CaseyGirl
Mommy to 3 Boys :)
Member since 5/05 19978 total posts
Name:
Jen - counting my blessings...
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Very frustrated
We've had our house listed for 3 weeks. The 1st week we had an open house. ONE person came to look. Our house has had a lot of upgrades, nice yard, above ground pool. No one has even come to look at the house since then. We have a lock box and all. At the open house, we came back home because we forgot our stroller and someone had popped the balloons in front of the house. We told the agent and he was like "oh well". He does not return calls or emails, and we went away this weekend and hoped we had some interest while we were away. My DH emailed the agent to ask, and he just replied with how many views it had on realtor.com. My DH wrote back and said that's not what i asked! The agent wrote back and said we need to drop the price (already?) and said he's done a lot oc advertising. I'm not sure what's going on. We've never sold a house before so I'm not sure what to expect but I feel like we are getting the runaround somehow. Any advice? We signed a 3 month contract.
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Re: Very frustrated
A couple of things:
1. It sounds like part of your frustration is with the lack of communication (or type of communication) from your realtor. I think you (and your dh) should figure out what you expect and then clearly convey those expectations to your realtor. Do you want to be contacted weekly (regardless of whether there's been activity)? twice a week? After every showing? Do you want your realtor to email you? Call? What information do you want him to convey? I would spell it out for your realtor so that everyone's on the same page. People often say that they want "frequent communication" or "regular communication" from their agent, but those terms can mean different things to different people, so as an agent, I always try to get my clients to tell me exactly what their expectations are.
2. As far as the lack of activity -- it has to be one of 3 things -- (i) price, (ii) marketing, or (iii) access (or rather, lack of access, for showings). You said your agent has done a lot of marketing. Have you seen the listing? Are the photos attractive? Are all of the features and updates highlighted? Have you checked to see that it's marketed on other sites? Have you gotten a written marketing plan from your agent re: what he's done and what he will do to market your home. Assuming the marketing is a least adequate, then I think price is likely the issue (since you said there is a lockbox on the house to facilitate showings), or at least a major factor.
How did you come up with the list price? Did your agent review recent sold comps and active comps on the market? Did he suggest to you that the list price is too high, and let you know that if you don't have enough interest/activity, you may need to adjust your price?
You really need to be aware of what other, similar houses have sold for in the last 6 months and what is currently available on the market. Your house needs to be the "best" house available at its price point. If it's listed for $400K, and there are bigger or more updated houses with more features and benefits available for $400K, then you need to drop the price. Put yourself in a buyer's shoes -- what is going to make them look at your house, let alone buy your house, compared to everything that's on the market. They may see that your house is much better than what is out there once they get in the door, but if the house is priced too high, no one is even going to come through the door.
Another issue could be that it is an "overimproved" house for your area. That is, if most houses in your neighborhood are small ranches that appeal to first time buyers and sell in the $300Ks, and you have a larger and updated colonial that you priced at $550K, then your house will not appeal to the majority of people looking in your area (who are going to be looking for smaller, less expensive homes). You will have a much smaller buyer pool.
If you don't trust your agent's opinion, ask him to have a broker's open house, during which local agents come tour the home and provide feedback (I always ask for written feedback in the form of a questionnaire). Then you will see if there is a consensus on price.
Also, how did your agent promote the consumer open house? Did he walk flyers around the neighborhood? How many signs did he put out? What kind of online advertising did he do?
I wouldn't be too put off by not getting showings over the holiday weekend -- a lot of people (buyers and realtors) are away -- but the bottom line is, if your agent is doing even just a decent job of marketing and you are getting no activity (or very little), then you probably need to lower the price.
By the way, a 3 month listing is pretty unusual. 6 months is much more common - it gives your agent enough time to market the home and then reap the benefits of the marketing (after all, he is working for free unless and until he sells your house). The national average for "days on the market" for homes now is around 6 months. So not knowing anything about your particular situation, your agent may be anxious to take a quick price reduction because he doesn't really have much time to sell it.
Hang in there! I hope things pick up. I know it's really stressful to have your house on the market!
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