# House not selling??? What is there to do to help?



## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

How does one get their house "out there" for more to see ??

It's been on the market since June 15, and I have had quite a few showings (maybe 15-20) but no offers.

I have worked my donkey off getting it 'beautiful' and fixing this and that.
The before and after photo's are pretty amazing.

I need this house to sell before winter sets in.
What can I do / What can my agent do to make that happen??


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

Is there fresh paint on every wall inside? Also, it helps to refinish floors. Make it all as roomy and uncluttered as possible. Sounds like you have done much of this. Also, make the yard and exterior as well groomed and picked up as possible. Paint outside if needed. 

These tricks helped me sell years back but these are tough times to sell. More tips are at http://homebuying.about.com/od/sellingahouse/ht/homeprep.htm


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## DAVID In Wisconsin (Dec 3, 2002)

I buy and sell houses. I look at it as a business. If I have a house on the market for 30 days with no offer, I cut the price. You have had a good number of showings so obviously people know about it. Good luck!


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/specialty-forums/country-singletree/525060-before-after.html

I am going to add an "allowence" for the hardwood floors, because I cannot do them while in the home. Takes about 10 days....plus I don't want to breathe those chemicals or have them settle into my belongings!!

I have painted the "big" colors down to psych ward neutral.
Clutter free.
Yard is immaculate
Tearing out raised beds so they are ready for spring.
Picking up all fruit off trees that have hit the ground
House smells yummy (bake bread or cinnamon rolls prior to showing) 
Dropped the price 3 times.
It's now priced at appraised value....
In the process w the ins. com. to get the roof replaced.
Prayed and Prayed.
Put directional signs on main highway pointing down my street "house for sale"
Never say no to a showing, no matter HOW inconveinent it is to me.
Pray some more.

What am I missing?


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

What does the feedback you are getting from the showing say?

When we sold our 2 houses back in Texas, that feedback really helped us out.
One house sold very quickly, but the other took 8 months!
It turns out, from the feedback, we needed to update the kitchen. Not happening, so we allowed 10,000.00 at closing to go toward upgrades, and the house sold in a month!


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

Feed back: needs roof (working on it...hope to hear from ins today)
hard woods refinished (getting 2nd estimate to know how much allowence to give)
drive way needs leveled / gravel added (getting 2nd estimate, and will do before winter)

Those are the 3 things that show up often.

Then you get "well I want granite counter tops".....ok, knock yourself out!
"Basement needs finished"......Ok, again....it's listed as "unfinished basement".

The other feed back was "needs painted, decks need attention, garage doors need painted, 2 doors need replaced".

I did everything.
The doors will be replaced before the end of the month.

The roof and hardwoods are killing me.
I will call the Insurance co. today and see what they say.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

We are getting ready to put a property on the market. It is an older, rural ranch style home, rich in local history and like you we hope for a fast sale. We also sold an investment property 2 years ago so my best advice to you is to be honest and open minded with yourself. 

Look around it as if you are a buyer and not a seller. Take into consideration what needs to be done to the property if you were wanting to make it 'your own'. New roof needed? Knock the price down for that. Flooring needs replaced, windows are older, maybe new siding? Price it accordingly and then be prepared to take a lower offer because of the rotten real estate market. That is if you want to sell it fast. 

Unfortunate that the market really reeks right now. It is a buyer's market not a sellers. We had estimates on all updates that were needed on the out of state duplex we sold two years ago and subtracted that amount from the selling price. We kept the estimates in hand and gave them to the agent to show any prospective buyers. It sold for a price that made us weep but we needed to make it go away.

Everyone I know who has sold property has told me the same story. Their properties are selling for almost half the asking price. They are taking big hits on their real estate.

We are braced for the worst but hoping for the best. 

I'm planning to bury a St Joseph's statue if ours doesn't sell fast. Hey, it's an urban legend, but what can it hurt?


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

Ok, I have a regular table that SWEARS the st. joseph statue sold their home and their daughters home.
They gave it to me to bury by the front door, upside down.....

I was polite, and took it, but that's too heebee jeebee for me.........


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

This trick worked well for us, as I said. Instead of continually dropping the price, at closing, give the buyer back the amount needed for the repairs.

As long as the house will appraise for the amount agreed upon. We had an agreed upon price of 269,000.00 for the one house. At closing, we gave the seller a check back for 10,000.00.

They borrowed the entire 269,000.00, but we only got 259,000.00. It is a screwy way of playing with the numbers, that allows the buyer the cash to do whatever, and sounds like you are doing them a favor.:thumb:
Have your agent put in the listing that you will give back, whatever number is reasonable,at closing, for needed upgrades.


