Here's the tweaked version. Would this be considered enticing?

Turnkey NW home in top school district near 1-10, schools and amenities. Stunning new tile in living areas & baths, plush new carpet in bedrooms, freshly painted throughout, bright eat-in kitchen views backyard. His & hers walk-in closets in Master & slider to back patio. Entertain in LR, DR & FR. New light & faucet fixtures, new ductwork for AC & Evap. Brand new roof, 3 patios, mature landscaping & cozy fireplace add to the beauty of this home.

I got it down to the max of 450 characters.

New light & faucet fixtures

Where? And, someone may wonder if those are the highlights. I'm not sure they'd be something to feature.

Is carpet a selling feature in your area? To me your best words are turnkey and new roof. You have new AC ductwork, is the AC also new? And, is your house really turnkey?

Okay, not to be tedious, but do you have a separate dining room in addition to the eating area at the end of the kitchen? Is that not the dining room?

xamsx - I had limited space. The houses in this neighbourhood are from the mid 80's and the realtor will know that. Most have the outdated round smoky glass globe lights and old bathroom and kitchen faucets. I just didn't have room to say where. Wouldn't new tile, carpet and paint be the highlights? Carpet is not a negative unless it is throughout the house, which it isn't. I don't see how the new light and faucet features can be considered the hilights when tile, carpet, paint, walk-in closets, etc. are listed prior.

Tile is in 80% of the house. Only bedrooms have carpet. I think because it's new in the bedrooms, it would not be a negative with the tile everywhere else.

Yes, the house is turnkey. Unless they have personal decorating tastes, we have fresh paint, new tile, carpet, window coverings, plumbing and light fixtures. It's completely updated compared to 90% of the homes in this neighbourhood.

No, the AC is not new. It works just fine, but the selling feature is BOTH AC and Evap. We're in AZ. AC IS a selling feature. People from AZ will know, as will the realtor, that is a bonus as many homes only have evap which is useless this time of year.

time2sell - yes, we have an eating area in the kitchen as well as a separate dining room. We have a family room, dining room, living room and eat-in kitchen.

Good news! I got a call this aft for our FIRST showing! Hopefully I will have positive feedback to report.

I know it's probably excessively PC to many of you, but probably a third of my friends are gay (a pretty big homebuying market, remember) and the phrase "his & hers" really makes me cringe. Why can't people just say "two" or "double" or "dual" instead?

To me adjectives like "stunning" and "plush" and phrases like "add to the beauty of this home" (sorry fairygirl!) are just wasted padding words and I would rather see those characters used for more actual details about the house. You are lucky, you get 100 more characters than we do and that separate caption thingy for each photo is pretty darn impressive too. Wish we had that. Make sure they get edited though, there are some rather wonky phrasings in there ("backyard step out porch"?).

Here's my rewrite, which I know is less flashy but it seems to fit more detail in with less fluff and I think it gets in everything on your list:

Turnkey 3br/2ba Gatewood Ranch home in top-rated Marana school district near I-10, shopping, dining, playground, schools. Walk to Thornydale Elem. Brand new roof, tile flooring, carpet, ducts for AC and evap cooler, lighting, paint, plumbing fixtures. Fireplaced FR, formal living & dining rooms, sunny eat-in kitchen overlooking fenced backyard with mature landscaping, pond/waterfall. Master w/dual walk-in closets, bath & slider to 1 of 3 patios.

BTW, the photo of the master bedroom makes it look cramped to me even though it may be a "great size" - the bulky armoire/dresser/whatever is a little intrusive. Can you get some of those great silicone furniture sliders, slide that out, take the picture and slide it right back in?

I would also want to see an exterior picture taken from far enough back that I could see the entire front of the house. The close-up picture makes me wonder what you are hiding - maybe it is not as common a trick down there as it is up here but that is the first thing that goes through my head when I see a very tight shot of the exterior. I would sacrifice one of the sort-of-redundant interior photos (probably the bathtub one) for a second exterior shot so you have both the whole front and the detail of the front patio. Your exteriors are as nice if not nicer than your interiors, so emphasize them!

sparksals: AC IS a selling feature. People from AZ will know, as will the realtor, that is a bonus as many homes only have evap which is useless this time of year.

