selling a house - vent

[tvguy]

Um ever sold a house? The realtor has the people fill out comment cards.

Yes I have sold and purchased houses. OP seemed to indicate these were calls, e-mails that the OP received directly from potential buyers. If any of the realtors I used had comment cards, I never saw them. I only cared about offers the realtor received. If any of those things happened, the realtor never bothered to pass it on to me, nor would I expect them to.

I have expereinced this type situation selling cars. People call knowing nothing about the model car being sold. "Is it a station wagon, is it a 4 door, does it have a 4 cylinder engine, does it have a factory sunroof" all things that I would hope someone looking for a specific model of car would know were never offered.

But again, with a big sale like a house, I expect the Realtor to handle all that.

 

[abdmom]

Not true at all, if they keep getting the same complaint multiple times they need to address it or be willing to hold onto the house or drop the price significantly to spur on someone who will make the changes THEY see as necessary.

Of course there are some things that cannot be changed (like it's too small), but some of these cosmetic things are so easy, yet seller's aren't necessarily willing to do them. In one of my friend's cases she offered a dollar figure to be applied towards neutral paint. Personally for a few hundred dollars my family could have done a near professional job... but to each their own.

Please note I said "every stupid comment". No basement would fall into this category. If the agent thinks something should be changed, they should tell the seller so.

 

[shelwoj]

Our house has been on the market since February. We just went into contract last week. We had to drop our price drastically to do it but we didn't care. We're very lucky that we aren't upside down so just selling it was a bonus. We decided early on that we didn't buy this house to sell in X number of years and make a killing. We bought it to raise our boys and live in a wonderful neighborhood. Fourteen years later we're downsizing the house, upsizing the yard by 10.5 acres and are mortgage free.

On all this good news I will say that selling in this economy and competing with foreclosures (a LOT in our area) really SUCKED!! We had comments like "There was a musty smell in the garage." Another was "Some of the neighbors don't take care of their lawn very well."

Hang in there, you'll sell eventually.

My motto the whole time was, "Someone will fall in love with it, we did."

 

[eeyoremum]

OP here. We are using a agent we have worked with before. That is where we are getting the comments.

I have decluttered and staged. I refuse to paint and do hardwood because I am already listed WAY under price. In my pricing we factored in that the carpet needs redone and that there is no finished basement. The home is only 6 years old but the carpet was builder standard so didn't wear well in the living areas. My home is listed under what the builder would build it for so I am not eager to lower anymore.

Hopefully it will sell we really want to move but don't have to

 

[tvguy]

OP here. We are using a agent we have worked with before. That is where we are getting the comments.

I have decluttered and staged. I refuse to paint and do hardwood because I am already listed WAY under price. In my pricing we factored in that the carpet needs redone and that there is no finished basement. The home is only 6 years old but the carpet was builder standard so didn't wear well in the living areas. My home is listed under what the builder would build it for so I am not eager to lower anymore.

Hopefully it will sell we really want to move but don't have to

I can understand that. Last house we sold, only work we did was what he had to do to get it to pass inspection (dry rot). There was an issue with an illegal addition too. But it was a Probate sale, and the guy buying it, built the addition! So he figured out real fast that making a stink about it would come right back into his lap.

Don't come to my house, I still have the builder standard carpet in my house, and it's 32 years old!

 

[minniecarousel]

sheesh!

Today, we received a verbal offer for $50,000 below our already-dropped price. The two other houses in our neighborhood are $100,000 & $200,000 over our asking price. (yeah, this is a very expensive area in the Bay Area). We'll be getting an offer this evening, so we'll see how much below our asking price they are now.

Keeping our fingers crossed.

 

[kidzmom3]

Not everyone has the type of mind that can picture what it "could" look like. they can only see what it does look like.

I am surprised not everyone realizes that.

 

[daisyduck123]

Flooring was a dealbreaker for me when we were house hunting. Buying a house is expensive enough without having to replace carpets!

We just bought & moved into a home in 2010 & any carpet in the house was one thing we absolutely did not care about. We knew from the beginning that we would be replacing ANY & ALL carpeting in our new home. The thought of walking around on used carpeting just did not sit well with us.

We ended up having hardwood put in most of the rooms instead.

