Does the home have central AC?
Sometimes what you describe happening is because the home is overpriced.
What has been the feedback from the first two buyers?

Please don't put too much faith in online views meaning people are active buyers.

I routinely check real estate in 4 different zip codes where we own property.
I look at each new listing, although we are not in the market to buy right now.
I check out the listings to see how they compare to what we already own.

ML

Why aren't you mentioning the MLS listing instead of Trulia and Zillow? That's the important site data.

Other than that, the home is very taste specific. Meaning it's not neutral and move in ready. Green paint (outside and in) blue walls, green carpet, wallpaper borders, white tile with dark grout, wood floors on the walls in the bath, acoustic ceiling tiles, and, I'll have to mention it again, that mint green exterior paint is very offputting.

Also, the cabinets and colors are very modern, which appears to somewhat tie into the home's style. However, contemporary homes are the most difficult to sell, and this one need neutralizing from the outside in to be able to hit that "transitional" style that is more appealing. It doesn't fit well with the neighbor's homes styles, so you're going to get a penalty for that before you start. Couple that with the need to neutralize, and you're not getting any showings. Plus, how on earth does one drive a car into the "parking garage" mentioned in the listing????? If you can't put a car in it, it's not a garage. It's a "shop" or "shed".

The house looks clean and updated....except for that window air conditioner over the sink.

If you can't remove the AC unit, remove the photo.

ML

No, the home does not have central AC. We did a thorough analysis of comps before listing and we believe the home is properly priced. If it comes to it we'll adjust the price, but we are not there yet.

Thanks Maddielee. I did the same thing before listing, so I get that, but since online views are the first step for actual buyers as well as non-active, if there is something that I can easily address that is turning off buyers I want to identify it.

After looking at the listing, I would say paint. I couldn't take my eyes off the paint, didn't even notice the AC unit because of the paint. I can see why it is getting hits. It looks like a nice house. Right # of bedrooms, nice basement, very useable backyard and a garage!

Thanks for the feedback Live_wire_Oak, I'll keep it in mind.

//Why aren't you mentioning the MLS listing instead of Trulia and Zillow? That's the important site data.

It is the same exact data and pictures, since that was the origin of the listing for most of the sites. I mention Trulia and Zillow because they are the most widely used public facing sites in my region.

//Plus, how on earth does one drive a car into the "parking garage" mentioned in the listing????? If you can't put a car in it, it's not a garage. It's a "shop" or "shed".

You drive into it from the alley behind the house. Connected garages are not common in this neighborhood. I don't use it as a garage, I use it as a shop, but since it is an actual working garage it was listed as one.

I think the paint is a bit personal, which makes me tend to agree with LWO's comments. If your buyer pool is similar to what I was like when we were buying our first home, I had a hard time seeing past the decor...too bad for me because we bought a house that kind of sucks, but I passed over better homes for dumb reasons like decor that I couldn't see past! ;-)

"greige" is a popular color, neutral...that might be a place to start if you want to repaint. The lighter green in the kitchen is relatively innocuous, but the dark green is a lot to handle.

Now I'm NOT saying I could do this better, but the rooms seem like they could be more appealing with staging. As they are, they seem neat and clean, but not inviting.

Other than that, I think it seems like a great place! Nice yard, appears maintained, nice layout, good # of bedrooms.

.

I have to agree with the paint in the kitchen, the living room and the other rooms. I know it's just paint, but it's in several rooms. The exterior color is also not appealing to me.

Why I wouldn't see your house after looking at the photos: I'm not a fan of contemporary style. The kitchen has no upper cabinets. I know that's a style decision, but it would not be for me. The shelf thing is not my style. It's very nicely done though.

I think there are too many kitchen photos which basically show the same thing 5 times, but no picture that shows the entire master bedroom. It's just a photo of a closet. I want to see the bedroom.

Very clean and neat house. It's a style that I don't mind looking at, but I don't think I would want to live with it.

I would paint everything out in neutral tones. Even though paint can easily be changed, something as vivid as that green will turn a lot of people off.

The ceiling tiles are also a very specific taste and not easily fixable. The kitchen has no upper cabinets and that bank of large cabinets dividing the kitchen from the living area is too taste specific...also not easily remedied.

Overall, I think your home is too specific to your tastes and is probably turning a lot of people away. It's really hard to imagine your own taste in a house like that.

I agree with the comments made by FromBC. I think I would work on fixing up the front yard for curb appeal and then having the picture taken again. Trim the yard well, get rid of all the grass and weeds growing onto the sidewalk, up the fence, and in the cracks of the sidewalk. (A hint I read in the newspaper gardening section is to pour boiling water on weeds and grass growing in the sidewalk. It kills the roots and makes removal easy.) Put the garbage cans elsewhere while you are selling the house and taking pictures.

