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Old 11-01-2014, 03:24 PM
 
Location: Berkeley Neighborhood, Denver, CO USA
17,683 posts, read 29,635,250 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lhall85917 View Post
the biggest problem is new construction. There is lots of it all around us.
And, a new agent will fix this how?
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Old 11-01-2014, 03:36 PM
 
991 posts, read 1,512,511 times
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Nice photos! You have done a good job and staging.
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Old 11-01-2014, 03:36 PM
 
121 posts, read 152,016 times
Reputation: 81
Quote:
Originally Posted by davebarnes View Post
And, a new agent will fix this how?
That is what we have struggled with. For months we have wondered if it would do us good to switch. There has to be a difference in agents and their ability to market and sell your home.
Based on what we have heard, it will come down to marketing - bringing the listing up to where potential buyers see the listing and want to come take a look. Also, they need to point out the advantages of our five year old house over a new one. So far the only option I've heard for this is through featured listing purchases. Right now we are buried in the bottom of listings when doing searches.
What would your suggestion be?
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Old 11-01-2014, 03:38 PM
 
121 posts, read 152,016 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oh come on! View Post
Sure you do. Just ask them for a list of their old listings.

You can also go on realtor.com and look at the property history tab in their old listings to see how long they've been on the market. If they are truly quicker, see if they didn't just price the houses low.






and this is why marketing to agents is more important.

Caravans are not absolutely necessary, but not doing them can be the same as just waiting for a buyer to come along.


Also, how easy is it to show your home? Do you have a lockbox, or is it appt only?
If appt only, how fast does your agent respond to showing requests?
Some buyer's agents expect to be able to show your house with ridiculously short advance notice, and I've lost some potential buyers because I could not provide them a showing in such short notice.
We have shown the home whenever requested and have a lockbox. Once I was dying my hair and they wanted to come in 15 minutes. Another time I was fixing supper and they wanted us out in 5 - the house was immaculate and ready to show both times and all other times.
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Old 11-01-2014, 04:48 PM
 
Location: Mostly in my head
19,855 posts, read 65,655,279 times
Reputation: 19374
Sorry but I do NOT like the photos! All of them have a weird curvature. The ones of the front make the garage look huge and the most prominent feature. One of the kitchen pics almost makes it look like a long narrow space. Did they use one of those new wide-angle things? Get them re-taken with a regular camera.
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Old 11-01-2014, 06:14 PM
 
Location: los angeles county
1,763 posts, read 2,038,192 times
Reputation: 1877
Quote:
Originally Posted by lhall85917 View Post
That is what we have struggled with. For months we have wondered if it would do us good to switch. There has to be a difference in agents and their ability to market and sell your home.
Based on what we have heard, it will come down to marketing - bringing the listing up to where potential buyers see the listing and want to come take a look. Also, they need to point out the advantages of our five year old house over a new one. So far the only option I've heard for this is through featured listing purchases. Right now we are buried in the bottom of listings when doing searches.
What would your suggestion be?

I wouldn't say that's exactly true.

I don't know your market, but when I search your city, I see 100 homes between $250-300k.
That's a lot to choose from.
And they all look the same to me. That's tough.

In such a case, when price is right and there are no serious defects with the house, then giving more buyer's agent commission will maybe (big maybe) motivate buyer's agents to promote your house to their buyers.
But your listing agent will still have to touch base with active buyer's agents in your area.


Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah View Post
Sorry but I do NOT like the photos! All of them have a weird curvature. The ones of the front make the garage look huge and the most prominent feature. One of the kitchen pics almost makes it look like a long narrow space. Did they use one of those new wide-angle things? Get them re-taken with a regular camera.
I don't see what curvature you're talking about.
The angle of view looks like the standard old wide angle lens used by pro photographers.
some of them are cropped weird, showing too much ceiling. but overall the pictures are fine.
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Old 11-01-2014, 06:25 PM
 
Location: El Dorado Hills, CA
3,720 posts, read 9,967,181 times
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You are competing with new construction. That's tough because people will pay a premium for new. That means you have to be priced BELOW the new construction enough to pull their attention away.

Your pictures do look good and your home well staged. BUT - you have a lot of what I would consider "taste specific" paint color in your home. I wonder if buyers are thinking they will have to re-paint the whole house and the time/expense it will take to do so.

Also, you missed the market when you started out priced too high. Was that your idea or your agent's idea? Now the market is slow and inventory is high. I don't think changing agents will make a bit of difference. Either price it to sell for the state of the market today, or expect to have it on the market until buyer activity picks up.

