What did the people who came back for the 2nd and 3rd showings end up buying?

Also, your backyard appears small (esp in comparison to the front yard). Is this common in your neighborhood and/or among your price-range competition?

This post was edited by kirkhall on Tue, Aug 5, 14 at 16:47

The only thing I can say is you have too many photos on your site. 31 is a lot. Do you really need all those shots of the living/kitchen area? The backyard is rather small. If your are in a family neighborhood, that is not a lot of space for kids to play. Your house shows very well I'm sure. No clutter, nicely staged. I would check the SOLD comps in your area. What are houses going for. You may need a price adjustment. NancyLouise

Thank you for the feedback. The two buyers that had second and third showings were both deciding between our home and another and they ended up going with the other home. They both went back and forth between the two to make up their minds. We do have a small front and back yard, but we are in a neighborhood with primarily empty nesters or retired people. One part of the neighborhood is all garden homes. The negative feedback on the small yard has come from families with children. I thought about suggesting to my realtor that we put in the listing that it is a small easy to maintain yard, so we eliminate the showings that would not be interested in a small yard.

This post was edited by dld123 on Tue, Aug 5, 14 at 20:22

Always a bridesmaid is always about price.

I was thinking similarly to LWO. So they both went back and forth, and chose the other. (in other words, they were serious buyers).

What were the others? Price? Location? Size? Yard? # of bedrooms? similar to yours?

You had to be second choice for more than a little price because if they liked yours better they would have offered just to see if you'd bite.

This post was edited by kirkhall on Tue, Aug 5, 14 at 18:10

Great house. Could you set up the patio with a lovely set of cushy patio furniture to show it off as a cozy back yard and patio ideal for entertaining and family chats?

We reduced our price to $299,900 last Thursday, but have only had two showings since then. Both were in the home for well over an hour. One buyer is saying they will be back with their pool man to see if he could install a small pool and we have been unable to reach the other.
I have added some additional plants and I had my patio cushions recovered. I will add a picture when I get home to show the difference. I should probably add a pot of color as suggested. I am also wondering if the price should have been lowered to 300 instead of the 299,900 so it is catching the searches for 250-300 and 300-350. Any thoughts on this? Thanks again for all of the great feedback.

kirkhall, That is what we thought regarding the price , if it were price we they would have made an offer. We did not get any negative feedback from either, just that they had a tough time deciding between the two homes. One did say the other had a bigger kitchen.
I have thought about having a landscaper come work in the flower beds, but I don't know if I should spend the money. I have also thought about adding a small tree to block the view from the two story home that is behind us, but we have not had anyone make a comment on that. We are not sure if we are just being impatient and the right buyer has not come along. Our price is less than any of the realtors gave us as market price before we listed the home. We have had a couple of homes in the neighborhood sell for less per SF, but many are much more and the homes that have been less are much older and outdated.

Gorgeous house! I wouldn't hire a landscaper. How about buying some containers with flowers and putting some at the entrance and some on your back patio?

You just haven't found the right buyer yet. Good luck!

What a lovely- and large- home! It really shows well. And I think it is beautifully landscaped. The home size is great for a family. The smaller yard might not work for a family with younger children who need room to play but it certainly could work for a family with teenagers. The kitchen is really great. Perfect for entertaining a crowd. I agree with the others- your perfect buyer will come along.

Price per square foot was not one of my comparison points... Size, bedroom number, yard size, age, etc. But, not price per square foot. That is an approximation, but isn't actually useful.

If the others that sold were similarly priced and sized, but offered 4 bedrooms, your house would have lost out to someone with 2 kids who wanted/needed an office (for example).

Don't just look at price, or price per square foot. But, at amenities.

I don't think being at 300k even would really help. What was your price before? If not over 350k then people would have seen it last week.

At $299k, your home is at the top of the budget for buyers searching in the $250-$300k range. If listed at $300k, your home is the bottom of the budget for buyers searching in the $300-$350k range.

Which do you think makes more sense?

It is now listed at $299,900, I read in a real estate forum that it is better to have it at 300 because you would show up in the search for both. I honestly don't know if that is good or bad, it is just what I read. I know we were having a lot more showings at $305,500 than we are now that it has been reduced, but it may have been because it was a new listing. Which do you think make more sense?

In response to your most recent question--why showings have slowed down, two things are at play--it's no longer a new listing and August is typically a pretty dead month for showings. People with children want to move before school starts, and it's a popular vacation month.

Besides rrah's response, I also think showings have slowed down because you priced at $299k instead of $300k. I'd move it up so you can capture the buyers whose home price search starts at $300k.

I'd list it at 300K for the reasons you mentioned. Doesn't hurt to be 2 price ranges.

And based on the number of people that seriously considered it, I think it's just a matter of time. I wouldn't lower the price further at this point unless you're very anxious to sell.

My realtor thinks it would look bad in the MLS if we raise the price. She will do whatever we want, but thinks raising 100.00 will look funny. If there are any real estate agents, I would appreciate feedback on this.
We listed 26 days ago at 305,500 and reduced to 299,900 last Thursday.

Nice looking home. 25 days may seem like a long time to you but is it really that long for sales in your area? It'll sell.

Is there anyone here, when they were very serious in their home search, NOT look a few thousand dollars below and above where your primary price range was?
OP...be a little more patient. Sounds like you are on track.

Lots don't, ncrealestateguy. If, in their mind $300k is their starting point, they're not going to search for homes in the $290's. Likewise, if $300k is their limit, many won't expand their search perimeters up to $310k.

did123 -- when selling our last home, our realtor activated the listing after an only a preliminary talk with us about the price. A few days later, we asked her to pull the most current comps and determined that our home was priced too low. So, we asked her to increase the price on the MLS (by about $15k). Afterwards, she only had one realtor ask about the price change out of curiousity. It didn't cause any negative repercussions.

Thanks so much for all of the feedback, I really appreciate it. There is another showing tomorrow!
I have added some beautiful pots of flowers on the retaining wall and that really makes the backyard look much nicer and brighter. I am going be patient and hopefully, the right buyer will come around soon. Thanks again.

Good luck with your showing today! BTW, when I search for listings, I typically don't enter a minimum, just a maximum price (and I enter about $100k more than what I'm willing to pay).

pam14... I think every buyer I have run into does the same thing. Her listing is being seen. And it is about to pop.

I hope you guys are right! I know I am being impatient, we have just always sold our homes in a day or two and the market is good in our area. I am assuming it is the type of home we have and the fact that it would be more suitable for empty nesters or retirees. I am sure that narrows our market significantly. I know I am getting worn out! I work hard before every showing to make sure everything is perfect, including baking something the morning of the showing, so the house smells good. My husband said we better sell the home soon or he is going to need new clothes.

This post was edited by dld123 on Thu, Aug 7, 14 at 23:23

IMO, agents are used to prices bouncing up and down on listings, so it probably does not bother them to see small movements. But as a buyer who watched listings for several years before purchasing, it would signal a possibly indecisive seller. And that would probably affect my offer and negotiation strategy. Not necessarily in a terrible way, but it would cause me to negotiate in smaller increments--to allow the indecisive seller time to "get used to the idea of my offer", instead of assuming they were firm about their price/counter. Replies might also get sent closer to the deadline, to allow for maximum thinking time.

A few changes, such as yours, are not that big a deal--it is the ones that change three or more times in a two week period, or bounce them up and down for months to keep the house in the changed category, that really scream of game-playing.

My searches were about $35k under our minimum, and $75k over our target price. Anything lower brought up trashed foreclosures. The higher range allowed for a heads-up on homes that may have price drops that would put them into our range.

Your price is probably close enough to bring in your target buyers. Your house should be on top, now that those two other ones have sold. ;-) Good luck with your sale!

Remember too Buyers... when you do an online search, you are searching ASKING prices. A home that is asking $315000 may well be in someone's price range if their top dollar is $299,000 or so.

To NC's point, I never search with a bottom price range. If I do filter, I do it by bedrooms or bathrooms or square footage or acreage or garages and basements. I don't want to filter out something that might be a great deal. Like the foreclosure we bought last year for $14K.

Or I browse around and figure I can get a decent house between X and Y, and then end up being disappointed, so I keep bumping up my price range until I find a house that works.

So I'd never miss a house priced at $299K. But anyone who's just on a realtor's auto-email list at 300-350, and doesn't poke around on their own, might miss it.

Just to keep you all updated, the realtor that showed our home today said that her clients are moving here for retirement and this was their first trip to look at homes. She said they fell in love with our home and are going to discuss if they are ready to pull the trigger or wait and look at additional homes. She finished with they were super impressed with the home.

A smaller yard for a retired couple makes good sense. Good luck!

Whoops! Sorry for the duplicate post.

This post was edited by pam14 on Fri, Aug 8, 14 at 19:32