we just put our house on the market here in CT (real estate, 2015)

[gettinoutofjersey]

Originally Posted by nphomeowner

We sold our house up North in less than two months. We told our realtor to price it to SELL. After the first month with only 2 people looking and no offers we dropped the price even more. We were on our way here to Fl and had multiple offers before we pulled into our home. We also offered a Home Warranty and we helped with closing costs. Houses that were on the market long before ours are STILL on the market, the owners refuse to budge on their price so they sit.

sounds like you are in touch with reality. alot of people think they have a whole lot more than they do or they dont realize what has happened with the real estate market.

[joeyddog]

We did it all to the tune of about $7000: painting, removing wall paper, refinished wood floors, decluttered and staged it(but not professionally). Brokers seemed ecstatic about the price. Very slow market here with a lot of inventory. Plus side, my house never looked so good. Why didn't I do all this yrs ago. The longer it takes to sell, the longer I can enjoy it

[nphomeowner]

What I also found amusing was once we had the U-Haul in the driveway and we were moving here (figured may as well, we are paying for both anyway) is when the buyers fell out of the sky. We had two the day we pulled in the U-haul and two the day we were loading. The day we left there were 6 showings and 4 the day after. Offers came at the time of showings. I don't know this for fact but think people wanted to be able to move in quickly and knew since we were gone we did want to SELL and would bargain. All that staging, and cleaning every single day for what? All we had to do was MOVE!

We did have 4 firm offers, one was full price offer contingent on them selling their home, we didn't want to wait that long. 2 were quite a bit lower than we wanted to go and one was just right, less than asking price but we were able to live with it and now we don't have to worry about the house "up North".

[joeyddog]

NP, that's great. Maybe we'll just pull a moving van in front of the house and see what happens!

[nphomeowner]

Yep heck with the cleaning, pull in the U-Haul and occassionally throw something on the truck!!!

[gardenpearl]

Realtors have always told me something I don't understand and may not agree with; that empty homes don't show well and that I should keep it furnished while trying to sell. However, I'm not sure I agree.

If I found a place that was clean, in good shape, and empty because the people had already moved, to me that's an easier transaction than buying a furnished place. I don't have to wonder when they can move out so I can move in, and I can see the condition of the place more easily.

[Avalon08]

empty homes don't show well and that I should keep it furnished while trying to sell

I've heard that, too. The home I bought last year (50 years old) showed much better with furniture, even though the furniture was very dated. After the furniture was cleared out, I could see how dirty and worn the carpet was in the traffic areas; I noticed all the little imperfections like marks on the wall. It just looked like a sad old house when it was empty. It's also easier to envision furniture placement when there's actual furniture in the room. All in all, I think a furnished (uncluttered, depersonalized) house looks much more homey and inviting.

[Sunny-Days-in-Florida]

Many people who can stage their homes with rental items or other furniture etc and take their personal stuff with them.

An empty house is not a good sell.

Good luck.

We brought 3- 27 ft trucks with us to Florida from Ohio and glad we did because we have found things we were going to sell or get rid of that we needed.

[gettinoutofjersey]

house buying is all emotion. people buy model homes and pay more based on the decoration and furnishings.

when it comes to selling think about the cost of the house you have. what are the mortgage payments and taxes? how much less would it be a month to be free of that house and relocated here. also consider that house values continue to head down not up.

[gardenpearl]

I've also noticed that in unfurnished homes, some totally empty rooms can look very small and almost like large closets, such as extra bedrooms. I think this is camouflaged a bit when someone puts some furniture in there.