Elvis knows what he is talking about with pictures but I know I am a Realtor and not a photographer so I always use a professional. To answer your question though-Yes I agree with him, they still need work. If you have the tools I would give it another shot on your own. Remember that everyday potential buyers are seeing your home on line & if they don't see anything they like they are moving onto the next home. I would not waste any time in getting the best pictures possible. I know I offered before but I would still be happy to supply the info. for the company I use if you decide to go that route.
I would also suggest thinking outside the box to get people into your home to view it. I am not sure what the company selling your home offers but have you had any open houses? I will be the first person to tell you I am not a fan of them because I have not seen much success but giving it a try won't hurt! You might want to think about enticing people to show up too...like a drawing for a gift card etc...

Mike, I see that you're still on the market at 74 days...

You are at a disadvantage, already, by having a 2 bedroom home. 2 bedroom homes are far less desirable than a 3bedroom or larger.

Also, I have to agree with Jennifer, your photos leave a lot to be desired. They are you front lines, since you're flat-fee MLS, they are the first, and often ONLY thing that a potential buyer will make a decision on, as to whether they want to see your home, or not.

You've used some sort of "panorama" setting, which is normally a good view, but on the MLS (MLSNI... Multiple Listing of Northern Illinois, which has recently changed to MRED Midwest Real Estate Data) the photos are more square and your use of the panorama setting is causing the widest part to fit into the square, making the photo much smaller than necessary, and harder to view.

Also, the photos are way too dark, because your camera's light meter has read the bright light coming through the large windows. Reshoot the photos on a standard setting (more square), and adjust for the windows (or shoot on a very gray day, with good flash), and see if you can improve your photos. That would be a good first step.

It's adorable!!! I'd have to think you could do well with a rental. It's way too cluttered though in the pictures at Realtor.com and I couldn't find any pictures at ChicagoTribune.com. Zillow's pictures look the best. You do not want the date stamp on the pictures and you need a great curb appeal picture with tulips or irises (the next flowers of the season). Just like snow dates your home as been on the market since winter, daffodils will date your home too because by the time people see the picture, daffodils will be gone.

You have a great chance to make another first impression because the current photo and your next photo will look dramatically different. With so much competition people won't even notice it as the same house. You are going to have another negative against you too. Google just came out with "street view" on their maps. The pictures were taken last year and are just now being posted. You're home's picture was taken when it had dreadful curb appeal. But it looks like a really nice neighborhood and your cute little home should really stand out now. Is the exterior of your home painted? I'd go with a front on view and show the driveway a little. Paint the front door and the trim around the upstairs window the same darker blue as the detail at the point. Then have LOTS of bright Yellow and Red flowers including hanging pots. Don't have the For Sale sign up for the pictures.

Again, it is really cute! Make it pop with the best curb appeal of any home under $200k.

Ruth

Thanks Elvis.

Wide angle is different than panorama.... a wide angle lens... distorts the photo slightly, taking in a slightly larger area of the room and making the room look a little bigger.

A panorama lens (or setting) just scans left and right... but when you view it in a square... it squeezes the panorama into the square... leaving a horizontal strip, with huge empty space above and below. Not a great look.

Mike-I see that you dropped your price last week-any response since then?

I did see your home on the mls and did a little research. It looks like the area has a ton of foreclosures and this is not good news for you because it will bring your value down. But on the other hand, your home looks great inside. I would suggest to do some open houses, have you had a broker tour? Or possibly offering an incentive, like a bonus to the buyer for closing costs, etc. And some eye catching wording in the comments, like "must sell", "bring all offers", etc.
Good luck!

