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With 1.5 baths, unless it is a studio or one bedroom apartment, a seller should consider himself lucky that ANYBODY even looks at the house. Your added burden is that the baths and kitchen have not been updated, but that is secondary to the 1.5 bath problem.
Is there enough space (an adjoining closet, etc) to put a shower in the half bath, or to build out a 2nd bath somewhere else in the house near the bedrooms? Have you ever had an architect or contractor come up with a plan to build out the half bath? Most people/buyers have very little imagination, and very little experience, taking on a project like that. It would be helpful if you had a contractor's estimate to do the work, and even better if you had a sketch or artist's rendering showing what it would look like, to present to buyers (like what is done on HGTV shows like Property Brothers).
And you should price your house for sale accordingly, below the market for otherwise comparable 2 bath houses by an amount greater than the cost to increase the half bath to a minimum 3/4 or to reconfigure the space completely and build out a 2nd full or 3/4 bath. That, or undertake the work yourself and reap the added value when you sell. In a tepid market (like many/most areas of the country today, your task is harder than it would be in a booming market where people are buying anything they can "afford" and overlooking deficiencies like this one).
Finally, is 1.5 baths common in houses of your size and # of bedrooms in your area? If yes, then there should be plenty of comparable sales you could/should use to correctly price your home, assuming your house is not inferior in other ways to the comps (sales have updated kitchen and bath, etc).
Surely you jest??? Many homes built prior to 1980 do NOT have 2 bathrooms or walk in closets. People know this before they look
I'm not sure how I would feel about this myself honestly..... feedback is important to selling a home. How is a person to know what people don't like? If you want to sell the house you have to appeal to the masses that look at it. That simple.
Houses don't sell usually because the price is too high for what is being offered. We got asked for "feedback" on some of the houses we passed on, and our comment was always the same: your price is too high. When a house is priced, as it was in some cases, 25 percent over the market, few buyers want to enter into a process to try to get the seller down to the market (and realtors discourage the "low ball" offer; not that I care what they think, but there is a point of absurdity if you are making what looks like a lowball to get the seller to "get real" on his price.
For example: house is listed at $500k. Market data indicates value of $400K. What kind of offer does a buyer make to get the price down there? Is it $300K, a 'meet me in the middle' proposition? Who wants to get tied up in that kind of negotiation? I know that we did not, and we passed on 2 houses we really liked except for the price.
Surely you jest??? Many homes built prior to 1980 do NOT have 2 bathrooms or walk in closets. People know this before they look
And many people who own those homes have added showers, etc,, first improving their own enjoyment of the house, and making it more appealing to buyers when they put it on the market. The buyers have moved on, and many people don't want a 1.5 bedroom house at any price, but there is always a price that will motivate buyers - it is a question of how aware the seller is RE the market value of their home, warts and all.
And many people who own those homes have added showers, etc,, first improving their own enjoyment of the house, and making it more appealing to buyers when they put it on the market. The buyers have moved on, and many people don't want a 1.5 bedroom house at any price, but there is always a price that will motivate buyers - it is a question of how aware the seller is RE the market value of their home, warts and all.
And many people who own those homes have added showers, etc,, first improving their own enjoyment of the house, and making it more appealing to buyers when they put it on the market. The buyers have moved on, and many people don't want a 1.5 bedroom house at any price, but there is always a price that will motivate buyers - it is a question of how aware the seller is RE the market value of their home, warts and all.
In some cases those upgrades are not able to be done. have no clue where you live but here in North Jersey unless the house is one of the McMansions built in the last 15 years most homes have 1 bath or 1.5 bath. If you live in a town still on well water you can't run two showers at once anyways..the water pressure would be zilch.
One realtor poster said it best...in a first time buyer home you have to crawl before you walk, people want all this stuff but at bargain prices. The market is slowly coming back and all though it should never get as over inflated as it was a decade ago, it may start to be a wake up call to BUYERS that the bargain basement days are coming to an end.
The only feedback you want is an offer. Keep it simple and do not request feedback. Simply have your agent ask the buyer's agents that come through if they want to make an offer. Nothing more. The rest is nonsense anyway since you are not going to add a 1/2 bath or install a new kitchen or anything else.
Other than that, FORGET THAT YOU ARE ON THE MARKET. Just let the process move forward and don't participate in it too closely.
You've done all the preparation you are going to, now just do what it takes to process an offer. You really don't need to know what buyers think about your house, so don't ask.
