What is the market like in your area? Are other homes selling in three weeks?

I did look at the photos of you home. I would suggest removing some of the stuff on top of the cabinets and the box on top of the fridge. It's looks like too much to my eye. It looks super clean though.

tell your realtor to mention that boat parking spot(hidden behind privacy fence) in the main comments of MLS.

the front photo of home (exterior) has that shadow cast with the tree. Seems to show off the grass more than the home. Try taking exterior photos when overcast so you don't have that big shadow and the contrast of sunny grass but the front of the house is shaded.

Most pro photos of homes are taken just after it rains when everything is still wet and overcast but still bright outside. the colors pop well this way. Also many pro photos are taken at sunset and all lights in the house are turned on (inside and outside lights).

IMO, the same front photo is taken from down the hill and you are looking at lots of grass and the house is too far up in the photo. IMO, the photo can be improved by getting on a ladder or similar in order to get the camera more on part with the home (rather than camera being downhill).

Also it's only been 3 weeks. Homes take time to sell. Lots of sellers get anxious after 2-3 weeks. This is normal.

You might check price for professional photos. Some of the inside photos seem like the camera is elongating objects. They don't look quite normal is all I can say. The home itself looks great inside and out. the inside photos are really fine, though (I am being picky about needing a pro).

But the first exterior front shot really needs to get rid of that sun/shade situation. Overast day will solve.

I don't think your number of showings is that bad considering the time of year. We used to live in one of the neighborhoods near you that feed into the same elementary schools. We put our house on the market in July and only had three showings by the end of August when we got our offer. It is just a slower time of year to sell. We sold in 2009 when the market was worse.

You are getting showings so your price isn't too bad. It is possible that lowering to $169,900 would make a difference on how long you sit on the market.

Overall, your house looks good. The back yard doesn't have any landscaping. That is something I personally would have changed to make the backyard more inviting. I wouldn't bother with it now.

Good luck! Hopefully, your buyer will get their offer in this weekend.

Thanks for all the great comments. We are supposed to have a bit of an overcast day so maybe we can get a better shot. I was thinking about minimizing the amount of stuff on top of the cabinets. Your comments just solidified that thought for me. I will tackle that tomorrow.

I mentioned the backyard to my husband the other day. We have two dogs so it has always been a hassle trying to keep them out of the plants. We have a lawn service that treats the front yard but we just let the back go to the dogs...literally! I think I might put out a few potted plants to give it some color.

Again thanks!

Honestly, I don't think that different/better photos are going to sell the house or sell it faster. If the price is right, this is a waiting game.

If I were you, I would spend my money on personal luxuries while you wait for a buyer to come along - nice bottles of wine, a manicure, chocolate.

The listings are saying you have hardwood floors. Are they hardwood or laminate? I would rewrite the description to include the boat pad. The term "fabulous layout" doesn't really say anything. Same with "nice landscaping."

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to your listing

Always amazing to see the different prices throughout the US. I'm in the Los Angeles area and at that price you would have sold your house in 5 minutes with a bidding war! Your house would be priced at around $1 mill in my town. Crazy ...

Good luck!

With typos in the description?

Cabria perhaps should be Cambria?

I caught that misspelling too and plan to tell the realtor about that next week. As for the boat pad, we had that in our description but took it out and just added a pic of the boat pad. Maybe we need both.

The floors are laminate but realtor told us to the leave it saying wood as some buyers will mistake laminate for linoleum. We did however put a framed info sheet on our entry table with details about the floor (12mm, beveled, hand scraped, durability rating, etc.). As I said before, laminate is considered an upgrade for this area as most homes are tile and carpet.

Give me some suggestions on how to word the listing. We are limited to 255 characters on MLS I believe.

Again, thanks for all the great comments. Keep them coming.

Leave the word "wood". Let the buyers figure out ifit is laminate wood or solid wood.
OH, and by the way, the US is in one of the worst housing markets ever. You have been listed for 3 weeks with 7 showings. You are doing well.

Okay, just for clarification, Laminate refers to flooring that is basically Formica for floors. It is plastic, and shouldn't be confused with Engineered wood flooring, which has a top layer of wood. Is this what you have? If so, you should call it wood, since it is. If it is a true laminate floor you would be misleading by calling it a wood floor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Differences between solid wood, engineered wood and laminate

Your agent can have 2500 characters in the description on Realtor.com

3 weeks?....LOL

Try 3 years and 9 months, and 37 showings. My house was like a museum each and every time. Perfect in every way according to all the agents.

good luck!

Wow clean, you are making me feel better now. It's been 8 months, and 17 showings for us, same thing, very clean and perfect. I hope you did sell! I can not even begin to imagine that amount of time. Did you do anything differently to get the sale, or was it just the right person?

It did finally sell. All it took was the right person. Easiest person to sell to as well. No inspections or realtors involved, no 2nd showing needed. A simple meeting at the attorney office and we closed within 2 days of meeting.

There is hope!

Leave the word "wood". Let the buyers figure out ifit is laminate wood or solid wood.

Ncrealestateguy, I always thought you gave good advice until I read the above. You've demonstrated why so many people distrust realtors.