As Realtors we would all like to think we could sell your house quicker than anyone else. With that being said here are a few quick things that jumped out to me. Your home is a 2 bedroom home in an area that typically has 3 and 4 bedroom homes. It is going to be a hard sell for that fact alone. One other thing I would suggest looking into is a professional photographer. The pictures are the first, and sometimes only, impression a potential buyer will see. I know of a great photography company I use & could recommend if your interested.
Also I am not seeing your home listed on this site. Zillow has it listed at $1400.00 less than the MLS. In addition it has a very large variance it what is it 'zestimating' it at. Zillow is not known to always be great at this but some home buyers don't know that & instead might think your home is overpriced.

Lower our price. If you aren't getting calls you won't get showings. If you don't get a showing the house will never sell.

Yes, yes, yes, when the price is right, the property show a lot.
13 years in the business

More than likely it's priced to high for the market. After you've done all the low cost things to make your home more appealing like painting and cleaning, try a lower price. It doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money that you won't get back on updates.

Okay, I'm annoying with multiple posts. Here is a difference flowers, paint and curb appeal can make. The picture is distorted because I took half of the Google picture and half of your Zillow picture to show the driveway. The reason I want to show the driveway is because of the old fashion red bricks.

Small, old, 2 bedroom, could be an advantage if it is sooo incredibly cute!!! Take a look at the picture I created. Mike, feel free to replace your profile shadow picture with this thumbnail one if you'd like: http://www.oak-park-il.com/curb-sm.jpg
Ruth

Aurora is flooded with homes for sale. It has to be priced a little under market to even get noticed.

The answer is simple. YES. If you get ne showings or lots of showings but no offers, the value is not there. Since changing location is not possible and improving the home will cost money, the only variable left is price.

I haven't looked at the pictures yet, but I will. The advice that you received about wide angle or panoramic would probably been for a brochure or self designed website. The pictures for Realtor.com and the Chicago Tribune should be exactly proportioned to their standard size. So if the Trib is 400x266 pixels, you don't want your photo 400x400 pixels. If it makes you feel any better, the first home I pulled up in Aurora was over $1 mil and the pictures were awful. They were all different sizes including tall skinny photos where only part of it was shown in the thumbnail and the dining room photo was crooked. These look like they may have been professional photos but they sure were not targeted for the Trib website.

As for no showings, no you cannot automatically assume it is price regardless of how many agents repeat that as their mantra. In your case, as already pointed out, you have multiple reasons for no showings in no particular order:
1) 2 bd in a 3 and 4 bd market
2) originally bad photos
3) flat rate agency
4) lots of foreclosure competition
5) price based on what you owe, not market value
6) marketing
7) a fickle and down turning market
8) buyers ability to get a mortgage

Mike, in this market even if you don't have anything wrong with your price, marketing and property, some houses aren't selling. You have all sorts of things going against you as evidenced by no showings. You probably should try and rethink the big picture. My personal advice is to interview several local full service agents, look at your competition as if you were a buyer, drop your price below market value, and consider trying to sell the new construction home and staying where you are at until the market turns around.

Good luck, I'll go look at your pics now. I take a long time to type and so I looked for more posts. YES, consider renting but find a professional to help you with that as well. You don't want someone to destroy your home or move in and stop paying rent.
Ruth

Sure, give me a call. I will be in the office for the next 20 minutes & then will be out for a 11am meeting.

Jennifer-Yes, you can give me the info for photographer, should I call you for it?

We are also thinking we would rent for a year if we can find good tenant.

Very possibly, unless there is something else, such as an extremely unappealing exterior view, bad neighbors, etc. that is turning off potential buyers. You must remeber however, that price is everything. In the absence of some possible environmental or costly hazard, EVERY property will sell, and will sell today, if the price is low enough. This is an absolute fundamental marketing truth.

it's simple your price is too high, even if your location is not desireable, then your price has to relate to your location and condition.

Price is usually the key when marketing your home. Do you have comparables that support your list price? I suggest you have comps that will support your list price, provided by your Realtor or your own research to be sure your property is priced in the ever so changing market. What kind of exposure is your home getting? Realtor.com says over 70% of buyers start searching through the internet, is your property there? My site below is an example that your Realtor should be using to get maximum exposure, as you will see my site provides the whole Multiple Listing Service properties for sale in my area. I also suggest a virtual tour of your property if its priced correctly and your home is in order ( clean ).

