<p>Wellllll…price is huge…</p>
<p>If you really want out, sell at market.</p>
<p>JMO, jym, but I would pay to replace the carpet. I’ll let others comment on whether to replace with carpet or hardwood, as I have cats and we live in New Orleans, so I don’t do carpets. I’ve seen some nice marble looking tiles at friends’ houses who’ve redone their floors, and it looks gorgeous. I would recommend putting hardwood in the den, but I don’t know if you’ll have a matching problem, since you already have hardwood in some rooms.</p>
<p>Before debating spending the money to update that one room, think about how much two years of insurance and taxes would be on the house. If it costs around that, or less, to replace the carpet, I’d do it. </p>
<p>I agree that people want move in ready. We bought our house right away just based on the fact that we could move right in. There was a lot to do outside, but as long as there was paint on the wall and floors on the ground, we could move our stuff in.</p>
<p>We also loved the wallpaper in our house when we bought it, and have never replaced it, 22 years later, and buy artwork and sofas to match it, as we intend to keep it the way it is as long as we’re in the house.</p>
<p>Our house has been on the market for 3 weeks now, which isn’t exactly a huge time. But my theory is that by now, all the current buyers have seen it, so we need to do something different. That’s why I want to bring down the price. </p>
<p>When I prepped the house, I repainted the entire inside, power washed the outside, and had someone put down new carpet throughout the whole house. It was really necessary, since the old paint / carpet was from 15 years ago. I also took care of my pet peeve - I have those really cheap, tarnished brass-colored doorknobs. I don’t know why they bother me so much, but they do. So I replaced them all with a nice brushed nickel set throughout the house. Anyone need any help painting and taking out and putting in doorknobs? Because I’m really experienced! Will work cheap. </p>
<p>jym, can I join you in that drink? I know a really nice screened in porch with new paint and plants that would be perfect for sitting out in to enjoy the spring weather . . . . .</p>
<p>BCEagle, the trick is determining what that market price is.</p>
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<p>I often sell stock (more than the value of our home) at market. Prices are determined by the bidders. If you put a home on the market for below what people tell you, then bidders should show up to bid up to market price. The factor there is the time that you’re willing to wait for the best bid.</p>
<p>BC, but you would not put a market sell for 10,000 shares in a stock with the average daily volume of 100,000 shares on a pretty average trading day, would you? Of course, if you are desperate… It all depends on how many bidders are out there.</p>
<p>I put a market order (my son executed the trade) for one share of Berkshire Hathaway the week before earnings. The average daily trading volume looks to be around 400 shares per day.</p>
<p>It’s not a matter of desperation - it’s trading discipline. You can do it on the winning or losing side. Houses? Just another asset.</p>
<p>hayden…I don’t think I would have sold my house if I priced it 1% higher. The buyer was reticent to bid because the buyer was worried about getting into a bidding war and thought my house would go over the listing price as it was. The buyer’s agent talked the buyer into bidding for the house…and there wasn’t a bidding war because the other two potential buyers, never pulled the trigger and bid…</p>
<p>What kind of feedback are you getting?</p>
<p>Homes that need to be financed with jumbo loans are having a hard time…as was said earlier by another poster. </p>
<p>When I look back at the last month…I don’t see a lot of buyers for homes that need to be financed by jumbos.</p>
<p>A fun story of how NOT to do it. 
There’s a house on our block that’s been up for sale for maybe 6 months. It sat on the market overpriced by at least 50%. Now there’s a new agent and the price has dropped–it’s now only overpriced by about 25%. :rolleyes: </p>
<p>The owners bought at the peak. The house had been in the same hands for about 40 years, and needed freshening up. The new owners are in the building trade, so it was easy to gut the kitchen and put in something top-of-the-line. That’s fine, but the rest of the renovations were something that’s going to fit most people’s taste. The living room area has marble tile floor and pillars…smack dab in the middle of the room. It’s one of the least welcoming entrances I’ve ever seen. Dark hallways lead off to the bedrooms. The exterior of the house is nondescript. Best of all: the house has massive negative curb appeal, because the house is hidden behind a security wall covered with overgrown ivy. The parkway right in front (the grass strip between the property and the street) has 3 foot high weeds. </p>
<p>It’s pretty clear that the owners overextended themselves and are hoping for a miracle. What amazes me is that they’re sabotaging themselves. The house badly needs to be staged, even though the owners are still living there–that living room has random bits of furniture scattered around. During one open house, there were some abandoned toilets (!) sitting amongst the weeds. If the house was being sold as a distressed property, and priced accordingly, buyers would overlook the weeds and general unpleasantness. But the house is priced like a turn-key property. I’m stunned that any agent would take on this dog of a listing.</p>
<p>BC, your trade is somewhat equivalent to selling 1,000 shares in a stock with 400,000 daily volume. If I want out, I will do it. The sky is not gonna fall. But if your one trade represents 10-15% of the daily volume, then all bets are off. I do not trade, I semi-invest in biotech - I can be patient ;)</p>
