It looks charming! There were a couple minor negative things that jumped out at me in the pictures. The living room picture arrangement with crooked pictures, the armoire that looks big and clunky in the space and the entry bench/coat hooks in the living room. The last two make me think - no coat closet and not enough space in the living room. The first just makes me think it would look better to me with one simple picture there.

Looks nice. Pics came out well. Good luck selling it!

Thanks 3katz4me - those crooked pictures are bugging me too!

Your pictures look like they were taken at a low resolution with a phone camera. They are not quality photos and they don't do your place justice which happens to be a wonderful looking house.

You have too many outdoor shots of basically the same thing.

Your first living room photo features your couch and your wall of pictures. Bad angle. I also would remove the majority of the pictures especially since some are crooked and just have 3 pictures across the back. It looks crowded and messy right now.

Also remove all the junk under the table and fix the sloppy pillows bunched up on the couch.

I personally would remove the pictures going up the stairway so the windows there are the star. (Gorgeous floors btw!)

Next picture remove the armoire next to the fireplace. Put it in storage and feature the fireplace. (Yes I realize it's probably your tv but for now watch tv on your iPad. You're trying to sell the house, not the armoire) Also remove the two pieces of art on the side walls. Let the fireplace and the windows on either side be the stars.

After you get rid of the armoire, I'd put two small chairs facing the fireplace as a second seating area.

Get rid of the hanging pocketbook on the hook. Actually looking at the picture facing the door, I get rid of the bench and the hook thingy. It only reminds people that you don't have a coat closet to hang coats. Plus it looks sloppy. Put whatever is behind the door where the bench and coat rack is now. Having it behind the door makes it look like you don't have enough room for all your stuff.

In the dining room get rid of the open cart or shelves or whatever it is. (As I said, it's hard to see what anything is because the pictures are not crisp and clear.)

In the kitchen take off whatever is on the top shelves over the fridge and whatever is on the fridge. And remove the thing on the side of the fridge.

On the bar area in the kitchen clean off the counter. It should be empty or set with two placemats, plates etc to show you can eat there and NOTHING MORE. On the shelves above get rid of 90% of what is up there. It looks cluttered.

In the master bedroom get rid of the two slipper chairs. It makes that area look too small and crowded. Also make your bed so it looks like it is in a magazine ad. Right now ti's sloppy, especially with seeing the boxspring.

Whatever is draped over the railing, get rid of it.

Have one towel hanging in the master bathroom and make it neater.

Forget the bath mat. It makes the room look smaller. I rolled my mats up and hid them under the bed.

In the guest bedroom I'd take out the tv and the stand and move the chair to that corner.

In the office get everything OFF THE FLOOR. And only one or two things on the desk.

In the guest bath take everything off the radiator.

Additionally make sure all your closets look like they are from a magazine and are as empty as possible. Remove as much as possible so you have empty shelves and empty hangers. Line things up. Same thing with your kitchen cabinets and drawers. Same thing with your bathroom cabinets and medicine cabinets. People look inside. You want it to look pristine.

More than one person who came into my condo when I was selling wondered if we really were this neat and clean. :) (Of course not, but I'll never admit to it.) Get some fresh flowers and put them around.

I closed on my condo in May. We got one of the highest prices ever in our building at a time there were 10 other condos on the market. Ours was the only one to sell in our high end building during the prime selling season in our FL town. What was the difference?

1. We were priced right for the work we had done.

2. Our place was as I said, pristine and completely updated whereas most of the other condos hadn't been completely updated.

3. Our pictures were very good. You want pictures that are crisp, clear, and well lit. Notice also how "empty" our walls, floors and counters look? Trust me when we were not staging to sell, we didn't live like that. We had things on the counters, on the tables, etc. We had the dog's bed in the living room and her bowls on the kitchen counters. Our bedroom had books stacked on them and the office had my easel and pencils out.

Make sure even doorknobs and around light switches are clean. Same with doors and the floor corners and baseboards. Things we normally "miss" or are not as fastidious about. Before showing, even wipe down all your faucets and make sure your sinks gleam.

