I'd take the house off the market while you make some changes, then list again.

What sushi said.

Also why have you dropped the price 2x in 6 weeks? six weeks is not a long time to be on the market and if your realtor priced it according to comps you should be priced right the first time, unless circumstances have changed around you.

For example we priced our condo based on sold comps but the sold comps were before they started building the 7 new condos in our downtown location. Even still we only dropped our price 1x after it had been on the market for 2 months and it was a small drop to get it under one of those "sticking points". Meaning people will not look over a certain number

cpartist, 6 weeks is a long time in our market. Houses are generally selling within 21 days with at least one offer after 15 showings. The price drops were related to a more careful assessment of comparables and feedback from viewers who universally found the price to be too high, given the elements of the house that needed upgrading. The second price drop was to put us under one of those sticking points to which you referred.

Thanks, rrah, great advice. Unfortunately, it looks as though our contract does not permit us to take the house off the market for another 6 weeks, taking us into a traditionally slow sales time in our area. I think we will have to do the upgrades while the house is still listed, but we are working with contractors to do it all at once, meaning the house will be "down" for only 2-3 days. The rest of your advice is certainly manageable under those circumstances.

I'd call the listing broker and explain... if you are satisfied with the agent, tell him/her that you intend to list it again with them.

As a matter of fairness and I dare say protection, there should be a new contract that prohibits you "finding" a new buyer and not paying a commission to the firm.

As an aside, I'm not an agent but I feel quite sure that you can not be forced to keep the house on the market????

Reread your contract. I've never heard that you can't take it off the market. Most of them state you can't give the listing to another agent for whatever period it is listed for, but not that you can't take it off completely.

This happened to my DH on the home he and his ex listed. He Knew it needed upgrades, but opted not to do them. After it didn't sell, and a couple price drops, the light dawned. They did take it off the market, do the work and relist with the same realtor BUT zillow and all the public places didn't treat it like a new listing so it showed as being on the market for 8 weeks. That was a bummer, however the house sold for a great price pretty quickly with the new photos and description. Good luck to you!

cpartist, there really isn't any point in taking our house off the market, because we still have a legally binding contract with the listing agent for another 6 weeks (we have confirmed this). We can do the necessary upgrades in a few days, so will just work around any potential showings. But we're interested in tips for how to market a newly-renovated house in the middle of a listing period. If we take the house right off the market, we would be unable to list it again until a date that is traditionally very slow for house sales in our area.

"we still have a legally binding contract with the listing agent"

So the 3-4 folks that suggested how you can take it off the market I guess were mistaken?

How did you "confirm" this?

You signed a listing agreement with a realtor. Marketing is his job. Your job is to make the house as presentable as possible. Sounds like you just do not have a working relationship with your agent.

SaltiDawg, the kind folks who responded with a suggestion that we take the house off the market did not suggest how. Perhaps the situation is different in the US, but we live in Canada, and I assure you that we have looked into the matter. In any case, as I said in a previous comment, it is not in our best interests to take the house off the market. We are interested in knowing what to ask our agent to do once the upgrades have been made since, as sushipup1 speculated, we have not felt completely happy with our agent. Thanks to all who took the time to respond, and especially to rrah, who responded with some very helpful suggestions, and to Suzi who shared a relevant personal experience. I really do appreciate everyone's comments.

ok I live in the U.S. and it's obviously different here.

1. Fix up the things that need to be fixed.

2. Make sure the house is immaculate. That means no fingerprints on light switches and wiping down the faucets every time you use them.

3. Get rid of anything that is personal. That means family pictures, your doll collection, the cutsy figurines, your collection of doilies. You get the picture

4. Make sure there is not too much furniture in the rooms and make sure it is laid out so it is easy to move from room to room

5. Make sure closets are immaculate and the shelves look like they have room for lots of stuff.

6. Have new professional pictures taken. Not your realtor.

7. Highlight in your ad all the positives.

might I suggest you post your photos here so we may look and critique them? You can right click on each photo and download them to your computer and then upload them here if you don't want us to know the exact location. That's what I did before putting my condo on the market and I got some excellent advice. Also download and upload here the blurb your realtor wrote about the place

Thanks a lot, cpartist. We've done 2, 3, 4, 5, and part of 1, so it's good to know those are the right things on the checklist. We need to finish 1 with new floor covers for sure. Really like the idea of professional photos and had not thought of that. Thanks again!

