Go look at comparables in your area and see what they are selling for.

List accordingly.....also consider having the house staged for two weeks and move out and have some open houses and see what happens. Or call in another agent and get another opinion.....or you can market on vrbo.com or fsbo and see where that leads you.

Hi Susan, thanks. Our agent won't tell us what she considers comparable in the local area. Only in our condo structure. Four others also on the market, older design styles, also not selling with a variety of agents/firms.

We did empty the home and have been away but has not made more showings happen. Agent says staging too expensive and has even resisted virtual staging for photos. Agent is against having an open house-claims concern about thefts by unobserved visitors...

Beverly, thanks as well! Will look at Listing book but Agent will likely say she has all the info already via her systems. Been about 10 showings and no useful feedback. Other units in the same community are also not selling and prices keep dropping.

Remodel was done pretty well in a consistent style. We would have stayed but work is driving us elsewhere. Agent advised to get all of our stuff out, and did not provide staging so now we also have storage costs. I think the photos are pretty decent and info is correct. Photos keep dropping off Zillow and Agent cannot explain it.

Is it ok to post the url of the listing here on this forum?

dnbz, I don't see the photos in your ideabook. Do you want to upload them here in this thread?

Thanks Denita, am not clear if my ideabook is public accessible. I'll try the Houzz photo below this comment box and see if that works.

dnbz's ideas · More Info

dnbz's ideas · More Info

dnbz's ideas · More Info

zip is 07010, 300 Gorge Rd #20

A space like this, with all those shelves and glass, would really benefit from staging, at the very least for pictures.

Thanks SSAD! Agent indicated it would happen back at the beginning of working with her but then only the photographer showed up after we cleaned our stuff out, hid the remainder, and spent about 3 days cleaning. Subsequent promises of virtual staging also did not happen, alas.

I've done some internet searching for where to list something of this style, which is different from the Mediterranean styling of the complex, but my keywords are not generating good results. Houzz was one and it still is maybe not the right place for help selling, but I really want to try to find folks who like the style, not the price, primarily, of the home.

I know if we were searching for this online we'd use the keywords I tried. It took us a long time back in 2000 to find this home, and had to remodel it. No agents then had a clue what we were talking about in terms of style. So clearly we need to ratchet up our internet search game!

Are there agents who deal in modern style? or what is the best keyword for what you can see is the style? I am not a ID pro, but we both know what we like.

Hi Lori; you know those contracts, they write them so vaguely and are careful to only say the things they don't want to be held to. Would not commit to anything less than 6 month contract, so stuck til August. That's why I'm trying to find marketing help independently as she is apparently only into advertising if you know what I mean by the difference.

Am also starting here, now, to get ideas for lining up a new and/or replacement agent if I can find one with any clues on marketing this style.

It needs to be professionally staged to make it appear warm and welcoming like Apt. 52's listing. Showcase the modern style, but make it friendly. Improve the lighting. It's already clean as a whistle. The current pro photos look cold with random furniture scattered here and there. Look very carefully at what Apt. 52's listing photos show. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/300-Gorge-Rd-APT-52-Cliffside-Park-NJ-07010/37859279_zpid/  Flip through an Ikea catalog if you want to see how sleek and modern can be marketed with warmth and joie de vivre.

I'd hire a different photographer and a new agent, too.

The other units seem to be priced higher than yours, so it can't be price.

Looks as though your kitchen cabinet counters are higher than standard. Is that the case? If so maybe your market is a B-Baller on a team.

Did your agent tell you to stage the unit with more furnishings?

People may enter the room with all the shelving and think this is a potential project. What is is that room? Dining room? LIving Room? No TV?

With all this space, why are the sofa and cushions pushed in the corner? How many dining tables in this room?

This outside area looks like a project. What's with the rock in the backyard? I'm guessing that has some effect on potential buyers

You do have a beautiful view, but it appears it's only available when using binoculars. So the home is not waterfront.