You are either over priced, or have no curb appeal. When Buyers pull up to a home, the first impression of a property is the appearance on the outside; then secondly it's the appearance on the inside. Is your home clean, any upgrades, or is it older. You must price it with current market values. Is it easy to show? Is there a lockbox on the house.

Jennifer-No, we have not received any calls for showings since lowering the price. Do you agree that our new photos still need to be improved? We took advice from a realtor who said we needed more wide angle view of the rooms.

Any other suggestions? We are building a new home and its going to be ready in June!

Hello Mike, People,

I'm Jorge Nunez a Realtor from Jacksonville, Florida. Price reduction is not part of my marketing strategy I leave that to the market conditions. Many times I use Math to find Answers. In this case I would find how many properties, very much like yours, are on the market’s area. The closer your property is to the top three the better situated you are. Find out what is there for you guys to do in order to move the property up the ranks, price reduction being last. You will be amazed. Take a good look at how well priced the condos and other homes I have listed in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico are. If you guys have any questions write me.

Jorge Nunez

Though price can be a factor, location, condition and marketing play a major role in selling a home. Is your home showing at it's best? Is it really clean, free of clutter, personal items and excess furniture? Staging has alot to do with helping sell a home these days as does virtual tours. Don't expect top dollar if you home is not in top condition, not in this market. There is alot of competition out there. If other homes are for sale in your community you should have your realtor pull the comps to review. Or physically check a few out for comparison. Do these homes have upgrades, how do they compare to yours?

Sellers must be proactive in helping sell their homes. If you want your home to sell make certain it shows like a model home, price in the mid to lower spectrum for your community and make sure the outward appearance has curb appeal. You have to stay competitive and be willing to work with the current market. Your realtor should be able to give suggestions on staging and feedback on showings. Virtual tours are available on line 24 hrs a day for prospective buyers to view. Do you have a virtual tour on your home? If not you should ask your realtor about having one created. Buyers are shopping online before physically viewing properties so make sure your house is getting maximum exposure.

Only 3 reasons:
1. Price
2. Condition/Location
3. Realtor Marketing

You can't change location. A Realtor's marketing can create activity, thereby creating demand. However, all the marketing in the world cannot cure an overpriced home.

Bottom line: Drop the price.

As far as how its being sold/marketing-We are using a flat-fee broker...So, its on the MLS, Realtor.com, chicagotribune.com, dailyherald.com, Zillow, Craigslist, FSBO.com, etc. We have a sign and brochures available in front yard.

So we do not have a marketing plan in place. How we determined the price is basically what we owe on the mortgage plus cushion for closing costs and realtor fee. We received a CMA, to compare what else is out there but there is a pretty broad range due to a lot of foreclosures in our area.

Address is: 339 Cedar Street, Aurora, IL 60506 if you would like to look it up. It should/will be posted on this site as well.

Thanks to all for the advice!

Good question.

How is the house being sold?

By Owner or By Agent?

If the house is being sold by owner, you should put a marketing plan in play. There's more to marketing a home than a sign in the yard and passive marketing.

If by agent, it doesn't sound like they have put together a very aggressive marketing plan. Again there's more to marketing a home than a sign in the yard, listing in the MLS and passive marketing (which includes standing by and waiting for something to happen).

I will always ask a client these question:

Q: Who Must We Reach FIRST When Selling Your Home?
(A: Realtors!)

Q: Why?
(A: Because at least one of them will have the buyer who will purchase your home.)

That’s why I have as part of the Marketing Plan, a MLS Marketing Strategy that causes MLS Realtors to want to show your home to their buyers!

Pricing (which is related to the Marketing Plan) could be PART of the problem. How was the price determined? Who determined the price?

