Home Staging

We’ve got a townhouse that is for sale and of course there are 5 similiar ones for sale on the neighborhood. It’s a beautiful waterfront community in a great area. We’ve recently:
* Priced below the competition and offered $3000 in closing costs and a $250 bonus to the buyer agent
*Listed it with a reputable real estate agency
*Given it a fresh coat of paint inside and out
*Cleaned till it can’t possibly shine any brighter
*Made sure there is No Clutter or personal effects in sight (and closets and drawers are almost empty too)
*Added new bed linens, new white towels, shower curtains and wash cloths
*Installed new stainless steel GE appliances

What else can we do to move this townhome quickly? I’ve got a health condition that requires one level living, and a possible surgery coming up in the next few months. Moving soon would be a huge plus. Your suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!

Often houses sell based upon how the home is decorated (or not decorated). The buyer compares their tastes to yours, or prefers a blank slate. Allowing as much light into the property is essential, thus if your have window treatments, you might want to rethink them. Another easy prep is the use of brass to get add to the shine, but this also is dependent upon your decorating. Buying the brass light switch covers are cheap and adds a subtle sparkle. Then there are the old Realtor open house tricks of putting slice and bake cookies or Pillsbury breads in the oven and have them cooking at a low temp during the actual showing to get the buyer to connect the the scent with the idea of home of another time. Another subtlety is to put a phone list of food take out on the fridge (decorated nicely) to add to the convenience of location, or other things a likely buyer would be attracted towards (babysitters, neighbors). You might want to up the bonus to the selling agent. Both buyers and their agents can see through an offer to pay for closing costs, but to them they see it simply as a willingness to sell for $3000 less. You may want to offer it as a decorating allowance instead.

Our agent says we are priced below our comps and that we get a lot of traffic on the internet and at open houses. Our house has been on the market for 38 days and we have has a total of 2 viewings apart from our open houses. Our house is nicely staged and it looks like a model home. What gives? What should we be asking of our agent? We basically have about $25,000 wiggle room in the price and we were hoping to use that as a "haggling" cushion. Should we shave the price now? Our house is a 1928 tudor in a neighborhood where comps are really difficult as no 2 properties are alike. Is it too early for me to freak out? Should I be concerned about lack of showings if we’re doing well with open houses and on the web as far as hits? Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can impart!
Also our next door neighbor is our agent and friend so it’s a lot more of a sensitive issue –so we can’t go all Rambo on our agent
Oooooo—good point, Angie! I didn’t really think about that. Do you think there’s a conflict of interest here?

How long is the contract with your realitor? Conflict of interest or not – it is is not selling, list it with someone else or try it on your own for say 30 days.

Offer seller concessions of up to 6 percent of the closing costs may help. Offer to pay the appriasal. Print up flyers to hospitals, factories, businesses, grocery stores, with the picture of your home. Listing price, selling price, give up some equity in the home if need be. Good Luck to you. (ok)