House on the Market STRESS

[ray7694]

We put our house on the market 2 weeks ago and have had no showings. Realtors have assured it is a good price and in great condition.

So today I got a call for a showing. Ran around getting it spotless with my two kids going wild. Come home and they decided not to come and are going to buy a new construction across the way. All I want is some showings.

I want to cry.

[Kestrel]

Real estate is very location-dependant, and you don't say your location, so I don't know if this applies to you.

We're real estate agents, and two weeks with no showings is a little odd, if it's priced aggressively to sell. If it's priced fairly, at about market value, then I'd not be worried yet. If it goes five or six weeks without showings, then I'd wonder about one of two factors... either the price is too high, or it's not being marketed well enough. If you're not selling your home because you _have_ to, I'd give it a little more time. Be aware, too, that to get first-time homebuyer credit, the house MUST be under contract by 4/30, so we expect to see a lot of houses sell in the next few weeks.

Good luck!

(PS - not spotless is ok. Tidy, with cleared counters and no funky smells, is nearly always good enough.)

[ray7694]

http://www.cbhoa.com/listing.aspx?mls=2100716

This is our home. We live on the West side of town and not the East where majority of people want to live.

Schools in our area are on spring break and my agent indicated it is slow during break times.

[HIU8]

OMG, I'm so jealous. Your 5 bdrm house is for sale for just under $250. I can't touch a 5 bedroom house in my area for under $650--and that's a major fixer upper. About an hour away from me (another largish city) a 5 bedroom is ~ $450 (depending on the area).

[jayali]

When we were selling our apartment I was a complete and total stress monger. If I got the call from the agent I would run around cleaning and straightening and then be so disappointed when people wouldn't show up. So I can completely relate. I hate to say it but I think it is just the way it is, especially in this RE market environment. I am not sure where you live, but I think that April is really the time people start to look earnestly. They wait for better weather (I live in the NE) and want to move during the summer so April is about the right timing, especially for those looking with kids.

Hang in there and good luck. I found that large glasses of wine made everything easier - even negotiating with unreasonable buyers!

[boolady]

OMG, I'm so jealous. Your 5 bdrm house is for sale for just under $250. I can't touch a 5 bedroom house in my area for under $650--and that's a major fixer upper. About an hour away from me (another largish city) a 5 bedroom is ~ $450 (depending on the area).

I was going to say...for $250? I'll take that off your hands. Just move it to central NJ.

[saleenl]

Your house looks fantastic, but the pictures look a little dreary on my monitor and the textured ceilings really stand out in an odd way (in real life no one would look at the ceilings like the pics). Most people look at the pictures online and make their decision there. The house looks fantastically clean and really nicely staged (I can't tell kids live there - wow!). Perhaps it would help to take new pictures with (1) a wider lens that crops out some carpet and ceiling and (2) on a sunnier day so that the colors are richer it looks brighter?

For example, the exterior shot of your house looks like it was taken on a dreary day. Plus, instead of showing lots of blue sky, it shows a lot of the road. Attached are the original exterior pic and a photoshopped one. I cropped it and brightened it the best I could and made the grass greener to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. If it were retaken on a brighter, cheerier day it would look a lot more inviting. I couldn't do much with the existing picture to make it look nicer.

[ray7694]

Thank you so much. I did take it on an overcast day because the sun hits it and it looks even worse.

[tmarie]

I'm so sorry. We put our house on the market a few years ago and it was so much more stressful than I'd anticipated. And getting the house spotless for showings was such a challenge with a kiddo. We were really aggressive with our broker and sold our house in 41 days (I still remember the number of days!!). We insisted in lots of open houses, which I'm convinced did the trick. We had new construction in the area, which I think helped us.....buyers would drive around the new neighbhood on weekends, then drive around nearby older neighborhoods and stop in for comparisons. We probably only had about 7 showings in that 41 days. Hang in there...hopefully things will pick up. This is usually a great time of year to list.

tmarie

[AnnieW625]

OMG, I'm so jealous. Your 5 bdrm house is for sale for just under $250. I can't touch a 5 bedroom house in my area for under $650--and that's a major fixer upper. About an hour away from me (another largish city) a 5 bedroom is ~ $450 (depending on the area).

that's us too even with the crummy economy. We can't even really touch a 4 bedroom for less than $550,000 and we paid $500,000 for our 3 bed/1 bath in 2005. We can't even sell our home for what we paid for it either. Again best wishes and I know you will find the right buyer:)

[vludmilla]

OMG, I'm so jealous. Your 5 bdrm house is for sale for just under $250. I can't touch a 5 bedroom house in my area for under $650--and that's a major fixer upper. About an hour away from me (another largish city) a 5 bedroom is ~ $450 (depending on the area).

Me too. There is no such thing as ANY house for 250k in my area. A needs work 3 bedroom 2 bath could easily be 650k. Yuck. I love where I live but it is very annoying.

[gobadgers]

What does your real estate agent say?

I don't know much about real estate. I wouldn't necessarily think two weeks without a showing is strange, but if you think the price is too high you'll probably want to lower it soon so people are ready to come out and see it in April.

Good luck - hope there are a few showings soon!

[mom2akm]

The house looks fabulous, I love it. I hope you'll find a buyer soon.

[kwc]

Ugh... that is sooooo stressful! I am amazed that you managed to get your house so clean with two kids running around. Sorry and hugs. Seriously, I would have cried. I have cried for far less.

I know very little about real estate except in the tiny neighborhood when we were selling almost 2 years ago... and there were very specific things all the "competitive" realtors did that was considered standard (staging, professional photographers, and particular months for selling due to weather issues)... you may want to check if there are other things that are commonly done in your area.

Good luck.

[jacksmomtobe]

I'm shocked that you can get so much house for so little money elsewhere in the country. Here you can barely get a condo for that much.

I'm also not in real estate but why doesn't your Realtor hold some Open Houses to get people in the door? Also the description mentions what a nice master suite you have but there are no pictures of that room. I also think people like to see what the bathrooms are like so I would say add more photos...maybe pull out some showing the tv area because people want to look online to focus their search.

When we sold our condo before moving into our house our biggest mistake was not doing some small fixes (asked the Realtor if we should do some and he said no) before putting it on the market. We had so much traffic in the beginning through Open Houses and missed an opportunity to take better advantage of all the people coming though. Your home looks tidy & in good shape.

Good Luck with this stressful process!!

[kerridean]

The house looks very nice: clean and clutter free. You need to remove all the personal photographs though. People have trouble imagining themselves living in your home when they see pictures of the homeowners on the wall or on tables.