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We thought we wanted to sell our house back in march, FSBO, then decided no, we want to stay where we are. If and when we feel we really want to move and sell I will definitely sell it ourselves.
I am now convinced the trick is tp price it right. This is not an exact science and that is why it s so hard.
As for feedback we got a couple that were actually helpful data for us. Lack of central air is a problem. So we need to allow for that when we price it. The septic system - we need to educate buyers who are not familiar with it and therefore nervous, put out as much information as possible, even get an inspection report just before placing it on the market.
A forum such as this where buyers discuss the houses they are looking at and sharing info with other buyers I think would be a great idea. It will take all the mystery out of it and will help both parties.
My only conclusion is what I heard from more than one agent: "Buyers are liars".
So Dave, what finally got your house sold then? And did you do any price drops in the 7 mos.?
I found your website interesting, as I had not seen a home with its own site. It was nice to hear some of the background info that you don't normally get from typical listings. However, just as feedback, I didn't like the fact that I had to keep going back to the "gallery" to look at the photos. I guess I'm used to the "arrows" that take you to the next picture. And I would have been turned off by the description of the kitchen as "dated". I thought you were supposed to just emphasize the positives, not bring the negatives to the attention of the buyers. They can figure that out for themselves.
I have done the same thing as you with the spreadsheet. Very anal, but helpful when you are figuring out how to price for sale.
As for the OP's original question about an app, I can't think of anything I would need an "app" for....
So Dave, what finally got your house sold then?
And did you do any price drops in the 7 mos.?
And I would have been turned off by the description of the kitchen as "dated".
1. Our buyer saw it during an open house and fell in love it.
2. Dropped from $740K to $634K in many steps. It was a mistake to sell into a strong buyers' market. On the other hand, we bought in the same market and now we are 18 months into a strong sellers' market and our current house (3968 Vrain Street, Berkeley, Denver, CO 80212-2251 USA) has increased from $482K to approximately $560-600K.
3. We thought about "dated". A lot. Talked with our agent about it. Decided to keep it to signal that we were not changing it and to keep certain people away. Feedback from the buyer after his first visit:: “I loved the house, especially the great open space downstairs, the awesome kitchen, custom furnishing, the small wine cellar. Some of the colors are not my taste like the purple in the bedroom but that can be changed. The tile for the jacuzzi tub is not my taste. everything in the house is tastefully presented. Exterior is lovely as well.
I could see myself enjoying living in the house. I wish the backyard had more grass but that is not a deal breaker. This is by far the nicest home I have seen since beginning the search.”
Some things that bugged me:
Contracts still on legal size paper reduced to fit on 8 x 11 paper makes them impossible to read.
Terms regarding the deposit. My contract said the buyer would need a mortgage commitment by 6/24. They were denied 6 days before the closing costing me 3 months of covering the mortgage.
Lawyers stitting on their Wizard of Oz thrones
1. Our buyer saw it during an open house and fell in love it.
2. Dropped from $740K to $634K in many steps. It was a mistake to sell into a strong buyers' market. On the other hand, we bought in the same market and now we are 18 months into a strong sellers' market and our current house (3968 Vrain Street, Berkeley, Denver, CO 80212-2251 USA) has increased from $482K to approximately $560-600K.
3. We thought about "dated". A lot. Talked with our agent about it. Decided to keep it to signal that we were not changing it and to keep certain people away. Feedback from the buyer after his first visit:: “I loved the house, especially the great open space downstairs, the awesome kitchen, custom furnishing, the small wine cellar. Some of the colors are not my taste like the purple in the bedroom but that can be changed. The tile for the jacuzzi tub is not my taste. everything in the house is tastefully presented. Exterior is lovely as well.
I could see myself enjoying living in the house. I wish the backyard had more grass but that is not a deal breaker. This is by far the nicest home I have seen since beginning the search.”
Thanks. See? The buyer loved the kitchen even though it was "dated"! :-) I absolutely love the style of the house, Craftsman has always been one of my faves! Glad things eventually worked out.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by casper324
Contracts still on legal size paper reduced to fit on 8 x 11 paper makes them impossible to read.
When I started, the form was one page 8.5 X 14 and you had to press hard because there were 6 pages in total. Talk about impossible to read! No copy machines, no FEDex, not everyone had a fax machine!
At least now with PDFs, you can enlarge them to the point where they have a chance of being legible.
1. Our buyer saw it during an open house and fell in love it.
2. Dropped from $740K to $634K in many steps. It was a mistake to sell into a strong buyers' market. On the other hand, we bought in the same market and now we are 18 months into a strong sellers' market and our current house (3968 Vrain Street, Berkeley, Denver, CO 80212-2251 USA) has increased from $482K to approximately $560-600K.
3. We thought about "dated". A lot. Talked with our agent about it. Decided to keep it to signal that we were not changing it and to keep certain people away. Feedback from the buyer after his first visit:: “I loved the house, especially the great open space downstairs, the awesome kitchen, custom furnishing, the small wine cellar. Some of the colors are not my taste like the purple in the bedroom but that can be changed. The tile for the jacuzzi tub is not my taste. everything in the house is tastefully presented. Exterior is lovely as well.
I could see myself enjoying living in the house. I wish the backyard had more grass but that is not a deal breaker. This is by far the nicest home I have seen since beginning the search.”
Nice house, btw. I like the modern style (unfortunately my wife doesn't so we live in a traditional house )
1. It was a buyers' market when we sold. Buyers were looking at 50+ houses.
2. 26 open houses and 63 showings.
3. We had it professionally staged. The staging cost was $300+ per month.
4. It was in a prestigious neighborhood in Denver (Bonnie Brae).
5. It took 7 months.
6. It was stressful. For 7 months, we only one chair we could sit in. We cleaned every day. We agreed to every showing. Our record time for straightening up and gathering the 2 cats and exiting was 12 minutes. We spent way too many hours sitting in our car waiting for the non-buyers to show up, view and leave.
A. We wanted feedback, but did not always get it. Buyers' agents at that time were jerks.
It turns out, in hindsight, that feedback is useless.
a. "it does not have a 4th bedroom". No kidding. The listing says: 3.
b. "the backyard is too small". Well, my neighbor is not selling me any of his land and what part of 5000 sqft lot did you miss?
c. "the master bedroom is on the upper floor". It is, but we will flip the house upside down just for you.
d. "no dog run". We own cats. Who builds a cat run?
e. "no grass in the back yard". True. We had a patio and desk. And we will rip it out just for you.
f. "no 3rd bath". Did you read the listing, you idiot?
I believe that all feedback is just an excuse for: "I don't want to buy it".
We never got feedback about aspects that could be changed. For example, paint colors. Not one.
B. Comps. I build a spreadsheet for the neighborhood sales and tracked them using data from my agent.
Address Price Date House - SQFT Lot - SQFT $/SQFT House $/SQFT House ONLY Comments
117 rows.
As a nerd, I found it fun, but useless. All it told me was: our house was priced correctly and it was not selling.
Not trying to belabor the point, but I am very curious about this as I am trying to set a price for my home, and I maintain the same type of spreadsheet. In the end, it seems your house was not priced correctly, right? (Since you had to drop so drastically before it sold) Don't you think if you would have priced it in the 6's to begin with, it wouldn't have taken 7 months?
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