OMG! As someone from the north, I would expect AC in a house in AZ. I honestly cannot imagine trying to get by without it.

From the photos and the listing detail, I would never think you have a separate dining room. Why not include "breakfast room and separate Dining Room" in your new descriptive blurb. And show the dining room. By not showing the DR and the bedrooms I think you are shortchanging the house.

johnmari - I empathize with gay people and I have many gay friends myself. I would never have thought that term to be cringeworthy. There's PC'ness, but to have to be PC for every branch of the market is impossible. I can't take the time to research what could possibly be offensive to (for example) different religions. Honestly, if a gay couple looking for a home were offended by my use of that term, then that is their problem, not mine. My mantra is not to take offense when none is intended.

Thanks for the blurb. I do find what I wrote to be a bit more enticing.

Unfortunately, I can't move the armoire. The furniture is new and when it was delivered, we tried to put it on the other side by the window, but then that was too cramped and it covered part of the slider. That photo is the best angle I could get that included the slider and view of the backyard.

The carpet is actually very plush. It's high quality and it was not cheap. People will see that when they come through the house.

Time2sell - We don't have a photo of the DR included because we use it as our computer area since we don't have DR furniture. I like the idea of breakfast room and somehow incorporating separating dining room.

As for the showing yesterday, I'm absolutely LIVID. Since it's the long weekend, neighbours were out putzing around the yard, the guy across the street had his ATV on a trailer ready to take to storage. Just our luck he was putzing with it yesterday. The buyers didn't even look at the house because of that.

I know that he doesn't normally have stuff like that visible. He occasionally brings his boat to work on, but it's never there for more than the weekend. However, a potential buyer doesn't know that! I was really upset that the first chance we had at a showing was ruined because of a neighbour.

Then, this morning, I noticed he had his truck with the trailer attached parked smack in front of our house! I went over and politely asked if they could move it. They were friendly about it and understood why I made the request. I told a white lie and said we have another showing today to make him do it faster.

Mari, I appreciate your thought, but I'm in a lesbian relationship and "His 'n Her's" doesn't bother me. I recognize it is a shorthand way of describing the space and I'm hard pressed to think of a handy substitute.

By the same token, describing a bathroom as Jack' n Jill bathroom does not mean that you can only house a boy and a girl in each of the connecting bedrooms.

Now, if I was selling a property in a gay neighborhood and advertising in local gay publications, I might change the wording. But other than that, no.

All my girlfriend and I really care about is whether our interest in a property is treated with the same respect as anyone else's interest.

Thanks trilobite. I'm glad that you don't find the term offensive. I just can't see how someone would take offense to such a term, except in the circumstances you described, which is totally reasonable.

You're also right that it is more important that you are treated equally. I wouldn't think twice if a same-sex couple viewed or put an offer on the house. To me, they are people just any other.

If we are going to be PC, what about the term master bedroom? ;)

Okay sparksal, here's my best shot. I really think you need to show your dining room. Perhaps you can purchase an inexpensive dining room table off of craigslist. I am focusing on this one room because a separate dining room is something many home buyers look for. I know I want that after having an eat-in kitchen and a DR table in the corner of my Living Room.

Here's my sample which features the rooms first, then the other upgrades and niceties second.

Turnkey NW house in top school district near I-10, schools and amenities. Living Room with fireplace, Family Room has vaulted ceiling, separate Dining Room. Breakfast Room overlooks beautifully planted backyard. Master Bedroom with 2 walk-in closets. Stunning new tile in living areas & baths. Freshly painted and updated throughout. AC and Evap recently updated. New roof, patios, mature landscaping add to the beauty of this house.

time2sell - I wish I could buy a DR set for the room, but we use it for the computer room. I am partially disabled and just can't move furniture around since my husband is away and won't be back until we move to the TC's.

The Dining room is mentioned in the listing and the description and that is the best I can do with my disability and with my husband away. When people come since it's off the kitchen and there is a separate livingroom and familyroom.

