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We listed our home at the end of March. We had an offer in 3days. Buyers ordered 5 additional inspections and then backed out. Have dropped our price since then 11k, which is not a lot, but our realtor feels it is priced correctly for the market. Re started open houses near end of May every Sun., but are only drawing nosy viewers, not serious buyers. House is 26 yrs old with beautiful custom oak cabinetry through out. Have been told by multiple realtors we need to paint all of the oak white, icccck! Have beautiful hand made Italian tile in kitchen, but not granite. Getting very discouraged at this point. | |||
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Are you just letting off steam or looking for opinions? | ||||
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Did something major come up with the inspections that caused your buyers to back out? Can you post a link to your MLS and let us see your house? That would help a lot. ~Jean~ in garden zone 6b | |||
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In addition to what the other posters mentioned, review the CMA with your current agent. Just because a house is priced appropriately does not mean it will sell quickly. Your agent can do an analysis of Days On Market for different price ranges of sold properties in your market. A house in your price range might take on average 200 days to sell, where if you lower the price just below a threshold amount it might sell in 100 days. Conversely, up the price to the next threshold and it might take 400 days. The higher the price the smaller the pool of potential buyers. That is why it is very important to make your house stand out, in a good way, from the crowd. | |||
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The link to the mls is: [url=http://www.mlslistings.com MLS#: 81210639 I was looking for opinions regarding painting out all off the oak cabinets and wood doors to white, as I really do not want to do that; many of the homes listed in our price range have the same. is it unrealistic to expect it to sell without the granite? Would it be a better option to give the buyer a credit towards granite instead of replacing the kitchen counter tops?This message has been edited. Last edited by: Califgirl14, | ||||
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I looked at the pictures and I think in that price range you should just offer a decorator allowance. I doubt painting the cabinets white is going to make much a difference to people who are looking at houses in the 1.2 million dollar price range. Your landscaping is beautiful! ~Jean~ in garden zone 6b | |||
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I used to live right in the heart of Silicon Valley And am now trying to sell about an hour south of you. Right now in good school districts homes are starting to sell quickly. I am opposed to painting over wood cabinets because I genuinely love wood! One thing you might think about instead of an allowance to upgrade tile is to offer an extra 1% to the buyers agent. That might get more people in to see it and hopefully then you could have a match! | ||||
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Hi Jean,unfortunately when we listed we were in the middle of a late rain storm series, which caused us to have double the normal amount of rain for the time of year. Our lot sits up slightly and we get drainage from the house next door to us(I think you can see where this is heading) that drains under out house. We have a sump pump installed but we had a lot of water in a short time and it became very wet under the house. Of course this all collided with the inspections that the buyer wanted. They called in a foundation expert, who ironically found nothing at fault with the foundation, but managed to write up a very large remediation quote for many other things with hugely inflated prices (eg $800 to re seat floor insulation). They were all cash, first time buyers, young (mid 30's). They also paid for an appraisal and the house appraised at 92% of the agreed to sales price so they thought they were "overpaying" and backed out. Their report/bid from the foundation man had to become part of our disclosure package. My husband has corrected 99% of the things listed in the report.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Califgirl14, | ||||
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Califgirl14, First, Welcome to the Real Estate Boards! You will get a lot of advice here so hope you will seriously consider every post. Everyone here has only one goal - to help you get your house sold! For myself, I haven't checked out your listing yet and will do that soon. But, in the meantime, NO, No and no - do not paint over any real wood! Think you have been getting some bad advice there from people who just want to get a sale and have no idea of how to do it! Headed to your listing now and will let you know what I think later!  | ||||
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Going to post the link here - we'll see if it works: http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-J...Ct-95120/home/934547 | ||||
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Great, the link worked so everyone can see what we are talking about! So, Caligirl14, you have a 5/3 w/h 3720 sf priced at $1,288,000.00 that has been on the market for over 100 days with no offers that have resulted in a contract? First, I have to say something - it must be the location that justifies the listing price because, sadly the house simply doesn't - at least as far as the photographs show. Re your current listing, there are only 4 photographs - #2,22,23 and 24 - all outside - that I found enticing enough to make me want to go see your house. None of the rest of them even kept my interest for as long as it took to flip through the slideshow...  Most of the photographs simply show a very impersonal house with no decor whatsoever that doesn't justify a million plus price. What is shown re the existing photographic presentation is bad. In particular, photographs #10, 12, 14, 17 and 19. I think this is one of those rare situations where you should probably vacate the premises, re-photograph and re-list as vacant. Hoping you post back with particulars on how your agent has come up with a seven dollar figure asking price while posting really inferior photographs - does he think the locale will sell your house?. Think you need to have a sit-down conversation about all of this - you shouldn't be left out of the loop. Good Luck! This message has been edited. Last edited by: Idaho Resident, | ||||