<p>Back to the houses… Yes, they are “assets”, but there is a huge emotional component involved in every “trade”. A couple of perky flower pots on the front porch, new paint, bright lights, etc. shoud not affect the “asset’s” price, but they all can, because not everyone thinks of houses in terms of Bolliger bands, candles, 200 day MAs, etc. :)</p>
<p>jym, if the carpeted area is small, then it should be re-done. Can you enlist the realtor to oversee the painting and carpet replacements? For the right amount of money, I think the realtor will agree on helping you with these tasks.</p>
<p>I’ve dumped shares in stocks where my order has taken over half-an-hour to clear. It’s somewhat amusing when your 25K shares are purchased in hundred blocks or even smaller.</p>
<p>I’m quite happy that I sold Berkshire before earnings -they had a bad report due to insurance losses in Asia-Pacific and their stock tanked accordingly. The other reason for the trade was to let my son trade six figures - he’s only traded five in the past.</p>
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<p>That’s why we have bubbles.</p>
<p>There’s emotional baggage tied to stocks too.</p>
<p>dstark, thanks for your questions. I have heard the same as you re: jumbo loans, but this isn’t one. The house we’re selling is not ours, it was my mom’s. She only bought it to be near us after her first illness, so I have no emotional attachment to it, which made it easier to see with a fresh eye. I had 2 huge dumpsters come to clean out most of the stuff from the house (at least the stuff I couldn’t bear to part with, which is currently filling our house to the rafters), and left in the minimum of furniture to stage with. </p>
<p>Our agent tells us that there was a flood of first time home owners in our area last year. Now, as the current crop of homes come on the market, there many fewer buyers in that range since most jumped back then. She says the average home that’s moving in our area are homes priced in the next tier up, about 100-150K more than the one we’re selling. That seems so counterintuitive to me. I always like to give a professional’s opinion more weight than I give my own in a field I’m not well versed in, but I’m having trouble with this. </p>
<p>As for the feedback, it’s hard to deal with. If there were any one particular issue, I could deal with it. But none of it has been actionable - each person has a completely different take, and there’s no thread other than it’s so cute, it’s so fresh, it has the most beautiful yard I’ve even seen, and no, I’m not making an offer. One couple said they would make an offer as soon as they sell their condo (not holding my breath). The best was, the house is beautiful, but it’s not oriented the right way for correct fung shei. Hmmmm. Not much I can do about that . . . . </p>
<p>My agent says I’m being too impatient because the house has only been on the market for 3 weeks, and the first one was a lost week due to <em>ahem</em> a small problem that I already told you about. But that’s all cleaned up and you can’t even tell anymore. That’s why I agree with BCeagle, it must be price, regardless of what the sold comps say.</p>
<p>Once we do get an offer though, drinks are on me!</p>
<p>A house down the street sold in about 6 weeks. The roof is covered with tarps in several places and the house is large but only 2 real bedrooms and no master bath. The house has not been updated in years. I think they got lucky to find someone who was willing to buy a house that needs a major redo. The house was not a entry level home.
We have several houses in our area that must be way overpriced. Two of them have been on the market for almost 2 yrs with little price reduction. All 3 are at the high end of the market.
My friend lives on a tiny cul de sac. She is in the middle of a divorce so they must sell. Two other homes on her street just sold. One bank owned and the other by people who had already bought a new home. Both sold for a low price. Definitely will hurt my friend. Luckily she is located in a top school district with one of the lower priced homes in the area. Her soon to be Ex did not want to put a penny into fixing it up. My friend and her realtor came up with the money to do the work. Hoping for her that it sells quickly.</p>
<p>hayden…I think you are being impatient. Listen to your agent. The agent doesn’t make money unless the house sells…</p>
<p>dstark, true. <em>sigh</em> You’re probably right, I’ll sit tight for a while.</p>
<p>The agent is a little shocked that she has a client who is willing to listen to her about price, and even go lower. She says she’d make a fortune if she got paid every time a client said either 1) “What do you mean, price it at X? It cost me Y to fix it up!”; or 2) " I’m not giving this house away."</p>
<p>“The agent is a little shocked that she has a client who is willing to listen to her about price, and even go lower.”</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I had the same experience…</p>
<p>I don’t know what the agent thinks…but maybe a few more weeks and then you can address the price issue…</p>
<p>I’m sure this is declining, but…</p>
<p>On a regular basis, Are potential buyers still calling your agent to look at the house?</p>
<p>We don’t get much traffic during weekdays, but basically yes. We had 4-5 couples in this week. We had 2 sets of couples who came in multiple times, but I think they must have decided to look elsewhere. My consolation is that when at least 2 couples liked it well enough to visit twice, then the house must show okay. </p>
<p>By the way, I’m really amazed by the new technology people use now. No one has to call the agent to see the house. They use the lockbox. The lockbox has some kind of electronic gadget inside that immediately pings our agent, who gets an automated email that someone opened the lockbox, and even says exactly who it was. Am I dating myself when I say I thought that was pretty high tech ?!!</p>
<p>That’s pretty cool…</p>