As others have said, this is a very taste-specific house. It looks extremely well cared for and clean, but there would be a lot of work for most people: getting rid of popcorn ceilings, taking down wall paper,etc, repainting, etc

Both the popcorn and the exterior house color would be expensive to change. Perhaps you could
1) paint the inside a neutral color, and go beige, white and charcoal, with a few pops of orange for color.
2) pack away all the small stuff from the walls. The kitchen has nice finishings but appears cluttered in the photos. All those little spices and knife racks on the wall should go. Take at least half the stuff off the counters.
3) Do a similar clean up of the living room. That TV is huge, and totally dwarfs the fireplace. Could it be moved away from the FP? Get all the smaller things off the mantel, and bring in something that works in the space better. Candlesticks? Maybe a fair sized horizontal mirror?
4) did you take all the closet doors off in every bedroom? That's a pain to put them back on, so you're better off putting them back on instead of having them become another to-do item for a potential buyer.

Good luck.

Wow, you guys like green! As others have said a paint job could help a lot. And the carpet. The green carpet - it looks like that fake indoor outdoor green carpet.

Why 10 photos of the kitchen? I know you said it is an upgraded kitchen. But that is hard to see with that bright green. Because you have the shelves, the kitchen looks very cluttered. And the bright white cabinets - they look cheap and plasticy to me.

Once I could get beyond the green, things looked sloppy to me. The sofa pillows are not straight. There are nick nacks every where. Then bed covers are crooked. The odd painnting sitting on the floor of the brown room. The fan in the blue bedroom.

Lastly, so many of the photos are not straight. Did your realtor hire a professional,photographer?

You all got me curious enough to actually go look at the listing.

No offense, but O M G is all I can say. Neutral sells. This house is NOT neutral.

A lot of $$ may have been spent on the kitchen, but if I were to buy the home, I'd save the appliances and gut the whole room. No closet doors? Weird. Panels on the ceilings? Double weird. The outdoor green doesn't stress me too much, but the indoor green has to go. Wallpaper is bad news, almost always. Baseboard heat and window a/c? Not for me. Some of the pictures seem to be taken at an angle so that all ceilings seem extra-low. Or are some of the rooms basement rooms? I can't tell.

I very much agree that the home is taste-specific. Again, no offense. But your taste seems to be a bit off-center.

I am sorry, it seems like it might have been a good idea to get some input on the value of an expensive new kitchen in an older house and just where your money could be best spent. I am sorry also for being blunt. Other than the paint color I can see things I would like in my own kitchen. But I am not planning on selling at any time so they are my picks and not everyone elses.

If I was looking for a house that matched the kitchen here is what I would think: the bathrooms (well the one I can see) need 100% replacing because they are vastly different styles, look cheaply done and do not mesh at all. I would be factoring the cost to redo the bathrooms and decide if that fit the purchase price. Have you considered that in your selling price?

I would get rid of all those other colored walls/doors other than the pale green in the kitchen and paint white. Plain old boring white or a very similar non color with white trim. Maybe that will make the other rooms look "cleaner" Since your kitchen is new, that is the style you should look for. Going to make people cringe, but if modern and sleek is the style, the wood door trim is neither and points out the out of mesh kitchen. I would be painting it too. And putting the doors back on the closets also painted white All those nice wood blinds, also are not modern and sleek.

In the Kitchen: I would also remove about 2/3's of the stuff on the walls, counters and the open shelves. And not sure what that giant shiny white cabinet looking thing is blocking the livingroom from the kitchen. Maybe pointing out what it is and why it swallowed the dining area? If you love to cook, you might want a place to eat and that cabinet thing swallowed your dining area. Maybe there is a away to re-arrange to giving you that space back.

Maybe some less tired and more modern furniture for the living room that matches the vibe of the kitchen. If the fireplace is a selling point, the giant tv next to it just says there is no room for a tv. I would swap it out with a smaller one and try and find a place it either does not distract from the fireplace or becomes one with it.

The blue room with the flag: get rid of the flag, the blue and the fan. Looks more like a frat house room.

No idea what the other bedrooms look like or the second bath due to the lack of photos or the order. Also an issue. You need a better balance of photos. Also rework your wording. A maybe 5 foot tall fence, go measure. Not calling your garage a garage but a shop. Lots of snow there in Spokane, having a garage is a plus. Maybe some photos of the outdoors areas that make it look inviting. It seems like there is a hint of a nice lawn, but no photos showing how nice it can be. Not sure having pots drip on my head over the sink is a selling point. Take a step back and re-think how you describe the kitchen

Last, I probably could have dealt with some of the finishes inside because they are finishes. We are in the middle of 3 redo's right now and I can see what would be in the dumpster and what I would save. But the street view is YIKES run. Run down looking bad concrete, weeds, no place to keep your trash and a blue house next door.