I'm not sure how the MLS here or there works, but after you do the upgrades, could you do a small price change so that it gets 'bumped' in the MLS, and then begin the description language with a sentence announcing the upgrades?

If your listing contract won't let you cancel the contract, you can suspend showings. I wouldn't bother. If your realtor isn't cooperative you can talk to their broker. If the broker doesn't work out a compromise, make your improvements while the property is still actively being shown. They can walk around them.

While it should have been done before listing the property, continue to remove furniture, rearrange furniture, clean closets and storage areas of clutter. Get a stager in the property asap. All of this can be done without cancelling the listing.

Don't do anything too expensive. Paint is cheap. The new carpet will help. Neutral is the key. Make sure the property smells good, too.

Make the listing agent post new pictures. Get a professional staging photographer into the property. Agent photos are not acceptable. Review the listing information and make sure it reflects the new upgrades. Light a fire under the agent. Have them call agents who showed the house and did not make an offer. You need to know what is causing the failure to sell. While some of the feedback will be pretty stupid, a trend will be established.

As you have learned, the work doesn't end when the listing is signed. While you are afraid you will miss the bulk of the selling season, serious buyers appear during the low seasons. The lookie lou's disappear. All that you need is one serious buyer.

When the six weeks is done, get another broker or agent. Find the broker or agent that actually sold your competitors properties.

Where I work you can "temporarily withdraw" the listing. The agency still has it for the contracted time, but is not marketing it. You can then reactivate it when you are ready. I would also have your agent update the description to reflect the upgrades.

Thanks homechef59. We did all the cleaning, painting, decluttering and reorganizing before listing, and we are getting very positive feedback on absolutely everything in the house except price, worn carpeting and dated kitchen countertops. Well, that and people who don't want an in-ground pool, so our potential group of buyers are going to come from those who are looking for a pool...one of the big reasons, along with great landscaping and gorgeous greenbelt space behind us, that we know the property is most appealing at this time of year. I really appreciate your suggestions about pro photos and pushing our agent. We have already pushed him to get us feedback from every agent and every viewer, which is how we know we should have trusted our instincts and fixed the flooring problem despite our agent's advice. You live and learn, I guess.

I have learned over the years that too many agents are too quick to want to get the listing so they downplay things that are easy fixes like your counters and carpet. I've learned not to listen to the agents who say it's fine.

You have identified the biggest problem. The pool. This reduces your group of potential buyers dramatically. While pools cost a lot to put in, they rarely provide any additional value to the property. Because you are located in an seasonal area, the pool is creating a drag on the value of the property. It costs a lot to maintain and insure.

It may surprise people to learn how much a pool reduces the valuation of a property. As a retired appraiser, it was no secret to appraisers. The farther north you go less useful it is and the less value it provides. It's a very expensive hole in the ground. If you were in Florida or Texas, you might need a pool in order to sell a house in certain price ranges. Obviously, this isn't the case in this instance.

If you were the person that installed the pool, you may have to write off the entire pool purchase as a bad expense. The market isn't going to reward you, it's going to punish you. Still, don't despair, there is a buyer out there that wants a pool. You just have to find them.

Yep, homechef59, we knew the pool was not a sales asset and would also restrict our pool (sorry, couldn't resist) of potential buyers. We both lived with pools before, as did our parents. But we put it in 13 years ago for our own pleasure, and it was worth every penny to us. One mitigating factor is that it is not the insurance liability in Canada that it is in the US, provided you have the requisite fencing, which we do. Also, our pool has a shallower deep end and warms up early in the season, and stays warm without a heater, so maintenance costs are low. But it's still a pool, and we know that makes our target buyer a much rarer beast, and is why we are eager to move the property during the hot summer months.

As someone else said, here in the US a Realtor can "refresh" a listing on our MLS somehow, so it will appear as new again .. see if your Realtor can do that, with new pictures and descriptions of the upgrades.

The realtor for the house we are under contract to buy put in big, bold letters "New Roof 4/26/2016!!". It was at the end of the intro paragraph but caught my eye right away. The house had been on the market for a year previous to the roof replacement.

Yeah, when I was writing my reply I used pool of buyers. I had go back an edit it to use another phrase. You will do fine. You are on top of the problems and seeking solutions. There is a qualified buyer just waiting to find your house.

Get those listing pictures updated asap and keep on top of the agent.

Thanks pamghatten and Heather Bogner, great tips. And thanks homechef59, for the words of encouragement. It's been 13 years, and I forgot how stressful it is to sell a house. :)