As to your original question, buyers often don't know what they want. Or, they can't afford what they want, so they need to look at what you are offering and see if they can live with it even though it is not what they want. Or, a buyer may know that your home will not meet his needs as-is but is willing to renovate it so that it will. So he still needs to see it despite the fact that your pictures clearly show that it is not something that he wants.
Don't take any of this personally. It will simply make you crazy. Just go about your life, forget you are on the market, pay attention only when an offer comes in that needs consideration. And detach yourself from your house. It is now a watermelon in the produce aisle, nothing more.
Marc, you and I don't usually agree, but that is the best advise so far, because the process, flaky buyers etc will make you crazy.
I completely disagree....feedback is very important for sellers. If you see multiple buyers stating the same things....then it lets the seller know there is something that needs to be addressed, if possible. Sometimes, its something that can only be overcome with price.
Its foolish not to request this, as it is very simple to do and most of us will gladly give other agents our client's feedback.
I've looked at houses that *might* be able to satisfy my needs, in the hopes of being wowed into overlooking the things I didn't like. My third house was one I was sure I wouldn't want, but the realtor talked me into visiting.
This is why.
And I agree, that if you are taking 2 hours to prepare your house for each showing, you haven't prepared it properly for being on the market. It should be pretty much ready to show all the time. I have 4 kids and am not a great housekeeper, but when our house was on the market it was ready to go. All the time. A basket, as mentioned above, for a quick sweep through the house, and that was it.
It is VERY frustrating, emotional, and generally just trying to have your house on the market. It's not fun. Some sellers take it very personally.
If the kitchen and baths are the downsides, you need to play up the upsides of the house (which is what agents/buyers are hoping will outweigh the downsides they might see in the photos).
And above all, of course, you may need to lower your price. Generally speaking, that's the one big upside you can offer that will outweigh the downsides of your house. No one wants to hear that.
If it makes you feel any better, even agents who have been in the business for decades get frustrated by other agents who give feedback like what you're talking about here. Real estate is always interesting, and the phrase "buyers are liars" has many many layers of meaning. Most of all that they don't know what they want until they see it.
Can you explain WHY, though? If I could wrap my mind around it, or even understand it a tiny bit, I might feel less frustrated.
I haven't read through everyone elses responses yet, but I can only speak from my own experience as a buyer. When we were house hunting, our Buyer's Agent took us to homes that did not meet all of our initial criteria, because often, concessions will have to be made somewhere unless you're working with a totally unlimited budget.
We requested a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 car garage home, solid neighborhood, and we did not want updated kitchens or bathrooms (1950s is my personal aesthetic, and I wanted a pink or otherwise colored original bathroom!).
Our realtor obviously took us to homes which did meet the requirements, however, she also took us to homes that did not but were within our budget, because depending on other factors, sometimes consolations will be made. She realized that, and deep down, we realized that too.
Oddly enough, the first house that we were really interested in and fell in love with, was a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom, with updated kitchens and bathrooms (the house was built in the 1930s). The house, the street, the neighborhood, etc were spectacular. The breaking point ended up not being the 1.5 baths or the updating, but DH ended up vetoing it on the basis of the dimensions of the 2 car garage (which didn't have room for a work bench), and since it was a historic district, getting planning permission to extend the garage alone would be a nightmare.
With all of that said, often Buyer's Agents seem to know that if other boxes on a client's wishlist are ticked, or the house has other huge redeeming qualities (excellent neighborhood, curb appeal, great layout, good sized rooms, big yard, whatever the case may be), buyers may still be interested even if it doesn't meet their initial requirements.
Often, buyers will have a HUGE wishlist of wants, and like I said, unless their wants are all realistic for their budget, they're going to have to have an unlimited bank account to address every single thing they need. Eventually, after a certain amount of house hunting, buyers start to realize they probably aren't going to get every single item on their wishlist!
With your house presented as beautifully and cleanly as you describe, it's likely that a couple who were initially looking for updated or 2 bathrooms, might still fall in love with it. The Buyer's Agents aren't purposely trying to waste your time or their clients time, they're just making sure that their clients are aware of all of the options!
In some cases those upgrades are not able to be done. have no clue where you live but here in North Jersey unless the house is one of the McMansions built in the last 15 years most homes have 1 bath or 1.5 bath.
And where it is impossible to add on to an existing bath, you have an incurable deficiency that many buyers won't overlook - the pool of buyers for your house is smaller than it would otherwise be. Therefore, you have to price it right if you want to sell it to overcome the defects. Supply and demand matter; the less demand (smaller pool of buyers) for what you are selling, the lower the equilibrium price point, all else being equal.
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