 

[lecach]

My house has been on the market since July 2 - of 2010! The biggest complaint we get is that they don't like that it's at the entrance to the neighborhood . Its the only house that faces a wooded tree lined lot. All the other houses are surrounded by other houses. We're priced $20,000 below the other comparable houses. Yes - we have white appliances - you can see those in the photos. And no, we don't have granite countertops - you can see that in the photos too. But we still get feedback about that.

We had a showing Friday night and they said we made their short list. Coming back Wednesday - fingers crossed!

 

[chris1gill]

OP here. We are using a agent we have worked with before. That is where we are getting the comments.

I have decluttered and staged. I refuse to paint and do hardwood because I am already listed WAY under price. In my pricing we factored in that the carpet needs redone and that there is no finished basement. The home is only 6 years old but the carpet was builder standard so didn't wear well in the living areas. My home is listed under what the builder would build it for so I am not eager to lower anymore.

Hopefully it will sell we really want to move but don't have to

OP, if the builder is still building, you have to be below his pricing, he's selling an entirely new house that nobody has lived in before. You have to be quite a bit below his asking price for a new comparable home. What about keeping your price where it is and then offering XYZ amount for credit towards painting and carpet. Personally we've painted ourselves since it's so inexpensive to do, just takes some time. You will still get people who don't want to do the work and will offer less because they have todo that work. As an example, I sold a house in January and a vacation home this month that were both decked out with hardwoods and neutral paint and decor.. I got 99% of asking on the house (which was priced over assessed value) and 97% of asking on the second home (which was also priced over assessed value) both were on the market less than a month. If there is ONE buyer out there YOU want that buyer... make your place stand out among the rest.

Coincidentally, the new house we bought we paid only 82% of assessed value because it needed nothing more than cosmetic work... but people couldn't see it... in a neighborhood where homes sell in less than a month this one had sat on the market for six months. In the end we saved a hundred grand. All we had to do was update the kitchen, and now we need to paint and replace some lighting, there were already hardwoods in the house... In the end because the owner didn't spend the ten grand needed, they lost a serious amount of equity... good for us I have to say.

If you really want to sell, then you will do what it takes whether that means lowering your price further, offering a credit, getting quotes, doing some work yourself or updating your description with new verbage to address some of these issues and put a positive spin on what people perceive to be a negative. My friend who also would not change her paint colors had to lower her price 3 times and in the end took much less than what the house was valued at while it also sat on the market too long getting the same feedback.

For the most part people have ZERO vision, NONE. You have to lay it out in a nice pretty package or they for the most part won't get it.... That's the market today, for whatever it's worth.

 

[tlbwriter]

Well, you COULD put it in for them but then the price of the house is going to go up $20,000 and then they couldn't afford the house

On the other hand, if the work they want done is going to cost $20K, and they don't have an extra $20K on hand right now, it might be they would prefer you do the work and raise the price of the house so they can pay that $20K over 15 or 30 years. It's a lot easier for many people to buy a move-in ready house than to fork over the money to do the work after they've bought it.

I am amazed at the number of people that can't look past paint colors. Painting is the EASIEST upgrade anyone can do.

I'm amazed at the number of people (not just here, but I've seen this elsewhere) who won't make this minor change if it means selling their house. If many potential buyers are put off by your paint colors, and it's so easy to repaint, then do it yourself! If you're in a buyer's market, why would you want something as easy as paint to detract from your house?

I'm also amazed at people who get frustrated with buyers who can't see past the house's contents. I was on another board where a poster had turned her dining room into a homeschool room, and instead of a dining room table it had desks and computers. She got SO aggravated that multiple lookers commented on the lack of a dining room, or said they couldn't tell if a table and chairs would fit in there. And equally aggravated that other homes in her neighborhood were selling quickly. Hmmm. Perhaps turn your classroom back into a dining room? No, she just got more and more angry that "stupid" buyers couldn't see that this room would work as a dining room.

So, my wife and I have bought a few homes together. We saw many homes. We were taken to many homes (by a realtor) that did not meet our specified requirements. Every time that happened, I would point it out to the realtor and ask to leave. Sometimes this happened as we pulled into the driveway.