Here, laminate is the same as engineered wood or veneered wood. The remarks section only allows us 260 characters... why waste more words on something that a buyer can figure out in two seconds?

Here, laminate is not wood, it is a cheap flooring, a photo of wood which doesn't really look like hardwood. If it is understood differently in various areas, better to say precisely what it is to avoid buyers feeling like they've been misled. If it is engineered hardwood, say that. Again, not the same as hardwood, but way better than laminate.

The house went under contract yesterday.

I too was not comfortable with the word "wood" since the floor is laminate. What we did was place a framed infor sheet on the entry table as soon as you walk in the house with all the details about the floor . . . clearly identifying it as laminate. We put a similar framed info sheet by our Bosch dishwasher and Cambria countertops. I did not want a buyer to feel like we weren't disclosing the truth about what was in the home.

Thanks for all your help!

Congratulations on a quick sale! I hope you get to closing without any issues.

kswl wrote:
"Ncrealestateguy, I always thought you gave good advice until I read the above. You've demonstrated why so many people distrust realtors."

If the worst practice that I do is to call engineered floors, wood floors, well then, I can live with that.
You sellers and buyers have to remember, an agent is representing the best interests of the represented party. Not you. It is our duty to represent the property in the best light possible w/o misrepresenting it. You really probably should not trust us when we are trying to sell you a home.

Engineered floors are wood floors. Plastic laminate floors are not.

Cleanfreak,
What do mean no realtor involved. Were you by owner the whole time? I'm at 3.5 years and our feedback says extremely clean, shows perfect, just not the house for us! We've had 24 showings since Feb. We are way below the comps now too.

Op, congrats!

Frozenenlves... either you live in a very nondesirable area, or you are overpriced, or both. It is that simple.

frozenelves--

I had the house listed with a 3 different realtors over 3 year period. I received 2 offers from them and at the time they were bottom of the barrel offers so I turned them down. Not to mention, after paying the realtor we would have been upside down due to the low offers. The realtor would have made $18,000 while I walk away with zero, or worse. I just could not do it.

We did an original 5year/arm mortgage and in December of last year, we had approached the 5 year mark. Not knowing if the house would sell or not we optioned to refi to avoid the higher payment. The law where I live states you can not have your house 'officially' on the market if you are trying to refi.

So we let our contract expire with the realtor and went ahead with the refi. After the refi, I listed it FSBO just to see what would happen. I also lowered the price and took the realtor fees out. Since we had just did the refi, we had to have an appraisal done as such I knew exactly what the house was worth. I posted that as my new selling price and in 8 months, we finally sold.

We posted over 200 flyers in our 'info' box over this time. Not once the realtor ever post any info for the 'drive by' customers. They depended on the phone instead. A flyer with detailed info and some really nice pics is what sold our house. That, and the curb appeal.

here is a pic of the house

Here is a link that might be useful:

Cleanfreak... the flyers did not sell the home... the new, lower price in combination with the probably improving market is what sold your home. The curb appeal was always there.

ncrealestate--

Nice of you to tell me what sold the house. The buyers told me straight up it was the info on the flyer that enticed them to come in. They told me if the flyer was not there, they would have just passed by noting another nice house for sale.

This was not my first rodeo.

good try though.

My point is if the flyer was there along with your original price, chances are those buyers, too, would have moved on to that other home. The fact that you did not have a sale for 3 years and nine months and 37 showings , could hardly be blamed on the lack of a flyer.
I usually speak in general terms on this forum because there are always local and unique details in every transaction. Maybe in your neck of the woods, flyers do sell homes.

They redrew our school boundaries right before we put our house for sale. It put us right on the border (but on the side of the lower income school). Sadly, our neighborhood is considered really nice with a mix of small to very high end homes. The buyer pool on our side can't afford our home and our home is only going to appeal to families. We have it lowered as far as we can, but still have to sell. I have to wait until the right buyer comes along who likes my house and can afford it.

You do have to live or work here to know this unique situation. Add to that, ours is cape and the preferred house here is a split (I hate them, but it's true for our area.) They are still being built here as new construction.

I can debate this all day long, but it's not worth it. We need a bigger house and that's not going to happen if I sell it for lower. Sucks, yes. We are WAY below the comps already and I'm not in the position to remodel my floorplan.

No need to respond to my situation here. I am getting a new agent soon anyway.

Frozenelves... my earlier post was just validated... "either you live in a very nondesirable area, or you are overpriced, or both. It is that simple."

The redistricting of your schools is killing your buyer pool. And capes are appealing to a small pool too. I bet you open up the front door and stare at the stair steps... I hear negative comments about this set up when ever I show a cape.
If I was interviewing for the chance to represent you, and knew that your home has been for sale for 3.5 years, there would be no way I would take your listing and keep it at the same price. It does not make good business practice for either party.

Here, laminate is the same as engineered wood or veneered wood. The remarks section only allows us 260 characters... why waste more words on something that a buyer can figure out in two seconds?

Because it is a lie. I have owned property in NC , my BIL is an architect in NC , have many friends and extended fam there..... laminate is not the same as engineered wood. If your practice is to misrepresent a home on behalf of your clients, I hope you have a good E and O policy.