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Old 05-16-2010, 08:59 PM
 
Location: most beautiful place ever
1,869 posts, read 4,017,930 times
Reputation: 1493

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When we were listed and sold, the finished basement did count towards Sq footage.
i agree, i dont think the pictures are as good as they can be. but that doesnt matter if people have come through.
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Old 05-16-2010, 09:03 PM
 
Location: A Yankee in northeast TN
16,010 posts, read 21,025,382 times
Reputation: 43411
Quote:
Originally Posted by Racelady88 View Post
I know nothing about your market.

I took a peek at other listings ranging from $100K-$140K. Your house is the second smallest, and most of the others have significantly more square footage. Many also have more full baths and more bedrooms.

I found it odd that there are only 2 houses in the $120K-$130K range in your area. I suspect that you are over priced.
I looked too and thought the same thing.
There is another house listed that is very similar to your house, for 115k. It doesn't look quite as nice, and maybe the area is not as good, but is it 10k worth of difference? A couple of the other 115k houses would probably attract my attention over your house too, if I were looking in this area. Unless there is something special about the neighborhood or the house that we aren't aware of I think the price is still too high, compared to the other listings.
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Old 05-16-2010, 09:17 PM
 
37 posts, read 76,407 times
Reputation: 22
Quote:
Originally Posted by CAugust View Post
If you've been on the mls for that long, I would not hold out much more luck at this point - you need to start back at square one I think ..... but that may be in your best interest at this point and may result in a quick sale of your home!!! good luck!!!
Thanks CAugust. What exactly does square one mean? I am prepared to do whatever I need to do to get this house sold yesterday (really stressing out about getting my son registered in the "right" school district). Should I choose a whole new broker all together to get a new MLS? I am willing to give my current realtor the chance to sell our home, but this time I will be much more involved and not so "nicey, nicey". I was thinking about listing at $115,000...do you guys think I should stick with the $1000 Bonus Buyer Agent Commission? Also, what are the chances of me getting her to come down on her % of commission, since I truely think it's her carelessness in pricing our home that has caused this long drawn out process...I mean can you believe she initially listed our home at $143,500...ugh?! Can she give me a new MLS number without me losing any time?
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Old 05-16-2010, 09:30 PM
 
Location: Hoosierville
17,198 posts, read 14,482,614 times
Reputation: 11455
Quote:
Originally Posted by ready2mov View Post
Thanks CAugust. What exactly does square one mean? I am prepared to do whatever I need to do to get this house sold yesterday (really stressing out about getting my son registered in the "right" school district). Should I choose a whole new broker all together to get a new MLS? I am willing to give my current realtor the chance to sell our home, but this time I will be much more involved and not so "nicey, nicey". I was thinking about listing at $115,000...do you guys think I should stick with the $1000 Bonus Buyer Agent Commission? Also, what are the chances of me getting her to come down on her % of commission, since I truely think it's her carelessness in pricing our home that has caused this long drawn out process...I mean can you believe she initially listed our home at $143,500...ugh?! Can she give me a new MLS number without me losing any time?
IMHO, the agent bonus really doesn't do squat.

If I had to take a guess, I bet there's not a whole lot of sold comps - judging by the lack of properties that are active in your price range ... and a quick glance at the population of your town (11K - is that right?)

My gut reaction is to have a sit down meeting with your agent and her broker. Tell them your concerns - lay everything out on the table AND I'd want to see some sold comps.
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Old 05-16-2010, 09:45 PM
 
Location: Tempe, Arizona
4,511 posts, read 13,554,308 times
Reputation: 2201
Quote:
Originally Posted by manderly6 View Post
Pictures look very nice. A few more would be helpful.

