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Thanks...I can see how someone might want to see if there are expansion options with the bathrooms and kitchen. I didn't consider that. I can also understand wanting to see a lot of houses before deciding on one, but why look at ones that don't meet requirements (as your cousin has done?) That is a waste of everyone's time.
I'll add a few thoughts that I have had as a buyer. Like, "Maybe the backyard is spectacular, so the older home that needs upgrades has something better to offer than the newer home that doesn't need upgrades."
On HGTV, my most favorite, I hate it line is "I want a home with character. I want an older home." Of course, they see the problems with the older homes up close and personal, and they run off to the new builder model home. Or spouse refuses to deal with the character, even when their partner keeps dragging them to older home after home after home, trying to convince them that it has "great bones."
Unless you're selling to a single person, you have TWO opinions to deal with (sometimes more!). As a seller, that's something to remember to reduce the stress.
I also agree that it shouldn't take two hours to get a house ready to show. 30 minutes, tops. Consider re-homing the cats for a little while, and don't cook as much or cook less messy things. And it does sound like hubby and kids should be helping out a bit more, or at least, picking up after themselves and doing some of the floors!
And sadly, it could be they want to make sure before putting in the bid on the home with 2.5 baths, it's actually worth the price difference between the one they are making the offer on and your home.
It's all too easy to take every detail personally when selling your home, your nest after so many years, but I promise you those borrowers are being far from personal in regard to you, and up close and personal in regard to themselves.
Nature of the beast. Roll with it or go stark raving mad.
Angiebuttercup, I wish it was that easy. No matter how clean we try to keep it, because we have cats, the area rugs get hairy and all need to be vacuumed. The kitchen floor ALWAYS needs to be swept and mopped (again, thanks to the cats), the litter boxes have to be scooped so there's no smell in the house, the kitchen counters have to be wiped down, the beds have to be made, the furniture has to be dusted (most days), the bathroom sink area has to be wiped down, any laundry that was done has to be put away, if we've eaten/cooked anything, we have to make sure all the dishes are clean and away or empty the dishwasher, vacuum the furniture (hair/cats), lock up valuables like jewelry, adjust all the blinds, turn on all the lights. Hard to keep up with all of this throughout the day, since we work.
The cats may be a major turn-off. Any time we've looked at homes as soon as we walk in we can smell the cats and it's a deal breaker. While you may not be able to, a lot of folks can. It's a smell that you cannot get out of a house by cleaning as long as cats live in the house.
When we listed our last home (we have two hyper boys) we could be out of the house with 10 minutes notice and we both work as well. I got up at 5am every morning and wiped everything down, swept, etc.. Took me about 30 minutes usually. Nature of the beast.
As for why people keep saying the same thing: If the realtor had professional pictures taken there's a chance that they might actually increase the buyer's expectations and once they arrive they may not feel as excited about the home as they did in the pictures. Nothing against your house, but they may realize that while they thought it could meet their needs, it now doesn't once they walk around in it.
This is a part of Real Estate and there's nothing really that can be done for it. I sold RE for a few years and it was common to see this. When we listed our last home (if within reason), we would always try to improve things in the home based on feedback from the Realtors. We had 3 couples mention they would love our home if it had maintenance free porch columns instead of wood since there is no exposed wood on the rest. I promptly replaced them all. One mentioned the door knobs and a couple of fixtures were unsightly because they were brass. I went to our home store and found some economy nickel plated items and replaced them all. Little things like that really help a lot.
People look at homes in the price range they really want to spend, or they can afford to buy. Yours apparently is a middle of the road home as far as price goes. The majority of people will buy newer and more modern, but they feel they should also look at an older home or two that they may fall in love with as they have never really looked at one before. Due t o being an older home in good condition, you are going to get more traffic through it than a newer home would.
People want to see it, and see if they can live with the kitchen and only 1.5 baths, if something else really turns them on about the home. The rest of the home does not turn them on, so the kitchen and baths are the scapegoats and they reject the home.
You have an older home, that the majority of people that look at it want updated. Pictures do not tell them the story well enough, and they have to see it in person to see if they can live with it, and after seeing it they do not fall in love with it.
That is just part of the real estate selling game. You will have a lot of lookers, and eventually someone will decide they want it. One caution. Due to it being a harder to sell home, make sure it is not priced above it's value, because if it is it will turn off all the buyers that may be interested.
Observations from someone that was a real estate broker from 1972 till I finally retired.
We are dealing with something similar. We have had our 3 bed, 2 bath 2700 sq ft home on the market for a month now and all the feedback is just gushing about the great open space, fantastic floorplan, great updates, etc ... and then the last line is always something along the lines of, "We just don't need that much space." Really? Why even waste everyone's time? I never dreamed that my house would be too BIG to sell.
