It might be worth your while to consult with a stager. Perhaps your realtor can recommend someone.

Your house looks beautiful! Was it empty when on the market? If so consider staging.

What is the real estate market like in your area? How many days on the market (DOM) is average for your area? If all else fails, I agree with other posters -- hire a stager.

Beautiful house, nicely photographed, too. I agree that reviewing the local market activity is the thing to do. Page through the MLS website to see what your competing houses look like- do they all have trendy paint colors, or example?

The fee for an experienced stager who works in your price range may be well worth it if her work results in a faster sale. You may want to repaint in a less 1990's Tuscan-orangey-gold paint scheme if competing houses are updated with palest gray or off-white. A stager can pick a lighter color that coordinates well with the granite in the kitchen (and the trim color if you are lucky) but can be used throughout the house.

Try the "Buying and Selling Homes" forum (from Houzz, "Advice" -> "Gardenweb" -> "Home Forums"), posting your MLS link. This kind of question is often asked there.

when we sold our house (in 9 days) the realtor had made me paint all of the rooms the color du jour of the time (beige). your rooms pictured are quite gold, which isnt a great thing this year. if you can find a cooler color in the kitchen counters to go with, its a thought. same for the bath, don't worry about the large rooms.

you didnt say whether you were getting requests for showings vs no offers. if you arent getting appts at all, thats something with the pictures, if you repaint successfully you might thinks of redoing the photos for the rooms shown.

You have a lovely home, but the current real estate market and location of your home are key factors in selling. If it is just the current market, don't give up!

Please post again with an update when you are ready.

There is nothing major in your home that people could not easily change for their tastes or see around. Are houses selling in your area, is your home on a busy street, taxes high, too far from a good school, not a great backyard, have people commented on anything specific - perhaps there are other issues and I don't think I would spend the money on a stager until you looked into further. Good luck.

I would lose that big heavy curio piece and that round rug in the foyer. Replace the curio with a console table or a chest with a lamp sitting on top. Add a mirror over the top. Move the tree out too. Also remove the rug and the big oval artwork in the dining room. All these pieces are attention grabbers and you want prospective buyers to be focused on the house, not your stuff. Give it a try, couldn't hurt and wouldn't cost much to do.

We had a stager. We are in a great location, school district and yes things are selling in our area.

I too noticed the big curio cabinet and I noticed the big artwork (?) in the dining room. Also the kitchen has too many things...though tidy, it has books in the cubies, things on top of the cabinets, etc. I would like to see a house almost empty if I were going to buy it. As far as painting...the kitchen looks like it could be a more inviting color. Bathroom looks good but needs different towels, etc. Beige walls in the rest of the house look good to me. What does your Realtor say when you ask her/him about no sales?

I would ask your realtor for comps in the neighborhood and then you can tell if the price is right or not. The price of a house is strictly about square footage,etc.

The home is lovely...but some things are dating it. What are the comments that the viewers are saying about the home? Too much this, or too much that? Are you getting viewings? What are the responses from the people walking through? Sometimes a theme emerges and it becomes the "quick fix".

I agree that the paint colour is a dated colour. The kitchen looks nice but it too is in the same "honey oak orange" that everyone is renovating. Gold tones are simply "out of style" right now. I would look at paint as being the first thing to work with as a quick fix.

In Vancouver Canada, many homes are selling inside of 3 days...and bidding wars are causing prices to skyrocket. Bidding wars allow people to sell over the list price ($200K more than listed)...for a house that is considered a "tear down". I'm having a hard time recognising what it is that is stopping people from buying your home. The single common thread I can see = gold colours.

I don't know what part of the country you are, but it usually comes down to two things, location and price.
We have bought three investment properties this summer, never cared about paint colors. It was all about location, price, and if they were in a highly desirable neighborhood, close to good schools and Silicon Valley jobs.Paint is a cheap fix and usually new homeowners change the color anyways.
What is your house priced at compared to comps in the neighborhood. Did you realtor come up with the asking price? If it is priced right, you should be getting lots of requests for showings.
Here in California, homes that are priced to sell are receiving multiple cash offers at $100,000 over asking! Homes that are unreasonably high sit and end up having a price reduction, which makes buyers wonder what was wrong with it that it didn't sell right away.
You can't be emotionally involved with the sale. It is a business transaction and will sell if it is comped with the neighborhood.
Did you agent offer to stage your home? If not maybe time to find another agent and rethink price.