Buyers have had their share of problems also. And will have new challenges in the immediate future.

Creeping in now is that buyers who had qualified for 95% Loans (now or in the VERY near future) may only qualify for a 90% Loan.

Additionally, it is not likely the Fed will cut rates this month (as anticipated). Indeed interest rates, went down below 6% for a few days in Feb and are back over 6%. Interest are still extremely low.

Jobs are another concern for buyers, the economy has not created enough new jobs lately. The more people working the bigger the buyer pool.

Additionally, this Feb we had extreme cold weather and alot of snow, which probably didn't help.

While price may be part of the problem but the marketing plan is very important!

A marketing plan will vary from real estate company to real estate company.
A marketing plan will also vary from agent to agent depending upon experience.

The Marketing Plan For Your Home...IS... the reason why you pay a fee to hire a Realtor to sell your home.

At first blush, overpriced would be my guess. If your home shows well, is in good condition, has a good location, and no one is coming, it is price. How did you and your agent come up with the price? Do some homework/market research. Chances are you will find you are overpriced. If you do, make the correction now, do not wait to see if things improve.

Good luck.

Bill Brannon

MIke
What did your Realtor tell you to expect when you put your home on the market?
I appreciate that you'd like answers from us, but what did they tell you?

Also, I assume that your Realtor presented a marketing plan. You hired them, so I assume that you liked what you saw, right?

So if the Realtors executed the marketing plan, and told you upfront what the anticipated resutsl would be, and you fail to get those results, what is next step?

In mosts markets in the US right now (but not all) it is a buyer's market. That means there are more homes for sale than buyers. So buyers and their Realtors are looking for homes that offer the most value. Homes that receive showing activity are perceived by the market as having value, so no activity equals no value.

I do not know your market. In my market, average Days On Market (days until a property enters excrow) is about 100-110 DOM. However, properties that sell in the first 30 days of market time sell closest to list price.
Example: Homes that sell in the first 30 days area selling for 96.3% of asking. At 120 days they sell for 94.2% of asking...that is probably AFTER a 3-6% price reduction.

With the marketing we do I expect ten to twelve showings or two offers during the first 14 to 21 DOM. If not, we adjust the price. We need to sell in the first 30 days or it will cost my seller thousands.

Good luck

I don't know where you're located or who your broker is, but in this challenging real estate market, it's very important you go with a full service brokerage. If your broker is not offering this, you're wasting your time. I see many of these homes that are sitting on the market with brokerages that offer no advertising. 80% of homebuyers are searching the internet for homes, and if your home is not being showcased on realtor.com you're losing a lot of opportunity. Most buyers start there with their home search. I would think you should have had at least one showing, or how about open houses? Broker tours? You need to market your home. Hope this helps,
Ida McCarthy
Broker
Sherwood Realty

Both Jose & Marilyn bring up great points but I would still be concerned with no showings at all. The market is really rough, but I still have seen a decent amount of buyers out & looking. You may not get any offers or contracts on your home in the near future but there still should be some lookers. What type of marketing is being used?

No calls or showings in a month often does mean that the listing price is too high. But other factors could also cause the public to take no interest. Are you on a busy street? Does your house have good curb appeal? Is it a desirable neighborhood? In today's market you want to be the prettiest, best house out there, or your price needs to reflect the fact that you are not.

It's a tough and fickle market and buyers are facing rigorous challenges with financing options. "Almost a month" with no activity sounds about right in this turbulent market. However, before time goes on further, you might want to reevaluate or readjust several items. First is, what is the condition of you property in comparison to your competition? Does is need improvement? Secondly, you might want to offer some type of seller contribution to a buyer or buyers agent - and this can be in many forms so be creative, and lastly, take a good look at the price. That is truly your most important determining sale factor. Price your property to sell, or price it to continue to live there. The choice is a simple one. Best of luck to you Mike.
Jose Gomez - Miami Realtor