"assetts" is spelled wrong.
There are several typos. Suggest running a spell check.
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Old 05-16-2010, 11:35 PM
 
Location: North Carolina
1,764 posts, read 2,858,634 times
Reputation: 1900
Quote:
Originally Posted by ready2mov View Post
Wonderful advice guys..just what I was looking for..thanks so much. As for my Realtor situation...well, I'll just be honest..I'm not real happy with her, but I was trying to be non-emotional, trying not to blame everything on her, but I would really like to try a different agent and maybe even a different broker in the area. I did extend our contract until June 30 via email with our Realtor (btw..the only time I'll get a voice conversation with her is when the contract is up otherwise she just texts everything...ugh). Can I get out of this email contract before then as time is of the essence?? Also, being from such a small area I don't want to burn bridges or hurt her feelings...I know that sounds silly because business is business and this is my family's future we are talking about..I guess I don't know how to bail on her gracefully?
Hi "her name" I would like to sit down and talk to you about some of our concerns with the listing...and then go from there. Tell her what you are telling us and listen to her response. I can not fathom a reason a listing would have such glaring typos, especially with all kinds of ways of checking one's work. Quite frankly, I pass over homes with listings with bad/no photos and/or several typos. If the listing agent isn't excited about the house and want to present it in the best light possible, why should I bother? Plus, I always worry that there are other things s/he is missing.

The reality is you need to sell your house. It should not hurt her feelings to receive constructive feedback. Are you going to continue to let your house sit for sell in the interest of not being open and honest with her? If not, then you have to do something proactive. Call her broker/manager and discuss the issues. Terminate the contract and find another Realtor who wants to sell your house.

I recently sold my house and moved across the country. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but I can tell you that the first Realtor I had did whatever I asked her to do (even if it wasn't in the best interest from a selling standpoint), she never advised me on ANYTHING regarding staging my house and she refused showings that would not allow me 24 hours notice (without my knowledge). I contacted her Broker/Manager and agreed to change to another Realtor within the agency.

The new Realtor was very open and direct about feedback. She made suggestions about things that were very easily resolved. She agreed to do things I asked if they made sense to her and explained to me why they didn't, if she thought it would hurt my position. She was not heartless, but she encouraged me to be ready to leave on a moment's notice for showings. I usually had a few hours notice, but did have a few "in the next twenty minutes." She always answered my calls and emails and she kept me in the loop on EVERYTHING.

Here's the difference. With the first Realtor, my house was on the market for almost four months and had 20 showings, no offers and, more importantly, no feedback or advice from my Realtor at the time. With the second Realtor, my house was on the market for four weeks with 22 showings and one solid offer. We were able to meet the Buyer's request to close by April 30th, 2010 for them to receive the tax credit and get our family reunited.

I am absolutely positive that my house would still be on the market right now if I had not made the choice to do something about my first Realtor. I wasn't mean or nasty. If you think that's a possibility, have a trusted friend or family member write a letter on your behalf to remove all emotion. This isn't about her feelings. This is about putting closure on this phase of your lives so you can move on. If anything, constructive feedback should help her fine-tune her skills and improve her business relationships.

All the best to you.
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Old 05-17-2010, 12:03 AM
 
100 posts, read 549,963 times
Reputation: 114
The typos tell me something is missing with the broker.

The photos tell me what the corner of the living room looks like and mainly what the furniture looks like. Is the living room actually 12X10 ? Is your front lawn actually 2 acres ?

Those are a couple of things.

Best of luck ! Brick homes are my favorite, especially single story.
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Old 05-17-2010, 07:26 AM
 
Location: WNY
1,049 posts, read 3,850,179 times
Reputation: 274
Quote:
Originally Posted by ready2mov View Post
Thanks CAugust. What exactly does square one mean? I am prepared to do whatever I need to do to get this house sold yesterday (really stressing out about getting my son registered in the "right" school district). Should I choose a whole new broker all together to get a new MLS? I am willing to give my current realtor the chance to sell our home, but this time I will be much more involved and not so "nicey, nicey". I was thinking about listing at $115,000...do you guys think I should stick with the $1000 Bonus Buyer Agent Commission? Also, what are the chances of me getting her to come down on her % of commission, since I truely think it's her carelessness in pricing our home that has caused this long drawn out process...I mean can you believe she initially listed our home at $143,500...ugh?! Can she give me a new MLS number without me losing any time?
by square one, I mean pretend this listing never happened, and try to think like you are beginning from the beginning.

IF you can get a new mls number, (depending on your region if it is allowed then yes I would).

A new broker? maybe? I hate to discount anyone, but anyone can see by the extreme amount of typos (and I am a terrible speller) that for some reason no one cared to actually look or proof it.

