May have written down the address wrong. Also, i need to remember to put these addresses in code or something
- R o s e c r o f t
92106
The real estate market around here is MUCH slower. The idea that no offers in a week or two is a problem is pretty much unimaginable.
Our neighbors across the street sold in 6 weeks, and that was considered incredibly fast. Ironically, they sold to people moving here from Santa Monica who paid all cash. They are screenwriters, and one is from Maine and wanted a “haunted house.” (He has some kind of association with Stephen King. 
) The house isn’t haunted, but it does date from about 1790-1800, IIRC. Post and beam. Some nice, sensitive updates by our now former neighbors.
It was really a complete fluke. Normally it would have been on the market for months and months.
The house next door to us had only one open house and sold to all cash buyer. There was a higher backup offer. Our neighborhood is smoking!
CB…thanks for that address!
Nice house. No views, right? Looks like something in a subdivision. But very pretty.
Is the person staging the bedrooms the cheaper stager?
On my computer, the “pink” chair looks peachy, and the wall paint looks slightly green. It’s a very attractive combination.
Like the office desk. Do not like the wrought iron wall “art,” although I’m sure it is better that turquoise things.
I wish some of these stagers would but some decent real art.
I am hoping that the roll-arm white sofa and leather-topped thingies make an appearance in the LR…
Just a suggestion, but put some sheets on the beds and fold down a corner to look inviting as most of the bedding website do. Cheap sheets from Home Goods or TJ Maxx would do. Doesn’t have to be Frette. B-)
Seattle is #4 hottest RE market in the nation. Good if you are selling, sucks if you are buying. I have not looked in that report how DS ranks. Dang, just realized that I deleted that email newsletter form my neighborhood RE agent.
Here in my neck of the woods, in certain locations, you can stage the home with junk and it will sell. We popped into an open house today, and the agent mentioned that the house across the street sold for $1.3M as a teardown. 
We bailed.
We need to build a second floor deck so we have a place to hang our hammock!
Yes, empty homes and unstaged/odd furnishing homes sell for $750,000-850,000 as teardowns after one open house! Our market in HI is pretty hot most of the time.
cb, in your master bedroom seating area, currently staged with the chair and a plant, I’d turn the chair toward the window so it looks out over the view, put that small table beside it with a wine glass and bottle, and get a larger plant that sits on the floor. Right now, to me, it just looks like the stager is trying to fill up the corner.
I agree that the Rosecroft house is lovely, but there are no views so it’s not a comp. They’re asking $1.799, so in my opinion yours asking $1.9 or $1.95 is not at all out of line.
The Stafford Place house has some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen! but it’s not as updated as yours. That one sold for $1.875. Again, that suggests to me that an asking price for yours of $1.95 is not at all out of line.
I know you’re being cautious, but I think we all agree that your house has it all, while these other houses don’t.
Regarding the stager not showing up on time: I know your agent is in charge, but can you, next time, penalize them financially if they don’t show up on time? Say, knock off $100 an hour for each hour delay? It obviously costs you time and money to put up with these delays.
The chair that looks peachy is actually an off white and it’s OK. My agent is going to buy a really nice looking pillow for the chair to dress it up. The bedroom stager is the least expensive around that a lot of agents use. She did the Liberace House staging. My agent and I did the staging of Hoarder House ourselves with things from my house and her stuff. Then my agent gave up her staging furniture because it was getting really beat up and hard to store and transport.
I cannot figure out how this stager does it but she does not have a large storage area or warehouse. She keeps everything in a big moving truck and her garage. Don’t know how she manages like 50 homes at the same time with minimal storage area. At some point a lot of inventory is going to start coming back at her. She did a whole house for my agent recently for only $1,200.
My only real issue at this point is the big sleigh bed that is taking up too much of the back bedroom. The bedroom is large, but not in depth. It is large in width. But when you look down the hallway all you see is a giant bed that seems only 2 feet away from the door. There is actually about 3 1/2’ in front of the bed but a regular bed without a big frame would have been a better choice. Would have allowed us to push bed back another 6 inches or so. My agent and I tried to take the giant headboard off last night but it is an integral part of the frame and the whole thing would have fallen apart.
Agree with @VeryHappy get the plant off the table - as it is now it looks like you are trying to hide the view not maximize it.
I too believe the chair should be turned around because that is where someone is going to sit… facing the huge views. But unfortunately that leaves the giant back of a chair facing the door and the photos. We are going to play around with it. Even though there is a light above the area, I think we should stage the little table with a nice table lamp emphasizing ‘great place to sit and read while watching the views’.
One of the drawbacks of the house is that the master bedroom and the walk in closet are somewhat small for what people expect in a newer built home. But I did the best I could. If they really need a huge master suite they can incorporate the family room into the area. The difference is really noticeable to people who are shopping for homes from out of the area or are coming from tract developments. Most homes in beach communities do not have huge master suites because a) land is too valuable so homes are built differently and b) we just don’t live like that. Usable outdoor spaces are a bigger draw in this area.
If that chair has too much of a giant back, then consider a different chair. Something like this can be just as comfortable but takes up less visual space: http://www.potterybarn.com/products/emilia-upholstered-armchair/?pkey=cwoven-wood-chairs&&cwoven-wood-chairs
ETA: If your agent has gone cheap on this staging, you just need to continue to comment that this isn’t satisfactory, that isn’t satisfactory, until either she or the stager comes up with what you require.
We knew we were going cheap in the bedrooms, but we are going high end in the living/dining/deck staging. We will see how that turns out. They are coming 10am Monday.
Don’t forget the telescope!
Thank you for reminding me of the telescope. There are many places it could be staged
Most similar comparable sale
This is the most similar comparable sale. It sold immediately at $1.995mil.
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S o r r e n t o 92107
This has huge character and charm, more than my project. Very desireable street in Sunset Cliffs area. Similar lot size, slightly smaller square feet and I cannot tell if it has much of a useable yard, I think it is a sloped yard in back. Probably only has views front top floor because it is not on the view side of the street. I believe that it has a killer issue… stairs from garage up to house (but I truthfully have the same issue!! Stairs from garage up to main floor of house but it’s not so obvious and it is indoors). But the key thing that makes it a good comparable is that it has a walkable basement which is very rare here.
Here is how I would analyze this comparable sale:
$1,995,000
minus $200,000 for better location, possibly more
Plus $100,000 for our better views
minus $75,000 for more charm in Sorrento house (money cannot even buy the gorgeous built in stuff in that house)
plus $25,000 for required kitchen remodel and potentially another $25,000 for bath remodels required
plus $20,000 for our garage space and easier access to house
So it kind of washes out at about $1,865,000
This is the one that my agent kept trying to use as a comparable for our pricing but it is very difficult to use a home from the Sunset Cliffs neighborhood as a comparable
P.S. The house three doors down from me just went up for sale at $3.7 million. What the hey??? Makes me think maybe I should flip my own house, downsize and retire?
That is quite the hand-hewn ceiling (and matching bathroom door)!
It is a gorgeous house. When you do your pluses and minuses and come up with $1.865, I assume you’re concluding that that’s a reasonable sale price for you. Assuming so, what should the list price be?