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Well 14, sorry to be blunt, but what your agent "feels" is no more of an indication than what Idaho feels. The correct price for your house is what the market will bear where you are and the only way that can be determined is to compare your house to similar houses nearby that have sold in the last few months. That the appraisal came in over $100,000 low may very well indicate your house is NOT priced right - you need to see the numbers. I don't think that many houses sold in your price range still have 26 year old kitchens and baths even if they were custom when the house was built. If you go to a kitchen and bath showroom today you will have a hard time finding any oak cabinetry and it will probably be impossible to see white tile countertops, so you need to come to grips with the idea your cabinets are not an asset. Realistically you should probably just proceed on the basis that a buyer will be renovating the kitchen and baths and adjust your price accordingly. As much as you believe your drainage and foundation problems are minor or not significant, independant professional inspectors have determined they are. You may need to hire your own inspector to show the proper remediation has been made for your disclosure statement. With all this in mind your agent needs to get the advertising expert in her office to help professionally exploit the features and benefits of your house by editing the pictures and definitely the written description of the property. A cathedral ceiling and window tinting are not the first two things I want to hear about when I'm looking for a home. Her "texting" style in all caps and many abbreviations are unprofessional. Tell us about the property, the neighborhood, schools and nearby amenities in plain, but optimistic english - adjectives are your friend. Good luck.This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chuck Steak, | ||||
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Calif, it hasn't rained for months! Must have been a savvy buyer to pay for FIVE inspections. IF one or more inspections discovered drainage issues and/or resulting structural damage.. maybe excessive due diligence. If it were me, I'd focus on fixing those probs, not how to update the home's interior. For sure, I'd fire any realtor or decorator who suggested painting real wood. | ||||
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Excuse the typo. The appraised price was 99% of the sale price. It was just $12K under the offered price, not $100K. We would have come back for a renegotiate, but the buyer pulled out before we could do this. The big issue on the foundation report was retaining walls in the rear of the yard, which had not been inspected by our home inspector. He quoted $34K to repair. My husband replaced all sections that were noted for $1K. | ||||
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Finally had a chance to look at your listing. Did not have much time but if you are in the SJ Unified School District- those are not selling as quickly or easily right now. Might have to drop the price if you want an easier and quicker sale. | ||||
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We are in Almaden Valley, SJUSD. I think we will be talking price adjustment with our realtor. | ||||
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I agree with others who say your listing is poorly presented. The pics are awful and the write looks sloppy. I can also see a bit of staging before new pics will work wonders, does your agent have a stager to bring in, a photographer to take new pics. I don't think your house needs much work or decluttering but remove that wallpaper to update it. Then get bright pics. I have no idea about your pricing, I would first work on the presentation, I see nearbys in your price range, but have no idea how they really compare, discuss this with your agent. | ||||
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Another thing, I would tell agent not to advertize open house more than a week in advance, you are telling everyone you don't expect a buyer at the next open house, you have perpetual open houses, so no hurry here. | ||||
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OP, If your DH has made adequate repairs re the drainage/foundation walls that the earlier buyer inspectors noted were necessary, I would strongly suggest that you pay and receive an Inspection Report in that regards to be attached to your listing. As for the photographic presentation, have you considered having it re-done? Not sure if you are still living there or not as the furniture shown is very minimal but, in either case, I would suggest removing the few items of furniture before re-taking the new photographs. At this price, a lot of expectations are there - don't let prospective buyers have a reason to say "no thanks and move on." Keep us up-dated what you decide to do. | ||||
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As many know, I happen to dislike granite with a passion. so no granite wouldn't make a difference to me. Also, I would never paint wood. not my style. I realize that you live in Ca in a very expensive area. I don't know what your comps are, but you could also request better pictures, your price demands that you show your property in the best light. Marketing a million + property requires a special agent that deals with these types of properties,that could make a difference in your case. Good luck, but don't think that way about granite, in todays market, there are way too many options, that peopple use in their kitchens. I love tiles, and have installed tile in my new kitchen, but I also like the 16x16 tiles not too many grout lines. And it makes a very beautiful countertop. But that is my taste. | |||