You did a good job with the description, but with a couple inaccuracies. The FP is in the Family Room and the AC and Evap haven't been updated, the ductwork has. The Evap is less than 5 years old, but the AC is original to when the house was built. It works fine, but it could go at anytime and we are also offering a home warranty for that contingency. We have renewed it every year for that purpose actually hoping it would die so we could get a new one, but just like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps going.... and going.... and going! lol

The slider to the patio from the master bedroom is important to mention as is 3 patios because most homes here only have one.

There was an issue with the search at my realtor's website. When I entered the MLS number, my listing popped up, but some people told me that when they entered it, a page of hundreds of listings appeared. I called the computer guy and he called this AM to say it has been fixed.

Could people here please visit the website to double check that when they enter the MLS number using the quick search that my listing is the only one that pops up?

MLS 20732747

Also, realtor just called me, he updated the description and swapped out a few photos. I got rid of the closeup of the front patio and elected to do a full frontal. I also swapped a kitchen photo for another as well as a different BY pic.

Last I checked, it hasn't shown up yet on the realtor's site, but I imagine it takes a few hours for the update to occur throughout the MLS and other sites etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Listing

It used to work fine for me, but whatever they did now brings up 10 pages of listings.

OK I figured it out. After you put in the MLS number it is sometimes a little slow in bringing up a new search button vs. what was there before putting the number in. If you click search before it changes you will get the 100's of listings. If you wait for the new button to come up with will take you to the correct listings.

If I put in the MLS numberŅand don't click "search"...it does nothing...no matter how long I wait.
If I put in the MLS number, and click "search", I get pages of listings.

The only way I could get to work was to click "advanced search", choose the search MLS tab, then put the MLS number in.......and your listing comes up...

There webmasterÂ.or should I say webmistress? ;-) Â..is asleep at the switch.

That said...they really need to get this fixed...itÂs not rocket science....and could be contributing to your dearth of "lookers".

Hey sparksals - just wondering how your listing is going . . . any new activity? I'm wondering if some buyers are holding their breath until the Feds announce a possible rate change later this month. I've got to say it's hard trying to sell now that we're no longer in Tucson. I feel so disconnected from the process and am totally relying on our agent to keep me posted.

I hope your new wording entices people to come see your house!

I no longer get only your listing when typing in the mls number. I too get 10 pages.

One thing I would suggest to the broker is to take some of his commission split checks and run a photography class for his Realtors! While we all regularly see bad photos, this agency takes the cake. Not one listing had all decent pictures, never mind good pictures. From the "cannot see the front of the house" shots to a picture of a cactus as the main photo (!) to pictures of outlets, these listing photos are just atrocious.

xamsx - I see what you mean - check out the featured property.

I agree with all the good advice you guys have given Sparksals . . . but, I especially agree with Fairygirl43 -- I just finished helping one of my friends sell her house. She had a REALTOR, things were going very, very slowly. She didn't want to do a lot of open houses, so we decided to do alot of FSBO stuff and one thing I did was create a Virtual Open House video using a free software called Qlipboard.

Thought this may be helpful for your efforts too. This is really simple software, easy to use. To give you a demonstration on how you can do it, I created a Virtual Open House using pictures from your MLS listing and the description from your first post.

Now, this is NOT a representation of the quality of the Virtual Open House video I made for my friend. I did this example very quickly (in about 15 minutes). If I was doing it FOR REAL, I would take alot more time with this to make it look professional and sound really great. This was very quick and on the fly . . . so please understand that.

I just wanted you to have a quick idea of what we did and how YOU can do it too. I'm happy to help and I can give you more detail if you want.

graywings the feature property keeps changing. I did see some doozies though.

We just fired our realtor after being on the market for over 30 days with zero showings, zero advertising and other errors that will be posted in another thread.

Sorry to hear it didn't work out but better to do what you did instead of hanging in there. Hopefully you'll find an agent / company that you are happy with.

btw, your house is still showing as active; hopefully you won't have to go through what I did to have it removed.

Interestingly, I was researching online and found this article from the Tucson Association of Realtors. It is ILLEGAL for realtors to boycott a house or realty company because it goes against antitrust laws.

