Moving

[VT2TV]

Hi!
I am fairly new on here, so this may be in the wrong spot-if so, I am sorry. :) My husband and I have recently put our house on the market (about 2 wks ago) We used someone recomended by Karen from relocation, and Karen has been fantastic!!!!!!! But, our realtor has pretty much said that all they do is list our house in the MLS listings, and then clients look through those to find a house and contact the listing realator to look at it. I also guess some people have their own realtor who shows them houses. Anyhow, it has been 2 weeks and we have only had 1 realtor bring a couple to see our house. Our agent has a small individual web site for individual listings, but doesn't have a lot of info that I think would be helpful to get people to look at our house. We are going to talk to her this week to see what shje can do. My question is this: What else can we do to get our house sold quickly so we can move to TV? We are going to talk about open house and relator lunches, but in my experience all these do is give the realtor a place to snack and your neighbors a chance to peek in your house. (We would gladly show our neighbors ourselves! :) ) How did all of you sell your houses? Do you have any special way to get the clients to view your house? Any tricks or help anyone can recommend would be greatly appreciated. Again our realtor feels like they just wait until someone contacts them or has a realtor contact us-they don't call potential other realtors or potential clients to have them come view our house. They have a weekly little Homes booklet, but our house has not been in that yet. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!! We are sooooo ready to move to TV!!!!

[Kelsie52]

VT

It might seem annoying to have an open house --but people need to see your home in order to buy it --It only takes 1 person to love it ---

We listed our home with a local real estate office and told them we wanted as many people or other agents within the first week to see the house --

Advertising is what they need to do --Thats why they get a fee --if they wont do it --get someone who will ---

Good luck:beer3:

[jebartle]

They had a couple of different realtors, finally sold it themselves with an open house but the trick was LOTS of ballons - got buyers attention! Good luck!

[K9-Lovers]

Your agent can/should advertise in the newspaper & hold an open house.

You can offer a financial bonus to the agent/agents who sell your house within a specific period of time, for example: $1000 bonus for signed contract within first 4 weeks -- make sure the word gets out to all the other agents using the MLS.

You can offer something unusual with the house. We sold our house in one week by including a boat in the sale price of the home. Something like that also gets attention (IF it is advertised).

If I think of more ideas, I'll let you know.

[wilsonem]

VT

It might seem annoying to have an open house --but people need to see your home in order to buy it --It only takes 1 person to love it ---

We listed our home with a local real estate office and told them we wanted as many people or other agents within the first week to see the house --

Advertising is what they need to do --Thats why they get a fee --if they wont do it --get someone who will ---

Good luck:beer3:
Sounds like you need a very agressive Realtor. Our Real Estate Company puts our listings on dozens of internet sites for constant exposure and also advertises with local print ads, as well as yard signs, and flyers to other Realtors.
One extra thing I always do is to go thru the tax pages to get the names and addresses of all the surrounding neighbors within a couple of blocks. Then, send a letter and a flyer inviting them to choose their new neighbors. I've had several family members buy close to each other using this method. Insist on a meeting with your agent and make her aware of your concerns. Don't shirk your duties either! Stage your home inside and out! Make necessary repairs, clean, declutter and DO have open houses for Realtors as well as neighbors. They'll each tell 10 people (good or bad news) so make sure it's show ready before they see it! Good luck!

[memason]

Just from your post, I'd say the first thing you need to do is get another realtor! For the percentage they charge to sell your home, it sounds like they are doing nothing to earn it. If your home is priced right, it should at least get shown, assuming other realtors know about it.

Good luck!

[iandwk]

Another thing to think about is staging the house. These TV shows are correct in telling you to de-personalize your house. Make everything neutral and attractive. If you have too much stuff in your house, move it to storage. Less is better when staging a house. Look at HGTV's website and other places online for some ideas.

Then, of course, you need some way to get people in to look. That's where a good real estate agency comes in. Fire the one you have, as suggested, and tell the next one what you expect from them. Either that or market it yourself. If you do that, you save enough to really go big in advertising your house, but the drawback is that you are limited to local buyers. MLS goes all over the state, usually.

Good luck.

[graciegirl]

I so agree with decluttering, cleaning and painting. We had our house sparkling when the two very fine realtors who were sent to us by The Villages relocation service came to evaluate its worth on the market.