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Location is a big factor, and while the neighborhood looks nice, I wonder what is the big white structure across the way. Can you look at the map, and let us know what that is? Doesn't really look like a bldg. Is it a treatment plant, or sports facilities? I saw this on Redfin with the link that Idaho provided. The other thought I had is the home is very dated. So much brown. Bring in other color..inside and out.This message has been edited. Last edited by: real estate lady, | |||
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The big white roof top is a water storage building. It sits on top of a hill and is not visible from our home. | ||||
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Just going to put my two bits in--that is about what they are worth but I did recently sell a home and purchased another albeit in a different state and price range. The home I sold had custom wood cabinets but maple not oak. The house I purchased has oak. Sorry wood lovers, it is soon to be painted over--personal taste. Would I do this to sell a house--maybe not--but oak is not the current preferred wood so it is somewhat off-putting to those who care about trends. I don't particularly, just hate oak. My sold home had Corian counters in a smooth slightly off white with a simple tile backsplash that was slightly dated in that it had a greyed white tile field with a four tile patterned picture of birds and leaves over the cook top. The home I purchased had Corian countertops and a very dated backsplash. Originally I was only going to replace the backsplash and then closely examined the countertops and found issues. I was also purchasing new appliances so...now we have a lovely simple granite with a slate backsplash. I am not particularly a granite fan but this was right for this home. By the way the new counters and back splash tone down the cabinets in the original oak so this helps the look but there is still all that custom oak wood cabinetry. (I personally like tile BUT hate to clean the grout so tile countertops would be a negative for me.) We were fortunate we purchased this home for a very good price and cleared money on our sold home so we could make these and other changes. Otherwise to leave the kitchen, I am afraid a lot of your furniture is dated (it looks from the same era in which my DH and I married). We have added things over the years, changed window treatments, etc, to update our general look so that when we were ready to sell we were able to edit out a fair amount of extraneous things and appeal to the younger buyer (and our buyers were probably 20 years our junior). Your property looks nice on the exterior although, and this is a personal preference, I would never buy a home with a front entrance garage if I were in the market. It makes me think the house is all garage. Would different garge doors make a difference? I am stretching here so others should feel free to jump in. This may be small potatoes. The advice to get new inspections is solid. Make sure you are very clear in your disclosure about conditions and what has been done. Some updated staging and some photos by an outstanding photographer who specializes in real estate can work wonders. My house looked good with its first set of photos. After the professional came through it was gorgeous--it is all lighting and how it is used. Again I am not an expert but I imagine lowering your price to the lower range of simlilar homes would get you more action and probably an offer since buyers could perhaps see that they have extra funds to up-date what doesn't appeal to them personally. Your house is a commodity now, not your home. I know that is a hard pill to swallow having gulped that one down myself. Good luck. | |||
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As others have said, I, too, think the house has a gorgeous exterior, but the interior comes off as dated/uninteresting/lacking in color. Perhaps a lot of this is due to poor photos. We ended up doing our own photos and our own write ups. I think it would be money well-spent to hire a stager. I wouldn't do anything drastic like painting your real oak...unless you yourself can be happy with it. New window treatments definitely would help IMHO. Wall paper is also a turn off for most these days. Hang in there. | |||
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A few things - starting with the issues that showed up with the previous potential buyer.... Since that is in the record on the sale now, not having proof of a bonafide inspection that the problems have been fixed would be a show stopper for me. Your husband might be a landscaping contractor and do professional work, but having a home owner fix things themselves normally makes me nervous since we have not experienced good work there (again, your work could be perfect - but I think many people can be nervous with homeowner fixes, so the formal inspection would be a great idea). Second, the house is dated - between the carpet in the bathrooms, and the wallpaper, a buyer is going to factor the cost of updating all of that when they look at your house. The bathrooms/kitchen would also probably be an area that other updates would be planned by the buyers.. So, my question is - what does your realtor say about the real comps for a house in your location, general size and "updatedness"? In Virginia, a house in that state sold immediately right down the street from me - but those owners took into account that the new buyers would basically gut the house and priced it to sell (at the low end) - AND they had a professional stager come in and stage it (it was immaculate, and they had removed a bunch of their stuff so that it showed REALLY large). Is that something your realtor could help you with? It looks like the site is attractive, but it also looks like a place that has no yard due to the landscaping - is that true, or might you want to add a photo with the lawn? I would use new photos - I couldn't figure out what some of the photos were trying to show me..... Good luck - there are some amazing people on this site that help with staging - I used pretty much all their advice when we staged our house, and it sold very quickly. We had a POD and put about half our furniture and stuff in there......  | |||
