We've been on the market since March and have had 10 showings. That's not a lot for most areas, but it is for where we are. I'm pretty sure we've had more than anyone else in our neighborhood which I attribute to the pro-like pictures I took for the listing. A cheaper house in our neighborhood just went off the market after being on for several months and I don't know that they had any showings. Our neighbor's house is $30-40k overpriced and they had almost no showings for the first 9 months or so. Then a couple months after we listed, they went out and had a pro photographer take pictures of their house. Now they are getting multiple showings despite their price. Several of our showings were people who came out to this neighborhood and only looked at our house even though there were 1-2 others within $10-20k, so we know the pictures have made a difference. Granted, we still haven't sold, but the more people in the door, the better. I just looked at what has sold since we've been on the market and only 3 houses under 50 years old have sold on this side of town (we're on the far side, away from the 'big city'). Whether you have a realtor or not, take a look at your listing pictures and make sure they showcase your house in the best way possible (no dark rooms that are hard to see or pictures of furniture instead of the house, etc). If not, make your realtor take new ones or do it yourself. Use or borrow a camera with the widest lens possible (I rented an ultra wide angle lens for my DSLR). Regarding Realtors, we had one for the first 3 months at the usual 6%. Our current realtor is a local 'flat fee' agent. We paid $499 for the listing plus $99 for the lockbox. At closing, we will pay her .5% plus the 3% to the buyer's agent. So, 3.5% plus $598. We did this so we could lower the price as much as possible, but still have it in the MLS. Turns out, she's been more helpful than the full commission agent was. I've also been doing a lot of the work on my own - the pictures, I made fancy flyers and a website and have been posting it as many places as I can. If you are doing FSBO, go to Postlets.com and make an account. It's a syndication website that will post your house on several websites including several that the realtors use (Front Door, Zillow, etc). It will also give you html code you can use to post fancy looking ads on Craigslist and other websites. It's very simple to use - just enter your house info and upload some pictures. I have been using it even though we have an agent. HTH. Here is a link that might be useful: Postlets

We have been living for about 5 years in a house we bought after only 2 days of looking... and decided to get into a place quickly rather than rent at all. We grabbed the house that fit our needs best that was up for sale that week and in our price range. My husband is a music teacher, I'm a graphic designer and was a stay-at-home mom...now that we've been living here some years we have a better idea of the neighborhoods available and also have different ideas of what we want in a house. The house we're in now was built in 1973, and built so cheaply, it's really kind of awful. Popcorn ceilings in every room, for instance. The people we bought it from did a quick flip with it, used the cheapest materials they could, put in carpeting without stretching it...you name it. We could put a bunch of money into getting the ceilings scraped and all the trim replaced and the cheesy, featherlight doors replaced...but it's just not going to make it into a nice house. My question is: how much of the deferred maintenance has to be done before we sell? I know buyers want a house they don't have to work on, but if we're going to have to pay for the work either out of the house price or out of our pockets, it would be a lot less disruptive of our lives to let it come out of the house price. A quick synopsis of what needs to be done: exterior paint, roofing, carpet replace in all rooms, wooden deck teardown and replace in the back yard, cabinets in the kitchen updating/replacing, repair laminate flooring in kitchen, re-do bathroom (including replacing vanity with a pedestal sink, replacing tub insert, and replacing flooring) I hate to say it but this sounds like one of those, he who decides to buy in haste gets to repent or sell at leisure. While I do not know your market, sounds like you may have paid too much back in 2001 since this was before the big run up. This may be your problem more than whether you need to replace the laminate. As for what you should do, a friend who is trying to sell a similar house in our area (where it costs 4x as much) found a handyman who was someone's cousin's BIL. For less than 1000 he touched up her paint, repaired her bathroom, and generally made the house look presentable. Neither she nor her DH is handy but you do not have to be to comparison shop or get estimates. Building a deck and painting are not that complicated, my BIL did it as a teenager (second floor off the kitchen). Not suggeting you build it but rather try to get a deal when it is built. She was advised to leave her 1960s kitchen alone, just make sure anything broken or torn was repaired. Stick a scatter rug over the linoleum if it cannot be repaired When you first posted I assumed you lived in an area with 400k starter houses as I do. It simply does not make sense to put in another 30% in a house worth 130k Many young buyers want a fixer both so they can save off the price, since there are plenty of DIYers who are handy and because it gives them control over the outcome rather than living with someone elses taste I would make ssure nothing is broken or would immediately elicit a yuck reaction. If the paint is peeling or chipping paint it. If the deck is ready to fall over, then definitely replace it but do it cheaply. As housing worsens, it will be a lot easier to find cheap labor in a few months time. Plus you cannot paint outside until spring anyway I would also get a couple of broker opinions, they may see things that you do not and even know who can fix this cheaply

