How an Expired Idaho Home Sold in 36 Days

By Chris Schmalz

Chris has lived in the Idaho Falls area for over 40 years and has been helping sellers and buyers realize the American dream and build wealth through real estate for over 20 years.

Have you ever wondered why some homes sit on the market for months, or even a full year, without ever selling? I want to tell you about a home right here in Pocatello that did exactly that. It was listed with two different agents, sat for over a year, expired, and then sold in just 36 days once we changed a few important things.

So let’s talk about what actually made the difference.

A great home that just kept sitting. This home was in a great location, the Highland area of Pocatello. The sellers had already moved out and relocated to Texas for work, but their Idaho home was still sitting there unsold. That meant they were still carrying the mortgage, the utilities, the maintenance, and all the stress of holding onto a property they no longer lived in.

By the time they reached me, after more than a year on the market with two different agents, they were frustrated and worn out. They’d been told the problem was just the market, that nothing was selling, and that this was simply how it was.

What was actually holding it back. But that wasn’t the reality. When I looked closer, the home hadn’t been placed properly in the MLS, where it needed to be. There was a discrepancy with the square footage. The marketing wasn’t where it should have been, there was no strong professional presentation, and on top of all that, the price wasn’t lined up with what the market data actually supported.

So here were these sellers trying to move forward with their new life in Texas, while this house in Idaho kept holding them back. It wasn’t just a real estate problem. It was a financial strain, it was stressful, and there was real fear that the home might never sell.

Showing them the truth, not what they wanted to hear. When I met with them, we did everything remotely over Zoom and the phone since they were already out of state. The first thing I did wasn’t to tell them what they wanted to hear. I showed them the truth. We went through the market data together, looked at the comparable sales and the market report, average days on market, list-to-sales price ratios, and what homes in that price range were actually doing in that part of Pocatello. The home had previously expired at around $390,000, and based on the data, I recommended listing it at $360,000.

The hard pricing conversation. That’s not always an easy conversation, because naturally, sellers want the highest price possible, and I understand that completely. But my job isn’t to flatter someone into another failed listing. My job is to tell them what they need to hear so they can actually get the results they want.

So we talked through the numbers, and I told them plainly: you’re the seller, you ultimately decide the price. My job is to guide you through the data. If you’re weighing what your own home could realistically sell for, this is exactly the kind of honest valuation I’d want to show you the data on first.

Rebuilding the whole strategy. Once we had the pricing right, we rebuilt everything. We made sure the home was exposed properly across multiple MLS systems. We corrected all the information and brought in professional photography, video, drone footage, and even a blueprint of the home so buyers could actually understand the value instead of scrolling right past it.

There was no single magic trick to any of it. It was honest pricing, the right exposure, better presentation, and stronger marketing, all working together.

What the market did this time. So the home went back on the market at $360,000, and this time the market responded. Instead of sitting for another year, we created real buyer demand. The property received multiple offers and sold for $370,000, $10,000 over the asking price. After more than a year of frustration, it sold in 36 days.

For the sellers, this was a huge relief. They’d been carrying this home from another state, paying the utilities, arranging maintenance, and trying to move on with their life in Texas while the property kept pulling them back. Once it was sold, that weight was finally lifted, and my understanding is that selling the Idaho home also helped them move forward with buying a place in Texas.

The word that stuck with me. The review the sellers left meant a lot to me. They wrote that I was easy to communicate with and, in the word that stuck with me, “honest,” that we’d listed and sold a home that had sat expired for over a year, and that Andrea was a great help through all of it. It’s that word, honest, that really matters to me, because in this business, honesty is often what actually gets the home sold.

The real lesson for your home. So what’s the lesson here? If your home isn’t selling, it may not just be the market. Sometimes it’s the price. Sometimes it’s the marketing, the presentation, or the exposure.

Sometimes it’s the advice you’re getting, and sometimes it’s all of those things together. Experience matters. Hiring the right agent matters. And most of all, you need someone willing to tell you the truth, even when that truth is uncomfortable at first. Because the goal was never just to have the home listed.

The goal is to actually get it sold.

If your home is expired or it's been sitting without the activity you expected, I’d be happy to take a look, show you the data, and give you an honest opinion about what may need to change. You can call or email me anytime at 208-242-4313 or chris@realestate-idahofalls.com, and you can find more at blog.realestate-idahofalls.com.

I’m Chris Schmalz with the Chris Schmalz Real Estate Group: Where moves are made simple, and life is made Better.