It's a beautiful apartment but IMO most buyers might not react well to the all white appearance and few furnishings. That could be overcome possibly with staging, but that will cost $$

If she told you she would stage it and didn't...........you're done with your contract. Call her broker. Pitch a fit.

My last go around I learned from the agent who actually sold my place to not let the agents tell you how good they are at getting listings but asking them how many they have SOLD in the last 6 months.

The sooner you do it the better. You want a new agent to take advantage of the beautiful New York weather to show your condo.

Hi Beverly, thanks for the detailed comments.

could be the angle of the photo, taken at waist level, re the countertops. they are about what I'd call standard. I'm about 6' tall and counters feel a bit low for comfort actually. Agent said she'd provide staging but didn't. Wasn't on paper so cannot hold her to it.

Not sure what you mean 'potential project'... shelving is easily adjusted, reassembled, removed. We don't need it so are offering it. This floor is for us kitchen/laundry/dining/living room/office, we wanted big open space with as much light as possible. We don't watch tv so no there isn't one. The tube tv we had in the shelving since 2000 was not used since... years, and even then not regularly. Large space above fireplace we considered to mount a tv or project movies from computer, but never had time for those.

We like big open space but the wide angle lens also makes it look bigger. One dining table, and the other similar table is my office desk. The couch is in the corner so when sitting there you get the best city view.

The back area is semi-common, the rock is a cliff. The condo is built on a former quarry. We actually improved what was there as much as we could with common area restrictions.

Home is not on waterfront, that's correct. Thus does not need flood insurance or suffer the stink and has more privacy. From the living room or balcony the city looks nearer than in this wide angle shot. It is only about 2 miles direct, and average of 20-25 min bus ride from front door to Manhattan.

Cost of staging has been a complaint of the agent, yes.

I'm not familiar with office politics in real estate offices. Would speaking with her broker (boss?) help or hurt? What is a way to do it that would be effective for all?

Following

Well, it's your call, but I work in a world where your word is as good as a contract and I would hold her to that. Every contract has an out for either the office or the seller. Read the fine print. I see she is a broker, but it appears she is based in NYC with some link to an office in New Jersey.

Every office has a broker manager and the ones for this office are noted below.

http://www.kw.com/kw/agent/lisaortiz

Looks like she has 3 houses for sale listings in this office.

Call for a meeting to talk and tell the manager what you were promised and what has occurred. Seems like price is not the issue based on the prices elsewhere in the building and the minimal work in the other units, though I have not seen any records to indicate actual sold prices for these units.

Why does your condo have two listings and two agents? This is getting complicated.

I believe your goal is to get relisted without the listing saying that you have been on the market for 4 months and dropped the price twice. You may want to do that with this office maybe switch to the manager as your agent if you cannot get out of the contract, or it may be with a different office and a different realtor. I'd never give anyone 6 months in this market. If a realtor has priced the condo right and you have done all you can to make the unit available and in good condition, then who needs 6 months?

Which agent has SOLD units in your building repeatedly? Not listed, but SOLD for the best $$.

BTW I'm not sure that listing photo is good for your condo without furnishings.

Hi EHHP; thanks for the input. We must be unusual buyers, the look of the home in the photos would not have bothered us, we realize we'd furnish it our way and we were thinking folks who like similar style would also be able to visualize it with their stuff.

We followed the Agent's advice-move our stuff into storage and live minimally. For showings I hide all my stuff in closets and drawers and leave the home.

Still, we haven't had any buyers give any feedback that the home doesn't feel right. The only feedback is that they didn't realize it is three levels, no input has come regarding price, etc. So we need to find buyers of similar mindset to us-they like the style and will fit it to their needs. Seems the only potential buyers coming so far are dragged along based on price and looking at other condos in the building. As far as I can tell without feedback.

Hi Again Beverly, thanks for the additional input. The agent is in NJ and has some kind of internal agreement with their NY office for listing in NY and int'l. So the home is listed far and wide, but showings are few and not interested in the style.

Agent would not accept anything less than 6 month agreement. No other units have sold recently; most recent I believe was over $600k and much worse in location and condition.

