Help - Why won't my house sell

[bethy]

Hire a new Realtor

Stage the House and front and back yards to help buyers envision uses for the spaces and just to make it a welcoming space. Empty houses are never welcoming IMO.

Have professional pics taken

keep the house sparkling clean - like clean it once or twice per week. Spotless!

Lower the price.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

It also seems that once a house is priced too high and you have to keep dropping the price, the house seems almost "tainted." In this case, I have seen people take it off the market for a cooling off period and relist with a different realtor at the correct price and sell in a short timeframe.

That's what happened to my next door neighbor. He insisted on overpricing it and had no interest from buyers. Then he dropped the price three or four times, had a few showings, but no offers. You're right, constant dropping in price seems to indicate that something is wrong with the house.

He took it off the market for about six months, relisted it at a more realistic price, and sold within a month or so.

(I think a few potential buyers who did view his house got scared, not by the inside of his house, but by the tacky yard decor of MY house. Pink flamingos and all.)

The new neighbors are very quiet, and best of all, they're only around part-time.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Do you have central air conditioning? When we were in the market I would not look at a house unless it was 3br/2ba (or more), had a dishwasher and central ac. You said you just stopped needing the air last week and had a window unit......

Yes, central air/heat, dishwasher, etc. Window unit was only in the bonus room. That's why it isn't included in the overall square footage, it's not attached to the central unit so needs something else out there.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Several of you have suggested staging the house. How do I do this? I mean, I know what staging is just not how to go about doing it. This is a pretty small town and I'm guessing we don't have any professional stagers.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

I watch too much HGTV, and it seems as though many home buyers want new construction, or they simply can't overlook that one thing that you've learned to live with. You can't change the age, location, master bath, or backyard, so time to get a GOOD realtor who can make the best of what it is. We are all emotional over our houses (can't help it, we picked them, right?), so that's why we need a realist to get what you can out of it. Carrying costs, and your time/effort to keep it showable really add up.

We're renting our last house out (and have done so for the past two years) because there were things about it that we just couldn't change. Hurt DH's feelings since he designed and built it, but he likes the rental income! Any chance any property management company that rents homes to college students might want to buy it as an investment property?

Terri

I've seen several suggestions about renting out the house. I'm scared to do so. We have put a good amount of money into the house to get it ready to sell and I'm worried that after renting it we will have to redo it all over again. We will have to decide soon, but renting would be an absolute last resort.

We can't rent to students in our neighborhood. The city has been actively evicting students renting houses in our neighborhood this year due to some zoning law that prohibits it. Families can rent, and homeowners can rent a room as long as they live there, but we couldn't rent to 4 non-related students.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

As for bad time of year, isn't OP in the South? At least in my town (in FL) we are just hitting the absolute prime "season" for selling a house. By April things are almost done and it is dead here from May - September, no one buys a house in the summer here. I don't know OPs town, but the best time for selling does really vary across the country.

Alabama

Our busy time seems to be January - April. That's when the university starts bringing potential new hires in to visit and hooks them up with a realtor to start looking. Most of them want to be able to move at the beginning of the summer so they have a few weeks to get situated before classes start.

 

[mnrose]

I've seen several suggestions about renting out the house. I'm scared to do so. We have put a good amount of money into the house to get it ready to sell and I'm worried that after renting it we will have to redo it all over again. We will have to decide soon, but renting would be an absolute last resort.

We can't rent to students in our neighborhood. The city has been actively evicting students renting houses in our neighborhood this year due to some zoning law that prohibits it. Families can rent, and homeowners can rent a room as long as they live there, but we couldn't rent to 4 non-related students.

Renting is NOT for the faint of heart. I own three rental properties (all single family), and I can tell you that it's ALWAYS something with a rental....new carpet, new paint, new microwave, new shower pan (in a tiled shower), leaking faucet, new washer, new dryer, new (fill in the blank). Always something. And, yes, if you rent for more than 1-2 years, you WILL need new carpet, new paint, new tons of things in order to sell, sooner if a tenant is particularly hard on the property. Moreover, since damage deposits tend to be (at most) 1-2 months rent, these fix up costs in between tenants (or in between tenant and selling) almost always exceed the damage deposit. Don't rent unless that's what you want to do for OTHER reasons.

