a buyer the flow of the house.

Should I relist my Weston home as coming soon?

It is worth a conversation with your agent. In my MLS review, the Weston homes over a million dollars that launched as coming soon came off the market unsold less often than the ones that did not. There are limits on how long a coming soon listing can run, so plan the timing before you relaunch.

What costs the most when a Weston home sits unsold?

Time. In my review, homes that sold below their first asking price sold for a median of about 93% of that first price, roughly $67,000 less on a $1M list, plus the extra months of mortgage, taxes, insurance, and upkeep. Pricing it right the first time protects both the sale price and the carrying cost.

Talk to a Davie Real Estate Expert

Anthony Spitaleri, Broker Associate with Coldwell Banker Realty and raised in Davie, hosts open houses across Weston and Davie and reads the MLS at the community level before he prices a single home. If your Weston listing expired or came off the market, the next step is a direct conversation about what the numbers actually say and what to change before you relaunch. Schedule a free 15 minute strategy call and bring your old listing.

Anthony Spitaleri

Broker Associate, REALTOR® | Coldwell Banker Realty

Creator of Living in Davie, Florida

Davie, Florida | Serving Davie, Weston and surrounding Broward markets

954-235-5783

Florida License BK3281907

@livingindavieflorida

Written by Anthony Spitaleri, Broker Associate, REALTOR® with Coldwell Banker Realty, raised in Davie. More about Anthony