Hi Krista,
You're home looks lovely. I'm a realtor in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I'd be happy to talk with you to discuss what the hidden factor is that is that's behind your home not moving and discuss a plan to correct it. You can reach me at 508.642.9054 or by email at koryblythesilva@gmail.com.

The house is monotone golden beige outside to inside, floor to wall to cabinetry to ceiling. It is a beautiful house but totally lacks any color interest. When people view a number of homes, they soon blend together and the unremarkable ones are forgotten. I think the lack of visual color interest has made your house "invisible" to buyers viewing multiple properties. This is not to say it should be loud-ed up with garish colors. But I would consider breaking the golden beige total monopoly of color!

Especially since, right now, golds are "dated" and greys are "in."

Two possibilities:

1. Is there a major mechanical structural red flag, like an outdated septic system or evidence of termite infestation ( to name two of thousands of possibilities?)

2. How does the house smell? When I was looking at houses to buy, odd smells from animals, disinfectants, food, etc. were a big turn off. Homeowners are often nose-blind to these smells.

I would paint the exterior trim cream and would also paint the kitchen walls, bathroom walls and entry hall walls cream. Additionally, I would move pieces with a distinct personality (like the curio in the front hall). I agree that there should be a console table in its place.

I, too, would tell you to clear the entry way of the cabinet, plant and rug. I would move the rug to the bath that is shown. In the entry way, I would put a round table in center with your purple flowers from the kitchen. Take down the mirror/picture in dining room. Find a nice rectangular picture to go in the room over the buffet. De- clutter kitchen. Too many cookbooks cluttering cubbies. Only fruit basket on sink counter. Remove all alliances and clutter on counters . No more than 2-3 items displayed. Take down items on top of cabinets. In bathroom, move plants off of tub. Place one in center of vanities. Choose darker color from rug and place under white towels or get different towels.

Sometimes things don't make sense for a while. We just had one like that. If you are priced right it will happen. On the updating needs. There is just a segment of the population that wants it all updated because they either can't see the vision, need it wrapped up in the loan or don't want to deal with the mess!

Before you spend a dime on big stuff go to Michael's and buy a wreath with YELLOW flowers all over it for the front door. I remember reading a study a few years back on color theory and people buy yellow houses or houses with exterior accents that are yellow.

You need a new stager; what is with the portrait on the staircase! And the tschoskies everywhere. Staging should show the square footage of the house and be very inpersonal with minimal items in the house. Just sayin'.

I would walk thru the house and see what a buyer would want changed out, deduct the price for each project and then set a new lower price.

Often times a low price will start a bidding war, but you have to have a good low price.

Our daughter and her husband remodelled their house and when they got ready to sell, they bought their new house first, put all their stuff into the new house, had stagers stage the old house and they put it on the market by owner and had five offers in five days. They took the highest offer. The house next door was the very same floor plan and at a lower price and my daughter's house sold first.

Lastly a house, no matter what you think it is worth or think what the profit it should make for you, is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Are you being realistic or wishful? Do you want to sell your house?

Also I would take it off the market while you think about these things and then relist with a new progressive agent after Spring arrives in March. Good luck!

post is from Sept. OP last seen beginning of oct.

Great job.

wow, this could be the house we've just purchased (in South Africa though). the seller struggled to sell it through two different agents. we bought it through the second agent, who had it markedly reduced the price, from the seller's expectation. still, we put in a cheeky offer and were surprised he accepted it, but that was all we were willing to pay. we saw it as a good house, in a good area that needed a whack of money to update into a house we want to live in.

what I'm saying is that 'perfectly well-built' may not be what people envision living in, especially given the size of home and what families want ie fresh and open. what put a lot of other buyers off is lack of vision and needing the house to be move-in ready, so that the homeloan covers everything. I would consider reducing the price as opposed to putting more money into it. I could be completely wrong as I'm only familiar with the South African context.

Everyone always cites location and price, which certainly are important. But the oft overlooked factor is "comps." How many other houses of comparable design, condition, setting, in comparable school districts and tax brackets are on the market in and around your town. The more there are, the more yours is one alternative among many, and only the small things will tip the balance in your favor. Lots of good advice from others here, on how to tip that balance.

I've moved 13 times in forty years, so I have a good idea what you are going through. Best wishes for your sale!