Need advice on pricing our home to sell

[lecach]

Buckalew-St. Joe has been buried for 3 weeks now. I followed the instructions and buried him facing the street. Maybe I should dig him up and turn him around?

3DisneyBuggs-come on down, we'll make you a deal!

 

[PlutoPony]

We lived in the Triangle when Woodcroft was initially built and I remember one of the complaints at the time was that some of the lots aren't flat enough for kids to play on. Looking at your pictures, I think the lot may be an issue for some. About the only counter to something you can't fix is price so ultimately I'm afraid you'll have to go lower to compete with other houses with better lots for families. How much would it cost to put some sod down? That might help people visualize their kids playing outside on nice grass, as opposed to dirt.
Good luck!

 

[Cindyluwho]

May I offer my two cents worth?? I am a realtor and owner in a well known Seattle Real Estate office. I've been in the business for over 15 years and I'm going to be blunt. Remember, I'm just trying to help - don't take my words personally.
First of all; the kitchen, dining room and bedroom look excellent! Very well decorated, your taste in furniture is very nice and it shows in the pics very well!!
The living room is much too crowded. You definately need to box up the videos, cd's, etc around the TV. In fact, it's barely acceptable to have a TV in the room unless it's in a cabinet that closes so you can't see it unless you have it open to watch. If a cabinet will work in your new home perhaps now is the time to buy one. Over half the furniture in the living room should be put into storage.
The other negative, as others have stated, is that there is no usable back yard.
That being said - any $$ you put in now will probably not bring up the value of your home enough to cover the costs. A professional stager can cost lots of money - as much as replacing flooring in the bath+. Your home is not going to sell for that much more, if any. I would recommend a stager if you needed it but honestly you have good taste in furniture, your home is clean - why spend the extra $$?
Listen to your realtor - lower the price accordingly. In fact, I would look at the multiple or drive around your neighborhood. Which realtor has the most listings in your area?? give them a call and have them do a Market Analysis. Just because you have a signed listing does NOT mean you have to stay with your current realtor. BUT BUT BUT - if your current realtor has been giving you good advice all along and you're not following it (lowering the price, etc) then you should just start listening to your realtor.
I'm sorry if I sound like I'm tsk, tsking but your home is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay. Not what you think it should be worth. Big hugs and best of luck!!! The perfect buyer is on their way, be ready with a good price and a good showing!

 

[dani0622]

I'm hoping I can give a little perspective from someone looking to buy. My DH and I have seen dozens of homes over the last few months and haven't found the "one" yet. Plus, NJ is a really hot market and for awhile we were priced out. But let me tell you I'd buy your place in heartbeat if I lived down there! We've seen so many dirty, cluttered houses that we could not believe were being shown that way. So for that aspect your place looks great! I will tell you that my real estate agent emails me listings based on my specifications and I really don't have time to do my own searches. So like many people said if you dropped to 179K you would get the people who only request to see listings up to 180K. And who knows, you could end up with two offers at 179K who start a bidding war and you'll be back at 182K. good luck!

 

[mickeysgal]

Another thing I've seen done is to offer a lower price and say you're offering a "painting" or "flooring allowance."

Yes, I've seen these kind of allowances. I'm not sure whether I'm for that or against that strategy. On one hand it may entice buyers by giving them some cash to be expected right away, and on the other hand, it may trigger sellers into thinking - whether it be true or not - that the house needs more work in other areas as well.

Since it appears to be a small bathroom, is tiling the floor out of reason? And I don't mean press and stick tile. I mean ceramic. Stock ceramic at Home Depot or Lowes is not that costly. You don't have to get into fancy patterns and specialty deco tiles. Plain and simple beige ceramic. Its not that hard to install and the perceptive value will is priceless.

Same with the cabinets. Can they be repainted or restained? Can they be moderized in some way with new hardware? Sometimes just changing the countertop and adding new fixtures is all you need. Lowes carries off the shelf solid surface countertops and they're not that expensive. Measure your countertop and see if one of theirs will work. It has the built-in sink also. Again, the perceptive value that this will produce is priceless.

I really think this mini-facelift of your bathrooms will come back to you in spades in the form of a quicker sale.

