- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
That sucks! We might be selling soon and I'm dreading it. Do you think there might be an inconsistency with the pricing and the home? I know you put updates into it but a lot of people looking for a starter home might not want to pay the price for those extras.
I hope you get some traffic soon!
The one thing that set apart other homes when we were looking was photos, a ton of photos got us interested in the property. When we were viewing a house clutter was a big turn off. Those were the two big things that helped us move on a house.
We definitely staged our house - I think half our stuff is in storage right now. And I made our realtor come out again in early June to take new outdoor photos when the landscaping greened up.
And we did factor in the neighborhood and what other houses are selling for - basically, ours is nicer but only a little more expensive than the comparables (that have old appliances and other "expensive" things like furnaces and A/Cs).
I do have to check out one home in the area that I saw had an accepted offer to see what theirs was listed at. I think the problem is that we're fighting against people that need to do a short sale or the house is a foreclosure. And since we don't "need" to sell, we're just not willing to drop our price by $30,000 to compete with those.
Do you have pictures of it? Maybe we can give you some ideas about it or what might stand out to people other than you since you live in it.
Sometimes dropping just $5000. opens up a whole new interested set of buyers.
My neice just sold her home after being on the market for 10 months with 2 different realtors. No activity with the first one, but the second brought through a ton of people and got it sold. They got killed on the sale,tho, but it was their first and only offer so they went with it.
I'm sorry :( The housing market really sucks right now for sellers.
Anyways, since your stuck with your realtor for the next couple of months, ask him/her point blank why people aren't viewing your house. Your realtor should know the market well enough to make recommendations on how to get more people to view the house. For example, my FI's friends were in the same situation as you; the realtor recommended they replace their kitchen counter - well it worked, because they are closing soon.
Also, another thing to consider is lowering your price into a different bracket to get a different group of people to view your house. For example, maybe your house is on the market for $205,000. Lowering it to 199,999 will trigger a match for people looking for house under a $200,000; it is only a $5000 dollar difference, but it'll come up on more people's searches.
And as a previous buyer, I can not stress enough...neutrals, neurtrals, neutrals. With so many houses on the market, I'm not going to pick the one with weird paint colors or paint, if there is a similar house that is already neutral.
Good luck!
Thanks ladies! Just getting this off my chest has really helped. I'll try to remeber to post some photos tonight so you can give me even better suggestions!
I watch sales in my neighbourhood like a hawk. Sounds like you have the nicest house on the street, which is sometimes bad. In my neighbourhood the most expensive houses are not selling, but people are scooping up the ugly ducklings that are the lowest prices. Middle priced houses are moving at snail's pace.
Definitely let your real estate agent know how you are feeling and ask for honest advice about why.
I'm in a pretty similar boat, myself. Nicest home on the block, but we priced it lower than a couple of ones around us, just to be competitive. Unfortunately, down the road from us is a much nicer neighborhood with houses that used to be sold for around $250-300K that are all practically in foreclosure. This means people are getting bigger better houses for around our asking price.
My realtor said that until those homes are all liquidated, it is unlikely we will sell. They have been selling rather quickly, but it seems like every time one sells, another one goes into foreclosure.
My sister and I own this home, and she may be moving soon for work, so it may work out that we can rent it and at least have some money coming in from it.
Here's the pictures:
Basement
Basement bath
Upstairs bath
Master bedroom
Guest bedroom
Kitchen
Living room
Front
Oh it's really cute. You have it decorated for a sale with no issues. The market is just really slow right now. It's unfortunate, but it looks like you're doing everything you are suppose to be doing.
