Sorry, I just realized this link has no pictures. Here is the long and foster link.

Here is a link that might be useful: My home on Long and Foster

Before looking at your 2nd link I can tell you that your first problem is that your agent doesn't subscribe to enhanced listings on Realtor.com.

Cute house, nice photo but you need "Enhanced" capabilities on realtor.com. That mean more pictures. Talk to your agent about it. I can't offer any comments about the house because I can't see the house due to lack of photos.

What I did do though was to check the affordability of your property against your area of Mechanicsville. Here's the data...

"Estimated median household income in 2005: $70,400 (it was $57,032 in 2000)

Mechanicsville $70,400
Virginia: $54,240

Estimated median house/condo value in 2005: $204,500 (it was $132,200 in 2000)
Mechanicsville $204,500
Virginia: $212,300

From that, I can conclude you're priced only slightly above average. And, the family income seems more in line to the price of housing than many areas of the country. So, I'd say the affordability index is in your favor. That can only be a good thing.

Get more pictures up on realtor.com. It really does make a difference.

Good luck with a sale & sorry about the fall-out you lost.

/tricia

PS The tree's pretty. Nice to see spring colors. Make sure the picture doesn't get stale though. If you're not sold by July...the picture's a dead giveaway that you've been on the market for awhile.

Would the "enhanced listing" be something she would have to go into and add the pictures by hand or would it automatically upload from mls?

I've looked at the pics on your agent's site, and I can't see anything that makes me want to see this home. The pictures are all taken at terrible angles, especially the kitchen pictures. Your agent needs to use a camera with a wide angle lens. One of the kitchen pictures just shows the lower cabinets and the floor. Another one shows your table. The white microwave over the black stove looks bad.

The picture of the outside of the house looks adorable and very inviting. The inside pictures look almost as if no one lives there. There is no warmth, no art work on the walls, no plants, nothing on the table. IMO staging has gone nuts to the point that alot of homes are looking sterile. I would warm it up a bit.

As far as your agent having enhanced listings. I think that is probably a question you should have asked before. An agent can't simply just add pictures to realtor.com. They would have to subscribe to it for all of their listings.

Quick question as I'm taking a quick break from pulling my neighbors weeds...

Do you have 2 different color kitchen cabinets? The 1st shot they look like a (don't take this wrong) poop green, in the 2nd shot they look like wood. Some cameras do not photograph certain colors well. Our cabinets photograph orange. I agree about them needing a better camera with a wide lens. They should be able to get the cabinets to the left of the sink as well as your table

The exterior shot with the hot tub is blurry, the picture with the azalea tells me you have a side yard.

From your listing:
Purchaser must have a pre-approval letter!

You are going to lose people. As someone mentioned in another post, what about people paying cash?

On the positive side - beautiful house! I love the outside and have always wanted to walk one.

Would the "enhanced listing" be something she would have to go into and add the pictures by hand or would it automatically upload from mls?

She does not pay for enhanced listings. Ask her if someone in her office does and if they are willing to put your house on theirs.

The curb appeal of your house is charming. The inside... not so much.

You have eight pictures up, only one of which is appealing (the front of the house). You have three pictures of various angles of a kitchen that is not very inviting. The picture of your fireplace is terrible. Your furniture seems to make the room look very small. As pointed out, your backyard pictures are blurry. No bathroom pictures?

Your pictures are so bad I would highly recommend a professional photographer to take your shots. And, have the Realtor actually replace these terrible photos with the professional ones.

Yup, Purchaser must have a pre-approval letter! always has me pointing out, "What about cash buyers?" A cash buyer has no need to a bank nor a pre-approval letter because they aren't getting a loan. I understand you've been bitten once and want to avoid the experience again, but don't chase people off either.

I hate to be blunt, but I would click NEXT if I was searching online for a house. Your photos are horrible and do nothing to entice me to see the house.

Agree with Rose and xamsx about the pre-approval letter blurb.

As others have pointed out, the curb appeal of your home is GREAT! I would put your house on a list of 'to sees' based on that photo. However, once I looked past that one - I'd start to doubt myself.

I'd try to warm up the kitchen with some colorful flowers or something (keep it inexpensive!). The cabinets look like they are 1970's avocado green - I'm sure they aren't but the photo is bad. The picture also makes the kitchen feel cramped and kind of 'college kid rental house'. The micro doesn't match - it sticks out. Would I buy a new one? Eh, that's up to you.

Also - the kitchen pics feel like they were taken from the perspective of a five year old... I'm not even sure what the last kitchen photo is aiming for...

The living room is too sterile (but dingy). Why not make the fireplace more of a focal point? Also the photo doesn't really tell me anything about the room.

Back yard shots are blurry - plus the one of the deck doesn't show me much other than you have a hot tub, deck, and central air.

Bedroom, maybe move the mirror - I had to look twice to see that it wasn't some sort of very small door/window. Maybe re shoot from a different angle so less of the carpet is showing. Can you add a colorful (but non distracting) bedspread? Right now it doesn't look welcoming.

I think that the biggest problem is that you (probably at your realtor's advice) took depersonalizing too far! It doesn't look like anyone LIVES there.