Here is a link to our listing. Cpartist's Listing

Best of luck for a quick sale!

Thanks, Cpartist. I suppose the paring down of junk and clutter is an iterative process and I still have another round to go! As for the photos, my realtor worked with a professional photographer who used a wide angle lens. The resolution is well, slightly odd, I think. And I think everything looks kind of green-ish. I'll ask about that and about the possibility of getting him back for a reshoot.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed response. It's a little bit of tough love, but I'm open to it ;)

It's a charming house. Here's my thoughts:

I wouldn't like the master on the third floor either.

Very nice patio, but there's too many pictures of it.

Way too many pictures and way too much furniture and stuff in the living room area.

Why are the curtains pulled over tub/shower areas? I want to see what they look like - I don't care about what the curtains look like.

The whole house looks very clean and well cared for.

Other than some of the things others mentioned, I noticed 2 things. I read the listing details and see that the exterior is stucco. Is it dirty or is it a funky paint job? It was kind of off-putting for me. Throw in the photo of the porch ceiling which further confuses the matter, and it would make me wonder. I'm sure you're a clean person and all, but unless the grout is supposed to be gray in the bathroom with the white tile floors it needs to be cleaned again. It should be sparkling. Rent or borrow a steam cleaner. They work very well on dirty grout. I found they worked with nothing else will.

Thanks, Cpartist. I suppose the paring down of junk and clutter is an iterative process and I still have another round to go!

We wound up renting a storage container in one of those storage places for all the excess. Didn't need a large one but it helped. In our case that also meant things like our 7 suitcases. LOL

As for the photos, my realtor worked with a professional photographer who used a wide angle lens.

I saw he worked with a wide angle lens as he should. But I think he could get better shots from the corners of the rooms which would read better and also if he gets down lower a bit.

The resolution is well, slightly odd, I think. And I think everything looks kind of green-ish.

It looks like his white balance was off. That can be fixed in photoshop but it looks like he took the easy way out and just uploaded them without spending the time to correct. You almost always need to color correct.

Also did he use a tripod to take the photos or was he taking them hand held? If he was taking them hand held, tell your agent you want a real professional and not an amateur hack. Room photos need to be taken using a tripod and they need to have the HDR on. Ask if he shot with HDR on.

I'll ask about that and about the possibility of getting him back for a reshoot.

Personally, I'd ask her to find a real photographer. LOL.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed response. It's a little bit of tough love, but I'm open to it ;)

You want the place to look "empty" to your eye. To a buyer it will look just right because then they can imagine themselves filling it up with their stuff.

BTW: A third floor master wouldn't have turned me off when I was younger. In fact it would have been just the type of house I would have fallen in love with and I would have been fine realizing how it would look with "my" stuff, but most people cannot see past what is there.

I also agree about the stucco looking dirty. You might want to power wash it if it's not too old.

Looking again. It appears that when he lowered the resolution for posting on the net, he wound up pixelating the images; unless he shot them with low resolution.

And one last thing. If those plants are fake, GET RID OF THEM! Put out some REAL flowers instead. Fake ones look fake. You should only have either real flowers, real plants or dried natural flowers.

The house looks fine. Is it perfection, no. But no one looking to buy a house is looking for perfection in your pictures. They are not going to be looking at the pictures with the same eyes that forum people are looking. (pictures on the wall are not straight, your couch cushion is smashed, etc.) It wont stop anyone from coming to look at the house. What bothers me is that so many agents are enhancing these photos so much that they look almost cartoonish! I see it more and more.

Looks good. Nice work outside.

There is a difference between enhanced and color corrected linda. And her fixing up the issues like removing extra furniture and highlighting the fireplace can definitely help. Not everyone is like a GW person.

Agree with most of what has been said already. Once you declutter more and remove some furniture, have the photographer take new photos. Don't care for the looks of your photos. They don't look real to me. Also the written description in your listing is way to wordy/long. I don't need to know every single thing about the house. Shorten it. But the one thing that would make me question about living in your town is the low school ratings. A 4 and 5 are not good ratings. Schools were the most important reason we picked a town to live in when we started having children. Not how close the house was to our jobs or family, shops or restaurants. Schools, period.