Their valuation was very disappointing, but accurate and we decided to wait until the spring to see if the national economy and/or the real estate market in Cincinnati improves.

We think that we will NOT use the relocation services when we list in the spring. I found out here on TOTV that a portion of the fee earned by the listing agent goes to the relocation services. I am so naive I just thought it was another perk from The Villages.

It is sad to know that you can list your home for close to its value and a buyer may try to buy it at that value and then not be able to get a loan because the assessed value of all homes have dropped so much because of short sales and foreclosures. Dumb me, I thought that was happening in another part of town.

The reality is that we are in hard times and the homes that are placed on the market better be in optimum condition and priced low or they won't sell....at least here in Ohio.

[njbchbum]

may i suggest that beyond the obvious action of getting a new realtor and beyond the standard decluttering, staging, fixing, etc that you consider engaging a real estate professional with lots of experience in dealing with long didtance marketing.

what i am referring to is that you have missed the oppty to sell your house to a family that needs to escape the cities of ma, ct, nj, ny for the summer...but you now are prime to sell the home to someone who appreciates the beauty of fall foliage and winter sports. you need a realtor who will reach out and advertise in the big cities to make people think that they have to get to vt to see this vision of good times and a healthy green environment! the only one i can think of now is remax because they sold my friends house in maine that is located in a lovely and quiet burb absolutely miles from everywhere - not just anyone would want to vacation there much less move there...it took some to find that person!

good luck in this new venture.

[kathyzapp]

We are working with Roseann at TV Relocation Office. She told us that by working with TV Relocation Office that she would be on top of everything when it comes to selling our house and moving to TV. She would recommend two relocation specialists in our area. After signing a contract with one of the realtors, she would contact them on a regular basis to make sure they were doing their job, which is to sell our house.

You should contact Karen and explain the situation. Tell her the reasons that you are not happy with this realtor. It is the job of TV Relocation Office to help you.

[robbie]

i agree with gracie...we are currently under contract for the sale of our home with one of the referrals that was sent by the villages relocation dept...we have been very happy with her... probably had 40 showings over a two month period... when we asked her initially if she could come down a bit on the 6% commission, she explained that she would have been happy to but that the pie was already being split three ways (buyer agent, seller agent, and tv relocation agent)... so just for the economics of it, if we had the opportunity to do it again, we would just use a local agent that specialized in our neighborhood and could possibly give us a break on commission... good luck with your sale!

[VT2TV]

WOW, thanks so much for the quick, multiple responses to my question. One thing to clear up first is that we are from Virginia, my initials are VT. I also should have mentioned that we have had stagers in to help with our house-that is another story in itself. Our stager was quite good with the staging part, but she and her son and son's girlfriend were the one's who removed the wallpaper, and did a horrible job. I won't go into that , but she was recommended by our realtor, and the places she has done that are listed on her website were quite impressive. We wound up having to pay to have the painting redone. We are not sure what to do about the cost and having her reimburse us-another problem was that she was truely one of the sweetest people, and a friend of a friend. But back to selling our house, we signed a 6 month contract, can we get out of that? Is the fact that our realtor is having to split the pot one reason she isn't too keen on knocking herself out trying to sell our house??? I didn't have any idea that Karen was in on the cut. We are going to have all the open houses we can, both for the public and for the realtors.
EVERYONE keeps telling us that it only takes 1 person-----but where are they???????????? I of course LOVE HGTV, and watch it and tape it. It kind of is like self inflicting punishment though-they are always saying things like."the house has been on the market for 2 weeks now, and they haven't even received 1 offer" Those poor things-we have been on the market for 2 weeks now, and have only had 1 couple come by.
Can someone PLEASE find up that "1 person"????????? Thanks for listening!!!!

[Vinny]

My wife has been a real estate agent for a very long time and I also was at one time. We have sold 8 of our own homes over the years so we know a thing or two about it. There are very good tips here especially about staging your home and offering agents an incentive to get them to come to your home initially. If they like it they will tell their co-workers.

Now for the bad news. August is not a good month to sell a home in due to many people on vacation and the start of a new school year. Many analysis say that the housing market will not bottom out until the first quarter next year and it will be a slow climb back up over the next few years. Some claim that homes may not even reach the level of a few years ago. Of course, your market area may be different.Then you have to consider that the new and repeat home buyer tax credit just expired at the end of April and that greatly decreased the number of buyers out there as many bought homes then. Add the fear of losing your job to the equation and the decrease in your investments and you do not have the same market as there was a few years ago. In the 46 showings we had over 7 months, we did not see one prospect that was looking for a bigger and better home unlike our previous home sales. In fact, our first two buyers could not get mortgages even though one of them worked for the federal government with a very secure job.

