What do home buyers want?

Show me what it looks like and I will give you honest feedback.

No, that's just where our son went to school: CCM as theater major.

I'm a little surprised that real estate agents aren't soliciting parents of incoming students to do something like I suggested.

Just the one. It doesn't give us any trouble. And it is low enough to the floor it is maintainable.

Where is your house? Are there lots of jobs and low employment there? Low and middle income people have a very hard time with credit right now - hard to get loans with low down payments. And wealthy people want either luxury homes for themselves or low-priced investment homes to rent. Obviously, it's still too high priced for your market or it would have sold. Do you have to move? Consider renting it out yourself if you do.

It's a beautiful home that many people would love to have, just enjoy it for now and pray about it.

God might want you to stay there for some reason that you aren't aware of. Or, if He wants you to move, you will.

Don't worry or stress. It's all in His hands.

Do what I did. Take it off the market and go after everything you got in the feedback and I painted the whole townhouse with classic ivory, not white not beige, closer to white, it's a pretty color. And then put it back on the market as a new listing possibly with a new realtor. Bury St. Joseph. :)

So what are you asking for it?

If you are looking for around 175K-250K we will sympathize, and good luck with that. If you are hoping to get above that, forget it in this market. 15K above what you paid for it doesn't tell us a thing. Also what your real estate agent says or your daughter says doesn't mean much when it is what the buyer says that counts. We all paid too much for our time in our homes and that's life.

current listed price $169,900

It was listed for $154,000 in 1991.

I understand it's what the buyer wants to pay. It also depends on how much we will accept I guess. I mean if we go too low, we can't move to what we want and we have already had to drastically lower our hopes for what we were planning on. If we go much lower, we may as well not move at all as we won't be able to afford what we need.

Oh, OK. I do sympathize. That is a very nice home for the money.

You are so right, how low can you go?

It is weird because building is as expensive as ever and more so but older homes are like nothing.

I think at most if I were you at this time I would paint in a neutral white to cream throughout the house and maybe get all matching appliances in the kitchen (oddly, it matters) and then enjoy your lovely home if no one else can appreciate it, inside and out, like you do.

I really thought you were looking for around 300K, which would be totally dreaming in this market yet was what we thought we could get in 2005....

I forgot to say how much do you even want to put in for appliances and updates to stay there anyway? It's just for selling and you don't get it back, take my word for it.

I really feel for people who HAVE to sell because of work transfers and so on. Short sales= agony.

I'm not sure.

Sometimes we feel like just burning the place down, lol!!

Wow, that is a great price for the house, I can't even find a fixer upper where I'm looking in Vermont for under
$200,000.

well, then, you should come here!!

It may not be the house that the buyers are turned off by. How are your neighbors?

Dirty or bad neighbors will prevent your house from selling no matter what it looks like.

I know this from experience.

people are picky assholes and they want you to give it to them. so just give it to them and walk away, the zombies or ghettoites will get it one day anyway. Just take your leave early.

My neighbors became enemies when I went on the market. They had to take their ratty chairs and big cigarette can off the connecting front stoop. Little did I know that it was their extra junk car for parts that was parked on the other side of the townhouse, it was sitting never moving and that was the last straw, I lived in fear after I had them move that. They got pissy and started to smoke in their garage, which worked for me. Ocassionally I hosed down their driveway and during a rainstorm I ran out and cleaned the windows on their parked old vehicle, I pissed them off but it had to be done.

Poor the new people, they don't know who they moved in next to.

On the other hand you are vulnerable if you pisss the neighbors off. I knew that right after I did it.

I also didn't let the grass grow tall in their garden area. That really pissed them off too. In the scheme of things they were a big obstacle for me in selling my townhouse.

Last Edited by WindyMind on 10/03/2012 10:33 AM

OMG crappy neighbors, so true! There is so little control when it comes to making dreams come true and plans work out.

Best wishes to you OP for the right buyers!

I've had many different comments from many different realtors.
Paint this room light yellow; change all the faucets and lights; replace the tile kitchen counter with granite; replace the kid bath with a shower; no! you must have a tub for the kids! no, a shower! blah blah blah.

Most realtors seem to not know jack shit and are merely spouting off meaningless comments.

My first house was a 50K fixer in such bad shape even FHA would not loan on it. I bought it on a 2-year balloon with owner terms. I did a few fixes and increased the value 15% in 7 months, then re-financed.

My second house was a 175K foreclosure in a neighborhood with near-million $ homes across the street on a massive lake. Yeah it's 35 years old and growing older.

I will probably just say fuck it, sell below "market value" and let the next guy deal with changing whatever he wants to.
I'm not going to fuck around blowing money on improvements while trying to guess on the next moving target sales point.

Most people are pretty fucking stupid, vain, ignorant and unimaginative.