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I partly disagree. Price cures a lot of "defects." We had a unique house (architect designed and lived in) and 3 different Realtors told us we'd have to be patient and wait for the right buyers, etc. They were wrong. We listed at the price(s) recommended by the Realtors based on CMAs. Took forever to sell. if we knew then what we know now, we would have paid a little less for the house when we bought it, then discounted it when we later put it on the market. Not every buyer will trade off access to metro, etc, with price, but some will and if you want to sell quickly as in your situation, set the price a little below the market.
agreed.
I had a listing backing up to overhead power lines.. Multiple showings, only negative feedback was the power lines. Dropped the price and undercut similarly priced homes in not as nice (amenities, location) neighborhoods and got it under contract relatively quickly. Eventual buyer admitted that the "better" neighborhood outweighed the power lines for them.
I hear what your saying. But 'getting a bargain' motivates A LOT of people to consider altering their requirements. I don't think many people living in the suburbs are all that interested in walking to the train station anyway - heck, the noise alone would be brutal - so five miles isn't a deal breaker for most. And if that includes parking fees or limited parking. . . well, we're back to making the hassle factor worth is by decreasing the price on the house.
And again, a cheap price CAN motivate someone to accept a busy street. I wouldn't do it, but many will - especially those with limited budgets. But this OP is seemingly looking for (nearly) top dollar on a house that evidently has serious flaws. And justifying that price with nonsense like an industrial garage door.
You clearly have never lived in the NYC metro area - even though OP is a little north of the traditional suburbs, people are commuting via train to jobs in Yonkers, White Plains, and even the city from Dutchess County. Some towns don't even have enough parking at the train station for all the commuters. Parking can be $100/mo or more on top of a $200-350/mo commuter rail pass.
It can be a deal breaker for a good amount of commuters, especially those who are budget conscious, to not be walking distance to the station.
When you pull up the recently sold homes in Fishkill village limits, one finds that the homes East of Highway 9 and along Hopewell ave like yours is located, are not selling for the kind of money you want for yours. No comparables to justify your price. And you have stated, that the potential buyers keep saying that you are overpriced.
The fact that you just put in new hardwood floors, and painted the inside does not make it worth more than other homes are selling for in your same general neighborhood. You have considered changing the kitchen cabinets to make it more desirable, etc., which must keeps adding to your cost in the property. When the home is priced out of reason for the neighborhood, it does not make it easy to sell at a price above what the neighborhood justifies. On top of that, the value it will appraise for, will determine if it can be sold. Sell for more, and the appraisal will kill the sale.
If you want to be able to justify your asking price, pay for an appraisal by a good appraiser, which you can use to justify your asking price. Then if it comes in below your asking price, cut your price down to what you can justify. This is a standard way of determining the true value, when the owner is asking one price, and the buyers are unwilling to pay the price.
You have also said, that the viewers of your home, say there is something wrong with it, that turns them off in addition to price.
When you pull up the recently sold homes in Fishkill village limits, one finds that the homes East of Highway 9 and along Hopewell ave like yours is located, are not selling for the kind of money you want for yours. No comparables to justify your price. And you have stated, that the potential buyers keep saying that you are overpriced.
The fact that you just put in new hardwood floors, and painted the inside does not make it worth more than other homes are selling for in your same general neighborhood. You have considered changing the kitchen cabinets to make it more desirable, etc., which must keeps adding to your cost in the property. When the home is priced out of reason for the neighborhood, it does not make it easy to sell at a price above what the neighborhood justifies. On top of that, the value it will appraise for, will determine if it can be sold. Sell for more, and the appraisal will kill the sale.
If you want to be able to justify your asking price, pay for an appraisal by a good appraiser, which you can use to justify your asking price. Then if it comes in below your asking price, cut your price down to what you can justify. This is a standard way of determining the true value, when the owner is asking one price, and the buyers are unwilling to pay the price.