The problem is how do you prove it?

rose - he said he will take it off this morning because when I spoke to him last night, he wasn't near his computer. I have no worries that he'll take it off the market as promised.

I will start a new thread about the firing.

As for proving the antitrust thing, you're right, very difficult.

That's how my nightmare started. 3:30 pm EST you are still active. It may take 24 hours, so by this time tomorrow, hopefully it will not be active

I think it takes a few hours to update the RE co site. He only left here at around 11 AM this morning, Pacific time. He took it off the MLS before he came here. He removed the sign and gave me quite a lashing. Seems he didn't like all the hits on the MLS site when I posted the listing after the revamp. He said it skewed the results for legit public hits. Too bad. I have every right to take an active part in the selling of my home, after all, I'm paying a hefty price for it. If I want to get outside feedback, I will do so.

Basically, he did zero advertising for our listing or OH's, didn't believe in Agent's opens. Yet, when he gave me the guilt trip about the costs he expended for this listing, he said he was going to take out an ad in the newspaper but he's glad he didn't. Funny, in the previous breath, he said that advertising is a waste of money and rarely illicits a buyer.

I had to suggest to him to email his 900+ contacts to alert them of the bonus we were offering. His response? "Oh! That's a great idea, why didn't I think of that?"

He said he looked at our comps daily when we first listed. I told him that I heard a house closed a couple days prior and we already knew of one that went under contract and were waiting to close to see the price to compare to ours. When i asked about that, he said, "Oh, I haven't checked the comps in about a week". WTF? You know there's at least one house that is under contract and I told him days prior about one closing and he didn't check so we could make sure our price was in line? I had to ask him for the printout.

He never did tell me what happened to the Curry house - we think it was taken off the market, but he never verified that with me. He just didn't have a great attention to detail.

The clencher to the firing was when we received the postcards announcing the listing, it had the incorrect email address. It was not his current company, but the address for when he was at Remax! To me, that is an inexcusable mistake. How do we know someone didn't try to email him about it? He said it wasn't a big deal, but if it wasn't important information, why include it on the card? The most important thing is it was a big deal to us.

Then, I found out that he never changed his email address on the MLS and that's how it got printed on his card in the first place. So, all this time we've been listed, he had the wrong email address on the MLS system. How do we know a realtor didn't email to enquire about the listing? His response? Realtors rarely email. Ok, fair enough, but that doesn't mean never. One of the most powerful forms of contact was incorrect for the entire time we were listed.

He didn't want to do up a supplementary file to list all the improvements we made to the house. He said realtors rarely read them. IF that's the case, they're not doing their job. Instead, he put in the listing to contact him for a decription of the improvements/renos. How do we know someone didn't email asking for that list then the email bounced? There were just too many scenarios where someone could have contacted him about the house, but never got to him because of the wrong address in the MLS. All of these can be logical explanations as to why we have had ZERO showings after being on the market 33 days, homes in the neighbourhood are being viewed and sold.

When I fired him, I told him that it wasn't him, but the company as I saw no point in beating him down personally. I used the postcard error, incorrect email on the MLS as well as the website problem as my reason. I said that when we first listed, we felt that the website issue hurt our exposure and we had to do what is best for us.

I have a couple interviews set up from a long standing company in the city. A normal part of their business is weekly agent tours, advertising is a given and there are rules for returning emails/phone calls. A friend of mine is an agent, I explained to her that with the friendship thing I dont' feel comfortable using her, she understood completely and is referring me to a couple agents.

She said that they actively market the homes within their own office and they get bonuses for selling in house. Of course, it's on the MLS. It just sounds like a much better company that understands the current market.

UPDATE: It's off the mls. I just noticed a few new homes in the area and some are under contract. Not one viewing of our home yet all these under contract? Something was VERY wrong.

What site are you using to see if it's active or not? I'm still seeing it as active on his site.

I don't blame you, had I done my homework, I probably would have done the same thing. I was aggravated to say the least that mine was ignoring emails.

I can't believe he let the email addy slip through the cracks. You wonder what they're thinking when they spend the money on printing stuff up and mailing without checking the accuracy.

