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Why would a house be worth less vacant? That makes zero sense as they are not buying the contents.
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A small room looks smaller without furniture in it. Like a kids room that is 100 square feet. It's always a good idea to at least have pictures of the home with furniture in it so they know what it will look like.
A huge room looks bigger without furniture in it. I saw a McMansion on a reality show and the master bedroom looked ridiculous because it was so huge that it looked odd with just a regular bedroom in it, it was designed to have a seating area.
Nope recent sales. I also made sure it was priced below other comps currently for sale.
Let me make comments as someone that was in the real estate brokerage business from 1972 till I finally retired. I worked in investment real estate and was not a single family home salesperson. On the other hand I bought many as investment properties. My record was selling a 13 home to be built subdivision, selling it to 4 investors in 2 hours on the telephone to use as rentals. The price I got them for my clients was enough under the market, I could have sold twice that many that day if they had been available.
#1--Don't listen to those that say it is not selling as it is an empty home. An empty home is easy to sell, but it has to look in top shape. Carpet, paint, etc. has to be in good condition and be really clean. It has to look like a model (new) home, to get top price and attract buyers.
#2--Listing agents/agencies are not the ones that are going to sell the home. It is going to be sold by buyers agent, as each side has their own agent today. If your home is on the market as long as it has been for sale, and no offers at all, it is because the selling agents are steering buyers away from it, for better properties that are in good condition. If the home looks ratty with bad carpet, and needs painted, etc., then they are not going to waste their time and their potential buyers time to even show your property.
#3--Your home you say is a townhouse. People prefer single family homes over townhouses. How many single family homes in your price range in your zip code are there for sale. If there are quite a few, that reason alone is why your home is not even being shown. The only way you can compete in that circumstances, is to be priced enough under the single family homes to be competitive. If you are anywhere near in the same price range, you will lose out every time. Do comps not only with sold townhouses, but with single family homes. This will help you determine if the home is overpriced.
#4--A run down home (needing carpet, paint, etc.) has a place in the real estate market. It is bought by people like I was. I would buy them if they were cheap enough under the market, that I could run my own part time crew in to put them in shape. Fresh paint, carpet, etc. and make them really sparkle. They they would go on the market and be sold to one of my investors if I bought them cheap enough, or let one of the single family agents sell them. They all knew the home would be a showpiece when I put them on the market and they were shown and sold fast.
I had a part time crew. A couple were disabled people that could still clean, paint, etc. A couple of uneducated housewives that could not find a job. 1 retired man, who had spent 3 years working as maintenance man for really large apartment complexes his wife managed. He ran the crew. My crew could put a home into top condition faster than any one elses in town, and were ready to start anytime I needed them.
One secret to save carpet. Often it is really just stained, with sun bleached spots, and does not look good when cleaned. I would have my crew get a slightly darker Clothing Dye from the local stores, and put it in boiling water. Then using a steam cleaner, would use it like cleaning solution to clean carpet, sucking the part being steam cleaned (dyed), until the colors matched. Do the carpet, let dry 2 days, than vacuum it real well. When the carpet is just soiled, stained and and appears bad but is basically in decent condition it will dye and look real sharp. I have seen those houses a few years later, and the carpet still looked good. Remember carpet is just cloth, and carpet will dye as well as a woman dying a dress, or something like that. And yes it will dye permanent.
It sounds to me like, you have four choices. 1: Put the home in top shape, and it will sell. 2: Cut the price to what people like me will buy it, and they can make a profit on it. 3: Rent it out, to cover your payments on the home. 4: Keep it and keep complaining it won't sell.
I personally prefer oak cabinets, a they match the oak trim and floors. My new house has oak. Also has brass hardware which eventually i will change. The house I am selling has oil rubbed bronze hardware.
The carpet was replaced last in August of 2008. It is not a fixer upper, but it is a 20 year old house. It needs new paint and could use new carpets. Pretty standard for any home I have ever bought, including the one I just bought, which also had no running water. That was a fixer upper. Took me weeks before we could even move in
It gets worse and worse. Oak trim has been seen as dated for at least twenty years. Where are the oak floors if there is so much talk about ugly carpeting?
You could, perhaps, rent some furniture for showing, pictures, etc, but that is also very expensive.
