This is my listing. I have lowered the price dramatically in the 2 weeks I have had it. Not a single call from realtor or otherwise. Broker Open was successful 7 realtors. All said listing was very nice. Your feedback please?

www.realtor.com MLS #10088986 located in NJ. I am doing a virtual tour next week hoping that my pictures just suck=no interest

I don't think your post was complete, but here goes...

First, I'd get the cars out of the drive so that people can see the house and if they still can't see the house for the trees, I'd have the owners get the trees trimmed up a bit.

I don't know about there; but here, it takes a couple of weeks before the public knows a house is available.

It's been on the market 2 weeks and you've already reduced it "dramatically"? Where does the pricing fall in the comps - not only solds, but also the competition? Here, we have an extremely slow market (and have for almost a year), so I counsel sellers to price in the bottom half of the current competition. Because of the competition here, sellers also have to make sure their home is "model-home" perfect, both inside and out. Many times sellers don't get the "model-home" perfect idea, so I make a comparison to when they are trading in a car and what they do to the car before they go to the dealership. They seem to get "it" then!

Good luck,

Betty

That's usually a nice way of the buyer or realtor saying it's either too expensive,need work,or both.

One mistake is you only have 2 pictures of the house front and back,you need to have the inside pictures as well for a total of 8 to 10.Is the inside of the house that bad?

To most people time is very important these days.If people are purchasing a home especially if it's priced in the higher range they want to look at inside pictures to see even if it's worth there time.


Square footage sells homes,if they have art on the fridge and pictures on the walls have them take it down and pack it up.Having fresh paint on the walls signals this is a home with a fresh clean slate ready for a buyer to move into.

Have them eliminate unecessary furniture to open up the rooms and make them appear bigger.

Without more info and pictures it's hard to comment any further.

No pictures of inside = possible wasted trip for buyer and agent = reduced interest. It's not like we're talking about a $1500/month lease listing here ... this is a substantial commission so you need to get professional photos and a virtual tour up ASAP. As in order them today, right now.

Here's a direct link for anyone else who wants to see the listing: www.realtor.com/Prop/1063552368

Simple. Unless your real estate market is poor, it is how you present your house to prospective buyers, its location relative to the competitive properties, its condition relative to the competitive properties, or its price relative to its condition, location, and competitive properties.

In addition to what JFlynn and other have said, print out a list of the active comps and you and your seller take a tour of them and see what you are competiting with.

One rule of thumb here that works is to remove about 1/2 the furniture in a house and about 2/3s of the mess in the closets. YOu want to make a buyer think "the seller is living here and still has more room to operate in...so therefore I will too." It works.

Get a professional staging company to come in and suggest how to stage a house. You have a commission potential of $8000+, invest some of it.

Many a dog has been sold here after proper staging.

I agree with all the posts. The listing does not attract me in any way, shape or form. The pictures are not interesting and spark zero interest. Is it a woman's house because the description simply says 'great mother/daughter possibilities.' What the heck does that mean?

I think you should invest more time and a bit more energy and money into this home if you expect to get the seller a reasonable price. Relay to the seller what needs to be done to attract buyers and seal a deal!

Good luck!

I was wondering the same thing. An above poster also suggested getting the cars out of the driveway and having the homeowner cut back the trees. That would make a huge difference in your photo's because right now those photo's spark zero interest.

I take 30+ pictures with my digital camera when I take the listing (I make suggestions to the seller ahead of time about how to get her home ready for pictures and ready to show, etc.) so that I can take pictures after the paperwork. When I get back to my office my husband and I pick out the best pictures and always as many as we can up to the limit on each website. I create the virtual tour within 24 hours.

We are in a buyer market here with more than three times as many listings on the market as there were last year. We are flooded with inventory. I'm going to do everything possible to create interest and let as many people know about this home as possible, but I'm always open to new ideas too!

What on earth does "great mother/daughter possibilities" mean and is that the best way to market a home... Not to mention consider Fair Housing suggestions?

I second moving the cars and trimming the trees.
Also what about interior photos? If I have ten properties to show and I can tell my buyer will probably like them by the interior photos, I will write your listing off as not serious about selling and figure it's not worth the trip.

Would a buyer TODAY want to pay that price for the home? Just because the recently sold comps justify the list price, in our changing market that might not be enough to lure buyers. But I don't know your market or where your price sits relative to what is getting looked at and what is getting offers.
--A

mother/daughter possiblities mean they can easily rent the basement or the upstairs out.

Could you include more in the listing description? How many photos do you have on the MLS site for your area?

I think more photos and more written information are needed, both for public sites and agent sites.

Also, and this is just me - but if I were your seller looking at that Realtor.com listing, I'd be annoyed that the scrolling text appears to be solely about getting your company business instead of selling that particular listing.

There is absolutely nothing in this listing that would make me give it the time of day. Pictures are few and the ones posted are bad, the description is horrible. I am sorry to be harsh, but I have to turn this back to the original poster and ask them what kind of job they think they have done showcasing the fine points of this home...???
this may very well be an ad for how NOT to market a home.

Other than what the others said, I wouldn't worry about the price consideration unless you are in a 'hot' market and have not priced the home properly. Our own market isn't good for houses of a certain price category. Pictures are everything when trying to sell something that you haven't seen.

I agree with the other posts, however I'm not sure this house will sell fast even if it's presented better.

I'm in FL and know nothing about the NJ market, but in looking at realtor.com for other houses in the same city at the same price I see several that are well presented in realtor.com that appear to be much more desirable than this one and that have probably been listed for a long time.

For example 10072971. It looks much nicer for the same money, and it is presented well. Based on the fact that Sherri's house is 10088986 this means that 16915 houses have been entered since 10072971 went on the market, which indicates that 10072971 has been on the market for a very long time without selling.

To summarize -- yes, your presentation needs work, but don't expect a quick sale.

Thanks for the feedback:) I am having a pro virtual tour done this week. Hopefully that will help

Do that, plus add a useful description to the property listing. Stick to the facts in your description such as "updated kitchen and baths, matte finish waxed hardwood floors, new berber carpet in bedrooms, 10' ceiling in living room, eat-in kitchen, open floor plan, extra storage in garage, granite counters and travertine floors in baths, new brushed nickel hardware throughout, master bedroom on 1st floor, double vanities in master bath, new roof in 2001..."

Also avoid the use of unqualified modifiers such as "great" "perfect" "incredible" "best" "roomy" "beautiful" and so on. Also avoid the use of exclaimation points ("!") in the description. Research shows that buyers are turned off by all of the above. Buyers want the facts and are annoyed at a bunch of salesy talk such as "Wonderful starter home with roomy feel and beautiful designer touches! Act now this one won't last long! Be the envy of your friends!!!"

Sherri,

The house definately lacks curb appeal and needs more photos. Always put in the max. allowable by your MLS or individual site.

You said your dropped the listing price after 2 weeks. What price range do your comps of similiar homes in the area show. Is the current list price within that range? If not Why??

I also agree with Jason. Lose the mother/daughter thing and tell everyone what updates the home has and when they were done.

I agree.

It looks like you have the same Realtor.com package I do. If that's true you can also write your own description and add 4 more photos to make your listing stand out.

Take a look at this one for example:

http://tinyurl.com/nnvsc

Have you also tried a price reduction???

What's the deal with taking pictures of houses with the cars in the drive way? Both Sherri and Jim have cars in the pictures! Do the cars go with the houses? If not get them out of there so that people see the house at its very best. This may seem picky, but to me it is as bad as having the owners in the picture or getting an image of myself reflected in a mirror or window.

Just my opinion...

Betty