 

[barkley]

your house is the reason dh and i put ours on the market and plan to move south-it's an excellent example of the type of homes that are make your area appealing.

i personaly don't think (from the photos) that hiring someone to stage is necessary (but if the realtor is going to do it on thier dime there's no downside for you). the only thing i might suggest (which i did when we recently put ours on the market) is getting a new bedspread for the master bedroom. i bought one that was'nt what i would have normaly gone with but it realy made the room "pop"-i also went against my personal taste and got rid of our old drapes in the master (on a sliding glass door) and bought a single panel that went with the color scheme of the bedding-totaly unpractical for sleeping during any daylight hours, but it floods the room with light.

i like the lot, and it would'nt be a deterent to me-it reminds me of the vacation homes in the sierra nevadas-and the trees would be a plus for us-privacy enough to be able to forgo alot of window coverings.

one thing we discussed with our realtor was weather our home would be activly marketed outside our area. housing prices are much higher in the 2 counties adjacent to ours, and while someone living in those counties might not initialy consider a move to ours (and the resulting commute) we knew that if they just made a trip to see the house they would realize that the longer commute was far outweighed by what our home had to offer value wise and more importantly family wise. it seems to have paid off-the buyers while they live only a couple of cities down the road from us utilized an out of county realtor who became aware of our property due to our agent's marketing.

given that you have another house you will be moving into shortly i would consider dropping the price to that new "zone" to see if it attracts some traffic. it may be less costly than doing repainting which is rather time consuming (and then there's the down time on showings until the aroma of paint disapates). we HAD to do some repainting to our 3 bedrooms, but personal taste still dictates what a buyer wants-ours is repainting the ENTIRE interior of the home upon taking possession (no amount of money could have inclined me to do it on my own-over 2500 sq feet with catherdral ceilings and plant shelves, not to mention that every wall flows into the next (rounded walls at the corners) such that unless you go with one color it is next to impossible to figure out how to nicely end one shade and start the next)-so even if we had repainted the interior they likely would have chosen to come in and do their own thing.

 

[bananiem]

Mickeysgal- I think it can be seen that way too. Just offering a suggestion.
To the OP, when we've looked at houses at the top of our price range and liked the layout but then thought "We'll spend $10,000-15,000 in updates" it's priced many houses out of our range. If you can update the small baths for under $2500, I'd do it.

 

[floridafam]

PlutoPony,

I think you have a good idea.

I was also going to suggest putting an area of sod down in the back or creating some type of seating area or something. Show that the back can be used.

Sod wouldn't be that much. Maybe an 8 x 8 area of sod or bigger if you can do it. Border it with something and you've got an instant play area or picnic area.

 

[mickeysgal]

I just looked at your house online. Its darling! Neat and clean and bright. Good to know that you're getting some sunlight in the house - this sometimes is an issue when you live in the woods.

I agree with the post from the realtor above - perhaps get a small entertainment cabinet to house all the TV stuff. Anything to handle that clutter corner. Most likely a family will be looking at your home and the sloped backyard is a problem for kids, dogs, grass, etc.

Since you can't fight the backyard, pick your battles and control what you can. The TV clutter is a must and perhaps a quick mini-facelift of the bathrooms.

I wish you the best of the best. Gosh...selling is tough! Its hard to take suggestions constructively. Believe me, we're not trying to hurt your feelings. We're trying to help you get your house sold!

Can you post a picture of your bathroom(s) in your signature line here on the Dis so we can help you with suggestions there too? Just a thought...

 

[golfgal]

Ok, looking at the pictures again, is it typical in your area not to have a garage? Around here, NO one would buy a house without a garage, but that is Minnesota for you.

 

[floridafam]

Was the picture of your house taken a while ago?

If the tress and grass are greener now then I would take a new picture and have your realtor update the website.

I like your house. I would do a lot of little things like move all the videos, televisions, personal photos, sun catchers in the windows, etc.

I really don't think there are any major improvements needed.

A professional stager is probably going to tell you a lot of what we've been saying here. They might also suggest making the master bedroom feel "warmer.: BUT...do you really want to pour money into everything they suggest or just lower your price?

If the realtor is paying for the stager, great. If not, skip it.

 

[jenks0718]

I am a NJ agent and I agree with a lot thats already been said. I agree with your realtor, lower that price to 179,900. 30 showings and not one good offer should send tons of red flags up. Your yard is a definate problem and this price change may make someone who is "on the fence" go ahead and make an offer. Your home is very lovely BTW, and I would not pay for staging.

 

[lecach]

To answer some recent questions and respond to some of the suggestions:

-garages are on about 50% of the houses around here

-we dont really think the staging will work either. But our realtor wants to try it and he's paying for it....he says interior design is his weakness.

-2 of DH's projects today are to put away all the DVDs, videotapes, etc. and to work on his desk area which is a little messy.

-the pictures were taken about 50 days ago. I just went back and looked at them and you know - everything IS greener now. The back yard area especially. So I emailed the realtor and asked for new pictures. He had briefly mentioned it a few weeks ago himself. Thanks everyone!

-I dont think sod would "take" in the back yard. You cant tell this by initially looking but when they built our house the backyard is comprised of a lot of construction "trash", i.e. rocks, etc. Thats why we cant get any grass or plants to take well.

