The garbage can is hardly even noticeable. Don't obsess about it. All looks pretty good to me, and you've done a lot to pack away things. I think you can still continue doing that. Can you get a storage unit ofr the boxes?

What's under the table cloth in the family room? It seems to take up a lot of room.

But I think it's a great new start for you. Looks very good!

Susie -
I see a photo with the words Photo Not Available on the page. i clicked on View Full-Size Slideshow and it just gives me a Loading message... Could be b/c I'm accessing from work

Also, because I think you want to know... in Remarks, there is a typo on the word separate... Otherwise it's nicely written and appealing!

Sorry I couldn't give you feedback on the photos...

Susie,

Don't forget to make the information on zillow.com match the new listing. Price, pictures, & the year built are different?

The pictures look nice. I'd suggest opening the living room window coverings before a showing.

Best of luck!
/tricia

Helene, those are empty boxes in the family room...ready for us to pack up...I am going to collapse them for the open house. Frank keeps bringing them home when he finds the "good" ones at work LOL!

Biz, I'll let Ed know about the typo....in fact I will send him this post!!

Tricia, Thanks for the tip about the windows...Sunday is supposed to be really nice here in the east coast so I'll open them up to let the sun flow in!!

Cheers!
Susie

Glad the toilet lid is down on this listing. I wouldn't have noticed the trash can if yo hadn;t mentioned it. For the open house, stach the stuff that's on top of the fridge -- maybe put it in the car trunk!

As they say on HGTV -- declutter and depersonalize. What they don't say is where you are going to put the stuff.

Good luck.

Very cute house! Your agent can crop the outside picture where the bottom of the picture doesn't start until the green of your grass. If the patio in the back is attractive can he add a photo of that area and remove some of the basement shots. Don't show people everything in the pics--leave something for them to want to come see in person.

You need to get a storage room and put a lot of your furniture in it. Your biggest obstacle is going to be making your house look more spacious. Your living room and dining room have way too much furniture--lose the recliner by the door and the coffee table for starters.

Take the stuff down off the refrigerator and store it in a cabinet or pack it away if you don't need it. Take what looks like a bill holder off the wall in the eat in area. If you don't need the rack around the toilet for necessities, then remove it--it screams not enough storage space. Ditto for the bedroom--any furniture or furnishings that are not necessary pack away. We actually took out our big television in the living room and replaced it with the tiny bedroom flat screen while showing our house. We had no tv at all in the bedroom. It made everything look more open and spacious.

After putting all extraneous stuff in storage and even packing up at least 2/3 of the stuff in cabinets and closets we got an offer in 2 weeks. People will be looking in your closet and cupboards to see if they have enough room for their stuff. Packing away a lot of our stuff really helped me when we actually did move. All the stuff you only use once a year at the holidays can be packed and stored. If winter is over, you can pack away all your winter items. Pack away a lot of your knick knacks and you will have less to clean up before showings.

Good luck with your new listing!

Keeping fingers crossed on that potential offer :)

Having bought and sold quite a few houses, I agree with dktrahan's comments. Be brutal with yourself and store every single piece of furniture and knick-knack that you can live without. Do you have a friend or relative with some extra space who could help?

Every photo should tell the viewer something about your house and not simply show a view of your stuff. The kitchen looks great so I'd actually include another photo of that from a different angle and eliminate some of the others, like the basement photo with the ladder. Get rid of the shovels, etc. near the washer and dryer - they scream that there's no room to put them anywhere else.

Forgive me for suggesting this if you've already been through it, but if you don't get some bites soon, I'd paint everything dark a lighter color, especially the bedrooms.

Also, have your agent retake the photos on a brighter day, at least the exterior. Crop or retake the front so there's less street and more porch.

Good luck!

"Truth be told I am still not thrilled with the pics 'again'."

When I looked the other day the pictures looked like they were taken from a first generation camera phone. These are a million times better!

I would take out the last two pictures. The laundry area is mentioned in the description and visually doesn't add any particular appeal, nor do the packed storage shelves.

I'd agree with others about a little more de-cluttering before the open house, like on top of the fridge, but I don't see anything objectionable enough to stress about taking new shots right away.

Overall I think it's a really nice listing. Good luck!

I agree with what the others have said. You can take out the picture of the basement storage shelves. That picture doesn't give you any perspective on how the room is set up, just looks like a shot of some nice storage shelves. Ditto taking out the shovels in the laundry room. Nothing wrong with having them there, I have a ton of stuff stored in my laundry room, but in the photo they take away from the "laundry room" look. I wasn't bothered by the storage shelving unit over the toilet. A lot of bathrooms have them, to me it is a logical use of that wall space. But I agree that ideally the fridge and walls should be plainer. Not that I think it looks bad, it just looks more "lived in" than you would want for a showing, you want people to be able to project their own stuff into the room, you want your stuff to basically not have much personality. I have been looking at a lot of houses online since I was at one time looking for a house in Michigan and then again in Upper Darby, and I was always more drawn to the sparser looking homes. Easier for me to get an idea of the layout of the house.
The house looks good, I love your colors! This is just nit picky stuff.

Don't lose that offer. Work with them. See if they qualify for up to $8000 as a first time home owner. Rates are great right now. Even if it is really low, counter with something, just to keep them in the game.
Good luck.

Jo

(When I say "work with them", I mean through your realtor.)

I agree with the other comments. Nice house, way too much stuff in it, both big heavy furniture and just stuff in general. The dining room table looks like it's just pushed all the way up to the wall with chair backs touching the wall, and you just pull it out when you need it. It just makes the space look way too small. I know you are living there, but it's almost like you need to make it look like you are not living there so others can envision their lives in your house. I'd get a storage unit and just start packing away a lot of excess furniture. Also, I'd pull back all of the curtains with each showing to let light in. No offense, it just needs to look neutral, with furnishings that are the right size for the space, very clean and uncluttered and it will sell faster. It's priced so well, it's a great house for the right person. I'm surprised your real estate agent didn't help you with more staging advice.

