Find out what the average DOM is before doing anything. Waiting is hard, but the real estate market has reverted back to what it used to be: houses sit on the market for a few months before the right buyer comes along.

Two comments. Backyard is tiny and all the kids stuff makes it worse. You have a beautiful picture window that looks onto a backyard that needs something to look at besides toys. Second comment is the house is lovely so only thing left is price change. Don't underestimate the importance of proper price point. You could be sitting only a few thousand off and not get offers. I know you will sell soon tho. People always want nice houses -- they just want a good deal which the buyers market will bare now.

60 DOM in Florida is nothing- average here in Ft. Lauderdale is something like 112.
If you drop the price I would drop it closer to 5%.
It all depends on how badly you want to sell.

I hate to hijack, but cearbhaill, your yard is TDF. Just beautiful. We are in Broward too.

Back to the regular scheduled thread.

How are you guys able to see the backyard, window, etc? I can only see the front of the house on the Realtor.com link.

How are you guys able to see the backyard, window, etc?

Click the little red house that says "Featured Tour".

The front of your house is difficult to see with all the foliage. Curb appeal counts. Maybe trim up the tree and bushes?

Your backyard is in rough shape. All the kids toys make it look very small. Maybe re-sodding and losing the playhouse would help. As stated the view from the picture window is less than ideal.

The $10K drop to the next price range might be a good idea. As others have said first find out the average DOM and most recent comps in your area.

I expected to see bicycles and other kid toys by what was said. I don't think the swings & play house are bad. The play house can actually be moved for the picture but the swings, try to get another angle.

Trip up the front bushes and how long have you been on the market? We are going into spring/summer and people are just starting to look. Do you HAVE to sell now? You could make the back yard a bit neater.

One thing I noticed immediately in BR 2 is that the closet is blocked by the bed. To me that says small room. Is is possible to put the bed against the wall where the white dresser is at and move the dresser to the current "bed wall."

I tend to agree with the comments to spruce up the backyard a bit. Everything else is so tidy, it kind of detracts from it.

I've heard the market in FL overall is miserable right now. I would imagine in St. Augustine insurance prices have skyrocketed and that definitely is having an impact on sales. I love St. Augustine btw.

I think you have a very nice home and I absolutely love the kitchen, although that shade of blue is not my favourite. It's like the other house with the white cabinets and blue walls - it looks a bit cold where maybe warmth would be better?

I thought the exact same thing about the bed in front of the closet. It looks extremely misplaced and cuts the room considerably. Can you put the bed under the window?

Thank you for all the positive comments and constructive feedback on our house. I found out our average DOM is about 120 days, so I guess we have a ways to go before I start to get worried. Just anxious to move on to the next part of our life!
Backyard--it does have issues. We could move the playhouse, but the big swing set is huge and can't be moved until we move. Our yard is small, but quite spacious for around here--we are on an island and land is at a premium. We will trim things up and spruce up as much as possible.
Kitchen--I love our kitchen. It is huge and has sooo much cabinet space--I will miss it. I love the color, but it isn't for everyone--what would you paint it? I want a bit of contrast with the white cabinets.
Kids room--I agree the bed looks out of place where it is. That is our son's room and he is on the autism spectrum. His crib was in that position and when he went to a bed it went in the same spot. He has a really hard time with change and we have packed up a bunch of his stuff--he is having a hard time with that--afraid if we move the bed it could be really bad. So I am not sure if we can do that or not--but I do agree it looks out of place and makes it look small.
we will trim up the front, work on the back, and consider painting the kitchen --if someone can give me some color help :-) It really is a nice house--I think I am having a really hard time not taking it personally--plus this is so stressful. We are moving to Colorado when we sell this house, so major life changes about to take place. We are not in a huge hurry, but I do want to be moved and settled by August when ds starts Kindergarten.
THanks again,
Lisa

It's a lovely home! Keep track of what "your competition" is selling for -- not listed for, but what it sells for.

I agree with the comments about the photos. You don't have to live with these changes, just make them, take the pictures, and put things back. (Remove playhouse from view. Move your son's bed.) When peoople tour the house they can see how they would rearrange your furniture anyway! LOL

I like the blue in your kitchen. It's a nice cool color in a hot climate.

