Help Again - Can't seem to sell our house in NC.

I'd also really push for the Real Estate caravan/open house. That should have happened within the first week/two. We made the mistake of initially picking an agent who lived in our 'hood and supposedly had a black book of people who wanted into it. She was an individual agent/broker and later I found out she had pissed off pretty much all of the other agents and no one else would show her listings. We had only signed a 60 day agreement with her (because after that we wanted to choice to go corporate relocation) and she agreed to it and then got pissed when we wouldn't sign an extension -- and we had been totally upfront with her.

The second agent worked very hard for us and in the end sold it to another agent's clients in her same office. I think they tend to push each other properties over those from another firm.

So if there is a next time I will pick one with a LARGE network/firm behind them.

I feel for you, I really do. We had an amazing realtor, but it took our house 4 months to sell because of our junky neighbors and our elementary school going to "accredited with a warning" a month before we put it on the market. I think you have to decide how badly you want to get rid of this house. If you keep dropping the price, it will sell eventually.

I think the inside looks very nice and I wouldn't paint the cabinets myself. I agree with those who say you need to trim the bushes outside and add some color with flowers. I would also consider painting the front door and shutters. The shutters look a little faded and the color says 90's to me.

Best of luck to you!

It's time to have a firm, professional tough love conference (in person) with your realtor. If she doesn't want to be aggressive then another realtor might want the job. It's not difficult to sell by owner in an area where houses are selling. Stressful & busy, yes. Two years ago I sold our home in one week, by owner. A friend helped stage the house, we listed on Facebook, friends shared on their FB page, we listed on Zillow, FSBO.com and other sites. I sold the house on Facebook. We had an open house scheduled, but received the offer the previous night. We still held the open house hoping for multiple buyers.

Stage the kitchen and add a few pops of color. I would add a large clock or decorative piece on the wall to the left of the cabinetry. Our local grocery store had a glass vase w/tulips that bloomed forever and needed little watering. I would add fresh flowers at the long countertop where it meets the wall. I might consider hardware, but would not add anymore time or money painting cabinetry. Personally, as a buyer, I would not like painted cabinets. I would also add iron bar stools/chairs along the counter.

We had a circular kitchen table where we placed a runner, candlesticks & a decorative holder than held laminated for sale sheets displaying home info & pictures. They were always taken after every showing.

Don't hesitate to seek help if you have a friend who is great at staging/decorating. Two of my neighbors were amazing, and helped stage. The photos looked great!

For the bathrooms I added new hand towels, rugs, shower curtains, plus Bath & Body Works soap at the sinks. I shopped and found deals to purchase as inexpensively as possible. The bathrooms always looked in pristine, top condition, even though they were smaller sized.

I would stage the dining area and not leave it empty. See if you can find a nice, inexpensive table/chairs at Big Lots, a garage sale, church friend, etc. That is where I would place a table runner, candlesticks & the home information.


I just saw the exterior photos of your home. Your home reminds me of the one we sold, which was empty at the time. Trim the landscaping and definitely add color. Find various sized planters and fill with colorful flowers on each step. Add a large planter to the right of your garage door (looking at your house) which leads to the sidewalk to the front door. Add flowers along the front landscaping, too.

Have you or your realtor advertised on Facebook yard sale pages for your area? A lot do that here in CoSprings, another military area.


ETA- when we bought our house in Fayetteville, we went through MilitaryByOwner. We only lived there a short time and ended up selling it back to the previous owners.

I don't think your problem is staging or landscaping, I think your problem is that it is a buyer's market in your area and your home is not located in a great school district. I wouldn't put any more money in the house. I'd study the comps and price the house to sell or I'd try and lease it until the market goes back up.

Good luck. I hope you find a buyer soon.

In our MLS when I input a listing it is put on every online realtor website known to man. I would think it would be similar in NC.

OP, has she had any open houses? Is she getting an traffic. Are there lots of homes for sale in your price point? Wish I had some ideas for you.

ETA: In our area, EVERY house goes on Broker's Tour on Friday the week it is put in the MLS. She sounds like a real stinker.

www.militarybyowner.com

Have you posted here? Might e worth a try.

We have a lot friends at Bragg and they are all in similar positions. It sounds like mostly a supply and demand issue. Price is the only thing that will fix that.