Thanks for the tips on working the office politics. I'll see what can be done. Any web site suggestions where we could list the home specifically where buyers of this style would look?

Make sure your building knows your remodeled unit is for sale. Post it where ever you can in a building HOA paper etc. Owners will tell their friends.

OP - I'm not a pro, but I have been a house hunter, big time, over the last few years. Call me your typical buyer, limited imagination, know what feels good, but have a practical streak as well.

And if I walked into that condo, I would say, there's a problem with this living-dining area because the owners haven't figured out how to make the furniture work. A lot of empty space, a rug sitting nowhere, a sofa tucked into a corner. No space for the TV, huge space for bookcases (and I love bookcases) but nowhere to put a buffet to hold the china.

You are trying to find a buyer who thinks the way you do and that limits your market more than you need to. Why not find a buyer like me who wants a comfortable space that makes sense? A good layout for sofas and chairs, a place to put the TV, some place to put art on the walls, and something that links the space between the little dining table and the fireplace area.

You need to forget what it is you like, and think about what's going to have a wider appeal - and that's not about big renovations, it's about staging. Do it. Whether the agent is prepared to stage or not, I really think you need to bite the bullet and accept that you can't just wait around for someone with your identical aesthetic to show up.

Get rid of all the shelving and paint the wall . Float a cheap sofa and a couple of chairs and a coffee table to divide the space. Lay down a rug to anchor it. Hang a cardboard "faux" tv.....

Spend a few grand to make the space look useful and liveable, and WARM IT UP. In fact, tell the lazy realtor to get busy, or you will send the letter from your attorney breaking the contract. These are loosey goosey contracts anyway.

Either way......you either want to sell it or you don't. The very best way is to tell the realtor you're pulling it off the market, then DO IT. Wait six weeks, get a new realtor, get it staged, ( IN WRITING THIS TIME) . Then. be realistic about the price and put it back on the market. It's probably a combination of all three things: PRICE, LOOKS, LAZY. in that order.

Having to lower the price is a flag. REDUCED!!! lol........just a red flag begging folks to ask whats wrong with it.

Staging works. If you can't get your Realtor to do the staging (hire a professional staging company), then find one yourself. IME most buyer's don't have the ability to visualize. I'm a Realtor and I know that staging is one of the best marketing tools to actually get your home sold. Selling a virtually empty home is much more difficult then selling one that has been properly staged. It isn't expensive either. Buyers need to be able to see the home in it's best light. Remember, buyers are looking for a solution to their housing problem. Right now, you are not showing a solution, but showing a potential home that looks like it needs work. It's not that it actually needs work, but that it looks like it. Many buyers will just not want to see your listing as currently shown online. Marketing today is heavily dependent on photos. I don't think it would take much at all to bring out the positive features of your home.

Having empty shelving shows a waste of space to many buyers. Putting the couch in the corner shows there is no room for furnishings. The rug you have isn't helpful (it shows dirty, small and useless in the photos) . A good stager can showcase your home with beautiful furnishings and decor to warm it up for buyers. By "warm" I mean welcoming. White can be stunning. But it still needs to be presented in the right way. New, professional photos will need to be done. Brochures and online marketing will need to be updated once it is staged and ready to go.

Contact her and get her commitment to get the staging done. If she doesn't do it immediately, get in touch with her broker to get a release from the listing.

Many thanks for the wealth of candid feedback!

So far the replies focus has been a lot about staging and what we've done wrong, why our layout is wrong. That's just the way we like to live.

No feedback has come that visitors don't like or understand the furniture setup. Our approach is to make the home as open as possible, for our use and for buyer's modifications to suit their taste.

What I'd like to focus on then is techniques for finding a realtor who cares about this and will do what they say. Even better if it is someone who cares about the type of home they are selling, not just that it is a number or a box.

Any suggestions on that?

Agents care about selling your house, they do not care about your house. Find a new agent by talking to friends and neighbors, or find the three most active agents ("sold" listings) in your neighborhood. Your buyers are the many, many people in your price range in your neighborhood. There are very few buyers who will spend any amount of money to buy someone else's vision when it happens to coincide with theirs. Price and location are the main drivers.