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## unregistered358967 (Jul 17, 2013)

badlander said:


> Look around it as if you are a buyer and not a seller.


I second this. It may seem odd to us who aren't afraid of work, that there's a lot of people who simply don't WANT to do any extra work once they move in. They want to move in and be done with it. No work necessary.

If there's any way possibly you can re-do the floors, I would, to have the house completely, ultimately move-in ready. Good luck!

Editing to add, would you hire a stager? 

Here's how we did it: 1) Moved all our stuff out. 2) Repainted and got new carpet. 3) Hired a stager. It was more money than we wanted to spend, but we ended up getting all of it back and the house sold relatively quickly. I was never a believer in a stager, feeling that our belongings were nice. However, now I believe! The stagers create an unreasonable fantasy life...nobody's house looks like that but it makes people want your house...accentuates the positives and eliminates the negatives. Our house looked amazing! The kitchen looked so fancy and spotless with a French cookbook and new furniture...


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## unioncreek (Jun 18, 2002)

......


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## unioncreek (Jun 18, 2002)

We have a house and seven acres that's been for sale for 4 years. We moved to town and bought a foreclosure house and did a total remodel. We sold the house in town this week it's move in ready new kitchen and appliances, flooring and paint in entire house. Our Realtor told us that people don't want to do anything when they move in now. She blames it on all the TV shows on HGTV, they want a perfect house. Our house in town sold in one day with multiple offers for way more than our asking price. 

The St Joseph statue thing didn't work for us

Bob


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

I just sold my house in Tucsons depressed market this past July. My realtor who charged like 7 percent had a professional photographer come in and do the photos. The house sold in 2.5 days for full asking price. It was a nice house in a tough neighborhood.


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## quietintheland (Jan 10, 2013)

There are things you can do... but there are oftentimes factors that are beyond your control. Things like school districts, how close your home is to the road, or the nuclear waste facility being two miles away... you can't change those (not saying these apply to you!).

Not sure what the market is like where you are. I joke with others that the county I live in is a little bit like quicksand - once you move into it, it can be very difficult to get out of it. Like you, I've had some interest in my house, but those who are interested don't seem to have the money to purchase. Everyone wants to buy on contract or rent, which I'm not willing nor able to do. And I'm not in a position to "give it away" and sell it for less than I paid for it. It all can be very frustrating, especially when other plans (jobs, homesteading, travel) is contingent upon you selling.

We're been trying FSBO, but honestly, I'm not seeing the realtors in the area having much better success moving properties. The average time on market here is over 180 days (do you know what it is where you live?) but quite a number of comparable properties used in the CMA's provided by realtors show similar properties to ours taking a year or more to sell. That's not what I wanted to see, but one needs to have *realistic* optimism. Though some I know would call that pessimism.

Hope things look up for you soon. 

QuietInTheLand


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## FarmChix (Mar 3, 2013)

Laura Zone 5 said:


> Ok, I have a regular table that SWEARS the st. joseph statue sold their home and their daughters home.
> They gave it to me to bury by the front door, upside down.....
> 
> I was polite, and took it, but that's too heebee jeebee for me.........


I did that at our last house....still didn't sell. I was at the point where I would try anything.

Our house has been on and off the market for a year. It is very frustrating. You just have to be patient. If one more person tells me, "things happen the way they are supposed to" or "everything happens for a reason", you will probably see me on America's Most Wanted.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

From the outside your house looks fantastic! Sounds like your hardwood floors could use refinishing. There is a product you can put on that makes them look a lot nicer, even if they are worn - my wife used it on ours and I was amazed. Can't think of what it was (Rejuvenate?), but it was quick and relatively cheap - floors are important. My wife just cleaned the grout on our kitchen tiles and it is like night and day.


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## blessingsfarms (May 15, 2014)

Don't want to pour rain on you but our home just sold
after three years. It has been totally frustrating. We have 
come to believe you and your agent have find just the right 
person. Our prayers and thoughts are with you. It will sell
when the time is right.


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## Teatime (Sep 1, 2014)

How is your real estate agent/agency? Good fit for your home? Some of them seem to have a lot of properties and push those on the higher end (bigger commission). Keep checking the real estate website for the placement of your property, ask them to freshen up the description from time to time, if possible, push for it to be a "featured property," have Open Houses with lenders available, and also ask if the Realtors Board will do an MLS walk-through of your home so that Realtors at other agencies can see it and potentially match it to one of their clients.

