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We have had our home on the market now 6 months. We've lowered the price twice, put about $10K worth of repairs/upgrades into it since the listing and had several open houses. The agent is one who we have used on three previous transactions and chose him out of loyalty but now feel we are being taken for granted. We are probably his lowest price listing and I feel we may not be getting the attention we need. He doesn't even host the open houses himself. He has another agent do them. We didn't sign a contract because from the begnning we told him we didn't want to do business that way so there is no time table we need to wait for. I just wonder how long is long enough?
The answer will depend on many factors. Since you don't have a contract, you could interview a few agents to see how they'd market your home. You might post this question in the RE forum. Lots of experts there. Good luck!
Depends- it could be the agent, or it could be the house itself. Bear in mind that even if the listing agent does nothing, as long as the house is in the MLS, it should generate traffic if it's priced right. You say you lowered the price twice and put $10k into repairs- that could be the right thing to do, or it could only be halfway to where you need to get to- maybe the house is still priced $20k too high and still needs another $10k to get it into decent shape.
I suggest that you visit some open houses in your neighborhood of homes that may be similar to yours, and compare. This will give you some indication of what other sellers think their homes are worth. Or, you could ask your agent to show you the comps. Look at what went under contract on a weekly basis to determine what is happening in your market area.
where is the house located and how much are you selling it for? This may answer your question. I was on for 1 yr and 2 months..had one crappy offer and another interested but they couldn't sell their place either. The market is really bad - unless you live within 30 mins. of NYC, great school systems, safe neighborhood (no crime), you'll be sitting for a while. I took mine off as I'm not going to play the "try and compete with foreclosures and or with people needing to escape finacial burdens and dumping their homes for what's owed" game..not worth it!
Last edited by wileynj; 07-14-2008 at 04:06 PM..
Reason: I wasn't done : )
I suggest that you visit some open houses in your neighborhood of homes that may be similar to yours, and compare. This will give you some indication of what other sellers think their homes are worth. Or, you could ask your agent to show you the comps. Look at what went under contract on a weekly basis to determine what is happening in your market area.
I did that over the weekend. It was very enlightening to say the least!
Yes I have been visiting open houses and our house is priced right in the middle of comps. Its similar in terms of # of bedrooms, baths and sf and has a totally new kitchen and 2 baths. the downers are that there is no central air, the windows are old, and there is no off street parking. However, this is true with all the comps. its a rowhouse in a small city and close to 100 years old. thats how everything is there. We may go the rental route and try again next year. thanks for the advice.
It took us 2 years to sell our house in NJ. We listed it in 2005 sold in late 2007. It was the worst experience ever so far anyway. Prices kept falling all around us. We ended up selling it for around 60k less then the original asking price. I checked the neighborhood for this years sales and what's for sale now and they are selling the same house's for 25-30k less then what I got. I was so mad then about the final price we got, but now I'm glad we got out when we did. We went through 2 different realtors. The first one did nothing, no advertising, was rude, obnoxious, oh I could go on and on about him. The second realtor was much better showed interest, did lots of advertising and finally sold the house.
Yes I have been visiting open houses and our house is priced right in the middle of comps. Its similar in terms of # of bedrooms, baths and sf and has a totally new kitchen and 2 baths. the downers are that there is no central air, the windows are old, and there is no off street parking. However, this is true with all the comps. its a rowhouse in a small city and close to 100 years old. thats how everything is there. We may go the rental route and try again next year. thanks for the advice.
honestly, in this market, it's not enough to be in the middle of comps, you have to be below comps. prices are not rising. buyers aren't going to offer what was contracted 3 months ago. if you want to sell, bite the bullet now instead of chasing the market down. good luck!
Yes I have been visiting open houses and our house is priced right in the middle of comps. Its similar in terms of # of bedrooms, baths and sf and has a totally new kitchen and 2 baths. the downers are that there is no central air, the windows are old, and there is no off street parking. However, this is true with all the comps. its a rowhouse in a small city and close to 100 years old. thats how everything is there. We may go the rental route and try again next year. thanks for the advice.
Your answer is right in your post. Your in the middle of comps and you have a downer because of no central air. Right now being in the middle of the pack with comps IS NOT going to sell a home in this market.
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great idea