I'm a professional stager and judging from your pics, you did a great job. I don't have anything to recommend that you change-amazing for me. Lol That said, you are right about competing with short sales, which is difficult. But if a house that looks as good as yours does is not generating interest, then it's the price. It's really always about the price, even with houses that do not show as well as yours, if the price is right, it will sell. You are most likely going to have to drop the price, which totally sucks. But that is your only choice unless you want to pull it off and wait a bit. Good luck-I just sold a house so I totally feel for you:)
I agree in that it does look nice and its probably just the price, unless the location or neighborhood isn't equally as nice. Do you have a lot of air traffic noise or live across from a school or anything? lol
I just watched one of those home staging shows over the weekend and found it interesting in some of the comments that were made. The hostess mentioned that the sellers went too far in their staging and made it look too sterile....no pictures on the walls or anything else that made it look lived in. Its hard to find that balance, I think. We're busy cleaning out and painting to get ours ready to list by September, but housing values have dropped tremendously where we live, and we're pretty worried too.
@smyley: I totally agree about creating balance. But neutralizing and editing is so important, I would rather err on the side of spare than have the rooms look too cluttered. I always recommend that my clients get rid of all family photos, religious symbols, trophies, stuff that is personal. I use pictures very rarely-depends on the wall space, window placement, etc. I also will use a smaller scale couch, for example to make a room appear larger.
I don't use area/scatter rugs (unless there is a stain to cover up:) because it makes the room look smaller. I will often take curtains down to let light in. But what a lot of people don't undertand is that the furniture placement in staging is very different from the way you would really live in the house every day. I've made clients get rid of important stuff like the t.v. which is pretty hardcore for a lot people. lol
In the house I'm staging now, the family room is huge, probably 700 sq. ft and it's got a sectional sofa, a coffee table and a small chair, a lamp and a small side table. That's it and it looks great.
Okay, sorry about my long-winded post-I'm just a little passionate on the subject. Can you tell? lol
We're going to have to rent a storage unit (we already know that) and have 'neutralized' all rooms except the last 3 bedrooms. Its a ton of work, but we've been at it for a few months now and after accummulating so much over 30 years, its hard to pare down. :(
@PutABirdOnIt: Thanks! It's nice to hear that we've pretty much done everything we can, from someone who does this for a living.
And it really sucks being without our TVs - the only one we have left is in the basement and the other 2 are in storage.
I think our plan is to wait out the summer and get a new, more aggressive, realtor when our current contract is up. And probably drop the price at that point.
We're finally having some movement! We had a showing on Sunday, and another one today and one tomorrow. I'm trying to not get my hopes up too high - but it's definitely nice to finally have people come look at the house after nothing for 2 months.
The Sunday people loved the house, but just wished they couldn't see the small apartment building that's across the city greenspace behind our backyard (but in 2 years, the pine trees should have grown enough to completely block it out - I wish they'd realize that!). Here's hoping for even better reactions this afternoon and tomorrow evening.
Keep your fingers crossed for us - I have a bottle of champagne that I'd really like to crack open sometime soon. 
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| hisgoosiegirl | 34 |
| MissBoPeep | 29 |
| Gemstone | 24 |
| Mrs.KMM | 24 |
| Beckster329 | 23 |
| beargoose | 20 |
| BetterSherm | 20 |
| Rivendeler | 20 |
| ndreighton | 19 |
| KCKnd2 | 16 |
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| TheJeanses2012 | 4 |
| ladyartichoke | 2 |
| becauseilovehim | 1 |
In March, DH and I put our house on the market. After updating the kitchen and bathrooms. And we dropped the price. In 3.5 months, we've had 2 scheduled showings and 2 families come through our open houses (several open houses had NO ONE come through).
Needless to say, we're through with open houses (we were unwilling participants to begin with) and are feeling really frustrated with the whole process. I understand that houses just aren't moving in a lot of areas, but after putting so much time and energy into making it really nice, and having no nibbles (or even people to come see it), it's hard to not be disillusioned.
Anyone have tips to add a little life to the process and get people in? The contract with our current realtor goes through August, so we can't make any changes there for 2 more months . . .
And if you know anyone who wants to buy a house in Madison, Wis., I know where they can find a great starter home