The good news is that we have a showing at 2:45 today.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. They have really helped!!!

By the way - we probably ARE going to lower the price.....we'll do it before we leave on Saturday for our cruise.

 

[grlpwrd]

I like your house!

I agree with doing something about the backyard. Sod, seating area, and maybe pavers, a hammock, mulch, and plants/landscaping (azaleas?) to make it more appealing as a woodland garden.

GL to you!

 

[bananiem]

Our first house had a lot of construction "junk" and concrete chunks from when they tore up a road in town and dumped it in our development before it was a development. Our builder put down a nice thick layer of black dirt before they sodded it. But we didn't have trees to block the sun. I just wonder what a layer of black dirt and sod would cost?

 

[mickeysgal]

By the way - we probably ARE going to lower the price.....we'll do it before we leave on Saturday for our cruise.

Question to any realtors out there. When you lower the price, do you get a "just reduced" marking on the existing MLS listing or do some realtors relist it with the new price under a new MLS number, making it appear as a newly listed house on the market?

I believe I've seen it done both ways before. I guess what I don't like is seeing the "nbr of days on the market" on the listing. When that number is high, I automatically think that there is something wrong with the house/location/neighborhood.

 

[lecach]

mickeysgal: Our realtor offered us a choice.

A) lower it and get the just reduced. This could be good or bad. It could get some interest BUT someone could see that and think "oh - they are getting desperate - bet I can get it for even less"

B) take it off the market for a few days and then relist with a different MLS. I dont think this fools too many people. When we were house hunting we KNEW what was out there and we didnt like it when we saw this - we felt like they were trying to trick us. Plus sometimes it still shows the number of days on market.

We'll probably go with option A.....

 

[sajetto]

I'm very close to your area and I thought I'd chime in. Here in NC or at least on the eastern side people aren't to hung up on garages so I wouldn't attribute it to that.

Please, please, please don't get offended, but I'm just going to say the number one thing would be your yard.....but YOU can't change that.

I'm the market you're selling to. We just bought a home and closed 4 days ago. As a young couple the square footage of your home is what we are looking for to begin our lives in and start a family then move in the next 3-5 years.

I will say that the interior of the home is lovely, but the color of the front door and shutters is not very modern compared to what builders are putting up right now. It appears to have a good layout and I like the neutral colors in the interior. I'm not wild about the kitchen cabinets though, but its easily changed. The home we just purchased has the same thing and we have a crew in there right now painting over them and ripping down wallpaper. We didn't let that stop us from purchasing the perfect home for us.

I 100% agree with your realtor. We would have NEVER seen your home b/c it is priced 2,000 over our limit.

With the changes I would require as a buyer I think the best thing for you to do is NOT change a thing and lower the price. It would cost too much or either take too much time to make the changes. See if you get any bites with the new price and THEN make cosmetic changes if nothing happens.

Good luck! I know its hard. Our old house just went under a new contract when the first fell through. We were so worried that we'd be stuck with 2 mortgages for a long time.

 

[lecach]

Oh I am not offended about the yard. I know its an issue. Actually DH and I are relieved that everyone thinks the yard is the issue - the yard is not something we designed or can change. We're just relieved that its not our decorating style .

As far as the colors on the exterior - in our neighborhood the HOA STRONGLY recommends that all colors for houses come from the "Williamsburg" palette. So we just chose based on that. It actually looks a lot better in person.


The realtor just sent me an email - he's instructed his assistant to take new outside pics immediately. So thats good. You know - DH and I feel like we're having to do a lot of the realtors work. Or maybe thats just us - we dont fully trust anyone to do everything we'd like done. We had to ask for brochures to be placed out front. We had to ask for the pictures to be changed. We had to ask that they take the wording off of info that realtors see that mentioned our sump pump and interior drains (realtor couldnt believe that was on there - his assistant did it - if my realtor Mom hadnt pointed it out we wouldnt have known). We really like this realtor - we've known him for 6 years. But I think he's become TOO busy. And I think he has more high profile clients than us that take more of his time and interest. If we had known that he had an assistant that was going to be doing a lot of the work we wouldnt have gone with him. She is the one that spoke to the people that made an offer the first day we were on the market and rather than counter offering whatever she said to them made them run. I know we can still switch to another. We're just too darn nice for our own good. Maybe being away for a week will clear our heads.

 

[PlutoPony]

From the pictures, it almost looks like you have a walk-out basement set-up. The lot slopes down so much that it looks like there's a room or storage area that comes out under the deck..... if so, is that space "advertised" anywhere in your listing? Since you don't have a garage (which I understand having lived in NC for 15 years) people are always looking for someplace to store garage stuff like mowers, etc. and that would certainly be a bonus to have.