Sorry, I hope you do sell and get the money you need from it. But I would be one who would look and pass too.

The paint wouldn't deter me, that's an easy change. The thing that stuck out to me was the lack of upper cabinets. Also, I would want to take the tile out, but it's a lot of work to do that.

In General:

No Showings and no offers; Way overpriced.
A Few Showings and no offers; Still overpriced.
A good amount of showings and no offers and / or always coming in second place; still a bit overpriced but close.

You wrote that you want easy fixes to the problem. The easiest solution sounds like pricing it at a point that buyers can overlook the above problems.

Take about 50K off to make up for needing to gut the kitchen and bathrooms and repaint everything. The kitchen may be new, but using ''updated'' is the exact wrong term to describe something so poorly designed. The wierd bathroom with the overly ornate furniture vanity that is too large for the space and a completely different 180 style than the kitchen doesn't meet building code. That points to DIY. Suspicious DIY.

The house has loads of red flags for any buyer. The only way to cure those issues in a buyer's mind is a massive price drop to make it worth buying with those defects still existing. Or pull it off the market and correct those issues. And still ask the same price even after all of that effort.

You've got decent photos: clean, no clutter (other than the wall stuff in the kitchen, which is all neatly in its assigned places), no toilet seats up. It looks like a well cared-for home.

What would keep me from looking at it are:
1. The style: I don't like split levels
2. The siding: I don't like T1-11.

Another issue, that wouldn't stop me from looking but probably would stop me from buying: The kitchen is tiny. You've remodeled to the functionality that works for you, But the exposed clutter (which you may see as convenience) says "not enough room." It looks like, to get more space, you wrapped the cabinets around into the living room?

Also, I looked down at the bottom of the zillow listing and you're priced way higher than anything around you. Zillow is notoriously inaccurate, but almost everything nearby is in the $60-90K range, compared to your $125K list. $25k is probably too much of a premium for all your updating, just because that's more than the neighborhood can bear. Except that the price history says you paid $125K for it 5 years ago, so perhaps zillow is way off. Or you overpaid when you bought it.

I'm curious why people are not liking the glossy cabinets in the living room? They remind me of built-in storage, and I thought built-in storage was a positive? I could use some additional built-in storage in my house ;-) Is it the gloss, too contemporary?

If the living room were done in lighter colors, maybe tone-on-tone whites, would the built-ins seem less obtrusive?

OP -- if you paint nothing else, paint the green wall that the living room built-ins connect to; paint it white, so as not to accentuate the wall/built-in contrast.

Overall, I like your house.

Some of the advice here is not very realistic (like take 50K of your price), gut the kitchen, have the neighbors repaint their house....

Pricewise it seems maybe a little on the higher end, especially since it doesn't really seem to be a proper 4 BR house.

Here are yet more comments:
1. Can you have a picture of the front of the house from more of a distance? Get rid of the grass sticking out in the bed, mulch. What's that spot next to the basement window? What are those bricks lying around?
2. I guess that shiny storage unit can't be made smaller, or could you remove the unit that faces the dining area?Also, if this is IKEA PAX, check out the Birkeland glass doors.

5. Pic 11. I'd get rid of it. It actually makes the house look really crowded with the storage unit, the sofa, narrow path.

6. Add closet doors in the BR. Get rid of the TV and the desk? Also, that picture is weird. If the point is the storage system, then just a pic of that and another of the bedroom. Put an area rug down. That tile looks cold.

7. Pic 14. What is that? Set it up as a bedroom or office or whatever. Add closet doors. Get rid of the wallpaper. And that carpet is scary looking ....

8. Pic 15/16. Get a simple mirror. Get rid of the furry toilet surround. There's too much going on in that bathroom. Go to the decorating forum and ask for quick solutions.

9. Pic 17. It looks really dreary. Open the blinds. It needs a bit of styling and decluttering.

10. Pic 18. That's not a very inviting bedroom. I don't even think it qualifies as a bedroom. Love the wall color, but get rid of the fan, the flag. Bed needs nicer bedding. Get rid of the desk.

9. Get rid of the wallpaper in the laundry/kitchenette. Is that water damage?

Also, could this be advertised as an in law suite down there? Au pair suite? Or maybe even as a rental unit?

Is there a way to have an outside table/chairs? More outside pictures that don't show the neighbors house. Fewer kitchen pictures.