Good luck with the interviews. Let us know how you made out.

rose - it's off the Tucson MLS. I can only surmise that it will be off his website and R.com after a daily update. I know it's off the market for sure because I had a cold call from a realtor this aft asking to come see me. I said sure. He presented a VERY impressive advertising plan - magazine after magazine. He's the top ten in the city. BUT he advocates the range pricing.

The way he explained it, it gives you exposure in two price ranges. It gets the lookers in the 200-225 range into your home. He said it's been very successful for him.

I'm not sure I'm buying it. It makes sense on paper, but in practice? I dunno. Not sure I trust that strategy, although he did say he can do the listing at a set price to see what that brings.

I'm probably going with the realtor who was recco'd by my friend who is also a realtor. The strong suit was attention to detail, advertising, agent opens, open houses and years of experience.

it's off the Tucson MLS. I can only surmise that it will be off his website and R.com after a daily update. I know it's off the market for sure because I had a cold call from a realtor this aft asking to come see me. I said sure. He presented a VERY impressive advertising plan - magazine after magazine. He's the top ten in the city. BUT he advocates the range pricing.

I did a search at a different site - it didn't come up. Looks like you won't have to go through what I did.

The way he explained it, it gives you exposure in two price ranges. It gets the lookers in the 200-225 range into your home. He said it's been very successful for him.

I'm not sure I'm buying it. It makes sense on paper, but in practice? I dunno. Not sure I trust that strategy, although he did say he can do the listing at a set price to see what that brings.

I'd like to see our house priced like this but doubt it would work here.

I think staying with your original plan with someone that will do what is supposed to be done should be tried 1st

Good luck and keep us posted

Sparksals, you fired your agent... did you receive an unconditional withdrawal from the broker? If not, you may very well still be listed with that brokerage until your contract expires entitling them to a commission if you sell. It may also inhibit your signing with a new Realtor. Your contract is actually with the broker, not the Realtor.

xamsx - how do I find that out? I signed a cancellation and he assured me that I had no obligation to the broker. I specifically asked if the broker would hold me to anything and he said no. The new realtor is coming over tomorrow. I will definitely mention this to her and ask her what to do to ensure. Thanks for the letting me know!

The agent should be able to pull your old listing up on the MLS and see anything attached to it. Chances are they're doing that before they come anyway because they want to be sure it is free & clear to relist. Our new agent was keeping an eye on ours which was how I knew I wasn't released.

Did you need the listing description before I close the window? I do see it's not active on their site, has a "W". For the next listing, consider a new front photo, taken from the right so that you can see the house behind the trees. I would then use the tree one 2nd so that people see you have mature landscaping.

I had problems taking new outside shots last weekend because the sun is in a different position then it was in the spring. I can't get a clear shot without one of the neighbor's shade trees on the right of our house. I need to buy another camera, can't stand the Minolta I got last year.

Looking at realtor.com, the 1st listing in a 3 bed 2 bath $200k to $275k search, RE/MAX Majestic Realty is the 1st few listings. The scroll box says "Your Home Sold In Under 59 Days or I'll Buy It! Call (520) 885-9000 or visit www.TucsonGuaranteedHomeSale.com" I wonder if this is why you're seeing houses sold?

Other agencies with enhanced listings:
Caldwell Banker
Desert Moon Real Estate
Congress Realty
RE/MAX All Executives
RE/MAX Catalina Foothills

If you go to the main page (not advanced search) at realtor.com, put your zip code in there will be a box on the left for featured homes; none of the agencies pay for that advertising. My agent and another I interviewed are the only 2 that do, they both said that featuring a house in the box brings a lot of interest in the house. If you do choose an agent that has enhanced listings, maybe see if they are willing to pay for your house to be featured, or you might think to pay for it.

I know the type of realtor.com ad doesn't matter to you but every agent I spoke to said that most buyers use it and that it's foolish not to pay for the advertising. They said that realtor.com will be the main site most people use to find houses along with various other sites. Most said they guarantee advertising on so many sites. One agent I interviewed said no less than 30 sites and they pay for the number 1 google rank on searches. This would have been the place I would use except they are 25 minutes away.