Being a cynic, I can't help but wonder if that realtor took you to these unacceptable houses right before taking you to a house that met your expectations. We had a realtor who did that... she'd have a list of 3 or 4 houses to look at in one day, and what do you know, the first two were always horrible. Sure made the last ones (coincidentally, the only ones that met our requirements) look better...

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

It is not the buyer's obligation to look past anything. If you are finding that there is a common complaint, then it might be something you consider addressing to make your home more palatable to home buyers.

While I can "look past" cosmetic items, I still reserve the right to use them as the sole reason why I passed on the house. I compare it to all of the homes that I view and in the end, it is my pocketbook that must pay for "changes" if you don't feel compelled to do them.

We looked at one home that had excellent bones. I wish I could have entertained the notion of buying it. But after a walk through, it was just too much to have to deal with and our wallets could not handle it. We did pass on it for cosmetic reasons, technically. But it was at the top of our price range and while I could look past 1980s embellishments in consideration of a purchase, I refuse to actually live in the 80s while I wait years to get it all caught up before I'd have to sell it again myself.

Another home we looked at, we could not look past anything. The MLS was a blatant fabrication that did not represent this home correct in anyway. 6 bedrooms? We counted 1 legal bedroom, 2 illegal bedrooms (no closet, had to pass through one to get to the other). I think we figured if you counted the former beauty salon with no access except through the garage and the "family room" with no wall/door to close it off and the laundry room, we could get to 6. The hideous decor was the least of our concerns and our realtor said she was going to report that realtor due to the lies in the MLS.

 

[golfgal]

On the other hand, if the work they want done is going to cost $20K, and they don't have an extra $20K on hand right now, it might be they would prefer you do the work and raise the price of the house so they can pay that $20K over 15 or 30 years. It's a lot easier for many people to buy a move-in ready house than to fork over the money to do the work after they've bought it.



I'm amazed at the number of people (not just here, but I've seen this elsewhere) who won't make this minor change if it means selling their house. If many potential buyers are put off by your paint colors, and it's so easy to repaint, then do it yourself! If you're in a buyer's market, why would you want something as easy as paint to detract from your house?

I'm also amazed at people who get frustrated with buyers who can't see past the house's contents. I was on another board where a poster had turned her dining room into a homeschool room, and instead of a dining room table it had desks and computers. She got SO aggravated that multiple lookers commented on the lack of a dining room, or said they couldn't tell if a table and chairs would fit in there. And equally aggravated that other homes in her neighborhood were selling quickly. Hmmm. Perhaps turn your classroom back into a dining room? No, she just got more and more angry that "stupid" buyers couldn't see that this room would work as a dining room.



Being a cynic, I can't help but wonder if that realtor took you to these unacceptable houses right before taking you to a house that met your expectations. We had a realtor who did that... she'd have a list of 3 or 4 houses to look at in one day, and what do you know, the first two were always horrible. Sure made the last ones (coincidentally, the only ones that met our requirements) look better...

The buyers that what wood floors but can't afford them should maybe look at less expensive houses or consider taking a home improvement loan to put the floors in then. For everyone that comes in that wants wood floors someone will come in wanting tile or carpet--same goes with paint colors, you are never going to chose the 'right' color for everyone which is why buyers have to get past minor cosmetic things when buying a house. No matter how "perfect" the house is you will change something. Also keep in mind that most houses are priced correctly and take into consideration that you don't have wood floors or your carpet needs upgrading. It sure is a HECK of a lot easier to make these changes before you move in when all of your "stuff" is out of there vs trying to do that before you move.

As for the dining room-give me a break, if someone couldn't figure out that a room was built to be a dining room they really have issues. Our current dining room was a formal living room when we bought it, sure didn't keep us from using it as a dining room-it is really a flex room that could go either way.

My advice to buyers--stop watching the home shopping/renovations shows.

 

[kidzmom3]

my advice to sellers is to stop being so protective of your choices. Defensive of your house and its problems. I bet you complained about them also over the years you lived there. When you put your house on the market you are already beginning to let it go. Maybe these sellers need to watch more home selling shows and see what it takes to sell a house in a difficult market.

 

[tlbwriter]

The buyers that what wood floors but can't afford them should maybe look at less expensive houses or consider taking a home improvement loan to put the floors in then.