You have also said, that the viewers of your home, say there is something wrong with it, that turns them off in addition to price.
We did pay for an appraisal. We were valued at 315K. We tried a bit higher. Now we are under the appraisal. We have an assessed value of $285K by our town taxes. I think we are priced fairly. Not only did we do floors, we did pay to have the home inspection before we listed and fixed everything that needed to be done. We also put on a new roof with top of the line 30 year architectural shingles back in June. So the only thing a new buyer would do to their own tastes is the kitchen. We built the deck with the idea of expanding outwards. It's was built and passed inspection to add an addition of a bigger kitchen/formal dinning area as that was our plan. So to me, that would be a plus if one wanted to do a gourmet kitchen/ formal dinning room. The deck is 12x24.
We have two more showings this weekend. Pictures are being done at 9am tomorrow as it's all completed. We had delays which were beyond our control. We aren't liars or bs artists. Just hard working Joe's trying to get the best we can to start over again. Isn't that what everyone tries to do when selling their home who aren't in it to "flip" homes?
I agree with your sentiment, but it's not going to show up as a new listing unless it's off the market for a certain period of time. Ninety days is common.
it will show as a new listing the very day it's presented as a new listing.
See my comment on Zillow in the Real Estate forum. It's really pretty amazing - you can almost always tell the Zillow and Redfin customers because whether a house has been on the market a year or not, they tend to be the "I'm using my online agent because I get something out of it (a rebate with Redfin, a complete lack of commitment to an agent with Zillow), and all I want to know about houses that are new or have been on the market less than a month because I heard how fast homes are selling". In Raleigh, a house just sold in 3 days with a new agent (same price) having been on the market almost a year with another highly-qualified agent. With almost no difference in presentation. And the Buyer was a Zillow client - they called their Zillow agent who had shown them homes, then they called the listing agent, and when they spoke with the listing agent they flat out said "oh, our agent is ... (from Zillow), we just couldn't reach him"
You clearly have never lived in the NYC metro area - even though OP is a little north of the traditional suburbs, people are commuting via train to jobs in Yonkers, White Plains, and even the city from Dutchess County. Some towns don't even have enough parking at the train station for all the commuters. Parking can be $100/mo or more on top of a $200-350/mo commuter rail pass.
It can be a deal breaker for a good amount of commuters, especially those who are budget conscious, to not be walking distance to the station.
So therefore my original point was, if that's a deal-breaker, why would a buyer even look at a house five miles from the train? I tend to think that particular excuse is B.S. The OP gloms onto any excuse other than the house is over-priced when you take into account the negative factors like traffic, layout, distance from train, above-ground pool, dated kitchen, whatever whatever. The OP tries to justify the price with ridiculous reasons like the garage door and poured foundation or whatever it was. But...whatever. I'm no expert but I have sold seven houses and they've always sold quickly. I price them realistically. I don't want to be that person who shoots for the moon and then has to keep cutting the price. To me, it's embarrassing that my house isn't desirable at the price I listed it, and secondly, I think it gives the buyer extra leverage, knowing that the listing is getting stale and I may be getting desperate.
OP, you've gotten a ton of great advice on this thread. Here's mine:
1. Your agent has to go. I don't care if you like her. I don't care if the other agents have their assistants do showings. Your agent has made one bad move after another with this sale and isn't worth her commission. She NEVER should have let the house go on the market before the painting & floors were complete. Her photos are unprofessional and don't show your house's good features at all (aside from your lovely yard & outdoor spaces). It's been months and still no pics of the bathrooms or better pics of any other rooms. That she didn't make you de-clutter or allowed pics to go up with posters on the doors, crap on the fridge and counters, etc is only a disservice to YOU. If she recommended the pricing strategy, she's delirious. She has to go if you want to sell this house. If you insist on keeping her, demand she shoot new pics this weekend. But really, she must go.