I had a house listed that just sat there in a hot market. it was vacant, but in excellent condition, like about $10,000 of fixing up, including new carpet, paint, ceramic tile, etc. One day I took a friend along and asked what's wrong? She was candid and said it looked sterile, the bathrooms almost looked institutional. We went out and spent ~$150 on some decorator items, including shower curtains, some nice towels, bathroom knick knacks, like little scented soaps in pretty wicker baskets, got a lot of stuff at Goodwill like some artificial plants, etc. the whole idea was to have just a few things in each room to soften things up a bit. some plants, a few knick knacks here and there,no real furniture or anything heavy to move back and forth. We did put a nice table in the foyer with a candy dish---with some candy---and some flyers, a little basket for realtors cards, in general, make it look not abandoned.. We also put just one vanilla-scented air freshener inside the AC vent, just a soft, barely there scent, nothing that knocked you over.
We had three offers in about a week!
I have to agree with this. Just a minimal amount of staging can make a huge difference and can move your house from sterile and boring to the cozy, homey, memorable column --- a place where people can picture themselves living. Empty can start to look abandoned and neglected quickly. It has to be kept up and kept clean. Every little bit of dust and dirt shows. Buyers subconsciously equate that with more maintenance & more money.
Everything the above post mentioned is good. Be careful with scent. Some people are allergic and the wrong fragrance can be worse than none.
We had a house on the market a few years ago. It was a very competitive market. The realtor was insistent in that market it had to be staged & that we should spend a few dollars for plants for curb appeal. I was skeptical, but after seeing it empty & then staged, it was amazing. We had 10 offers, all over the asking price, the first week.
I know when you are selling it seems like money you can't afford to spend, but you have to consider what it's costing to keep it on the market, unsold -VS- spending a little bit now to get it sold sooner.
I'm not a Realtor but I've bought and sold a few houses and helped umpteen other people do it. I've known very few people who have the ability to project what pieces of their furniture will fit in a completely empty home. Some over-estimate, some under-estimate. Many walk because they are confused.
The last time my mother looked at an empty house, my brother and I had to lie on the floor to prove to her that her bed would fit in the bedroom. She was convinced the room was too small even for the bed, let alone leave room for her dresser. In fact, even after her bed was set up, there was room for her dresser, a chest of drawers, a nightstand, and a chair. I've seen similar things happen over and over.
Developers definitely realize it's hard to sell empty homes. That's is one of the reasons every new development has model homes. Buyers need to picture themselves doing things in a house. Most of them lack the imagination to do that without props. It's also why home staging generally gets sellers a higher price.
OP, I have empathy for your situation being a person of low income myself. I have also bought fixer-uppers. But I made sure I had the money in hand from the sale of my house before I even went looking for new place, so I could offer cash. Is that inconvenient? Yes. Does it keep one out of situations like the one you are in? Yes.
I have also read your earlier thread so I am aware of your situation with your current Realtor. I think you should do her a favor and get another agent. At least interview some other potential agents to tell you about selling strategies for your market. Everyone keeps saying you should keep improving your property but then you keep saying you "need" to be reimbursed for the cost of those improvements. I don't see how you can expect to close on your townhouse under these circumstances.
You are likely to lose money on this sale if you expect a buyer to come along who is willing to do all the improvements necessary AND pay you as if the improvements were done. Unlikely.
When I buy, I know what comps are for that property. I try to get an idea of what they best of the comps included. I start with that as my in-mind offer and then subtract everything your house lacks that the high comp had. If they had newer cabinets and nicer countertops, I'm subtracting because oak is '80s as far as I'm concerned. If I don't like your paint colors, money comes off my offer. If you haven't replaced the carpet, fine since you'd probably pick something I don't like, but I'd ask for a concession. If I see old vinyl flooring, old fans, mold in wet areas, rust on fixtures, stained sinks, fake marble, the same light fixtures that were put in the house when it was built, etc., etc., I'm not going to say to myself, "Oh, well, what do I expect. The house is 20 years old." I call it deferred maintenance and I'd be asking for paperwork on the appliances, furnace, air conditioner, and roof.
I'm sorry, but that's the way I think as a buyer. One final thing: you said this townhouse doesn't have an HOA. That wouldn't be a plus to me. Townhouses are right up against each other. I want all the protection I can get from neighbors who don't live the way I do. I can't have that without either an HOA or a municipality that is strict with its zoning laws. That would weigh heavily on my mind.