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Okay, I actually live in East Bay, not far from your house. Unlike much of the country, houses are selling fast, fast, fast in the Bay. W/ house prices as low as they are here (comparably!), new buyers are jumping into market. I think it is especially telling that your first offer was a "cash" offer and a week onto the market. That tells me buyers were looking and interested in the place as soon as it came onto the market. The fact that no additional offers are coming is very worrying. So, the question is why? What is driving buyers away from the house? And that is something only your realtor can find out from other realtors who have had other clients view it. And you need to find out NOW. I think most of the other stuff people have said (dated bath, carpet, etc) is a tad irrelevant based on the early offer. | ||||
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I like the house. It looks spotless. The furnishings/draperies look a bit dated. The whole thing could use just a bit more pizazz. May I please ask: why are you selling? Plus, how long have you lived there? | ||||
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We are selling because we have decided to move to Arizona. We are retired and want to downsize and get into a single story home. We are the original owners and have been here 26 years. | ||||
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Hire a stager. | |||
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Lovely home Califgirl14, hope all goes well with for you with the sale. From the nearby sales within the past few months it looks to be well priced. Keep us updated. | |||
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not sure why you want Arizona and hope you have been out there during the really hot season when you can fry an egg on the sidewalk and it blisters the paint off cars and now there electric rates have tripled there .My aunt lives there and hates and now is looking back this way after 10 years of snakes and heat as she puts it .I made the mistake of visiting her during the hot summer and that was almost the worse 5 days I have ever spent anywhere and was supposed to stay 2 weeks and could not take it and booked a early flight back to VA .Where she lives out of 30 home 20 of them are foreclosed on or bank owned or part of estates the children are trying to get rid of after there parents passed . | ||||
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Consider Florida. Excellent buys still! The Northern part of Florida gives you more of the 4 seasons feel, yet it still get to the freezing point in mid Florida in Winter. South Florida is too hot for me. Tampa Bay area or Orlando area are my favorites. If you are one who like the scenic water views in your travels may want to check some of these areas. out. We moved here because of my dad's breathing problems...doctors orders. Tampa Bay area has one of the best quality air readings. Our other choice was Arizona, but too hot and the dust storms were a concern with dad's condition. Just some thoughts.This message has been edited. Last edited by: real estate lady, | |||
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I really don't care for Florida myself as there are just to many bad storms and crime is worse .I live in VA and there are retirement communities here but there are a lot of single family homes also and they can range from 14 thousand up to 50 thousand on small lots and taxes a year about 97 dollars up to about 157 a year .That will all depend on the area you would want and how much land .I pay a 1000 dollars in taxes a year on a custom built 2440 sq. ft. house with a mountain view on 3 acres .A covered front porch ,3 decks and a 3 car carport and a guest house .I wanted change of season as I retired from NJ .So for me this was the best area and price .I also bought another house in Pittsville VA on 12 acres for 27 thousand and taxes are 398 dollars a year . | ||||
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Congratulations to the OP - they have another contract on their home. Hope it goes through this time. | |||
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Good to know! | ||||
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We sold our home. After the many negative comments re the wallpaper in the two bedrooms we removed it, repainted, replaced the carpeting and got new mini blinds. We finished this on a Wed, had a showing Sat afternoon and an offer on Sun morning. Then on Monday we had another couple who also wanted to make an offer. They had not listed their house yet and did not want to be the backup offer. Funny thing was they had been looking for a couple of months but in a lower price range. They were gutted when they realized they missed out! Such is real estate in this crazy valley. | ||||
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Wonderful news, Califgirl~~congratulations! | |||
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Congratulations, Caligirl! So happy for you! No one will ever know what exactly "got you sold" but, if there was anything posted here on the boards that helped, I'm glad! | ||||
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Good to know things worked out for you. When is your closing? | |||
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