Angiebuttercup, I wish it was that easy. No matter how clean we try to keep it, because we have cats, the area rugs get hairy and all need to be vacuumed. The kitchen floor ALWAYS needs to be swept and mopped (again, thanks to the cats), the litter boxes have to be scooped so there's no smell in the house, the kitchen counters have to be wiped down, the beds have to be made, the furniture has to be dusted (most days), the bathroom sink area has to be wiped down, any laundry that was done has to be put away, if we've eaten/cooked anything, we have to make sure all the dishes are clean and away or empty the dishwasher, vacuum the furniture (hair/cats), lock up valuables like jewelry, adjust all the blinds, turn on all the lights. Hard to keep up with all of this throughout the day, since we work.
Get rid of the area rugs. Clean baths, kitchen, dust and sweep every morning or just before bed. Lock up the cats to one area (like a utility room) for the duration. Open blinds before leaving and only turn on key lights.
Doing that your house can be shown while you are at work.
When you are at home keep up with your mess. Dishes rinsed and put in the dishwasher, never the sink. Beds made as soon as you get out of them. Baths cleaned when you are done using them. Only do laundry after hours when no one would come to the house and only as many loads that can be washed, dried and put away that same night.
It sucks but if you get into that routine you won't be spending two hours every time someone wants to see the house.
We are dealing with something similar. We have had our 3 bed, 2 bath 2700 sq ft home on the market for a month now and all the feedback is just gushing about the great open space, fantastic floorplan, great updates, etc ... and then the last line is always something along the lines of, "We just don't need that much space." Really? Why even waste everyone's time? I never dreamed that my house would be too BIG to sell.
I can understand that sentiment, unfortunately. A lot of people will think that bigger is better and how could they possibly live in something less than 2000sf but then realize, upon viewing something that size, how much of a pain it will be to keep it clean. My wife and I just embarked on the home-buying process and I've quickly come to realize this.
Pictures only show so much. They can't really tell you how much you will or won't like a place when looking in person. We bought a place where I didn't like the kitchen or the bathroom in the pictures. However, upon actually seeing the place - it became obvious that they could become the best rooms in the house. That, with the rest of the house, and the location, had so many positives that the place won out over other contenders with better kitchens.
You really can't tell that kinda thing til you've gone in and looked for yourself. I'm glad I didn't discount our place just based on pictures (which I should have passed up since it wasn't already exactly what I wanted?). We would have missed out on something special. Certainly, if the improvements we wanted to make weren't feasible, or were going to be more than our budget could handle, then yes - those rooms would have been the deal-breaker. Instead they actually sold it since we now have the opportunity to do something very neat with them.
Thanks...I can see how someone might want to see if there are expansion options with the bathrooms and kitchen. I didn't consider that. I can also understand wanting to see a lot of houses before deciding on one, but why look at ones that don't meet requirements (as your cousin has done?) That is a waste of everyone's time.
let me give you some insight as to what goes thru my mind as a buyer:
- There is so few inventory! I have seen every single house in my price range that has two full baths and no dice. There is nothing else to see!! Hmmm.... wait a minute, there is this house that has 1.5 baths, it looks nice, it's in our price range, only 1.5 baths though..... let's just check it out anyway and maybe it knocks us out in some other ways....
- My realtor drags me out there for this open house that is supposed to be so awesome!!! What? It only has 1.5 baths? She didn't tell me that!!! I wouldn't have come!!
- Yay, we have finally saved enough money to start thinking about buying a house. We have no idea what we want, let's just start looking at open houses and get a better idea. Hey, this house has 1.5 baths; is that enough? I dunno. Let's just go and see!
- Honey, here's a list of open homes I've gathered we should check out this Sunday. Let's see, this house has 2 full baths.... Huh? It only has 1.5 baths? Oh, my mistake, I thought it has two full baths!!
- Arrrh, this house only has 1.5 baths?? But realestatexyz.com listed it as 2 baths! They must have rounded up the 1.5!
- Hey honey check it out, there is an open house down the block from this house that we're looking at, you wanna just drop by and see? I have no idea what that house is like but it's open so let's just go see.
- Of course 1.5 baths is plenty, com'on, I'm currently living in a tiny studio. Trust me Mr. Realtor, 1.5 baths is more than enough for me. (Then during viewing).... Hmm... you know what, I changed my mind, 1.5 baths isn't enough after all.
- Gosh, this house is ugly! The floor plan sucks, the yard is shot, the garage is small, and the neighborhood... yuck! So you want me to tell you what I think? Hmm... let's just be polite and say the house is great but just that the bathrooms aren't enough and the kitchen isn't as updated.
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