From conversations at the pool here, I am hearing some people saying that they sold their home very quickly, even in the same day they listed it, and others who just decided to pull their home off the market and move here anyway. So despite the generally bad time of year and housing market, there is always the chance that you can sell quickly. Follow the good advice here and you will increase your odds. Sorry if I sound gloomy but I am not saying anything that is not being said by others far more knowledgeable than me. It is not impossible to sell your home; only harder. Go to Zillow.com and see what they think your home is worth. Zillow is pretty accurate at estimating market value of homes when they have the right information and you can see what they think the homes around yours are worth and price accordingly.

P.S. - Real estate agents will naturally try to sell the homes that produce the largest commission for them. This makes commission spliting a negative. It is even worse when there are many more homes for sale than buyers as they can often meet their buyer's needs without sacrificing their full commission. 6 months is a long time for a listing contract but what is done is done. I strongly suggest that you offer the selling agent a bonus to offset the fact that they have to split their commission. This will greatly increase your odds. Good luck.

[VT2TV]

Well, you certainly are very gloomy, but honest, which I appreciate. We have heard much of the same thing over and over, so it is not anything new. We have had our home staged, and in the past 2 weeks, we have had a better vibe about our agents, but they are still pretty negative about selling our home. We had appraisals by 2 different agents from different companies, and feel like we are spot on with the price. One of our problems is that there are several close-by houses in our price range for sell, and only 2 homes in the range sold in the month of July. We have already cut our price by a few thousands, and we have been on market for 3 weeks. Plus, we spent a lot of money getting the house fixed up hopeing that would help. We got a new heat pump for upstairs even though it didn't quit, but figured it wouldn't be long before we would have to replace. We painted most of the house, have nice curb appeal, and our floor plan is very open and bright. We did a few other things to improve and update. The comments we have gotten are positive from the few realtors who have been by-4 of them yest, none before that. We have asked our realtors to have as many realtor luncheons and open houses they can fit in, even though I do not like that idea. Good idea about bonus for selling agent, but our realtor doesn't think that is necessary, and we also have many things in the house we are willing to leave with the house, either as a bonus/negoation/seling point. We have a 65 inch TV, a snow blower, a brand new yard tractor, a grandfather clock, a generator, and several other things, but our realtors says it is not good to advertize these things with the sale because you can have all sorts of problems about warranties, conditions, and anything else. We just don't know what to do. We are not sure we have the best realtors, but they are the leading selling agents for our surrounding areas. Just wish our house was sold!!!!!!!!!

[teekart]

Dear VT,

We were in a very similar position. Had already purchased a villa down here (3 years ago), then decided to live here full time. Worked on our house last summer, cleaning, painting etc.. Spent the winter here and went home in April. We live in a economically depressed area of Ohio. Home sales are very poor. We had 10 acres, as well as a 17 year old house. We did have an aggressive and dynamic realtor. (did not use the Village relocation). She took many pictures and posted in on the realtor website as well as MLS. It took 3 weeks, and just the right person, who did not mind driving 20 miles to work. Loved the country and total isolation. But they did show up. So there is hope for you.

What you must do is "google" St. Joseph, then buy a statue and follow the directions. Many people at the Villages mentioned this, but no one in Ohio knew anything about it. My husband is convinced it made all the difference.

Sounds like you are doing every other thing correctly. Try St. Joseph, maybe it will help.

Good luck,

SB:angel:

[wlou]

We are in VA also and have done all the work to make the house very presentable like you. We are using a local RE agent and he is great. We have been on the market since April of this year and have had 35 people come through! Everyone says, "Oh this house shows great, you will sell it in no time"...Well guess what...Here we sit while our beautiful designer we bought in TV sits empty...sigh...The whole experience is a big pain in the .(whoo hoo! ) ....We have had 5 open houses and another this Sunday...we just keep pluggiing along, reading TOTV , and looking at the LSL camera wishing we were there ..
Good Luck to you, we know exactly how you feel.......

