Tips for selling a house?

[athansor]

Not sure this is the right forum, but I was wondering if anyone has any good ideas for selling a house....in this case, and empty house that is 1500 miles away from where we are currently living. So far, we've lowered the price (it's below appraisal), put on a new roof, and had the carpets professionally cleaned. We also have a friend keeping the yard mowed and watered.
Any other things we can do? We really need to get this house sold so we can get back to one house payment!

[mamavegan]

We're in the same boat, but our home is only about 200 miles away. If you have a realtor, can he/she have other agents come out and give ideas on what would help it sell?

[Denvergirlie]

Have you tried staging it with some furniture? Not a whole houseful of furntiure but a few pieces to give scale. Worked for the house next door which just sold in 10 days back on the market.

Other than that, maybe you just need a new relator? What is the mrket like where this house is? What are the comps selling for or is everything not selling?

[athansor]

I think it would look better with furniture...I'm just not sure how to do that (as in borrowing some furniture, finding someone local to set it up, etc.)
I think that maybe it would be good to look for a new realtor. I think ours has sort of put it as a low priority since we are no longer bugging her all the time.
The market is funny where the house is. It's in west Texas, a town that is doing quite well because of the oil boom, but the market has still slowed. It's mainly because it's hard for people to get a mortgage even though they are typically well employed and earning enough money.

[SAHDS]

I would definitely rent some furniture. Renting may cost a thousand or more, but it'll be worth it in the long run. Empty houses take much longer to sell because most people aren't visual and need that to help them. Also, when unfurnished, you can see a lot more imperfections in the house (trust me, we almost bought a house that was furnished when we viewed it, he moved out, we looked again when empty and hated it!).

I'd also make sure the realtor turned on ALL lights when it was being viewed, kept it smelling nice, kept the temp. comfy and put out some fruit in the kitchen. Little things help so much.

[tree-hugger]

stage with furniture

put some fall flowers (mums?) in pots on the porch steps or planted in front

[saphire]

Yup, stage. Make sure it smells good too.

[lucyem]

My first question - is the house being shown at all? We have a house on the market and have thought about staging etc etc. But if no one walks in the door then what's the point. If no one is even looking at it then you need to find out why. Take a good look at price. See what is actually selling and at what prices and what people get for those prices. Adjust your price if needed. If nothing is selling then its kind of a wait it out game.

Ask the realtor all the ways it is being advertised. Our agents send us monthly copies of all ads. See if you can do more online (craigslist is free). See if there is a niche market you can aim for in advertising. Our house is on a snowmobile trail so we will be putting it in various local snowmobile club newsletters that snowmobilers are looking at.

Look at the photos online. Are they done well? Do they show the good points of the house. I recently saw a listing where the main photo on the MLS showed bushes and a weird angle of the house. You could only see part of the garage.

If it is showing but no bites then:
Contact some stagers, ask agents for recs. See how much they would charge to stage or partial stage. Curtains, fluffy towels or other things to soften the rooms. I do not know what your selling season is like in TX but here in new england things are normally on the slowdown period now and do not pick up again until February or March. Staging may be a good angle in the spring when you would get the most buyers (at least around here).

Make sure the agent is giving you real feedback. I once was trying to sell a house 3 states away and I was pregnant. I was under the impression my DH had cleaned up. He had not. I finally got down to the house and flipped when I saw how much crap he had left. I was not very happy with the agent who said "I did not want to bother you....". Um, its a bigger stress not having the house sell!

Can you hire your friend to go in ahead of a showing to vacuum, turn on the lights, bake some cookies, open some windows etc etc. Cookies meaning the cheap chocolate chip in the bar you buy pre-made and cut up and bake while you vacuum. I find it is a rare realtor willing to go that far. You want to make sure the house appears warm, even when no one is living there.

[marimara]

I am an ex-Realtor so these are all tips I used when trying to sell vacant homes.

If you can't put furniture of any kind (even if it's just a plain chair and side table, lamp) in it then: Put some fresh flowers on the kitchen counters. If that can't be done, second best if fake-anything with color and life in it. Ditto for over the fireplace-maybe some fake plants-ivy, flowers, fall foliage, etc.

Leave a dish out with candies or chocolates in it.

Make sure there are piles of color fliers on the counter for buyers to take home.

A cute homey looking welcome mat by the front door would help too.

Make a binder with all of your manuals, receipts, etc and put them with a color copy of your flyer and MLS listing. Put the MLS listing first, then the color flyer w/lots of photos on it, next the manuals,receipts etc. Place this in an obvious place, like the kitchen counter.

Get a really homey smelling candle like a Yankee or something in a baked good scent and leave the lid off so that the smell permeates the house.

Make sure your realtor has tons of photos online. If you have photos of when your furniture was in it, put them online (unless they are very old) and in your special binder. Also have your realtor make your home a featured listing on Realtor.com if he/she hasn't already done so.

Plant some season appropriate flora outside.

***Very important: Make sure the front door area is very clean and clear. This is extremely important. If your door needs paint, paint it. If the porch is dingy, powerwash it. Etc. The front door and the immediate area inside the door is the first thing buyers see (besides curb appeal) and this has to be a great first impression.

Put a potted season appropriate plant on the front porch (and make sure it's watered by your realtor!)

If your realtor doesn't want to do this stuff, get a new one. I did all of these specific things for my clients. I even took fake foliage/plants, candles, statues, chairs etc from my own house to help stage a vacant house. They should want to sell your house just as much as you do. If you have any more questions you can PM me.