First time FSBO, any advice? (contingency, feedback, appraisals, 1%)
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^^ what everyone else said! I am currently trying to sell my house and I have 1/2 of my stuff in storage. I decluttered - all the personal photos, knick-knacks, and most of the paintings. A professional shot the photos on a bright sunny day - yours look beyond dark and gloomy. I also put some of the furniture in storage to make the rooms look bigger. If that is a window a/c in one of the photos of the back (I think) of the house, I would drop that photo as it might make people think you don't have central air.
I'm going to be following this thread, as i'm attempting to sell my own home (first), also.
I will say that i went to look at some houses the other day on Cape Cod, and none were "staged" or especially clean, neat, junk-less, or looked un-lived in - and this would have mattered NOTHING as to my decision of which one i liked. (One was empty, and they had staged a small table and chairs I guess - that was actually my least favorite.)
I was so worried about having to remove practically everything from my house to sell it, and right now i'm not. I guess if you get desperate enough that is something to try - but i have to live here still, and i feel like they will like the location and the house itself, not my belongings. (And yes, i even bought a book on 'staging your home' !)
I agree. You don't want anything in the house that people have to "look past" to see the house itself. I found myself having to "look past" some personal items (like the stop sign, and the Packers items, but honestly, not as bad as many houses I've seen) as well as "looking past" some of the colors.
I did notice a typo on your subdivision page under the video "lontime" should be "longtime" (I didn't watch the video, but the opening scene of the old guy on the porch made me )
And I agree that a 2009 Appraisal is pretty irrelevant at this point, so I would probably delete the link to it.
You need to take out the part about the remodeling and why you're moving. No one - NO ONE - wants a house that's been remodeled by an amateur. I would not even come to see it. I won't look at another FSBO again after my last home buying experience but that's another issue entirely.
First off, very well done site and nice pictures. I don't know the market and I'm not in the field. But what I will suggest is a map of where the house is even a street view from google. Good luck with the FSBO route. You won't get many hits since most people will never know or their agents won't bother since it is a FSBO.
Maybe you can (if you want to) is put on the site that buyers agent to get X amount percent. Might help in more views which could help in potential buyer pool.
THank you all for the comments! Here is what I fixed:
~ Updated pictures that are brighter & higher resolution (wife refuses to pay someone to do this, but the battle isn't over yet!)
~ Removed reason for selling from website
~ My thought with showing the 2005 appraisal is maybe to point out some equity that future owners will have once the market returns to "normal"? I was also hoping this would give some data to back-up my price of $169,900 being a good "deal" for the market. More comments on this please?
~ Fixed spelling/grammer errors that people have pointed out (I just type too fast!)
I also have only listed on Craiglist, and got my first showing today! Nice couple, somewhat interested, but a good start. My MLS listing goes live after the holiday weekend, so that should drive some traffic. I also got 2 other phone calls - 1 from a local agent wanting to get me to list with him, and another from some website automated message wanting me to purchase a package to help sell my home. Yard signs, flyer holders, keybox, etc... Are due in this week.
So I am surely but slowly ramping up the marketing. We'll see what happens.
The color of the kitchen may actually be not such a bad compromise since white appliances and dark cabinets are just not made to go together, especially espresso wood and white appliances ....
But
It Looks like the kithcen was short during a dark hour. Make pictures during the day time with some natural light coming. The more natural light in the pics - the better.
Bonus room seems really really nice.
Just take away all those machines. They make it look cluttered and distract from the beauty of patio doors and some great outside views.
IMHO I did not like that the dining room walls are painted in two colors and I did not like the china cabinet, but that could be personal.
And overall I would put as little furniture as possible. Make it look simplistic. Remove all the desks, coaches, signs, unless you are trying to sell them with the house.
Great house! I wish I could buy a house like that where I live )).
I want to remove the equipment too, but we honestly use it every day -- My wife and myself. So yea, it is some clutter and isn't helping sell the house, but we still do have to live here.
We do have a storage unit, but it is in city we are relocating to about 125 miles away, as I travel to it once a week for my job ... So I'm slowly getting car/SUV loads out. The bigger stuff is going to be a challenge, but like I said, we are still living in it too... Plus we have a new baby (14 weeks old), so we got relatives visiting out of state non-stop. Gotta have a place for them to sleep/dress/etc...
A bit more difficult selling a house when you are living in it.
First off, very well done site and nice pictures. I don't know the market and I'm not in the field. But what I will suggest is a map of where the house is even a street view from google. Good luck with the FSBO route. You won't get many hits since most people will never know or their agents won't bother since it is a FSBO.
Maybe you can (if you want to) is put on the site that buyers agent to get X amount percent. Might help in more views which could help in potential buyer pool.
We are doing a flat rate MLS, so it will be listed. We will be offering buyer agents a percentage, as I have 3% in my price to cover that. No agents, and I'll obviously discount to the new owner.
I will make sure to include that somewhere in the website as well. Thanks for pointing that out.
First off, very well done site and nice pictures. I don't know the market and I'm not in the field. But what I will suggest is a map of where the house is even a street view from google. Good luck with the FSBO route. You won't get many hits since most people will never know or their agents won't bother since it is a FSBO.
Maybe you can (if you want to) is put on the site that buyers agent to get X amount percent. Might help in more views which could help in potential buyer pool.
Good point ... I added a Google Map to one of the pages. Thanks!
You need to take out the part about the remodeling and why you're moving. No one - NO ONE - wants a house that's been remodeled by an amateur. I would not even come to see it. I won't look at another FSBO again after my last home buying experience but that's another issue entirely.
Good luck.
I did take the information out, but I did use outside contractors for the stuff over my head. Doing sheetrock, painting, changing outlets, installing bamboo flooring, etc... None of that takes talent. Just a bit of time, patience, and learning.
I would also point out that I've seen a lot of shoddy work by professional contracts, as well as amateur's.
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