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I'm frustrated, our house considered a starter home hasn't had one showing in over three weeks now! We've had 11 showings in all and then then everything came to a halt. Our house has been on the market for four months now. We recently lowered our asking price in hopes to get some interest, but all for nothing. I know it only takes one buyer, but it seems like nobody is even looking. What's to blame, is it the restrictions the banks are putting on potential buyers, is it the bad economy, is it the programs on HGTV that seem to put pressure on sellers to make their home as neutral as possible & as inviting as possible to buyers that can't seem to be able to see their own decorating potential in a house? Does anyone else feel my pain? Our house is priced right, has been decluttered & depersonalized. We even neutralized everything & did updates where needed. The house even comes with a year warranty. Any thoughts?
It's a combination of three things, mainly:
(a) The bad economy/job market
(b) The media hype about the housing market being "bad" scaring buyers from making a move.
(c) Buyers having unrealistic expectations about how low prices should be from (b)
Strangely, when the market is "bad" as defined by the media is exactly the right time to buy, because prices will be lower. Later, when the perception turns to the market being "good" and prices are up again, those same buyers will rush in to pay much higher prices. Call it the herd mentality, of which the media is both an instigator and victim.
Sorry to hear about the lack of action. It's hard to give specific advice. You could consider creative ways to advertise, make sure your property is in fact priced competitively, do some undercover work yourself as a "buyer" and check out properties currently for sale and see what might be lacking in yours, or just be patient. I don't have a crystal ball, but bad housing markets do eventually turn around in ~5 years normally, and we could be within 1 or 2 years of that.
We have a realtor, we're not trying to sell our house on our own, I know better then to even try to do that in this market & economy. Of those who did view the house, all feedback was positive regarding the selling price, ans that was before we dropped it $5,000. Our realtor hasn't seen it this slow in the sixteen years he's been a realtor. If we had to wait another year or two to sell, that would be terrible! We want to move on to the next stage in our lives, retirement in another city with a lower cost of living & lower median home cost so we can get the most for our money, especially since we'll be living on a fixed income. The sooner we're able to move the better for us all the way around. Patience is about all we can have, we have no other choice besides selling our home for much less then it's worth or that we could afford to let it go at. Thanks for your thoughts though.
*I* feel your pain. I tried to sell my house right as the market fell out and had a similar experience. I just gave up and chose to stay where I am rather than give the place away.
Not to get too personal, but I have a couple of questions. Do anyone in your house smoke? Do you have pets? Is the house near a busy street or the interstate? Have there been foreclosures in your neighborhood? Are there rental properties near your home? What about your neighbors yards - are they kept up? All of these things affect home value/attractiveness to buyers. Some you have no control over, but some can be dealt with and I can make some suggestions for smoking and pet odors if that is a factor.
Finally, do you *have* to move? You might want to sit this out a little longer. The market is starting to move again, but it is still a little sluggish.
You're not being too personal. No to the first four questions. There are some rental properties a few blocks away, not much I can do about that. Most of the neighbors yards are kept up.
Do we have to move, not right away but the plan was to be out of our present home and into the next before winter. We plan to take the house off the market if it hasn't sold before winter. We will put it back on the market next spring and hope for the best. The longer we have to wait, the less money we have to take advantage of. I refuse to give it away, so we will wait as long as we have to. Hopefully things will get better soon!
Part of the reason you probably got a lot of showings and then nothing is the expiration of the home buyer tax credit. It ended on April 30th and some experts were forecasting a drop in demand.
Another part of it is that buyers have been told that the market is so bad they can get a house for nothing and so they expect the world and do not always get it.
We HAD to sell our house this spring, so we priced it well and had an offer in a week. We took a bath on it, but were able to handle it and move on with out lives.
I know you don't want to give your house away, but what someone considers giving a house away some consider market price. It is completely your right to price it how you want and wait, but the market is the market. We have to get to the point where we let go of all notion of what these homes were worth five or ten years ago.
That being said, it's your house, you know what you want for it and therefore should price it accordingly.
Glad to hear because in 10 months I am planning to buy a starter home or condo. I've heard houses in Madison get bought quickly and it can be difficult finding a decent home for a decent price.
dlk33 I do hope you are able to sell your home. What side of town is it on? You don't have to get real specific. east, west, south.
I was driving around today and wondering why so many homes are for sale in older, especially in the more established areas. Seemingly nice homes...but I think in general people want something new, energy efficient with as little updating as possible after a potential purchase. There is the perception that certain older suburban neighborhoods in Madison are seeing a decline (Southwest side) so people want brand spanking new on the ouskirts or in the suburbs...where they get morebang for their buck there.
What about the schools where you live? What are the feeder elementary and middle schools? That makes a massive difference to people as well.
What about getting a new realtor? That might help. Also, a low maintence, attractive yard with privacy would be a good selling point.
If you really want out now, rent the place for the time being and vacation in a warm area over the winter and then try a sale again in Spring.
Part of the reason you probably got a lot of showings and then nothing is the expiration of the home buyer tax credit. It ended on April 30th and some experts were forecasting a drop in demand.
Another part of it is that buyers have been told that the market is so bad they can get a house for nothing and so they expect the world and do not always get it.
We HAD to sell our house this spring, so we priced it well and had an offer in a week. We took a bath on it, but were able to handle it and move on with out lives.
I know you don't want to give your house away, but what someone considers giving a house away some consider market price. It is completely your right to price it how you want and wait, but the market is the market. We have to get to the point where we let go of all notion of what these homes were worth five or ten years ago.
That being said, it's your house, you know what you want for it and therefore should price it accordingly.
I think you might have hit the nail on the head with your thoughts about buyers wanting something for nothing! The last people who spent 45 minutes looking at the house wanted to know when every update was done, why we were selling, then wanted to know how much we'd be willing to go down in price. We did give them the dates they wanted, our reason for selling, then our realtor basically told their realtor to just make an offer and we'd go from there. No offer was ever made. We would not have been able to be out for that incentive to take place, we were hoping for a sale, then to rent back for a couple of months. We all know what we need price wise to be comfortable enough with the sale. We don't have a lot of wiggle room.
Glad to hear because in 10 months I am planning to buy a starter home or condo. I've heard houses in Madison get bought quickly and it can be difficult finding a decent home for a decent price.
dlk33 I do hope you are able to sell your home. What side of town is it on? You don't have to get real specific. east, west, south.
One thing right now is that there is a good amount of inventory out there to choose from, so buyers can be really picky. I consider our home to be a good choice as far as what is available in the area. We live on the northeast side of Madison, near not far from Warner Park.
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I tried to sell my house right as the market fell out and had a similar experience. I just gave up and chose to stay where I am rather than give the place away.