I'm not a Realtor but I've bought and sold a few houses and helped umpteen other people do it. I've known very few people who have the ability to project what pieces of their furniture will fit in a completely empty home. Some over-estimate, some under-estimate. Many walk because they are confused.
The last time my mother looked at an empty house, my brother and I had to lie on the floor to prove to her that her bed would fit in the bedroom. She was convinced the room was too small even for the bed, let alone leave room for her dresser. In fact, even after her bed was set up, there was room for her dresser, a chest of drawers, a nightstand, and a chair. I've seen similar things happen over and over.
Developers definitely realize it's hard to sell empty homes. That's is one of the reasons every new development has model homes. Buyers need to picture themselves doing things in a house. Most of them lack the imagination to do that without props. It's also why home staging generally gets sellers a higher price.
OP, I have empathy for your situation being a person of low income myself. I have also bought fixer-uppers. But I made sure I had the money in hand from the sale of my house before I even went looking for new place, so I could offer cash. Is that inconvenient? Yes. Does it keep one out of situations like the one you are in? Yes.
I have also read your earlier thread so I am aware of your situation with your current Realtor. I think you should do her a favor and get another agent. At least interview some other potential agents to tell you about selling strategies for your market. Everyone keeps saying you should keep improving your property but then you keep saying you "need" to be reimbursed for the cost of those improvements. I don't see how you can expect to close on your townhouse under these circumstances.
You are likely to lose money on this sale if you expect a buyer to come along who is willing to do all the improvements necessary AND pay you as if the improvements were done. Unlikely.
When I buy, I know what comps are for that property. I try to get an idea of what they best of the comps included. I start with that as my in-mind offer and then subtract everything your house lacks that the high comp had. If they had newer cabinets and nicer countertops, I'm subtracting because oak is '80s as far as I'm concerned. If I don't like your paint colors, money comes off my offer. If you haven't replaced the carpet, fine since you'd probably pick something I don't like, but I'd ask for a concession. If I see old vinyl flooring, old fans, mold in wet areas, rust on fixtures, stained sinks, fake marble, the same light fixtures that were put in the house when it was built, etc., etc., I'm not going to say to myself, "Oh, well, what do I expect. The house is 20 years old." I call it deferred maintenance and I'd be asking for paperwork on the appliances, furnace, air conditioner, and roof.
I'm sorry, but that's the way I think as a buyer. One final thing: you said this townhouse doesn't have an HOA. That wouldn't be a plus to me. Townhouses are right up against each other. I want all the protection I can get from neighbors who don't live the way I do. I can't have that without either an HOA or a municipality that is strict with its zoning laws. That would weigh heavily on my mind.
I already accounted for the house needing paint, carpet and a fridge. I priced it $20k less than a comp for the reason. I bought a fridge and will be painting this weekend so my price may need to go up if I am going to be doing the repairs that I already accounted for in the initial price.
All light fixtures were replaced in 2008 when I bought as the house had none, as with all the flooring. The hvac, hot water heater and garbage disposal are also new.
The house does have an HOA which isone of the top reasons why I wanted out of there. I live my life how I want and no one is going to tell me where I should store my trash can.
I personally prefer oak cabinets, a they match the oak trim and floors. My new house has oak. Also has brass hardware which eventually i will change. The house I am selling has oil rubbed bronze hardware.
The carpet was replaced last in August of 2008. It is not a fixer upper, but it is a 20 year old house. It needs new paint and could use new carpets. Pretty standard for any home I have ever bought, including the one I just bought, which also had no running water. That was a fixer upper. Took me weeks before we could even move in
Hate to break it to you....but this isn't about your personal tastes. Oak cabinets are just not popular and to many people mean a kitchen remodel. Can't tell you the last time I saw a house with oak floors....90's? Brass has been out of fashion for ages. These are all things that buyers see as needing replacing and cost $$$$ and time.
Hate to break it to you....but this isn't about your personal tastes. Oak cabinets are just not popular and to many people mean a kitchen remodel. Can't tell you the last time I saw a house with oak floors....90's? Brass has been out of fashion for ages. These are all things that buyers see as needing replacing and cost $$$$ and time.
To be fair to the OP, she has already changed the brass in this vacant townhouse for sale. Oil rubbed bronze, I believe.
To be fair to the OP, she has already changed the brass in this vacant townhouse for sale. Oil rubbed bronze, I believe.
Townhouse never had brass. It was built on 1998.
I added hardware, oil rubbed bronze to the cabinets in 2008.
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