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That does help a lot, glamatomic, and makes a lot of sense. Most people can't have everything on their wish list because of budgetary limitations, so they need to see lots of choices and decide what the priorities are and what concessions they can make. That would explain why some people who want remodeled kitchens and 2 or more baths are coming to see our home.
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.
Well in my area don't have to worry about that as most homes do not have 2 bathrooms and the ones that do are the newer McMansions built 15 years ago and listing between 550-600K. If my house were for sale buyers looking at my home or others in area can not afford 550-660K and those that could wouldn't be looking at mine or any of the other homes in my area.
Mine isn't but most are reconditioned summer lake bungalows that were winterized into year round homes. Our draw is the lake.
There is never "one blanket" statement that fits all. The area and other homes come into play.
That does help a lot, glamatomic, and makes a lot of sense. Most people can't have everything on their wish list because of budgetary limitations, so they need to see lots of choices and decide what the priorities are and what concessions they can make. That would explain why some people who want remodeled kitchens and 2 or more baths are coming to see our home.
Buyers also like to "frame" their purchase, looking at houses above and below their target in terms of price and layout/condition. This may not help your feelings one bit, but we looked at lots of houses we doubted we would be interested in just to get a full picture of the market and where the houses we did like fit in. When we liked a house, we spent a lot of time in in it (30 minutes?), and we went back a second or 3rd time with a more critical eye; other houses we spent as little as a minute inside, sometimes just to confirm what we thought based on the photos.
Someone else mentioned it, but you may be spending way too much time cleaning up your house (2 hours?) for a showing that may last all of a minute. You have already experienced the lookie-loo / market framer phenomenom (people like me), and if someone is really interested in your house, they can look past stuff, with the caveat that if your house isn't staged, starting with decluttering rooms and closets, you are not helping your cause (follow the examples for staging on shows on HGTV).
Depersonalizing rooms is important, too, like removing lots of family photos, put away religious icons, etc. If your house is cramped and cluttered with too much furniture and over stuffed closets, you should rent a storage unit.
And hide all evidence of pets, especially the smell.
Quirky houses (houses with an incurable deficiency) take longer to sell or command a lower price/sf than a comparable home, or both.
It sounds like you have a big house with lots of rooms/bedrooms, but only 1 1/2 baths. That's quirky. Most buyers who want a lot of bedrooms have a bigger family. Most bigger families (indeed, just most buyers--and I am WITH everyone who cringes at the entitlement mindset of a lot of first-time buyers these days!) would want more than 1 1/2 baths. So those two aspects of your house are incongruent for the majority of what should be your buying pool.
Are you sure there is no place in the home you could add another bath? In this case it might be worth it to your bottom line if you're in a hurry to sell.
If you're not in a hurry, you just keep chunking the price down (in a meaningful way, not a $500 "get me back on the hot-list" reduction) until you find the point where the price and the quirkiness meet. Hint, the sales price is likely to be what comps indicate the value might be, minus the cost of an additional bath and perhaps just a little bit more. That's the reality.
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!
I hope that helps!
BINGO...eventually a buyer will come by that finally realizes this and start to get more realistic.
We have been looking at FL properties for winters, my husband wants a 3 bedroom two bath with at least one car garage, all on one floor. He would prefer a condo as no lawn work. After looking on line at hundredrs of listings he is starting to understand that the 3 bedroom two bath one car garage in FL will not be a condo but a townhouse with two floors not one. so he is going to have to figure out which aspects of his wish list take priority...lol
O/P question as the focus here from other posters is the 1.5 bath.....what do other homes in your area have?
If everyone else has two baths than yes you may have a problem, but if the norm for your area is 1 or 1.5 baths I wouldn't focus on it...jmo
Buyers also like to "frame" their purchase, looking at houses above and below their target in terms of price and layout/condition. This may not help your feelings one bit, but we looked at lots of houses we doubted we would be interested in just to get a full picture of the market and where the houses we did like fit in. When we liked a house, we spent a lot of time in in it (30 minutes?), and we went back a second or 3rd time with a more critical eye; other houses we spent as little as a minute inside, sometimes just to confirm what we thought based on the photos.
Someone else mentioned it, but you may be spending way too much time cleaning up your house (2 hours?) for a showing that may last all of a minute. You have already experienced the lookie-loo / market framer phenomenom (people like me), and if someone is really interested in your house, they can look past stuff, with the caveat that if your house isn't staged, starting with decluttering rooms and closets, you are not helping your cause (follow the examples for staging on shows on HGTV).
Depersonalizing rooms is important, too, like removing lots of family photos, put away religious icons, etc. If your house is cramped and cluttered with too much furniture and over stuffed closets, you should rent a storage unit.
And hide all evidence of pets, especially the smell.
So odd to me. The house I grew up in has 1.5 baths and a family of four.., there were never issues that I can recall. There was plenty of room.
Me either and we were a family of 7 when I was growing up with just 1 bathroom.
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