One biggie that I've learned over the years is to make sure ALL shut off values in the house are labeled with what they are for and which way to turn the valve to shut it off. It does no good for anyone to have only one person in the house know where the shut off valves are if that person isn't around. This is especially true for homes that are being rented. Regular home maintenance should also include proper trimming of trees and shrubs. Trees and shrubs that are overgrown or dead can cause major damage to a home. They can become ladders for rodents to enter a home if they are too close to a house, they can scratch paint, ruin roofs and break windows. Driveways should also be regularly maintained if they are blacktopped with sealer and weeds should be removed to keep the blacktop from breaking up. If you burn firewood your chimney should be cleaned EVERY year before you use it in the fall.

we had a stager(accessories etc, no furniture involved, since we had ours..got a bit rearranged), but I didn't find it helpful. the house was not sold faster, or for over asking, or even at asking price. The realtor said it's the first time in 30 years of work that she didn't sell a staged house within first two weeks since the listing. She was very upset. Well i was too, only I thought that staging was really useless. While the true reasons were: a) we listed at the worst time possible, right before the elections. People said they'd like to wait with decisions. Also, rains started..quite heavy ones..suddenly it was a normal winter again, albeit Californian one..we had a drought for years before last winter. b) while people loved the community(the house was a townhouse), and the location of the community, which was truly great-they weren't necessarily in love of the location of the house within the community. It was close to the entrance and next to the pool. I loved both being close to the entrance and next to the pool..it was convenient, cheerful as the landscaping was great, and-it will sound silly-but I liked seeing all the architectural details of the house it being on the corner..:) So I never even thought it might be a detriment. The pool was mostly quiet and very nice. I loved seeing it, being next to it. Yet to many others it turned to be a thing that made them unsure. After all, how they were supposed to know it's quiet? They were told so of course, but it's not like they lived there. c) HOA didn't help in that sense that right before we listed, they suddenly decided to improve landscaping(they were constantly repairing, maintaining, beautifying I must say), and they cut two big nice trees right next to us saying trees are not that healthy. Less trees-less privacy. they also decided to replant the grass right in front of our entrance..yellow taped around it and all. That was maddening. They replanted it because they wanted a new grass that bunnies-presumably-wouldn't like Let me tell you as somebody who looked out of these windows every day and night..the moment the grass finally appeared, bunnies found it very much to their liking lol (they also repainted all the community in some dark beige without really asking us, under the pretext it's a trendy color..wut? I've nothing against dark beige..but it looked so much better being warm white as it was years beforehand. it looked just beautiful. Why to fix what ain't broken, and why not to ask the people who pay these HOA fees every month? I don't believe that influenced things in terms of sale..but it did influence me. we wrote angry letters but it was too late) So the staging didn't play any role..except for I had to pay 2 K or something just to do all the touch ups since all our art was banned from the walls. I'm not stupid, I'd take portraits etc away..packed breakables, collections..but I don't see anything offensive in landscapes, cityscapes, still lives etc. Especially as I do have art that's amateurish or can seem amateurish, but some artists whose works I have are not only listed, but highly regarded and all. Highest awards, international exhibitions, etc. Why this Home Goods stuff that was brought instead was better, truly beats me. The house was squeaky clean(except that I drove myself crazy with finding yet another spot! was cleaning constantly) and I kept it ready for showing every moment. Our realtor was truly impressed with me..:) Anyway. Bottom line-it was the house being a condo, highly affected by previous comps(two latest ones were lower than usual due to sellers' circumstances), the location within the location, and the market as it was at that time-pretty dead in our price range. Only three homes were sold in our price range in our and neighboring cities during the time the house was for sale. So we got 9 K less than I wanted(why I wanted nine? because it's my lucky number lol), and sold to very nice people, from that pool of buyers who liked the house right away and then said they're not sure that's the right time to buy, with elections going on etc. Then they came back and still put an offer in, when they felt they're ready to make their decision. They impressed us as serious buyers who obviously gave a lot of thought to things (that was the second offer we received..the first one gave us a totally different impression so we didn't make any efforts to meet in the middle or something), and we went with them and didn't feel sorry for a moment because they were reasonable, non fussy, and nice. Staging payed minimal role in all of that, if at all. I never asked for it too..it was the MO of the realtor, we wanted the realtor, it was how she worked. Next time, which I hope won't be too soon. I stage everything myself, thank you very much. I'm totally capable of presenting my own house. Ah, and the pictures were awful. If you ask me. Wide lens, everything unnaturally bright.. No. We loved the realtor, she was an exceptional business woman..but stager and photographer, I could do without them both. So. it's a house itself, where it stands, and when it's being sold. And a little bit of luck(c)..or vise versa.