Off Topic follows:

Our DS's pre-K teacher commented that he had difficulty making transitions. He's now 35, married, a father, so you know this was long before most people knew about ADD, etc. By the time he was in high school he was diagnosed ADD (without the H -- not hyperactive). It isn't that he could not attend, his senses were so acute that he was constantly hearing, feeling, smelling, seeing *everything*, which made it difficult to focus and concentrate on a task at hand. I can see how this would lead one to "shut down". It has all worked out well in the long run. He now puts all those senses to work every day; he's a paramedic. Good luck to you and your family!

Let DS play in another room while you move his bed to take the pic. If it isn't too upsetting to him, maybe you could ask his advice on where it would look good for the picture. Explain that you will move it back to where he wants it. Who knows, maybe he's even open to a change of scenery?

There's another post here about 2 months old, someone from MD asked for help, their house had non neutral colors. He redid the kitchen a neutral shade of beige, which looked really good. Also try going to a few paint sites. Some have tools that allow you to pick a room, then a color to see how it looks. IIRC Sherwin Williams was what I used. I bought their Malted Milk & Polite white for my bedroom, very happy with it.

It's hard to hear advice on a house that you put personal touches on to your taste. You have to realize people can't see past some paint colors while others can. If you don't think you have time to paint, maybe give a paint allowance?

For the kitchen, how about the same colour you have in your bedroom? That has a nice contrast with the white, but is still warmish neutral .

Ditto on moving the bed in your son's room, just for the photo. I'd also move the back yard toys/playhouse for the photos (or at least close the red door on the little playhouse for the photo, it's so eye-catching). I'm okay with the kitchen, though I understand it's not so popular. But since you just have those two areas above and below the cabinets (I'd leave the dining room blue as is), consider the muted green in your kitchen rug. We did that in our kitchen and people rave about it. Reds are also REALLY popular in kitchens with white cabinets. Your kitchen looks large enough to pull it off well.

katieshelty wrote: I love our kitchen. It is huge and has sooo much cabinet space--I will miss it. I love the color, but it isn't for everyone--what would you paint it? I want a bit of contrast with the white cabinets.

I had white cabinets in the kitchen of our old house with basically white walls (actually they were Duron "Whispering Birch" with a wallpaper border). The house was on the market for six months last year with no offers. We painted the kitchen Duron "Tobacco Road" before we relisted it in January and it sold in two weeks. Just kidding, that's NOT the (only) reason it sold so quickly. :) But the color did look nice with the white cabs and oak floors.

GOOD LUCK selling your home!

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

Laura, I love that colour. Not too yellow, but a nice gold tone. Does it look yellow in person, because it doesn't in the photo. What direction of light comes into the kitchen?

Supposedly blue is a good color for dieting. We are programmed to avoid it because there are very few blue foods in nature. So I would think it would subconsiously have an affect

I really want a blue kitchen but will not because I want to sell eventaully

Laura--thanks for the color advice--it does look really good in your old white kitchen. Where do you get Duron brand of paint? I have a horrible cold right now, but as soon as I feel better I am going to paint a kitchen!

Thanks again,
Lisa

sparksals wrote: Does it look yellow in person, because it doesn't in the photo. What direction of light comes into the kitchen?

No, in person it actually looks darker and more brownish goldish (to me). We had it on one wall of the family room too and when the Realtor said to use it in the kitchen as well, I was like no way! Too dark! But it actually looked really good (what did I know). The kitchen windows faced East, so we got the morning light in there. But the house backed to park land (woods) so the direct sun was filtered by the trees.

Katysheltie, Duron has it's own stores, not sure if there is one in your area. I've included a store locator link below. Also they were recently bought by Sherwin Williams so you should be able to get the same colors there. Actually any paint dealer can mix another comapany's color, just give them the color name and number if you know it, and they probably have the formula in their records. If you really like the Tobacco Road, the number is 8214M. Make sure and tell them you want the Millennium Collection formula, it's an older collection of colors.

Here is a link that might be useful: Duron Store Locator