Other agencies with enhanced listings:

Roselvr, just for your info, enhanced listings on Realtor.com have nothing to do with the agencies. This is all done on an individual basis with the agent.

Hi sparksals - I had a friend sell in Tucson in February 2006 using the range pricing but she got the lower end of her range (this was still during the seller's market out there). I don't think it will work very well in the buyer's market that exists right now. I think you should list based on search engine factors and your listing price. I'll use my house as an example.

When we started at $419k, we felt that we were going to get those who were looking above $400k but less than $450k (above $400k, search engines often jump $50k instead of $25k). When that didn't work, we lowered to $400k as that would capture those folks looking up to, but no more than $400k. We offered incentives ($5k towards closing), but still nothing. When we dropped to $385k, we had our first offer (fell through). The last drop was to $375k which is a search engine number (so those looking for no more than $375k). We also put in new carpet throughout and got the 2nd offer (also failed).

We're still at $375k with the new agent and have had some showings but no offers yet. New agent is much better!

Hopefully you'll find better representation that will bring in buyers!

xamsx - I have to assume that I'm completely released because I've been bombarded with realtor phone calls today. They obviously check the listings and every single one of them is a top producer, but to me, that screams they go for volume and not necessarily service.

Rose - the realtor to which you refer is Marsee Wilhems. She is the top agent in Tucson and frequently advertised during American Idol. Her first teaser was she would sell your home in 90 days or she would buy it herself. The fine print was such that in order to qualify for that programme, you had to use her to buy another home.

She now offers to pay your mortgage if you don't sell in 90 days. She goes strictly for volume, has many employees and while I'm sure she is a top producer for a reason, having so many listings indicates to me that personal service is lacking.

I think any realtor can become a top producer if they go for the sheer volume of listings. I see her signs all over the city. I also see them for a very loooooong time. So even though she's a top producer, her homes don't seem to sell any faster than anyone else's.

I don't need the listing description. I have it saved on my computer. Thanks for the offer!

fairygirl - Whenever I see the range pricing, I wonder what the seller is thinking. I think it's too new of a phenomena that it could actually harm the sale of the house by turning off buyers who don't understand the strategy.

The realtor who came over yesterday with that strategy had an impressive advertising campaign in many mags, but I had to wonder where personal service is in that equation. He goes for volume. In fact, now that I think of it, I believe I've seen their signs in our neighbourhood a few times and they didn't sell any faster than other homes. This market is too risky to take a non-conventional approach.

I think the realtor we're going with will be decent. The RE company believes strongly in advertising, but also personal service. One of the most important things to me is attention to detail which our previous agent severely lacked. Perhaps some realtors on this board will think I didn't give him a chance in this market, but the mistakes were too harmful to us. The website, the wrong email address and not receiving the contract despite asking 3 times and finally having to call the office all lead me to lose faith in him.

Ultimately, we have to do what is best for us in order to get the house sold. Houses in our neighbourhood are selling, so that means there are people looking. If we have to drop our price, we will do so. It will be a tough pill to swallow especially when one just closed last week that was right in line with our pricing.

Get the new agent, maybe list a little lower (a thousand or two), then see what happens. You have to give it enough time for the advertising to work. We're almost at the end of the 2nd week and although we have photos up, they aren't all up yet. He's also working on the flier, so once those things are in place, I expect the phone to start ringing, If not, we will drop the price a little more.

I'm watching the market here, we're priced almost at 3 bedroom 1 bath homes, we have a 4/2.

Perhaps some realtors on this board will think I didn't give him a chance in this market, but the mistakes were too harmful to us. The website, the wrong email address and not receiving the contract despite asking 3 times and finally having to call the office all lead me to lose faith in him.

I don't think anyone thinks you didn't give him a chance. You gave him enough; there were too many strikes and in this market that costs the seller money. It's business.

The realtor came over today and I really liked her. I also lucked out in that she brought another one with her who will be working on the listing as well. They are both same company but from different offices, so that gives us internal exposure at two major offices. That's gotta be a bonus. What's even better is I liked BOTH of the ladies.

The main realtor is no holds barred. She said we were priced to high and the comps that sold had a pool. We listed at $240K by her advice. They both had very positive things to say about the house and that they will work very hard to get the marketing it deserves.