Taking it off and putting it back on is a strategy many buyers/agents use. You get to show up as "just listed" for a day. But all the local agents and any buyers in the market will remember the home and know it's not new on the market. If you do take it off the market long enough to re-set the MLS days on market (here it's 30 days) then maybe you could use some of that time to neutralize some of the paint in your house - with your agents advice on which rooms and what colors. PS - white is not the only neutral and not typically recommended.

One more thing - do you have a back yard? It's not in any of the pictures. The back yard landscaping is typically something you want to emphasize if you're competing with new construction since buyers have to pay extra for anything but raw dirt.

I wish you luck.
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Old 11-01-2014, 06:42 PM
 
121 posts, read 152,016 times
Reputation: 81
Quote:
Originally Posted by NinaN View Post

Also, you missed the market when you started out priced too high. Was that your idea or your agent's idea? Now the market is slow and inventory is high. I don't think changing agents will make a bit of difference. Either price it to sell for the state of the market today, or expect to have it on the market until buyer activity picks up.


One more thing - do you have a back yard? It's not in any of the pictures. The back yard landscaping is typically something you want to emphasize if you're competing with new construction since buyers have to pay extra for anything but raw dirt.

I wish you luck.
Yes, we understand we missed the market by pricing too high. We did FSBO at our original purchase price of $330,000 at this time last year just with a sign in the yard. We waited until after the holidays to list with our agent. Our thought was to list at $325,000 at that time to catch searches from 300-325 and 325-250 but they thought we should try the $330. We have only heard from our agent when they called to set up listings, any other time was initiated by us. Every so often we would call and ask for their thoughts and we would bring up price reductions. In June we were at $305,900 and they thought we would be sold in a month. Obviously, that didn't happen.

Good catch on the back yard, yes, we do have a nice yard. There are pictures on the local listing site but Realtor isnt showing them. There may be a couple of reasons - for a few months listings from our area didn't show on Realtor due to a dispute with the local MLS, they have been back less than a month. Also our local realtors switched to a new listing system a few months ago and perhaps that has something to with it.
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Old 11-01-2014, 07:43 PM
 
Location: Salem, OR
15,514 posts, read 40,257,352 times
Reputation: 17383
Quote:
Originally Posted by NinaN View Post
You are competing with new construction. That's tough because people will pay a premium for new. That means you have to be priced BELOW the new construction enough to pull their attention away.

Your pictures do look good and your home well staged. BUT - you have a lot of what I would consider "taste specific" paint color in your home. I wonder if buyers are thinking they will have to re-paint the whole house and the time/expense it will take to do so.

Also, you missed the market when you started out priced too high. Was that your idea or your agent's idea? Now the market is slow and inventory is high. I don't think changing agents will make a bit of difference. Either price it to sell for the state of the market today, or expect to have it on the market until buyer activity picks up.

Taking it off and putting it back on is a strategy many buyers/agents use. You get to show up as "just listed" for a day. But all the local agents and any buyers in the market will remember the home and know it's not new on the market. If you do take it off the market long enough to re-set the MLS days on market (here it's 30 days) then maybe you could use some of that time to neutralize some of the paint in your house - with your agents advice on which rooms and what colors. PS - white is not the only neutral and not typically recommended.

One more thing - do you have a back yard? It's not in any of the pictures. The back yard landscaping is typically something you want to emphasize if you're competing with new construction since buyers have to pay extra for anything but raw dirt.

I wish you luck.
These were my thoughts too. All I could think of was how much high hiding primer a buyer was going to have to use to paint those walls. It isn't cheap to hire an interior painter with those intense wall colors. You have to make sure that the upgrades you are offering over new make up for that.

I think it is okay to ask the agents to show you their stats. I know my MLS allows us to do a printout that compares us to other agents on the MLS. It shows our sales, list to sales price, % of market share, etc. I assume they have something to print out from the MLS directly that will back up the claim.

I pay for featured listings on Zillow/Trulia, and I definitely get more email requests for information when I feature them as opposed to not. I also do broker tours. I think it is weird that the agents you have interviewed prioritize one group over another. Buyers search for homes, but so do agents. You need to market to both of them.
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Old 11-01-2014, 08:38 PM
 
22,320 posts, read 11,835,877 times
Reputation: 20140
I, too, noticed the paint job. If I were in the market for a house, to be honest, I would be put off by the dark colored walls. Also, you seem to have some family photos on display. If so, it's a good idea to take them down. Apparently, some buyers feel like they're intruding in your personal space when they see such photos. Or many of them get distracted and find themselves looking at the photos.

Otherwise, you decluttered and staged very nicely.
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