[VT2TV]

Dear SB,
Funny you should mention St Joseph---we have already ordered several of them. They have all sorts of ways to bury them-at the front of your yard, pointed in the direction of your new house, in a flower bed, near the front porch, etc. Where did you bury yours???? Also another future Villager told us that they got some sand from the lot in Buttonwood and have sprinkled it around their yard for luck. My husband is online now trying to find someone to get some sand from our land and send it to us. Aren't we pathetic, lol. We are willing to try anything!!!!!!!!!!
And like I said before, everyone keeps saying we just need that 1 person-WHERE IS HE!!!!!!!!!!! (or she) :) Thanks for your reply!

[VT2TV]

wlou,
Where in Va are you, we are in Roanoke. We have had 2 people from Roanoke who are moving to the Villages who have sold their homes since June. So I guess it is not impossible. We have talked to our realtor this week, and told her that we want to get our house out there. So we are planning an open house next weekend, and we are now in Long and Fosters weekly booklet that comes out. We are also going to try to have a realtors luncheon, and she is going to see if she can get our house on the main realtors showings that includes all companies. We are going to start pushing if necessary!!!!!
PS. The bad news is that a house just sold in our price range yesterday that had been on the market 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! days. Our realtors had just told us on Wed that this house was our closest competition. Does that mean we are "up next" or that they got that 1 person who is the only buyer for the next ???? however long? Everyone please say prayers for us!

[teekart]

Dear VT,

We planted our St. Joseph in the front yard, upside down, facing the road. Then we proceeded with the prayers that are to be said. We were not very optimistic about selling, so were pleasantly surprised when it happened. It will happen for you too! So now we are full time Villagers and waiting for our closing in a week so we can get into our new designer in Duval.

Just killing time now till next week, so would be happy to go get some Buttonwood sand/dirt and send it to you. PM me if you wish me to do that.

Good luck. SB :BigApplause:

[wlou]

We are in Richmond and we had the same experience! We are only one of a few ranchers with an ingound pool. The one that came up for sale May 01, ( we went up April 12) sold in 2 days, while we still sit here 4 mos. later.... ugh*** I have come to the conclusion that the perfect family will one day walk in and fall in love with our place. I think the market is so saturated that buyers have way too many places to look at and consider.I will keep the prayers going for you and you keep them for me and one day maybe we will meet in TV!

[swrinfla]

I am so happy that, when I bought in TV in late '04, the market was considerably different!

Even way back then I was watching HGTV, gleaning ideas all the time. In the end, I decided that getting my 100-year-old house up to par for selling was going to cost me more money and time (for which also read "hassle") than I was willing to invest. With the somewhat reluctant concurrence of my chosen realtor (recommended by The Villages Relocation folks), I sold "as is" in less than two weeks!

Still, what HGTV encourages, especially the staging, makes hugely important sense. Were I in the same market today, I'm pretty sure that I'd follow their advice to a t.

SWR
:beer3:

[VT2TV]

wlou,
We will def. keep the prayers going. I think I mentioned earlier that there were only 2 houses in our price range sold in July here. Then that house that sold after being on the market just 6 days was a slap in the face. I have to confess that even though I am an adult, I had tears in my eyes after we drove by that house and saw the SOLD sign there. Our realtor told us that there just aren't any buyers out there, but today our next door neighbors-who are getting ready to put their house on the market, told us that their realtor told them that there are plenty of people out there, but they can't get loans. I have a hard time believing that a lot of people are "out there". Plus I understand that a lot of people jumped in and bought houses with the stimulus package recently. But unless I understand this wrong-which is a big possibility :)--people are really better to jump on the current LOW rates right now instead of just buying with the bonus. 8000.00 sound good, but over a 30 year loan, they will come off much better to go with the lower rates. The 8000.00 might help them GET the house, but the lower rates might help them keep the house. If people had trouble getting loans, it might be because they tried to get a too expensive house with the 8000.00, but didn't have the income to keep the payments going. Just a thought.

BTW: our neighbors who are putting their house on the market.....they are doing that because we came home from TV when we bought, and told them about it. They have never seen it, but are going to move there to join us-plus they LOVED the DVD :) I hate to be selfish, but won't it be just our luck for their house to sell first!!!!!!!! My husband and I are not working, but our neighbor is, and hasn't even found a job near TV yet. If they sell first, I will be happy for them (truely), but SOOOOOO sad for us.