She also said she remembers when it was first listed, had a client, but passed because one of the kitchen photos make the room look too narrow. She was surprised when she saw it in person that it's much larger and how deceiving the photo was. Photos make a huge difference - and I thought ours were pretty good.

At any rate, it should be on the MLS soon. These two ladies know what they're doing. Big time. They're holding an OH tomorrow and then doing all the advertising for one next Saturday. They are committed to strong advertising, agent caravans etc.

I feel much better about them and I'm tickled to have two working on this for me. Will post the listing when it's up. I owe my friend big time for this favour because she definitely set me up with top notch people.

I'm going to GA on Wed to visit DH for our anniversary and we're staying at a nice beach resort. It will be nice to get away from this rat-race, relax and get ...errr.. reacquainted with my hubby! ;)

Congratulations sparksals! I'm so glad you found great realtors. It makes a huge difference in how you feel about the process. Have a wonderful relaxing trip!

OMG I am TOTALLY thrilled! I have a new sense of optimism and I feel extremely encouraged.

New realtor had an open house today. It wasn't advertised since the house just went on the market this morning, but she put signs out around the neighbourhood and on major roadways. The next one is next weekend and it will be advertised. She brought over the magazines they advertise the house and OH's in and we should be in the realty ad within the next 3 weeks. In the meantime, they are actively marketing it within their two offices.

We had two serious lookers. A couple came with an agent (who I think was the wife of one of the agents who bombarded me with phone calls after it went off the market and who advocated the range pricing). They stayed about 10 minutes and the feedback was extremely positive. She didn't think the house was for them, but the woman kept commenting on the decor. I was shocked at that since I have no design accumen whatsoever. It was really nice to have positive feedback. Heck, after the last month, I would happily accept negative feedback! lol

Another guy came in who has specifically been looking in the neighbourhood. He is working with a realtor, but came alone. He has looked at every house in the area and he seemed to know which house had what b/c our realtor said he was comparing out loud.

I'm encouraged because he kept looking around the house saying, "WOW! wow! WOW!" He was really impressed with everything we've done and he said his son would love the home. My realtor thought it may be big for him, but from what she described, he really liked it and he stayed about 20 minutes. I think that's encouraging as I know within the second I walk in a door whether the house is for me or not. If it isn't, I'm in there 5-10 mins max. If I like it, I spend longer.

If he's looking for smaller, pro for us is the next smaller floorplan is a split level and they are not popular in Tucson. Most of the houses in the neighbourhood are not updated like ours nor do they have dual cooling.

OMG! I'm swinging from the chandeliers! FINALLY something. Anything. And it was all positive.

We may take awhile to sell, but at least we had serious lookers and excellent feedback.

Time for a brewski to celebrate!

It was really nice to have positive feedback. Heck, after the last month, I would happily accept negative feedback! lol

LOL! Yay you! Sounds like things have definitely taken a positive upturn. Enjoy your visit to GA; the heat just broke and this week is supposed to be fairly pleasant.

Thanks tauph - Where are you in GA? We're staying on Jekyll Island. I got a great deal at one of the resorts there. It's amazing what they do for you when you tell them it's your anniversary and you have been apart from your husband for 2 months! I got a lower rate, a room upgrade, ocean view and king bed! LOL

Happy Anniversary! Has he been gone 2 months already? To you, I'm sure it feels more like 4 :( Hubby drives a truck, so I know what it's like to be left alone although he doesn't do it (long runs) very often. I can always count on Murphy's Law when he's away. Before we took out the two huge sugar maples out front, they would drop massive branches on the lawn. I'm so thankful they're out.

Glad to hear you found someone. I'll keep my fingers crossed that things go well so you can move on.

Personally, I like the use of the words 'move-in-ready' more than turnkey. If you *dare* to use the word beautiful, supposedly it will bring in an additional $12,500, but i'll let you know when my place sells. LOL

I find your updated pictures to be very appealing, and wish I had all that greenery~that would sure sell me!! Best of luck to you sparkals!! I never knew selling a home could be such a trying experience.