It's not my place to decide what they should do. It's my place to make my house sell. And if all of my buyers expect wood floors, and it's preventing me from selling my house, isn't it kind of silly to stand my ground and not sell my house?

For everyone that comes in that wants wood floors someone will come in wanting tile or carpet--same goes with paint colors, you are never going to chose the 'right' color for everyone which is why buyers have to get past minor cosmetic things when buying a house.

No, but when MULTIPLE potential buyers say "I hate your apple green paint," wouldn't it make sense to pick something neutral? Sure, buyers SHOULD be able to get past that, but if you're selling in a buyer's market, they don't have to. If your competition makes things easier instead of insisting that buyers get past an obstacle, your house remains unsold. You can't please everyone, but again, why stand on principle when it prevents you from selling your house?

As for the dining room-give me a break, if someone couldn't figure out that a room was built to be a dining room they really have issues.

LOL! You sound like that other poster. If someone won't buy my house it's because they have issues! Sure, buyers could guess that it was a dining room. But could you tell, looking at a room stuffed with desks and computers and bookshelves, if it would comfortably hold a table that seats 10 people? In her case, as I said, there was a neighborhood full of similar homes that were selling quickly. If someone wanted a dining room (and obviously many of her potential buyers did), other sellers made it easy for them. Look, here it is, and you can tell how much room there is for your table! If someone has looked at five houses in your neighborhood, do you want to be "the one where I'd have to take measurements and see if I can fit a table in there," or "the one with the nice dining room?" Especially if your house is on the market for a lot longer than your neighbor's houses, and you consistently get comments about the lack of a defined dining room?

Sounds like a no-brainer to me. If you want to sell your house, and potential buyers keep complaining about a specific thing, change that thing if you can. Or, I guess you can sit there and complain that all buyers must have issues while your house sits on the market...

 

[disneychic2]

First, let me say good luck to all of you who are trying to sell your homes in this difficult market!

Three years ago we remodeled our large kitchen b/c the floors needed replaced. Ended up with a whole new kitchen including high end stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. Made the rest of of the house look a bit shabby, so, over the next year, we ended up redoing all the rooms, painting, replacing bathroom carpet with tile in 3 of our bathrooms, replacing all the doors, windows, painting the vanities, new light fixtures, faucets etc. We basically had a new home and it was beautiful. We thought we would be there another 5 years, but ended up putting it on the market almost two years ago. It sold in 8 days after 7 people went through in 3 days! Our realtor said it was just what buyers were looking for. Did we get the money we put into it back out? Since we had built the house 17 years prior, we had quite a bit of equity built up, so made a pretty big profit on the sale. We did sell for less than we would have gotten in a better market. But then, we built a new home in that same market and got a lot of house for our money.

Bottom line is, we didn't redo the house b/c we thought we were going to sell, but it certainly got it sold quickly. We, too, watch the HGTV shows about why a house isn't selling. We would have done much of what we did, just not such high end cabinets and appliances in the kitchen had we known from the outset that we would be selling. Also, de-cluttering is important. I took down all our personal photos and most of the books in the book cases and packed much of the stuff in the closet in boxes. Small things, but it makes a difference. I'm not sure it SHOULD make a difference, but, the reality is, it does.

Again, good luck to all of you sellers...there will be someone who will fall in love with your houses. I hope it is soon!

 

[m&m's mom]

my advice to sellers is to stop being so protective of your choices. Defensive of your house and its problems. I bet you complained about them also over the years you lived there. When you put your house on the market you are already beginning to let it go. Maybe these sellers need to watch more home selling shows and see what it takes to sell a house in a difficult market.

I agree. We feel so fortunate to have had the realtor we did. He came in and said basically remove half of everything in your home, clean it as if the queen was coming to dinner and present as few obstacles as possible to a buyer. He also wanted neutral, neutral, neutral.
We sold our house likity split and got what we wanted for it.
The people across the street have their house up for sale. If I knew them better I would give them the advice my realtor did.
Their yard has zero flowers- just sold old raggety shrubs. Their yard has yellow grass all over the yard. Now we are in a drought here in TX but everyone else on the block managed to have a green lawn- and our houses are not for sale. If my first impression was their yard so unkempt I would wonder what else they did not take care of in the house.
Online there are 3 pictures of their dining room table. NOT the dining room- just the table. Last time I checked their table is not for sale.
Another thing that came to mind. When we moved into our current house I wanted to put as absolutely much as I could to keep the amt borrowed as low as possible. We ended up putting almost exactly 33% down. I did not want to have to use any fixing up the house itself.

