F-O-U-R look at our house! In the last six weeks or so we have hand none, that is ZERO. Now I do realize it is the holiday season, but I have seen other houses in the neighborhood actually sell recently, or have a contract on them. Not just one, but several. Why have they not come to look at my house?
One thing I think is strange around here is that they do not have a realtor caravan for all the new listings. We have sold several homes, and the first of each month all new listings are visited by a caravan of realtors. I think it odd that it is not done here, but then again, I do live in Louisiana. I have found Louisiana does a lot of weird things. The argument is, is that since homes are on the internet, realtors can look at the homes on line. First off, I don't think that is being done, and second and more important, you really cannot get a feel of the home until you actually go see it in person.
I've been communicating with my realtor as to what more we can do. When we first listed, open houses were discussed. Knowing that there is a very low percentage of homes sold with open houses, I pretty much discarded that idea. Well, since we are looking at three months on market and essential no traffic, we have decided to do some open houses. Next week, we decided to do a realtor open house AND a public open house. We have lowered the price and I have staged the home. It looks really nice.
O.K., now, I need ya'lls help. What are some good ideas to make the house beyond perfect? Like I said, I have staged the most important parts of the house--living room, dining room, kitchen/breakfast area, master bedroom and bath, and two of the other three bedrooms, including the main bathroom and half bath. I have special towels that I set out, and even have set the breakfast area table. I open all the blinds when it shows, which makes it look very nice and bright and cheery. We have also dropped the price.
Our realtor plans to have a small lunch for the realtors, and some finger food for the public open house. I'm hoping to have a good turn out and maybe even a nibble on the house. It sure would be nice to be able to go back up with my husband after Christmas.
I wish I had something constructive to offer -- we have definitely bought and sold lots of houses but what you have said (and the pictures) look like the house is beautiful and ready for someone to buy. I know for us the one thing (which you have already done, I think) that we worked hard at was clearing the place out. We rented a storage unit and literally took out more than half of what was in the house -- and when the photographer came to take the pics, she had me clear out even more.
ReplyDeleteBut I think a lot of it is simply the market and luck -- (and prayers!) -- and we will keep you guys in our prayers. Your family needs to be together! Good luck on it!! xoxo
Hopefully, things will pick up after the first of the year, but I think some of it boils down to having a crappy real estate agent.
ReplyDeleteWell,I think it is more than that. From what I hear we have a good agent, I'm just not sure about the agency. There's some background I'll have to share with you sometime.
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