Hmm, let me get out my crystal ball...

I was afraid you'd say that. :)
So to those who monitor the vital signs, there seems to be no life in this dead market.......phooey.

I'm not a Realtor but I just sold my home and can give you an idea of what it was like selling within commuting distance to NYC. First of all I believe location is 'almost' everything. We lived in an area close to trains, highways, etc. 40 min. commute to the City. Top school district, very desirable area.

Had we put the house on the market two years earlier we would have gotten higher offers. With that said, we had a lot of traffic. I was surprised how many young couples were looking to move out of the City. Most of the buyers were young with young children. I think shoppers were as confused by the market as we were.

Depending on where you live, there are buyers close to the major Cities. They are young and have money. They want to move and find a house. Our competition was fierce, but if you wait you will find a buyer. We didn't panic and planned on spending another year showing.

I believe, depending on location and schools, you will sell your house for a good price. You won't get what you would have 5/6 yrs ago, but you won't give it away either. There are buyers and they want to move into a house.

Plan to price it right and don't panic. If you get a good Realtor to show your house, you will sell it for a good price. I think in this market, a good Realtor is key and as is patience. Your house sounds beautiful and will attract young buyers.

Put it on the market,

Jane

I would not over improve or spend money on decorating to your taste. For example the plantation shutters are a negative for me, unless you are in bright and sunny florida. I feel they block light and views. I wouldn't place any value on your curtains either ... the odds of them being my taste are pretty small.

No one can answer what the market will be like in one year. But you do know what the variables are right now! If I wanted to sell, I would rather do it knowing what I was up against, as opposed to doing it when I knew nothing about my obstacles.
If anyone thinks that the housing market is going to go up over the next couple of years to the point that it makes sence to sell then rather than now, I would like for them to point me to any indecies that they are looking at that point to that.
Interest rates are at about 5.0% right now. The chances that they will be that low in the future are extrememly low.
If your heart is telling you that it is time to sell, than now is the time to sell.

If you don't need to sell, I wouldn't worry much about it. If the house is paid off, you can afford to let the process play out without panicking.

As for what the market is going to do - who knows! While low interest rates are great, unemployment is trumping everything else right now. As that improves, so will home sales.

The house is not going to sell until you put it on the market. There are buyers out there, just fewer of them. I bought a house a year ago and was disappointed with how few houses were available for sale.

One thing which comes to mind is putting the house into a program where travelling nurses hired to work for a couple of months at a time, are housed in various locations close to the multitude of medical facilities in the Boston area.

With 2 upstairs bedrooms sharing a bath, a downstairs master suite, and a studio/bedroom option with the main house bath on the main level, it could possibly take four nurses. It is fully and suitably furnished with new beds, new kitchen, a big family room/common area, a wall mounted flat screen HDTV/DVD in the master, and a larger flat screen HDTV/DVD in the family room, cable TV provided with wireless internet connection. If the agency does not provide maintenance, we do have that covered, because the next door neighbors have taken care of the house for us the last couple of years while we are in the south for the winter.

We did loan out the house for free to a middle aged couple two winters ago, while she was undergoing breast cancer treatment and they had no place to stay. This couple was mechanically and maintenance challenged, and because of them we simplified many features of the house, and enlisted the aid of the handy dandy retired neighbor.

But would it be worth trying such a program to keep the house from being empty? Is there anything to gain, as far as keeping the house from deteriorating by remaining vacant?

Or would it be a lose-lose situation, with wear and tear not worth the effort?

If you want to sell your house- put it up for sale. If you want to be a landlord -be a landlord. However, don't try to be a landlord just because you think the housing market will improve 2 years from now. Being a landlord is not for the faint of heart and it definitely isn't for someone who doesn't want the hassle and isn't going to be around.

I don't know how much truth there is in this, but I have heard that there is a huge "shadow inventory" out there of homes that banks have foreclosed on, but are waiting to put on the market. There are also many homes yet to be foreclosed on.

Here is a link that might be useful: Shadow Market article

"...there is a huge "shadow inventory" out there of homes that banks have foreclosed on, but are waiting to put on the market. There are also many homes yet to be foreclosed on."

