How to Relist Your Home for Sale: Steps, Timing, and MLS Strategy
If your home didn’t sell the first time, relisting it the right way can attract new buyers and reset market perception. Here’s how to relist your home strategically — not just repost it.
💡 Quick Answer
To relist your home for sale, review why it didn’t sell, update pricing or presentation, reset the MLS status correctly, and reintroduce the property to the market with a clear strategy.
Why Relisting Requires a Strategy
When a listing expires or is withdrawn, simply reposting the same details often leads to the same result. Buyers track listing history, time on market, and price changes — especially online.
Relisting works best when it addresses the factors that caused the original listing to stall or become perceived as a stale listing.
📌 Step 1: Review the Previous Listing Performance
Start by understanding what happened during the original listing period.
- How long the home was listed
- Number of showings and inquiries
- Feedback from buyers or agents
- Price changes made during the listing
Time on market is commonly measured as days on market (DOM), which heavily influences buyer perception.
📌 Step 2: Reevaluate Pricing
Pricing is one of the most common reasons homes fail to sell. Review recent comparable sales that closed while your home was listed and assess whether your price aligns with current market conditions.
Even small pricing adjustments can signal a meaningful change to buyers watching the market.
📌 Step 3: Refresh Photos, Description, and Presentation
Updating visuals and listing language helps differentiate a relisted home from its previous version.
- New professional photos or updated lighting
- Rewritten listing description
- Improved staging or minor cosmetic updates
📌 Step 4: Reset the MLS Status Correctly
How a listing is removed and reintroduced in the MLS matters. Status changes affect how buyers and agents see listing history.
Common MLS statuses include withdrawn, expired, canceled, or relisted. Each has different implications. You can learn more in MLS Listing Status Types Explained.
In many MLS systems, relisting with a different brokerage may reset a property’s public days on market (DOM), while relisting with the same brokerage may require a waiting period before DOM resets. This waiting period is commonly around 30 days, though rules vary by MLS.
📌 Step 5: Relaunch Marketing Efforts
Once relisted, treat the home like a new launch.
- Announce the relist to agents and buyers
- Schedule open houses or virtual tours
- Highlight what has changed since the prior listing
When Is the Right Time to Relist?
There is no universal waiting period. Sellers often relist when:
- The listing expires without offers
- Market conditions change
- Pricing or presentation has been updated
- Buyer demand increases seasonally
📌 Key Takeaway
Relisting a home successfully requires more than reposting the same information. Addressing pricing, presentation, and MLS status can help reset buyer perception and improve results the second time around.
Ready to Relist Without Overpaying?
Brokerless helps sellers relist strategically while avoiding traditional commission pressure.