Well thanks for everyones feedback!!

Very interesting too.

The everyday items that were out in the pics-like the cereal boxes ect...have been put away.
Other that that I really havent changed much.

I really can't do anything about the furniture-it may appear to be too big but its really not. If there were a pic of me for instance, in the shot, you would see there is lots of room . In fact the flow is good the way we have it.

The thingy around the toilet....I call it a space saver and they are very common here. WE all have some sort of space saver. I like the one I have as its brushed brass and it goes very well with the other fixtures in the bath.

I am not happy about some of the pics but what can I do??
Ed did the best that he can.

I am just hoping for the best this Sunday!!! Its supposed to be hot-like 90's so instead of punch and cookies I am thinking more small bottled water and soft preztels,,,maybe get some wrapped hard candy to put in a small bowl.

As for the offer, we are "workin" in LOL!!
I am waiting until this open house is over to counter...who knows??

Thanks for all the good tips!!

Cheers!
Susie

Susie,

What works in person doesn't always photograph well. When we were selling and the agent was there to take pictures, we actually moved furniture out of the shot until the picture was taken, then put it back in. If you look over at the decorating forum here, you will notice some of the same feedback--stuff looks totally different in real life than it photographs. For the next round of pictures, you may want to move some of the furniture out of the shot so it looks more open in the pictures and then put it back in place afterwards. I know it's a pain, but for some people the photograph online is your first impression and if they don't like that, then you won't get them to come in person to see that it's really ok.

Good luck! I'll say a little pray to the real estate gods for a good offer for you.

De

Susie, my suggestion would be to drop off some of those basement shots. IMHO They don't enhance the listing nor do they entice potential buyers to come and take a look in person. We've all got rooms like those, but other than noting that there is a basement in the listing, I would refrain from showing photos.

OPEN HOUSE DAY!!

I am a little uneasy about this open house today but I've pretty much done all I can do in the time allotted.

I do not have my jewlery here-its been packed away since we first listed with John over six month ago. The med we will take with us-there isn't so much as a tums here LOL!
Drew has his game systems packed up-even the wii.

The fridge is clean and empty all but bottled water, juice, soda ect...the oven is spotless and will NOT be used today to warm cinnimon due to the fact its going to be 90!!!

The bath room is sparkling clean and the void of anything except TP and hand soap....a few nice towels.

The pantry room has been tidied up and we installed a brighter light-same with the laundry room.

I painted the woodwork outside and bright white, scubbed all the outdoor furniture and even hung a Chinese latern over the drab porch light-some of the grass seed took so the lawn looks a little better. Ed is supposed to swing by shortly after church to tie up balloons and more signs...he'll return at noon

We did not kennel the dog...instead Frank and Drew are taking her to the local boat ramp/park to run her out for a few hours...they are taking her crate too.

I have to work a half day so I will be occupied...work will take my mind off things LOL!!

Now about the offer....WELL... seems the couple has only been approved for 70.000 mortgage so thats why they made a low offer. Ed told their realtor to have them call "his" wortgage company to see if they will approve them for more.
If "his" mortgage company can approve them for say 80-82 then we will surely take the offer and get out of dodge.
BUT...not until we see what happens today.

Well I am off to get the pretzles, run the vaccume one last time and head off to work...wish me luck!!!

Cheers!
Susie

Best wishes and a quick and solid offer!

Good luck, Susie! I hope all goes very well for you.

Sally

Call it Murpheys law or whatever but I sure do have some luck.

Half way into our open house the realtor had a family emergency and had to leave.
His elderly mother was rushed to a hospital-I completely understand.
He took my house keys so he could lock up, took down the sign on the lawn and left.
I was at work and Frank was over a half hour away.

Ed said he would stop by to return my house keys last night but we never heard from him...I hope his mom is ok!!

So I have no idea who if anyone showed up!!

I did get feedback from one of the folks who was thru Sat...they like the place and thought it was well priced but they are not going to make an offer because of the duplex next door.

Oh well.

Its strange but I am happy to get this feedback even though it was not favorable. I never got any feedback from John so I don't know why we didn't get offers.
I can't do anything about the duplex. I get along with both the duplex dwellers as well as the landlord, but I can see how that may be a drawback...at least they liked the house eh??!!

So I have no news to report.

Keeping the faith-sort of.......

Cheers!
Susie

Some new info...Eds mom is OK....she fell at home which caused a scare but all in all she is pretty banged up but ok. Must if been some fall!!

Ed had a young couple come thru. He thinks they were expecting saying she looked a few months along but was careful not to assume since they never mentioned a nursery.
They live right around the corner-they are renting and the contract is up end of May.
The really liked the house and have been pre approved for $90 so its within their budget. Ed will follow up with them.

Then a young lady came thru and really did not say anything until she was ready to leave....said she would prob make an offer then left.
Ed will also follow up with her.

We have had 2 other showings and we are waiting for feedback.

There is a house which also went up this week right on my street, its quite a ways down from us and had been for sale for awhile-they too switched realtors and are offering the same deal that we are.
Their main market tag is row home near end of block....they are 9 houses in. I hardly think that is what could be called end of row!!
I am the second house in from a much wider end street.

I have the duplex but upon driving by this morning I learned the house next to them is for rent!!

Ed has scheduled an appointment to look at the house to see if its real competition.

Still keeping the faith!!

Cheers!
Susie

I'm glad Ed's Mom is okay. I'm crossing all my fingers and toes for you, Susie!

Sally