Thanks all, for the feedback. The stucco is not dirty - but agree that it looks dirty or splotchy in the pictures. My realtor said the photographer used high resolution, which created that weird visual effect in the pics. I've already discussed this with her. The grout in the hall bath is grey, not dirty.

nancylouis_gw, I did some research on the school rating (I don't have kids and am unfamiliar with the rating systems). According to the realtor's website, the school ratings provided are on a 5 pt. scale - from the website: SchoolDigger Rating:

5 out of 5

So 4 and 5 ratings are actually positive. In fact, the one elementary school listed is no. 13 in the state.

Based on the feedback, I continued to edit/declutter all of the rooms last night when I got home from work.

And, even though it's silly/superstitious, my dad picked me up a statue of St. Joseph to bury in the yard . . .

cpartist - thanks again for the detailed response. It's funny - the stager my realtor hired is the one who brought in the plants and, yes, they are fake. I share your aversion to them.

Good that you stated that here jwelding. Most school ratings that I read are on a 1-10 scale. You might want to make note of that somewhere so others know also. Might cause some to pass your town by. (I also buried a St. Joseph statue in the backyard once. Many people do. haha)

I buried a St. Joseph, too. It worked . . . 3 years later.

Personally, I hate pictures that are obviously taken with a wide angle lens .. it distorts your home and I really have no idea what it really looks like (looks nice from what I could see). They could use a wide angle lens but not make it so obvious and distorting. Obviously, others don't have an issue with the photos.

I think your house looks terrific. At least if I lived locally I would definitely want a showing. A second showing so quickly is a great sign. Hopefully, you will have a contract soon.

The deal killer for me is the fact there is no bathroom on the first or basement floor.Is it common to not have central air in your area. I don't have it and have three window airconditioners but not on the front of my house. I love the house, the yard, and even the third floor master bedroom if I had older kids. I didn't even see anything wrong with the photography but that probably speaks to my ignorance in that area. Best of luck. Someone is going to really love it.

It's such a cute house. The master on the third floor would be a killer for me, but if I were young, I would think it was pretty neat. Same with bathrooms, but if that is what is normal there, then other people won't think anything about it.

I agree with the collage of pictures over the sofa. They just add to the busy-ness of the room, plus, IMO, they are too high so it looks like the ceilings are low. I'd take them all down and just put up two - three at the most.

Agree about the armoire and the bench with cubby shelf over it.

I like your pictures, but it looks like they were edited with a water color or similar program. That is nice, but as a buyer, I want to see details, and it does distort colors, like on your stucco.

I adore your back porch and pergola. That alone would make me want to come see it.

I would make an appt to see it right away. The pics are definitely not perfect and a bit grainy and yes the wall of art/ photos are crooked but that wouldn't deter me.

Your house is gorgeous and much better than the ones I saw similarly priced on that site.

Update! Full price offer today and a second offer potentially coming in today too!!!

That's great! Congratulations.

Fabulous!

Congrats on your house selling! I think you struck a good balance between having a house that looks lived in, and tidy at the same time. A lot of houses on the market in Phoenix look cold, unnatural, and too bare. Personal touches warm the place up and you did a great job. Our house goes on the market in a couple of weeks, hope I can do as well as you.

Hi, all! My house closed today. A couple of things turned up in the inspection and the buyers asked for 5-6 things to be addressed. I fixed the major ones (stucco issue - repairing a bad patch job the prior owners had done; termite treatment - notwithstanding my annual contract with a pest control company that included an annual termite inspection, an active infestation was found in my basement - grr; and fixing the fireplace damper - actually turned out just to be off the tracks). I also am replacing part of the curb, as required by the Township (which paved the street higher, making my curb lower than code - grrr again).

Happy to be moving on to the next chapter! Especially happy that the new house has central air as we face a pretty intense heat wave in SE PA this weekend.

Thanks, all for the invaluable advice and support!

Congratulations!! You must be,so relieved!

Congratulations :)

Congratulations!

Oh, that's wonderful. Go on over to the new home and just take a day to relax and be cool. Congratulations on the closing.