I took a quick look of realtor.com.. I see 2 other agents at that office that have enhanced.

About the living room and being dingy, it wasn't something I noticed and after playing with the photos, it is because they need to be edited and lightened.

{{!gwi}}
{{!gwi}}
{{!gwi}}

*not all that great but took me 5 minutes to do with googles Picasa program. They have an "I'm feeling lucky" button that will adjust it automatically.

In addition to the comments about pictures being bad, the property description drove me nuts with the over-use of exclamation points. I'd definitely ask the relator to re-write it and get rid of most of them. Not everything is that exciting.

What about a little bit of paint, too? All of the rooms are so incredibly stark white, that I think a little bit of soft color (tan) would be nice.

First of all...THANKS for the comments!!

I definately agree with everyone about the kitchen photos, the cabinets do look horrible and YES, they are wood but they are painted a chocolate brown. The agle is also quite strange as many have pointed out.

I have taken several pictures to replace the kitchen, living room and backyard pics to replace the 'dingy' or blurry photos. I have yet to see them replaced, my realtor stated she will get them up this afternoon. The living room does have two big bright windows in it...hard to tell from the picture (new picture would also 'sell' the fireplace more).

As for the 'sterility' of the house.....I should have stated that the first offer of our house went bad three days before expected closing! So needless to say, we had moved most, if not all of our belongings out of the house already. We were hesitant to move all of our 'junk' back thinking it might look better with a sort of "less is more" approach.

Any ideas as to how to 'cheaply' add a lived-in feel back to the home?

As far as the microwave goes, we know its white. We have replaced all of the appliances within six months (including my favorite bosch washer/dryer). We were planning on replacing the microwave when we decided to sell. Realtor says not to replace yet, but we will see...

We do have a showing today, someone with a big down payment available (about 40%), so hopefully that goes well.

Additionally, the phrase about pre-approval is to keep people serious and to keep theives out! We have had a recent bout of people 'touring' houses pretending to be potential buyers only to later come back and rob the place!!

Any ideas as to how to rephrase? maybe 'buyers must have pre-approval letter or certified cash offers only'? Is that legal?

Thanks again!!

Additionally, the phrase about pre-approval is to keep people serious and to keep theives out! We have had a recent bout of people 'touring' houses pretending to be potential buyers only to later come back and rob the place!!

Any ideas as to how to rephrase? maybe 'buyers must have pre-approval letter or certified cash offers only'? Is that legal?

Having pre approval letters before you can tour homes is very common in my area, but not to look at a house, only to put an offer in. Its up to the individual agent if they want to spend time with a buyer who isnt yet pre approved. (most in my area don't) There is no reason to have that comment in your ad copy. Your agent can put it in the "agent only" remarks of MLS. Let the individual agents decide if they want to show to a buyer without it. Besides that, there is nothing there left to steal.

So by your last comment, I was right, the house looks like no one lives there. You basically moved out and only put back what you needed to get by until the house sold? I would say, either move your stuff back in to make the house look like a home, or move everything out and show it as a vacant house. This half lived in look is doing you no good.

Also, someone mentioned having your realtor put your photos on another agents realtor.com enhanced listing page. It can't be done.

Also, someone mentioned having your realtor put your photos on another agents realtor.com enhanced listing page. It can't be done.

It was done here. The town we are moving to, there was one house the seller used one agent who did not have enhanced and somehow teamed up with the listing so that it showed on a different agents page who does have enhanced.

If you can see a NJ MLS listing, I still have the MLS number & will gladly send it to you via email.

I think that the original agent would have to co-list with a agent that has enhanced listings.

As a writer, I cringed at the excessive use of exclamation points in the description of your house in the realtor's Website listing. I'd delete all of these. Exclamation points are meant to be used sparingly...only when a comment truly merits one. Nothing personal, but I'm certain your house is not THAT exciting.

I agree about removing the "pre-approval" letter blurb from your marketing/ad copy. That likely has turned off a lot of buyers.

I'd hire a stager to stage your home so it looks lived in. The stager can rent furnishings.

As everyone else has said, the pictures are terrible! There are no bathroom shots! I couldn't tell that there was tile on the kitchen floor! And remove all the furniture! It will show much better! Have professional pictures taken! Or even a 360 shot especially if the home is empty!

I bypass all houses on realtor.com that don't have any pictures! And get rid of those damn exclamation points! Maybe get a new realtor!

If the home is vacant, maybe you should remove the note about pre-approval letters. If the reason for the pre-approval letter was to keep potential thieves away, you already did that by having a vacant home. What are they going to steal, the fridge?

Also - how is a certified cash offer going to be worked? I was a cash buyer and nobody made me show my account balances prior to looking at properties. The money was sitting in an account, but nobody asked to see the statement. Plus, who was I to show that to, the realtor? What makes this "certified", the fact that someone saw the balance on the statement? Or how about in the case where the cash was coming from the sale of a property - how do you "certify" the equity in this case? It gets sticky for realtors to start getting into people's private money matters just to LOOK at a home that is for sale.

The pictures are much better!