That's why much of the feedback on this discussion has been about staging for maximum appeal, not about finding an agent who specializes in attracting only the buyers who want contemporary minimalist style in a remodelled condo, regardless of whether it is in a high rise or a Mediterranean complex.

It is absolutely essential that your professional photos are attractive enough to draw in the buyers. You may have to pay for professional staging yourself, depending on your contract. It is worth the money to attract buyers for a faster sale at a good price.

OP, here is an illustration of what lots of folks have been attempting to convey to you:

I'm looking for a nice new condo. I'm browsing online photos. I see yours. I see a hallway full of shelves, a kitchen full of shelves, a back patio full of rocks. I keep browsing right on past your place to the next because *I Don't Know* that the shelves are easily removable/adjustable. I Don't Know that the back patio has been improved as much as allowable (which is bs, by the way. I'm positive you could add some planters and arrange that furniture attractively so it is not lined up, facing a rock wall like the naughty corner).

As a buyer, I don't give one single hoot how you want to use your space. I want a comfy chair to read, a couch to cuddle and watch a movie with Husband after dinner, and a patio to sip a glass of wine.

You're beginning to sound terribly egotistical: the realtor must love you and your home as much as you do; future buyers must adhere to and appreciate your vision for the place; posters here must give you advice on how to get a realtor to do your bidding (rather than you realizing that there is a welath of advice and experience here, given out of an abundance of generosity from folks who have nothing to gain).

I followed along despite having nothing to add because I knew I could learn a lot from the experts, and I have. You should consider doing so, too.

Peace.

Let me give you one example. I have a listing of mine that was lovely but had a tenant in it. When the tenant moved out, I brought in a professional stager (from houzz) and this is one room of the house as an example:

Top two show the same room with staging and the last photo is before staging. Big difference. The buyer has to like it enough to actually get in touch with their agent to see the property.

Hi Lindsey; thanks for candid input. No thanks for the insults. I guess we are unusual people. I look at the space and can imagine how I would treat it. I see staging when looking at photos and realize it's advertising/cover so it bothers me. I don't understand the mindset that doesn't give a thought past the literal appearance of a photo.

I'll look elsewhere for help on this, it's a very active forum but I haven't been able to draw out much other than to stage things and some listing sites. I will emphasize this with the agent and her broker.

It's sad to have to get tough on this. We are in tough financial situation and just need to part with a home we love. Agent sounded initially sympathetic and optimistic but has turned out otherwise.

Thanks again for all the candid input!

I'm sincerely sorry that I insulted you. It was my intention to illustrate the mindset of your customers, not to attack you or your home personally.

I wish you all the best in this venture and I hope you are able to create a new home to love as much as you do this one.

flower pots with no plants; outdoor chairs with no chair pads and not sure what they are facing; so many shelves but the shelves are not lined up (hurts my eyes); table next to pony wall looks out of place; dirty rug in front of shelves;.....

Sorry to be blunt but If i were your realtor, I'll take your property off my listing. Buyers are not going to give you feedback as there's nothing really wrong with your place. But as a buyer, I'm likely not going to even visit based on the photos I see unless the price is really good.

update: I'm not trying to insult you either. please do not take it that way. Try to put yourself in the mindset of 99% of your potential buyers, not the 1% that's like you. I wish you success in selling your home.

You know dnbz, whether you understand the mindset or not, it exists. Fighting it or wanting it to change to your mindset isn't getting your house sold.

I too live in your market. I think your unconventionality is hurting you. There are a ton of apartments in our market that are staged. Helps people imagine things. For me, I don't really understand the shelving. And most folks like a large tv somewhere that makes sense. If you want to unload this place I'd suck it up and get a stager. Make sure everyone in your building knows you are selling, you might get a contact that way. Move on and be as unconventional as you like in your next home or apartment. Good luck.

dnbz, a surprising number of people don't have the ability to visualize what is possible with a space. It's not a mindset, it's an actual skill.