Seeking Help with Selling Our Home!

Have you looked into using an Assist2Sell office to help sell your home? They charge a flat fee which is less than $5000 in commission and they take care of the marketing, advertising, etc.

I have used the office out of West Chester, PA, John Muhic, and he is very good as is his staff, they sell a ton of homes.

I would also suggest keeping your home as neutral as possible and clutter free. Some even suggest taking down family photos so its more like a model home and less personalized.

The market has been really bad from what I've been told, just too much inventory out there to choose from so your home really needs to sparkle and stand out from the rest.

Good luck to you!

biggest advice is to get rid of cluter stuff that looks appeling to you may not to potential buyers. keep only the essentials . best thing to do is rent a storage shed or find someone that would let you use some space to store stuff. pack up anything that you dont absoultly need. the less cluttered a room looks the bigger the rooms look and the more appeling it will be to buyers. try and look at your home from a buyers point of veiw . buyers are looking for space and if it dosent seem like you have enough storage space for your belongings then they will think they wont ethier. plus touch up paint or fixing that sticking door wouldnt be a bad idea ethier. the less problems presented to a buyer the more they will want it . I just sold my house in two months after putting it on the market . good luck

First repaint everything a neutral color. Second take down all your nick-knacks and box them up. The less there is in your home to distract the eye, the easier it will be for a buyer to really see your home. Also there are MLS sites (multiple listing services) where you can list your home. Though you may have to pay a commission to the buyers realtor. But remember commissions are negotible. And its better to pay 2 or 3 percent than 7. Right now is also not the best time to be selling your home. Home values have not gone up. Most sellers are lucky to get back what they paid for their homes. Also check a 3 block radius around your home and find out what other homes like yours are listed at or have sold for. This will give you an idea of weather your asking price is fair, to high, or to low. Hope this helps.

Hi Jamie: My name is G. and we are in the same situation as yourself and family. Our house is currently up on the market now for roughly 40 days, but we are being represented by a Realtor. I think though in either situation, the frustations can be the same. Our Realtor gave us her advice when she came to see our home and its' amenities and to work up the comps. Her suggestions were to upgrade the light fixtures since they were the original builder fixtures. We did that quite inexpensively at Home Depot. Also, she suggested changing the color of our bedroom since it was a color that she felt may turn off any buyer. We took her advice since I never liked it anyway and painted it a neutral color. At that time, in which we initially interviewed our Realtor, her advice was to attempt to give the buyer no reason to complain about anything within the house. It's a tough market right now, but she encourages us that early Summer will bring about the "serious buyers". I wish you the best!

Hi Jamie,
I am a real estate agent and an Interior designer. Buyers want to walk into a place that they won't have to do any work on. The home is enough of an investment that they don't usually have money to pour more into it. Buyers right now control the market and basically the most "dressed up" the house the better. Look at Pottery barn, or Crate and barrel catalogs for ideas on how they dress up a room. Fresh paint can always do the trick and furniture arrangements can do a world of wonders. Store away items that are not appealing. If you ahve fish tanks make sure they are clean. Just make sure that everything looks neat and everything has it's place.
Being that you are selling this on your own becomes very limited in capturing buyers, especially since you are not in the MLS system. I hate to tell you this but statistically for sale by owners loose 16% less then if you were to go with a realtor. Ask your self have you advertised enough? Price is usually the driving market, have you compared other homes to others that are similar and do you have the best priced home in your neighborhood? We are in a market where you are at a disadvantage here and real estate agents tend to have prequalified buyers at hand.
I am just being honest and i hope this helps. If you need anything further let me know.
L.

Hi Jamie,

I am a realtor with Century 21 Alliance. I am not sure where you live but in my area it is certainly a buyers market now. Meaning that the buyer has a huge selection to choose from. I would price your home 1-2% less than the homes in your area. Curb appeal is everything so I would make sure that your home has fresh flowers, a nice entry at the front door, clean manicured lawn etc. In the inside of the home I would pack most of the things that you don't use away. Keep your counter space clear, put away blenders, toaster ovens etc. Knick knacks, clutter etc will distract from your home. Keep everything simple. My partner, Julie Evans is an interior designer. She often just changes furniture around and minimizes by packing away belongings. Play music, light a candle, keep everything bright and inviting. On our website, there is information on Home Staging. This may help you. Our website is www.TheRealTeam.net. I hope this helps you. Feel free to call if I can be of further assistance. My work number is ###-###-####. Good luck and be patient, the market is slow right now.

Take care,
M. Grant

Paint to a neutral color and remove ALL clutter, including family photographs. Try to make the whole house look open, inviting, and modern, even if it means also removing some furniture. Remember potential buyers are comming to see your house, not your stuff. Move some furniture and personal belongings to a storage space or your garage if you can. The only problem with doing it yourself is you may not be doing enough advertising. Other realtors that are looking for something for a buyer may not find your house if it not listed in their MLS system, which means many less showings than a house listed with a realtor. And remember you are still responsible for the commission of the Buyers Agent.

My husband is a Realtor and he says it is taking an average of 90 days to sell a house right now, sometimes more. It is a buyers market, there are so many properties available right now that a buyer can be really picky about anything they want or just keep looking. He also says they are all hopefull that in the next month or so the market will pick up for the summer. Good luck!