In the past, I found that I had to light a fire under a Realtor and I didn't renew a listing agreement with her because she had a lot of properties and she didn't seem all that interested in mine.


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## Guest (Sep 28, 2014)

In the Saint Louis metro area, people often post their homes on Craigslist and then when people inquire, refer them to their realtor..it's free, and can't hurt...Good luck !!


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

Laura Zone 5 said:


> It's now priced at appraised value....


Which is where it should have started if you actually wanted to sell it. I always find what market value is and price it there, I also stage the house ie make it look like a "Better Homes and Gardens" show home. Never had a house not sell in the first week.

General homes selling must's if you want to sell fast - sounds like you may have done some of this but I'll give it anyway:
Put away your collections (whatever they may be), remove 95% of the personal items, remove 90% of your family pictures, remove all but 2 weeks worth of clothes - rent a storage locker and put all this in. Pets odors are bad, clean litter boxes daily, get the pets out of the house for a showing.

Call up some of the real estate agents who showed it (not your agent, the potential buyers agents) and ask them what needs to be done and what their clients were saying.
Offer to pay closing costs, give a rebate for what you're not wiling to fix.

Last house I priced at market price, offered $3K for carpeting allowance and offered to pay half the closing costs,. staged it like on HGTV - it sold in 1 day. Yeah, I probably could have gotten a bit more, had I been willing to wait and wait - but at that point I was paying 2 mortgages - I still made money on the house.


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## homebody (Jan 24, 2005)

I hope it sells soon because I know you want to get on with a new life. I have concluded that a person can't do every little thing and maybe an allowance is the answer. THEN "they" can do the necessary things their way with their choices. I would never appear to be overly anxious to move as that could be interpreted as being desperate to sell.


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## opportunity (Mar 31, 2012)

We have had a home on the market since May. We have had several showings but so far no one who as wanted it can get a loan. The banks don't have a problem with the house they have a problem with the people who want a loan either bad credit or no down payment. The banks want a down payment if there is more then a small lot.
Our other problem is the average time on the market in our area is over two years. It takes time to find the right buyer for properties that are not cookie cutter.


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

Take a deep breath and start over. The time to make improvements is before you put the house on the market, not after. The first month, when the listing is 'hot,' is the time in which you're most likely to sell. 

The good news is that most of the improvements are done now (great job BTW!). So you just need to hit the reset button on the listing. I'd pull the house off the market until spring. Hunker down and relist around the first of March. This time, have everything 'good to go' before you launch. Get some gravel on the driveway. Offer a housing allowance for the roof. If the HW floors look _really_ bad it may be worthwhile to throw down some cheap carpeting or even area rugs over the worst spots. 

Price it right, advertise the heck out of it, and you should get results. Good luck!


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## FarmerKat (Jul 3, 2014)

I think a lot depends on the market in your area. I have sold two houses - the first one had everything "wrong" with it. The house was in a structurally decent shape but I had crazy colors on the walls, etc. It sold in less than 24 hours and I made a boat load of money. 

The next house was picture perfect, modern, looked basically like the day the builder handed me the key, neutral colors, perfect landscaping ... but by then the market took a dive and I ended up doing a short sale on it (after months and months on the market). 

So sometimes there are just things that are completely out of your control even if the house is just right. 

I would make sure that it is priced right for the market and that you can actually sell it at what it is worth (i.e. will it pay off your mortgage if you have one on it?). When we looked to buy a house or land for our homestead, we saw many places that were just crazy over-priced. They were purchased during the height of the real estate market a few years ago and the owners were just trying to recoup what they had in it. Many of those properties have been sitting on the market for a few years. They simply cannot sell for less because they have to be able to pay off their mortgage. 

I do not know how it is in your area but when we lived in FL (where I sold my other two houses), the "appraised value" on the tax record had nothing to do with an actual market value. So I am not sure if your reference to "appraised value" is referring to a value from an independent property appraiser or the tax record. (Where we are now, the two numbers seem to be a little closer.) 

Best wishes. Hope it sells soon.


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## belladulcinea (Jun 21, 2006)

We are putting ours on the market in the spring, we are not upgrading the countertops or putting a lot of money in the kitchen. We've seen our friends drop tons into their kitchens and baths only for the new people to tear it out. We will rebate 7500.00 on a full offer. 

Your home is beautiful, the right person will come along.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

My guess would be the problems are the roof and driveway. I sure wouldn't want to have to shell out big $$$ for a new roof just after buying a house. And the driveway, nobody wants to get stuck in their own driveway that first winter. If possible take it off the market until that work is done then get new pictures and re-list.


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