Consolation, I love dogs. I was not talking about myself. I personally would not be put off by a dog in the listing photo (or a cat!), but as we were admiring the cabinetry in that model (we went there to check the work of their interior designer), a potential buyer asked about the dog in the video… The buyer did not like dogs. When selling a house, one needs to make it as appealing as possible to the broadest range of potential buyers. Sorry - dog and cat photos do not enhance a listing. 
One tip from my friend who does professional house photos: Don’t hang towels in bathrooms to be photographed. They very often will look wrinkly/scraggly in pics no matter how nice they are
Okay then, you’re forgiven. 
I don’t know if I would be able to walk through a house with a reptile in it, so I understand how people might feel.
We had a gorgeous GSD… I will make sure that his memorial goes with us prior to us listing the house.
"What do you all think about houses where photos of the owners with politicians you don’t like are displayed? "
I would look past that, but if I had a pic of myself shaking hands with Hillary or W, I would sure as heck to remove that! Ditto sports memorabilia, kid photos, anything that personalizes the home. When one puts a home on the market, it is no longer “their” home. It is a piece of RE.
I must admit that in my adult life, I’ve never lived in a place someone else has already lived in. Looked at plenty but always wound up going new.
A really good realtor will be very clear about ways to minimize your personality and your family’s visual presence in your house. If they aren’t telling you to put away at least a few things and make a few modifications for the listing, I’d probably question their abilities a little.
You guys don’t know what an ugly house looks like. Check out the shag green carpet on the fireplace wall! http://www.movoto.com/new-rochelle-na/16-glenwood-avenue-new-rochelle-na-10801-481_4547652/ The listing says it’s off market but they still have a for sale sign out front. I think they’ve been trying to sell it for a couple of years. It’s wildly overpriced. If you compare average square foot costs for the neighborhood they are asking for almost a third more, but it also just needs so much cosmetic work. Horrible ceilings and you can even see that the old sun porch isn’t insulated properly because they’ve got a portable radiator in the photo!
We can’t sell our house until our kitties die. One is only 5. Guess I don’t need to worry about remodeling…yet.
The main thing I saw in the video with the dog is the they put the white dishes on the bare floor.
No protection. Add the water ring to the lightly dog paw scratched floors…
I would never buy a house where I knew cats had lived. Agree get all animals out of the house.
And we have had our own fair share of pets over the decades.
The green shag carpet is hysterical!
“The green shag carpet is hysterical!”
True but what about the chunk of tree in the middle of the room? How is THAT not being mentioned? 
That sort of green shag was quite popular in 1972.
I know because my parents put it in our living room when we moved into our house, covering the “dated” hardwood floors. They also put up wood (not!) paneling in the kitchen and painted the cabinets in a faux wood grain. Avocado appliances and dark pine colonial furniture completed the very popular look.
I admit I’ve never seen green shag as a wall finish.
But I win! My mother put high/ low brown/beige multicolored carpet in
our kitchen. There were 5 kids, also. So So gross.
I loved in a rental once that was small…it had green indoor outdoor carpet in every room…except the bedroom.
Yep…the kitchen and bathroom had this carpet. It was fine until an open bottle of dishwashing liquid got spilled in the kitchen.
After we moved out…they gutted the place…and put in all hardwood!
One of my uncles had indoor/outdoor bright green carpet in their kitchen. Even back then we thought it was weird.
I had purple wall-to-wall shag carpet in my room in the 70s!
I painted my bedroom light blue but it was too dark so I painted in white clouds and the sun to lighten and brighten it up. It worked nicely!
This is a timely thread. I am ambivalent about selling my apartment. It’s much too big for me and I’m doing a lousy job with routine maintenance, but so far it looks like I’d have to leave NYC to get a cheaper apartment, even if I downsize significantly. My neighbor, whose apartment is the “mirror image” of mine has been trying unsuccessfully to sell her apartment for some time. It’s basically the same apartment with a somewhat better view.
Her attempts to sell have followed a long and winding road. One reason I didn’t try to sell at the same time is that I didn’t want to compete. She has --once again–taken her apartment off the market, but plans to try again in the spring.
Will the fact that this home hasn’t sold affect me if I try to sell? Other apartments in the building have sold. I’m a bit worried…
Is her apt. unrealistically priced, @jonri?
I don’t think so…that’s why I’m worried. However, she has had some other issues which I don’t think would be self-evident to people just perusing ads on line. I am afraid that if our apartments are for sale at the same time we’d drive the price of both down.
@jonri, have you tried to figure out why the “mirror” apartment hasn’t sold?
Does the mirror unit display deferred maintenance, or is it cosmetically inferior? Is it possible that your neighbor has been difficult to deal with when it comes to realtors or potential buyers? Is the neighbor a smoker/does the place have strange odors? Was that unit overpriced in comparison to the ones that sold? Is it poorly furnished (sometimes staging really helps). These are the factors that could explain why that unit hasn’t sold, when others have.
If there’s no explanation, perhaps your floor plan has an awkwardness or isn’t as desirable as the other configurations in the building.
Yes, I have and I think I know why. However, what I’m really asking is if it’s the sort of thing you’re talking about, i.e., issues my apartment doesn’t share, will someone actually investigate to figure out why…or will (s)he just assume that mine shouldn’ t sell for any more than that one because it’s the same layout and my neighbor’s has a slightly better view?