 

[gillep]

Several of you have suggested staging the house. How do I do this? I mean, I know what staging is just not how to go about doing it. This is a pretty small town and I'm guessing we don't have any professional stagers.

The one time that we staged our home my agent suggested it, and set me up with a woman in our area. She came to the house to discuss her vision, and the price, and we decided to go with her, it was the only expense that my agent didn't pay for.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

The one time that we staged our home my agent suggested it, and set me up with a woman in our area. She came to the house to discuss her vision, and the price, and we decided to go with her, it was the only expense that my agent didn't pay for.

Would you mind telling me approximately how much it cost?

 

[ahutton]

Someone mentioned this - I would stage the yard as a comfortable place for grilling (the party sounded awesome) and showcase how the kids could use the space. It's not a small yard, perhaps you can focus on the positive. Traffic seems to be the solution to get it sold. We bought almost a year ago, and bought the house that had been on the market for a while in an area where houses generally are not for sale more than a month. In our case, it was a nice house just did not stand out. Our yard is small. It was very plain. But it fit what we wanted to be able to do more than what we wanted. It takes longer to find that kind of buyer. Sparkling, lots of light, that will show well in general. And for each disadvantage find a way to put a positive spin on it!

 

[focusondisney]

Stories like yours scare me OP. We have been in our home for 34 years. We don't have plans to sell, but I wonder what will happen when we do.

I really think HGTV is causing people to have unrealistic expectations. Sorry, but most houses don't have huge master baths & walk in closets. People want all the top amenities in starter homes. Our home is comfortable & well kept. But I can't add a master bath & the kitchen is small. It would probably get passed over by all the House Hunters crowd.

 

[gillep]

Would you mind telling me approximately how much it cost?

This was back in 2011 just outside of Washington D.C., it was $250 for a 1200 sq ft town house. I have no idea what it costs these days or in other areas. This was actually the first staging job for this particular woman, she had been an interior designer previously, and was branching out. She did a fantastic job, the house looked great, but I think if we had a more experienced person it would have cost us much more.

 

[bethy]

We had a professional stager when we sold our first house and then did it ourselves with our realtors help for our second house.

There is a lot of free info out there about how to stage a house - at least how to do a basic and effective job at it. For a normal house that's all you would need - the basics. I could make a long list of suggestions but I don't have time at the moment. Google it and you'll find a lot of common themes. Most of them are easy and cheap and just require elbow grease.

It's like Marketing - think long and hard about your target audience - who would be looking for a house like yours. And then tailor your staging to that. For kicks I'd add a tough of football flair for the local team somewhere . . .

I went so far as to choose specific things in my fridge - fancy appetizers from Trader joes for entertaining, for example. And some high end home décor items - those were pricey but at least I got to take those with me. Brand new nice towels and lotions in the bathrooms and kitchen. Great entryway. Great back yard set up for entertaining. We lived withing walking distance of a beach and so I had our paddle board sitting out ready to go . . Maybe you could have your football team chairs and bleacher blankets set up by a door and ready to go to the game. Think lifestyle.

 

[LYSE]

Several of you have suggested staging the house. How do I do this? I mean, I know what staging is just not how to go about doing it. This is a pretty small town and I'm guessing we don't have any professional stagers.

Our Realtor had a stager he worked with, but you can find them via a google search.

A good stager will be an interior designer and should help you decide on other things like paint colors.

Our realtor and stager had a few slight disagreements but we gave the stager the final say as she was the interior designer....turns out she was right based off some feedback the realtor received.

 

[Minnesota!]

So, I am a fantastic internet stalker and I think I found your listing. I will not share address or anything, but I wanted to say - it's the pictures. Get pics with nothing in there. Get pics of the yard not covered in leaves. Center the pic of the front of the house better...the trees look overgrown. It looks really cute...tons of potential. But, the pics do not reflect it, at all.