 

[Andtototoo]

When I was in bridal, it was commonplace that people could not imagine a dress in another color. I had people who, for example, would want a purple maid dress and would only try on samples we happened to have in purple. Heck, I had brides who could not imagine the white sample in ivory!

So I am anticipating that when we sell our house that we will repaint in neutral tones. It's just part of the cost of doing business.

I will agree that many people on the HGTV shows make me laugh with their demands. I have seen several episodes of HH recently in which the buyer's budget was well under the local average and whose realtor was trying to explain to them that they were not going to get their "dream" home at that price point. I see that many people have problems not only imagining a different paint color, they have trouble imagining themselves doing the work to change that paint color.

I believe part of the problem is that we have not been teaching our children the basics of home life. We recently participated in a home repair mission project with teens and only one teen there had ever held a paintbrush or removed wallpaper (same teen had done both). In fact, only two teens knew the basics of cleaning a kitchen or bathroom. None knew how to mop a floor or clean a toilet. Most of them did not know that refrigerators need to be cleaned on a regular basis. Good kids all of them, but totally ignorant of how to maintain even basic cleanliness in a home, let alone how to paint. If you are that ignorant, imagine how daunting it would be to look at a house and try and imagine how to fix it up?

 

[tlbwriter]

Online there are 3 pictures of their dining room table. NOT the dining room- just the table. Last time I checked their table is not for sale.

That's one of my pet peeves - realtor photos that don't show the room. They all seem to think they're photographing the house for a decorating magazine. How many windows does this bedroom have? I can't tell, but they certainly have a pretty bed!

 

[eeyoremum]

OP, if the builder is still building, you have to be below his pricing, he's selling an entirely new house that nobody has lived in before. You have to be quite a bit below his asking price for a new comparable home. What about keeping your price where it is and then offering XYZ amount for credit towards painting and carpet. Personally we've painted ourselves since it's so inexpensive to do, just takes some time. You will still get people who don't want to do the work and will offer less because they have todo that work. As an example, I sold a house in January and a vacation home this month that were both decked out with hardwoods and neutral paint and decor.. I got 99% of asking on the house (which was priced over assessed value) and 97% of asking on the second home (which was also priced over assessed value) both were on the market less than a month. If there is ONE buyer out there YOU want that buyer... make your place stand out among the rest.

Coincidentally, the new house we bought we paid only 82% of assessed value because it needed nothing more than cosmetic work... but people couldn't see it... in a neighborhood where homes sell in less than a month this one had sat on the market for six months. In the end we saved a hundred grand. All we had to do was update the kitchen, and now we need to paint and replace some lighting, there were already hardwoods in the house... In the end because the owner didn't spend the ten grand needed, they lost a serious amount of equity... good for us I have to say.

If you really want to sell, then you will do what it takes whether that means lowering your price further, offering a credit, getting quotes, doing some work yourself or updating your description with new verbage to address some of these issues and put a positive spin on what people perceive to be a negative. My friend who also would not change her paint colors had to lower her price 3 times and in the end took much less than what the house was valued at while it also sat on the market too long getting the same feedback.

For the most part people have ZERO vision, NONE. You have to lay it out in a nice pretty package or they for the most part won't get it.... That's the market today, for whatever it's worth.

It is common in my area for resale homes to be more than the build price. I think the general reason is that grass, drive/walkways, fences and usually basements are finished already. None of these things are included in the builder price. Plus the lots are bigger in the "older" finished portion of the build the lots that are being built on now are very small you are almost sitting on your neighbour in the backyards.

I could easily paint but I have sold a number of homes and not had to paint to do it.

I know I am being a bit of a pain on that point but we don't want to do anymore than we have done at this point. Like I said moving is a want not a need. I suppose if I had to move I would paint.