The Camera Phone House

October 20, 2008 | By Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Home Selling 

I showed a home the other day that has been on the market – continuously – for 899 days.  Which begs the question: why hasn’t this home sold?

Two big reasons.

1) It’s overpriced for the condition of the home.  It’s a partial remodel, with a bad paint job, missing baseboards, some original vinyl, with a brand new kitchen, new carpet, and some badly laid new tile.  Please note: a new kitchen does not a ’stunning complete remodel’ make.  The seller’s last price adjustment was in June 2008.  So that house has been sitting there, at the same price, for 139 days.  You know what happens when you do the same thing that isn’t working, over and over, and expect a different result?  But that’s not the only problem.

2) The seller hired an agent – their second agent for this home, the first was a relative – who took 6 pictures with what appears to be a camera phone, wrote a 2 line description, and plopped it onto the MLS.  This is the one that is so frustrating to me.  Why, as a home seller, would you settle for someone who does a bare minimum – and doesn’t even do the minimum well?  The pictures and description in the MLS are so very important.  With around 80% of home buyers starting their search online, the representation of the home online has to be spectacular to stand out from the crowd.

Needless to say, we weren’t impressed.  Next.

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Comments

5 Responses to “The Camera Phone House”

  1. Bobbi on October 20th, 2008 1:19 pm

    I don’t care how cool you think your iPhone is, people…. its NOT a camera! :)

  2. Todd Waller | Ann Arbor Real Estate on October 20th, 2008 2:07 pm

    Kelley,

    So true! We get our fair share of MLS lottery players here too. When, what, nearly 85% of buyers are using the internet to find info on homes, why is the “marketing” of these properties just so-so?

    I don’t think it can be said to often: in addition to rapidly changing RE market, we are also seeing a paradigm shift in HOW the RE industry does its business.

  3. Tony Sena on October 20th, 2008 10:19 pm

    You know what happens when you do the same thing that isn’t working, over and over, and expect a different result?

    Such a true statement!

    Its apparent they must not really want to sell their home!

  4. David on October 21st, 2008 4:49 pm

    Sounds like the remodel and the realtor are a match to me……

  5. Jay Valento- Long Beach Real Estate on November 21st, 2008 1:53 pm

    I’ve seen 5 million homes here in Southern California where the listing agent or someone took a picture of the guard gate shack…and no pictures of the home.

    I think it is crazy

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