I agree with this. A house will sell if it is priced right. There is a house a few miles away that has had major black mold damage and issues. Everything has been cleaned up but it is well known that it was pretty bad. It recently sold. How? It was priced $100,000 less than the comps in the neighborhood. People are willing to buy and put up with anything at the right price.

I'm sorry you're having issues. Fayetteville isn't very popular unless you're in the military. As a native North Carolinian and a current Raleighite, Fayetteville has a reputation of being higher crime. (not sure if that's actually true, but the only time Fayetteville is in our news is because of a crime) So anything you can do to advertise on base would be worth it--I'd make sure to highlight the good school district. (so you'd catch the eye of military people who are looking for homes to show to their spouses who haven't moved to the area yet) 

I like what Gritzi said. Could you offer a home warranty? The seller of our house in Michigan included one, and that made us feel better about buying an older house. We did have issues with our furnace, so the warranty came in handy. 

I think you need something on that wall beside the kitchen. The empty wall makes the kitchen look smaller. 

My mom had similar looking cabinets, and she just rubbed some darker wood stain on them with a rag, and it made them look more expensive. I studied interior design and although I don't work as a designer, I do keep my design files up to date. The kitchens in more expensive houses have darker stained cabinets or colours. I wouldn't paint them white. I do think a bit of stain would make them stand out a bit more.

I think a few barstools would make the penninsula look nicer. I'd also put something decorative between the backsplash and the penninsula--so the break up of space wouldn't be as visible--that's where you eye is drawn when you look at the photo--the big expanse of wall. 

I'd also put something on top of the cabinets--I collect cobalt blue glass, and I have many of my pieces and some blue and white platters up there. I found a ton of options when I searched Pinterest decorate tops of cabinets

I like the rest of the house--it looks really nice and well built. I like the colours and that it's not full of furniture although I do think a bit more furniture in the room in front of the kitchen would balance the space out. 

I'd include some photos of the backyard--that's important for families. 

I also like the other peas' ideas about adding a bit of colour to the front of the house. 

My dad was a real estate developer at the beach in NC. His developments were luxury beach houses. He was also a real estate broker. He did lots of open houses and had a relationship with a local expensive furniture store. They would stage the houses in return for credit in the brochures and signs in the houses. 

I've never heard of an open house being a latch ditch effort. I wouldn't have thought that your photos were "professional". I don't think you should stick with this realtor out of guilt. I don't think she's doing a lot for you.

I have no idea what to tell you about selling a house but wanted to say your home looks lovely.  Well cared for, clean, lovely colors and paint.  

So here is my perspective coming from someone who is about a week into contract buying a home in Florida. We are also military and PCSing but this should be our final one. WE had two very specific checklists of things we wanted in a home. The first list were things that were MUST haves. The other was things we would like to or prefer to have. When our real estate agent sent us listings, I eliminated any that didn't meet the MUST haves criteria and went through the rest whittling them down until we finally found what is almost the perfect house. It is actually the second one we made an offer on. The first one we did not get as someone else was willing to pay more for it.


I think you should ask yourself why YOU bought that house. What made it the right one for you? Try to showcase the things that sold it to you. Also, think about who your potential buyers are. Military people PCSing, right? I agree with previous posters about adding some colorful flowers out front but I also think a nice bright American flag might help. Go onto zillow and look at your home's listing. There will be a place where you can "claim" your home. After that, there's a section "what I love about this home". You can write your own little blurb about why your house is so great and it does show up in the home description.

You said that the new construction people are offering lots of incentives...what kind? Can you match them? I know they often offer to pay $XXXX towards closing costs and that is a big draw for military buyers, especially if they are using VA entitlement as they have to pay VA funding fee, although that can be rolled into the loan. Closing costs are generally a pretty hefty chunk of cash for people to come up with and if you can offer to pay some of that, it would likely draw in more potential buyers. Also, maybe play up the fact that your home is NOT new construction but in a lovely, established neighborhood. Potential buyers won't have to deal with the noise, debris, extra traffic, and other things that come with construction.

Another thing I would suggest is that most military families I know come with kids and dogs. One of the things pretty high on my "wants" list was a fenced yard. I think that if your backyard were fenced, it might make it more desirable to military families. I don't know if it's feasible to do that and if not maybe you could designate a "fence allowance" to let them have one built themselves?

Lastly, what is the commute time to Bragg? If it's good and desirable, perhaps your agent could add that into your listing.

This is what we did on our first home and it sold when 6 identical others on the street did not.