The banks wait to foreclose.

Once they have foreclosed the note is no longer an asset to the bank and cannot be used to meet reserve requirements (or will be used at a lower 'market rate.'

By not foreclosing they can claim the note remains performing and has value for bank reserves.

Banks are required to maintain a certain value in reserves, and if they reserves fall low the bank must raise additional capital (possibly by selling stock and diluting the value of the existing stock).

By just sitting on their hands they can avoid the reserve losses and try to ride out the collapse in prices.

Large numbers of foreclosures also tends to drive down the value of neighboring properties possibly driving more houses into foreclosure.

Houses ARE selling in MA. My step mother is a realtor and she is selling. A friend of mine listed a house this past week and got 3 offers in 5 days, one of which was full price.

I wouldn't do cork in the den/4th bedroom. The average person will have no idea what it is, but will likely think it is less desirable than wood or even a nice carpet. I would do wood or carpet instead. If they DO want to use it as a bedroom (and I believe in many places if a room has a closet and a door it is categorized as a bedroom) the cork will be undesirable.

I agree with the following key points,

If you want to sell, then sell. You're not in the house and not financially pressured. You can afford to take your time with the process.

Playhouse? Handmade curtains? Custom shutters? Why are you putting this much money into a house you're planning to sell? This is just incomprehensible to me.

Every market is different. It must take years to recover in states like California, Phoenix or some parts of Florida. And when they eventually do, the price will probably still be lower than the peak a few years ago.

Jane in NY, after reading your remarks, that is when I decided to make the 12x14 approx garden shed LOOK LIKE it might pass for a real comfortable playhouse OR a little artist studio, sitting away from the house up hill in the corner of the back yard. I misspoke when I said I'd like to turn it into a playhouse, because all I am proposing to do is to stage it where it will have multiple and attractive functions. It is already wired and plumbed, so it is half way there.

And the person commenting on the cork, I realize it is not a mainstream flooring material, so we'll do the obvious thing and put in some carpet in a neutral color. The carpet now on the floor in the study/4th bedroom is the same as the carpet on the family room floor, and it is gross beyond words. Plus, it is over 20 years old now and horribly worn.

I appreciate the time everyone took to consider this question. Sometimes I get tunnel vision. But each reply is now in the hands of my DH, who will ultimately make the decisions about marketing his house. Having lived in it from the early 60s and raised his three children there, he is naturally quite attached to it, and has customized it a lot. I'm not as familiar with the r/e demands of the New England area, so cannot judge which improvements are considered standard to the area.

And you are right, we don't NEED to sell the house, but we are getting too old to keep running back and forth from north to south taking care of two houses. We want to spend more time being newly weds and exploring the country, instead of maintaining houses vacant for half the year.

The selling price is not as important these days as the APPRAISED price. You can ask for the moon but if no bank will lend that amount, the sellers are out of luck. See the thread "Received a low appraisal from bank, now what?" in this forum for a seller who got stuck in this situation.

I'd strongly suggest that it might be worth it to you to pay for an independent appraisal to get an idea of what a bank would be willing to loan on this house. Then you'll have an idea of whether you want to sell it for this amount, or wait for a while. Otherwise, you're just floundering around with no hard figures to work with, just imaginary ones.

He's owned the house since the early 60s and "We want to spend more time being newly weds and exploring the country, instead of maintaining houses vacant for half the year.

Sell it. And quit worrying about whether you might make an extra few thousand a few years from now. Exactly what is tying you to this house other than emotion? If you don't want to maintain a vacant house long distance, you REALLY don't want to mess with being a landlord long distance.

The expense, trouble, worry, etc, of maintaining this house either vacant or as a rental far outweigh any extra money you MIGHT make in the future, and there's always the chance that you'll have to sell it for even less than now - who knows what the future holds?

I might be wrong but the idea of hanging on to it, considering your current situation, in the hopes that the market will bring you a higher selling price in a few years sounds like a rationalization. It sounds to me like he just isn't ready to let go of the house he raised his kids in and lived in for almost 50 years. If that's the case, then even if someone DID have a crystal ball, would the prediction make any difference?

Sell it and move on.