I also urge you to post separate threads on the decorating forum and ask for advice to rearrange and stage the rooms.

Can you opt out of street view with google?

That would remove the view that is the worst

One thing I’ve realized from moving around is that you have to judge a house as compared to what’s available in the same community at a similar price point. When people who live in other areas, even at the same price point tell you they’d run from the property, it really only tells you what they think those dollars ought to be able to buy - probably in their immediate area -- which can be vastly different from your own. After looking at the three close by houses that zillow put on the side of my screen, I would say that I’d absolutely buy your house before I bought any of them. All of them would require significant outlays in cash to modernize. Redecorating is a whole lot cheaper, which is what I think when I look at yours.

I think your primary issues are not the house itself -- compared to your comps you are nicely updated. And, yeah, you lean toward modern, but not enough to turn anybody away (at least not most people, there are always a few…).I think the issues here boil down to these: clutter (visual and actual) and color. To fix these is relatively easy (as compared to your competition, who have antique houses in need of complete gut renos). You merely need to rent a storage shed (we found buy one month get one free deals all over, it was cheap) and start filling it with the stuff from your house. And when it’s empty rent a wallpaper steamer, and paint (prioritize the painting first, as I think it’s the best bang for your time and buck). Simple! (ha! just went through it, it’s not simple, but well worth the effort)

Here’s my advice:

1 - Remove everything from the walls, off the mantles, everything off the countertops, even the pieces of the stages sink -- put them away, let the big sink show. Empty your kitchen of all the absolute essentials, and keep those put away. Countertops should be bare until you go under contract.

2 - remove everything from all of the bedrooms, put back one bed, one dresser (if needed) and a night stand. Disassemble and store (in a storage unit) all of the bookshelves, side tables, etc. Make ‘em look spacious and sparse. Put the closet doors back on, or buy a couple if you’ve ditched them. We had done the same thing, and it was a couple hours work and about $20 each to replace them - realtor told us to, and it was good advice. In the living room, I would either store the loveseat or the ottoman. Which can you do without? Make the room seem huge by editing down to what you must have. Most people don’t need both a loveseat and a sofa on a daily basis. Choose which you want and store the other.

2 - Buy a 5 gallon bucket of a nice white flat paint (you don’t care about durability, and flat will hide a multitude of sins (google for one or use Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White, a great go to white paint color). Paint it all. Those cabinets and floating shelves would look amazing on white walls. If you do this, your kitchen, living room and dining room will look amazing. I really like the cabinets, and your floors are great, but the green is stealing the show. A white background will be a great stage for the worthy features in your home. Depending on how long you think it will be on the market, I’d think about painting the trim white, too.

3- I followed the advice on this forum before putting our house on the market, and wish I could find the post I’m thinking of, but someone said to remove everything from each bedroom except a bed and a night stand. Leave as much clothing available to you as you would pack for a 2 week vacation, and box up the rest and put it in that storage shed you’ve rented. We did this, and we all got by fine (to simplify it for my kids I told them they could each keep 5 outfits) -- it made our tiny closets looks spacious and not a single person mentioned the lack of closet space in our home (a huge issue).

Good luck and hope you will update us when your showings start rolling in!

This post was edited by Function_First on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 15:56

i didnt read all the posts ...

paint scmaint.. though its loud.. i would prefer to choose my own color.. give a $500 credit for paint.. or some such... and let them deal with it ...

and you might do the same with the a/c issue ... frankly... i would justify your asking price plus 3 to 5 grand for a/c ... because i wouldnt live in a house w/o such .... but i never lived in the PNW ....

something along the lines.. if full asking price is offered.. we will give back 3500 cash for such ....

the house looks incredibly cozy ... every room has multiple surface to sit and lounge on ... and things to look at on the walls ... i would like living in it ... BUT ....

the alternative analysis .... is that it is stuffed full of your stuff.. that peeps cant understand the spaces available for their own stuff .. remove 50 to 60% of EVERYTHING ... i am really surprised your agent didnt suggest such ... and jam it all in the garage... peeps understand garage size.. whether or not it is stuffed full of moving boxes and furniture ...

they can not visualize how their furniture will look.. with all the furniture and cool stuff you have in the pix ...

good luck

ken

This, also green, house just sold for 125,500.00. Two streets over, 4 beds, 2 baths, 2,494 sqft.

Here is a link that might be useful: comparable house

I sold a house last year in a similar price range, and the things that I expected to be problems were never mentioned. I would paint the front door a brighter color to add to curb appeal. The window air conditioning unit blowing air and blocking the view from the window would be a problem. No upper cabinets or closet doors is actually my personal style choice. The main problem that I would have is the tile flooring. Without getting feedback from showings, it difficult to know what to change. What I did is look online at every house for sale or that sold recently. Sometimes zillow does not take the photos down right away. Make the front look neater, declutter, and get new photos. Good luck!

