Case study: a four-bedroom home in Buford, Georgia. Listed with another agent in 2024, expired after 103 days. Relaunched by the TJS Team in 2025 at essentially the same price, binding contract in 39 days, closed at about 99% of list.
The situation
When an expired owner calls me, the first thing they usually say is, "I guess we have to drop the price." Sometimes that's true. Often it isn't. This Buford home is the clearest example I have.
The home had been listed in the low-to-mid $700,000s with another agent. It sat through the spring and summer, took one modest reduction, and expired after 103 days. The owners waited several months, then asked me whether it could be sold at all without giving the house away.
What the first listing was up against
At this price point in Gwinnett, the pool of buyers is smaller and more deliberate. They compare carefully, they tour several homes, and they wait. A listing that launches to the general market and waits for buyers to show up is depending on luck. When the right buyer doesn't happen to be looking that month, the days pile up, and the days on market become the thing every later buyer sees first.
The home itself was in good shape. The price was within reach of the comps. What it never had was a launch aimed at the specific buyers who want a home like this: move-up families in the right school cluster, relocation buyers arriving with a short timeline, and bilingual buyers who search in channels most agents never touch.
What we changed
- Same price, new first impression. We listed at essentially the number the previous listing had expired at. Then we gave the home a new set of photos, a new story that led with its best feature, and a Coming Soon launch so it re-entered the market as new.
- Buyers first, not portals first. Before the listing went live we worked our own database and our agent network, and we ran the home in bilingual marketing channels that reach out-of-state and Mandarin-speaking buyers.
- A weekly written report. Showings, feedback, online views, and what we were adjusting. No guessing.
The result
A binding contract in 39 days, at the price the previous listing had expired at. Closed at about 99% of list. Same house, same price, different plan, different buyers, different result.
If you're being told to cut the price
- Ask for the evidence. If the comps say the price is wrong, cut it. If the comps say the price is fine, the problem is presentation or exposure, and a cut won't fix that.
- Ask who, specifically, the listing was marketed to. "The MLS and the portals" is not an answer. Every home has two or three buyer groups most likely to want it, and each needs its own channel.
- Ask to see the weekly report. If there wasn't one, you were never told what was and wasn't working.
If your Buford, Sugar Hill or Suwanee home expired and you'd like an honest read on whether the price was really the problem, I'll give you one in writing. Book fifteen minutes, or call or text 404-905-2596.
Tina Jingru Sui · Associate Broker, TJS Team · Keller Williams Atlanta Partners. Figures from FMLS listing records. Individual results vary.