If you want to offer a buyers agent commission, who is it going to hurt? Put a date on if under contract by though. Say it went in today, then something like buyers agent bonus of $1,000 if under contract by June 15, 2010.

The BIGGEST problem I see here, and I will place a disclaimer on this saying it is MY opinion as we all work differently is this....

Some agents, and I am NOT saying she did this, because I do not know her, nor do I know her past practices, do what I call "buy" a listing. That to me is when they make promises they can't keep in order to get the initial listing for themselves and then get a contract and then they push to lower the price. Now some agents will be honest and upfront and tell an owner what it's worth, yet the owner will not list at that price, but want it started out higher. Again, she may have thought that your home would have started at $143,500? I don't know that.

I don't think she is going to come down on her commission at all, you can always ask. Some agents will. I give out what I promise and I work very hard with all my clients, I want to be paid for that. Some agents will put a sign on a property and walk away and wait for phone calls, I don't do that. I am marketing it out there every day over and over. It would be nice to put up 10 signs this week and do nothing, get calls and have 10 contracts in two weeks, sit back and collect 10 checks in 2 months, which is what people think we do - HAHAHAHAHA!! I was grocery shopping the other day, got a call from clients at closing needing stuff done .... so I had to drop what I was doing make calls, and make it happen - it's what I chose to do - I don't want a medal, just my check for working hard.

IF the law in your state allows you to start fresh, get a new mls number I would do so. I also tell clients that you have to price a home right the first time, if it's not - forget it. Even if the home goes down in price, people have already discounted it from the start, (most of the time). It's a tricky business, we don't want to overprice it, yet I certainly don't want to underprice it and do a disservice to my clients.

The first two weeks are your peak weeks normally with showings, in regard to when a home gets put in the mls.

I also don't do fancy smancy cma's (comparative market analysis) for clients. I research comparative properties in the immediate area and create or export a chart for them to review and I explain it to them. Why a home is considered a comparative, how many days it was on the market, what it sold for and why. I will also show them the homes that took months and months to sell, what price it started at and where it ended up and it's funny how when the mls number is fresh with a new price the days on market were usually lowered. CMA's are nice - but they are imho again, a marketing technique that "looks" good. I tell my sellers that, and I also tell them - you and I nor anyone else can't argue with facts. Facts are facts, they are not made up by anyone.

I made this up myself, and am pretty proud of it ......

Numbers don't lie, people do.

Good Luck - please keep us posted!!! I wish you luck and I hope you get that home sold asap, you actually sound like a gem of a seller to work with!!!!!! Not many of you out there ........

sorry about the long post, I usually don't go on and on, but you sound very sincere and I really wish you the best.
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Old 05-17-2010, 09:39 AM
 
37 posts, read 76,407 times
Reputation: 22
Thanks so much CAugust and the other posters! I decided to take all of your advice and was proactive in my actions this morning. I called the Broker (btw, he was in the hospital getting a heart test..wow..talk about dedication). He was very understanding and upfront with me..basically letting me know he hasn't sold a house in the last 6 months that has made any profit! Wow, that was really a surprise to me...but sort of a realty intervention..haha! He had only nice things to say about my Realtor, which I have to agree..not a good speller, but a very sincere, hard-working person. So, bottom line is this...We are going to keep our Realtor and the same mls# the broker seems to think it would be a bad thing for a new mls# as buyers might wait for the price to come down etc... We dropped down to $112500 (you were right Charles..hehe and offering a $2500 buyer's agent bonus. I am really hoping this is aggressive enough...I would really like to see an offer soon. Thanks again for the comments and support guys! I will keep you posted!
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Old 05-17-2010, 09:51 AM
 
10,875 posts, read 13,787,973 times
Reputation: 4896
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chuckity View Post
IMHO, the agent bonus really doesn't do squat.
I agree i would take that agent bonus and buyer's incentive and move it over to a price reduction.
Looking at your house it looks pretty nice for the most part. The only two things i think holding it back are the underhouse garage, and it's only a 1 car. I don't know if those are common in your area, but around here they only pop up every now and again and they seem to always be the ones on the market for a while.
Second the kitchen while new, is dated looking. Oak/white was hot in the 80's but not today.
I'm sure if you dropped to $114,900 you could get it sold in the 110 range.
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