Haven't gone through all the other posts so sorry for repeats. First the front of the house is tired looking and has no curb appeal. Fix the big crack in the driveway, trim the grass off the walkway. Trim the wayward bush to the left of the house. Don't really care for the mint green color of the house either. Kitchen looks small and cluttered in photos. It does not have much storage. Only has bottom cabinets. Green color in living room and kitchen doesn't go with anything. It looks strange. Is that popcorn ceilings? They look low in the photos also. Is that astro turf in the bedroom? Needs to go. Also the wallpaper in the laundry/kitchenette, most people will see that as a job to remove it. I guess if I could use one word for your house it would be discombobulated. It doesn't seem to fit together. I don't usually recommend them, but maybe a stager could help out. NancyLouise

You are in Spokane... And, you don't have A/C. That is going to be a problem to today's buyers.

And, the green upstairs needs to go. Maybe the carpet, if downstairs, can stay, assuming that you'll take a hit on price because people will replace it and discount their offer... But, the main floor green (walls and door) need to go.

My take:

Why no closet doors? That's an expense I'd have to make right after buying the house.

Why traditional stained wood trim in some rooms, and a modern look in others?

Why are they hiding the sink? Is there something wrong with it?

They've removed the upper cabinets. Now everything is on the counters or walls. Looks cluttered. Another expense for me--adding upper cabinets.

Advertised as a 3-4 bedroom house, but only one tiny, awkward eating area crammed into the kitchen. Where will the family eat dinner? Where will I host the extended family on holidays?

Bathroom is a very traditional style. Kitchen and living room are not. How will I make that work? Will I need to remodel shortly after buying? More expense!

Shiny wall of cabinets in living room. Mostly, I'm in favor of the Big Wall 'O Storage, as built-in storage can be space-saving. But the shiny finish on these cabinets gives me pause. So totally not my style, yet a centerpiece in the living room. How expensive will it be to refinish the cabinets to something I can live with?

A large part of this is that it is right in the middle of the living room. That same cabinetry in the basement family room wouldn't bother me so much. It would still not be to my taste, but I could deal with it better in a casual family room than in the main living space in the house, the space I invite family and friends into, if that makes any sense.

No one of these things would prevent me from looking at the house. But put them all together, and I'm looking at a lot more money than just the price of the house to make that house *my* home.

In order for me to look at the house, it would have to have some other massively redeeming feature--location, low price, fantastic school district--something that would outweigh the cost and time and energy needed to alter the house to make it work for me.

Oh, and the main problem with the open shelving in the kitchen is that for anyone with cats, those shelves are basically a cat tree. Anything put on them will be open game for a cat to knock off the shelf. At least with my cats.

I think the problem with the open shelving is that the kitchens in the magazines look great while yours looks too cluttered. So, you need to emulate the styled open shelve kitchens, so that people don't realize that actually living with that kind of kitchen may be quite different from magazine life.

Here is a link that might be useful: open shelving in small kitchens

Don't want to repeat what others have mentioned, so I will just add this: if and when you re-take the photos, in the lower level TV room, get rid of the tiny picture hanging above the sofa almost at the ceiling and the poster leaning against the wall.

The green is really disturbing.
No upper cabinets in the kitchen is VERY strange - as is stuff hanging all over the kitchen walls.
And the A/C window unit has to go.
All the things out all over the place have to be put away.

I have to say that no upper cabinets is a current trends in kitchens--check over on Apartment Therapy. The kitchen, if some of the stuff hanging from the ceiling and walls and on the counters were put away, would probably attract a trendy young couple looking for a starter home.

Not knowing the OP's area, I don't know if this house is priced as a starter home or not.

I don't find the house appealing, although it might be to someone else's taste. The rooms look crowded. The kitchen reminds me of a workshop with all of the stuff hanging on the walls. I do not like having no upper cabinets. In the bathroom, change out the shower curtain with the square blocks. It emphasizes the large, ugly tiles in the shower. I would remove the large picture in the basement room. It is not attractive. The drummer looks mad and like he is about to attack someone. Overall, the décor is too taste specific and not in a good way, as others have said.

This post was edited by LucyStar1 on Tue, Jul 15, 14 at 17:58

OP, there is a huge difference between your home coming up in a prospects on line search vs. then taking the next step of actually clicking on your picture to get the additional details. The second click is want you want. Do you know which one your agent is speaking of?