I would say take it off the market, add it back in a few weeks, with new, fantastic pics without anything in the rooms, rake the yard...make it look fresh.and lower the price...even if just by $500.

Also, sorry if that is really creepy...

 

[BLAZEY]

You should feel free to post your listing on social media too. I have quite a few show up on my facebook when friend are selling their homes. Any exposure will help! It's usually something like: Hi we are selling our home and the a like to the realtor's web page with the listing.

 

[smokeyblue]

So, I am a fantastic internet stalker and I think I found your listing. I will not share address or anything, but I wanted to say - it's the pictures. Get pics with nothing in there. Get pics of the yard not covered in leaves. Center the pic of the front of the house better...the trees look overgrown. It looks really cute...tons of potential. But, the pics do not reflect it, at all.

I would say take it off the market, add it back in a few weeks, with new, fantastic pics without anything in the rooms, rake the yard...make it look fresh.and lower the price...even if just by $500.

Also, sorry if that is really creepy...

I think I just found your listing too. If I did find the correct listing the pictures are just bad and the wording in the add is very off-putting and doesn't paint a positive picture. It seems silly how hung up your agent is on having a window AC unit; it makes it sound like there is something wrong with the room. Also the wording about you having already moved is very strange. If you have any nice summer photos when the outside looks more lush an green that would also help. I really like the kitchen and I would play that room up as a main feature of the house.

 

[kirstenb1]

Several of you have suggested staging the house. How do I do this? I mean, I know what staging is just not how to go about doing it. This is a pretty small town and I'm guessing we don't have any professional stagers.

We're in rural Virginia, and my friend and neighbor is a realtor. She offers complimentary staging. She's a former interior decorator and has tons of stuff in storage she uses.

 

[VandVsmama]

We will be going through this process ourselves in a few months, so I'm reading this thread with great interest. Here's what I've figured out from talking w/real estate agent friends, reading articles about house staging, and from my own experience:

• It's all about the pictures. If the pictures look bad, then nobody will come to look at the house.
• The house description in the listing makes a difference, too.
• The house needs to have every single light turned on, blinds & curtains open, & everything needs to be absolutely spotless in the photos. That McDonald's cup you mentioned in 1 of the pics? That should be totally unacceptable. And you know what? That's just laziness on the realtor's part.
• If >1 buyer has mentioned to your agent that the yard is an issue, then THE YARD IS AN ISSUE! It's nothing personal against you, your family, or how YOU used the yard when you lived there. But the average potential home buyer doesn't have much imagination. You need to stage the yard in such a way that when the person sees the photos online and when the person sees the yard in person for the first time, that he/she can picture themselves using that yard. So this means a small table with 2 chairs. Put a small outdoor throw pillow on each chair for good measure. The potential buyer needs to be able to envision him/herself living there outdoors in the back yard. If you can borrow a decent looking grill from somebody, do that and put it in the backyard so you can see that it's something like an outdoor living room/outdoor entertaining space...instead of wasted space. ALL of the plantings need to be properly trimmed, all leaves & plant debris picked up & looking neat. Nothing overgrown or messy looking.
• Before you have new photos taken, spend the $$ to have the house professional cleaned from top to bottom. We did this when we sold our old house years ago. Spent about $200 to have it deep cleaned a few days before the real estate agent took pictures & before it went on the market. We had an offer within 2 weeks. Multiple buyers remarked about how spotless the house was and how well cared for the house seemed as a result. It was the best $200 I ever spent.
• If any of the rooms have unusual paint colors, then repaint those rooms to something more neutral.
• If you can, stage the house.

 

[Skywalker]

My realtor once told me a good way to think about marketing your home is to ask yourself why did YOU buy it? Was it location, the schools, the construction,the layout, the price, the yard etc. etc....see if you can remember what swayed you to buy the house and try and focus on that - you are looking for a buyer just like you lol. And if "low price" was the reason you bought it, well, you may have to face the other side of that coin. (Not you specifically OP, I mean just a general "you").