2. Try not to take any of this personally. I know it's hard when it's the home you raised your kids in. I can't image how much harder it must be since you grew up in the house next door and recently buried your mother. But once the house goes on the market, it's all business. It doesn't matter that you don't like living a certain way or without your stuff. All energy has to be on what will make the house the most appealing for the maximum number of buyers.
3. Pricing. Several relatively recent sales in the village (via Zillow): one Cape Cod just sold last week for $169/SF ($257.5k sale price for 1523sf). That house had a brand new kitchen with stainless appliances, relatively updated baths, and similar lot size. In July, a 1928 traditional sold for $110/SF ($269.9k for 2432sf). If had a comprable kitchen to yours. We know your mom's house sold for $99/SF ($199k for 1953sf) and that you had updated a little bit but that it needed more work due to original baths & kitchen. I think if you're objective and honest, the true value of your house is a lot close to the ones that sold in the $99-110/SF range vs the remodeled one that sold last week for $169/SF. At $146/SF, I think you're still way too high. I'd consider dropping to the $125/SF range which would be a $249,000-259,000 range list price. $249k is a strong price point because a lot of buyers set their online search filters to max out at $250k so if you're a few thousand above that, you won't show up in search results.
But you're still going to need better pictures in order to get more traffic into your house.
I wish you the best of luck. I'm sorry you've fallen on hard times and have to leave a town and a house that holds many memories for you.
We are doing the pictures at 9am this morning. You have NO idea how frustrating this whole process has been as we had delays to to materials not being available, shipped wrong colors for floors then we've had three friends pass in the last two weeks. But life goes on and you keep plugging.
Now the one house that sold last week in the village. Two things are much different. One, it's 500sqft smaller. Doesn't have a garage. We are 2032+ the garage which isn't factored into the sq footage and the garage it's self is 675sq ft. The other home is directly on the main road-Rt.52. It's dual purpose zoning there as it can also be used as a business.-it's being rented now for $2300 a month. Over 50K cars go by that house daily.
The house directly across the road sold in 2013. It had the original kitchen from when it was built. It sold for $277K 14 Rapalje Rd, Fishkill, NY 12524 | ID : 313111 MLS That's the closest we have for comp here on the road that's sold in the last few years. My parents was sold as an estate. I had no choice but to put a roof on it as I couldn't insure it otherwise until it was cleaned out to sell. I painted the walls and sanded and refinished the hardwoods that were there. That was it.
Every agent that I had come to see who I liked or would sell the home all said since all the issues were addressed back when we were going to list it said go ahead and put it on. The floors and painting each one told us was cosmetic. It wasn't something to wait to do and list it. I had 3 of the top selling agents come in as two other family members had used. I wasn't happy though when they said they'd have a junior agent do most of the work-and showings. They were figure heads to just get the payment. My agent has done us well. She has been in it a long time. She used to be with ERA for years. She knows this area well. I preferred her to the others who'd I'd be paying a split with.
It's a hard choice to leave somewhere you've been for over 50 years. Not easy at all to leave everyone, everything you know. It's a leap of faith to start over 900 miles from where we were both born and raised.
We are doing the pictures at 9am this morning. You have NO idea how frustrating this whole process has been as we had delays to to materials not being available, shipped wrong colors for floors then we've had three friends pass in the last two weeks. But life goes on and you keep plugging.
I think the bigger question/comment re: the pictures was that you should have waited until the new pictures were up before dropping the price. For one, you had just changed it to $319 two weeks prior (not that that was a very big change from the original listing price). It does sound like the recent reduction has resulted in some more showings, but if I had three friends pass in 2 weeks I probably wouldn't want to make it more likely that I'd need to have my house ready to show (sorry for your losses BTW).
Now, people probably aren't really going to notice your new pictures unless you drop the price again, which at this point will likely be needed - but if you had waited to drop the price in the first place you probably could've just made the drop to under $300 when the pictures were posted.
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