Rose - yeah, he's been gone just shy of two months.

I know what you mean about Murphy's law. It seemed everything went wrong the day after he left.

Patty - since we changed realtors, we have a new listing description and I think she did a good job capturing the important features. I sent her all the photos I took for the first listing and let her choose. She said when my house first came on the market the first time, she chose not to show it solely on the kitchen photo. She said it make the room look much smaller than it is. She chose to do more outside pics and included a photo of the DR looking over the LR. She chose more outside pics because she said that outdoor living is VERY important in Tucson during the year, except for summer. She wanted to capture the two patios in the back as well as the nice patio in the front with all the landscaping. That may not have been my choice, but I'm going to trust her on this one -for now.

I like the description she wrote and I was surprised when she used "immaculate". I think that's a nice compliment. One of the comments from the lookers yesterday was she loved my decor, but it wasn't the house for them. That's ok. The feedback was positive! YAY!

This realtor has 22 years experience, so I'm going to go with the flow for a bit. She knows what she's doing and the other one is top notch too. I'm happy to have two working for us.

I'm posting the link to our new listing at the Remax site even though we're listed with another company. I don't want to skew the stats for public hits on the MLS site or the realtor's site, so if you want to look, please look at the link below. I checked Realtor.com and it's not there yet, which most likely is b/c it hasn't updated with the MLS. Hopefully it will be on by the end of the day today or tomorrow at the latest.

I saw it yesterday, and liked the photos she picked. I was rushed yesterday when I replied, so I never mentioned it. I liked pictures 9 & 10, I wouldn't have used 8 due to the sun. Love photo #2, it looks very inviting. I also like that they used the living room photo and also the dining area.

I'm glad to hear you're happy because you have to like who is working for you. Hopefully this team will get you sold so that you can join hubby and start looking for your dream house. Has he been doing any looking?

Rose - dh is in GA and we're moving to MN. He is at a Law Enforcement academy that is not where we will eventually be moving.

I will be looking for and deciding upon the home if we sell before he graduates at the end of January. That's why this is all so stressful. He's in a completely different state from where we're moving, I have to go to Minneapolis after the house is under contract to househunt on my own. He trusts my judgment, but I also worry that I will miss key things when I'm looking. I'm going to get my cousin from Winnipeg to meet me in the TC's when I go up there to look so she can be a second set of eyes.

I like photo 2 as well. It's from just the right angle that really showcases the privacy of our yard. BTW, that is our FRONT yard, not the back. We have a nice sitting area there that is great for chatting and drinking wine after dark. I'm going to miss it! People really like outdoor living here (except in the summer), so I think that photo will be a plus.

Sorry, I guess the link above doesn't take you to the direct listing. Please go to the link below and input the MLS #20737683.

If the link below doesn't work, go to http://www.longrealty.com and input the above MLS number.

Sparkals, i'm very impressed with the new pictures and slideshow! I absolutely love the ourdoor 'conversation area'!! Like I said before, the greenery alone would sell me. I sure hope this does the trick and you sell/close quickly so you can be with your hubby~sorry you have to go thru this alone. If there's a 'next time', you'll be an expert!

Your new agent is off to a good start. With 22 years in the business, she must know her 'stuff'. I'll be looking for someone with years under their belt, and also a woman. I didn't know I could be so dis-heartened by a RE 'professional'. I guess I thought they all basically did the same thing, but was I wrong! I haven't talked to him since last Wed., and if *I* were him, would be wondering what we could do to generate *some* interest. His complacency is beyond words! Maybe it's the Californian in him, not meant to be judgemental, but I see a lot of the 'natives' as being very lax. Done venting.

Best of luck to you Sparkals!

Thanks patty cakes! I think the mistake we made with the first agent is he is a guy and I have a very strong attention to detail. I prefer a woman as well because they understand where we're coming from. Not that all male realtors are like that, but I think the "man" comes out in them in terms of listening to our concerns and paying attention to the details.

I had alot of top producers call me when we removed the first listing. While they sell alot, I think they deal more in volume which is how they become the top producer. I would much rather have someone who has been in the business a long time, who will give personal service and be attentive to our needs, concerns etc.