Thanks for all of the answers so far. Please, please, please keep them coming.
As for homes selling in my neighborhood it's hard to compare because I live in an area where most of the homes around us are $250,000 - $500,000. Only the homes on my side of the street and down 1 street are comparable and there are only 2 for sale. One has more square footage, but is totally outdated and it is the same price as ours. The other one has been on and off the market for years and never sells. The price is always changing on that one, but I think it is still higher than ours and it also needs updated. There was a home that was comparable to ours that SOLD in Feb. and it SOLD for $187,500 which is almost $10,000 higher than our current asking price. The homes across the street are newer, bigger and more expensive. The one directly across from us sold for $289,900 not too long ago and all of the others are probably close to that or higher. We also have a very expensive development across the street and a home just sold back there for almost $400,000 and there are others listed back there all over $300,000 and some almost as high as $500,000. Same thing with the homes behind us. They are newer and bigger and they are probably all $250,000 and higher.
As for the decorations and colors in our home I totally understand that some people can't get past that, but I have been a home buyer 5 times and colors and decorations have never stopped me from falling in love with a home. You are not shopping for decorations. You are shopping for a home. One that you can put your own touch on. It would be very difficult to find a home that is decorated exactly the way you would want it to be decoreated and who would want that anyway. To me half the fun is changing it to fit my style. The home we are trying to sell was all done in dark blue and black with brass everywhere and fancy fixtures when we looked at it and that didn't stop us. The home we want now is decorated in French Country and as you can tell my style is primitive, but that didn't stop us from falling in love with the home.
So I can't imagine that being the problem. If so, nobody would be able to sell their homes.
Thanks Diana about the suggestion with the blue bathroom. I was actually going to change it anyway. Not for buyers, but for myself. It actually has a border so with the border and the blue it makes it look smaller. Also, the blue doesn't go with the reds, golds and greens that I have. Everyone loves the goldish color and it's ligh enough it's pretty neutral so I think I will paint that in the bathroom.
As for lowering the price we don't want to give it away and for some reason Realtors ALWAYS think that is what needs to be done. With what it is listed for now if it sold for that price which we know buyers always come down we would not recoup any of the $15,000 - $20,000 that we put into it. After the Realtors fee would be deducted we would only get what we paid for it. We are willing not to recoup any of the money we put into it, but it just makes us sick to hand over 6% (over $10,000) when we haven't seen much effort to sell it. If I was a Realtor I would have had new pictures of the new countertops within a few days and I would have mentioned it online and in the newspaper ads. I would be changing the wording online and in the paper frequently to get more information about the home out there. At the start of the warmer weather I would've changed the wording to say close to Pools and a golf course. We are only a few minutes away from the public pool and also a private member pool. We are also within minutes to 1 golf course and not to far from another. We are only 1 minute away from the Public school and only 1 minute away from the Private Catholic School and Church. So we have a lot to offer, but nothing is being mentioned.
Anyway, thanks again everyone and I hope to hear more.
Beth - Sun Jul 6 2008, 10:35
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity