It's your house. Why does the yard look bad because of "tenant neglect"?
You can probably add a little curb appeal by applying a good layer of mulch, like shredded wood or something, to the parched soil. Maybe add some strategically placed boulders so things don't look so empty. Trim shrubs etc. Not a high-priced effort to make the place look more inviting.

Yep, sure is ugly! I live in Rosaryville Estates (behind shopping center). House has been on the market since April 4. Two houses on my street that went up for sale on my street were taken off the market because of no interest. I've had about 3-4 showings in all this time. Lowered price $10,000. Man who lives 5 doors from me just refinanced at above what I'm asking. Others I know that have their house up for sale say the same. No one is looking. Thinking of taking house off the market September 30, then relisting in spring.

I know it's rough but try to hang in there. I'm in the same boat, we had 2 showings in the beginning and it's now dried up. For myself as a buyer I stopped looking because I was discouraged that no one was looking at our house. I decided to get back out there to look and hopefully others will too.

I've been following the threads at city data for the NJ market, everyone says the same thing. There was another post where someone said that the people coming in from NY will still be buying, especially with more inventory and no other buyer competition, and they're right. I doubt it's stopping the city people because some houses are selling.

So, I'm hopeful. It doesn't hurt me to keep my house listed. If people do start coming back out, my house will be ready. It may take me an hour to put stuff away, clean up, but I'd rather stay on the market then take it off and possibly miss out.

We're S MD with water and have kept track of our area. So far things have slowed, but have not tanked. Prices are stable, but DOM are a little longer. Away from water is a whole other story.

"Tenant neglect" means that I cut $200 off the monthly rent for two years with the understanding that the tenant would maintain the large, landscaped yard (saving me a $200 monthly landscaping service). In the previous 3 months before they moved out, they were unable to take care of the yard due to military commitments. (The costs of bringing the yard back into decent shape were taken out of their security deposit without argument; they felt bad.)

However, being in FL and trying to get someone to take care of the yard is proving to be very difficult. I had hired someone via a friend, but my REA says that they haven't done anything.

Also, getting a handyman in there to take care of minor issues (light painting, trim work, etc) is awful. My REA just presented me with a $3500 estimate for what I think would be 2 days of work with almost no materials.

Looks like we're going to put the house up "for sale" or "for lease" just to get it occupied. We're debating dropping the price or offering help with closing costs. I think if we drop any lower everyone will wonder what's wrong with the house because we'll be so low below everyone else.

Thanks everyone, for the sympathy!

Sorry to repeat this but MRIS stats are here:
http://www.mris.com/reports/stats/

For 20772, month of June, 479 active listings, 55 sold.

I sold in Waldorf, the rural part out near Hughesville and Aquasco--it's a nice, low-crime area but with the stigma of a Waldorf address.

I accepted an offer at 92% of my original asking price = 97% of my lowered asking price. After closing delays, partly thanks to miscommunication and partly thanks to tightened lending standards, I ended up lowering the price again and amending the contract, just so the buyer would qualify. That felt terrible and insulting, but the amount was about the same as carrying costs if I put the house back on the market , even if I magically got a new offer right away. Bottom line, sold for 90% of original asking price, which was considered "competitive" when we started in March. My neighbors will hate me but someone had to "go first" so to speak.

My agents assured me that, as another poster said above, prices were not falling much and that I just had to wait out a longer average DOM. Agents showing the house backed that up, saying it showed well and was priced right. My gut told me otherwise. Maybe I could have dropped this contract, put the house back on the market, and received a great new offer right away--but I doubt it.

My REA gave me an update today and said the house is showing well (surprise to me), but folks are looking for finished basements.
(this is the venting part) Criminy, how much living space do people really need? The house already has 4 BR, 2.5 BA, formal living room, large family room, formal dining room, kitchen nook, good sized laundry room and den addition. Only one of the bedrooms is small. Two of them are huge. I think it's 2700sf, but it's always hard to find out with those wacky MD RE rules.
Dropping the price $10K today and helping with closing costs, also putting up for the rental market.
UGH.

With small children I would not buy a house without a basement unless it had a finished attic or some other out of the way space. I need someplace to put the junk. I also like having unfinished space for storage. As for 4 bedrooms, if you have 2 kids and a guestroom you are done. Before kids I did not even like basements

I think it is the market of course

saphire,
I think you emphasize my venting point.
How much "junk" must one have that a living room and a family room and a den and two eating rooms and the kids' bedrooms and guestroom are already full, so that one needs more finished living space?
Our full-sized (except it doesn't extend under the 2-car garage) unfinished basement is also wide open for storage, in fact, has a lighted storage room that held a 12' moving truck completely full of junk (which is supposed to hold 1 to 2 rooms worth of furniture).
I'm thinking, though, that our definitions of "finished" are different, because from your first sentence it sounds like your small kids might play in an attic instead of a family room, which I can't really imagine being the case. Or that your "junk" has higher standards than my "junk", which is to say that my scuba gear and extra dog crates and windsurfers and extra prop for the boat (etc) don't have to be in a "finished" basement with carpeting and drywall and recessed lighting (which is what the buyers apparently want). My junk is fine in an unfinished basement sitting right on the concrete floor.
You are right, of course, it is the market. I'm actually hoping that we might get some military renters in there to hold out until the market stabilizes, because right now in that area, it's in a practical freefall.

I gotta say I immediately think of all the tv shows that go into peoples houses and show how much unnecessary stuff people hold onto. Its crazy. And I still don't think people even need half of the "current" stuff they have and that includes the kids stuff.
I've found that if I go into stores I think I need everything.
If I just stay out of the stores - I do fine with what I have.

Another ancedote - my storage area with all the stuff I moved from the house is costing me 200.00 a month while I am doing just fine with the little stuff I have in a little apt. Of course I can't garden here etc. or grill so some of mine is legit for now but I should probably ditch another half of it and I got rid of a lot when I moved. But when I'm out there I look at other storage areas people have open that they are cleaning out - holy cow! You can see that over time they just start chucking stuff in there and some of the ones I've seen are just one huge pile of old clothes and crap that they are loading up to haul heaven's knows where.

Kids or no kids I think Americans are a bit out of control.

Let me explain. Youa re right that my bicycles, cat crates, old strollers and paint cans do not need a carpeted area. I would not even want one. In my house I store some in my shed, some in my garage, suitcases in the unfinished walk up attic (while a concrete dry basement is ok I would prefer not to store suitcases in the garage or shed) and out of season clothes in the attic too.

As for the family room, I do not want my 10 year old playing ninendo on the family room TV since then no one can watch anything else. I do not want every guest in my house tripping over my 2 year olds toys in the family room or living room. Hence the finished basement which is a play area for the kids. It can be left messy and I do not have to worry about unannounced visitors

I do know of people who have converted their attic to an out of the way finished playroom

My basement also has an unfinished area where hardware is stored