$182 a square foot?? That is Substantially Overpriced when carrying incurable defects like a one car garage and a single full bath. Those are permanent unalterable issues that greatly detract value from the home. You would not get back the cost of adding a master suite with bath over a larger garage, so the best bet is to reduce the price by at least 100K, if not 150K. $100-110 a sf is more in line for an older home that has not added the desired amenities of a more modern build.

Wow! Incredible.

The lead picture SCARES ME! The house looks impregnable and hard to get to. The last one is better - you can see the terracing and entrance better. The back yard is awesome!

You have pictures that are near duplicates and some with unflattering lighting ... the first picture of the pine-panelled room is far more attractive than the second one.

As suggested by "Sophie", check out the competition in Hudson, NH. (Not to mention nearby communities.) Tells me all I need to know. Sorry, but better photos and re-decoration are not the cure.

Others have commented on the pictures and the competition. I don't think it's necessarily the specific photos, but the order of the photos. I like them to be in "order" from walking through the front door, to the back of the house, upstairs, etc. It gives one a sense of the floor plan. Because the kitchen photos were what I saw first, and there is an exterior door in one, I assumed you walked in the front door to the kitchen immediately. I figured it out later, but still it was an immediate "dislike" for me when I thought the kitchen was at the front door.

I just noticed this: the heading says you have 1.5 baths, but in the paragraphs below it says 2 baths. Now, someone's fibbing here. Or stretching the truth. I hate that.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. Most were thoughtful and very helpful. Thank you for taking the time!

And yes, Worthy and NC are probably right. You are overpriced.

You should put a couple of the exterior shots first so people understand the context. (#30 31, 32) #1 looks like a really small little cottagey house - is that what people see from the street? Maybe people are assuming its too small and dont get beyond that initial view.

Small and cottagey would be good for some of us but not for people looking for a large 4 br house.

The good thing is you have room to connect the two driveways make them into a half circle. :-) Cut down 2 trees (not too big, won't be too expensive), and buy a truck load stones ($100-200 per truck). A half circle driveway would make a lot of people happy! That's one way to get people to your house......

Another thing is to burry TWO St. Joseph statues upside down, one in the front yard and one in the backyard. It won't hurt to try. :-)

I don't think you have too many photos. I've just spent several months looking to buy, never was impressed with too few photos. I agree your lead photo needs to be changed. The stone wall is not inviting. The house looks small. But looking at the other shots, I can see it isn't small. Change the lead photo. Don't worry about curtains. It looks CLEAN, and that's good!

Turn on every light in the house, open all blinds and curtains, the best time of day for natural light photos will be around 1pm. And then do all the lights on and open all blinds/curtains every day it's on market so people who want a showing will see the place from the pictures. My front hall was deemed 'too dark' by the stager so it had to be painted white along with the stair rail and stringers, added new ceiling light fixtures everywhere possible and our furniture went to pods so the stager could bring in lighter colored pieces that appealed to the subset of buyers we were aiming for. I was amazed at the transformation shown in the photos for the listing - and when that quick coat of white paint starts to wear that will be the new resident's problem ;p

As a buyer and a seller, just want to add that I think your home is lovely. I have never walked away from viewing a listing because of decor; serious buyers don't; HGTV bingers do........ That said, as others have noted,the first photo is misleading and confusing. The point of entry is not clear and the house appears small. Stay focused. You will sell.

mzdee, you aren't the normal buyer or seller. How do I know that? Your comments show that you are logical and practical and you visit houzz. I'm sure you are well rewarded in your real estate purchases because you don't let the decor sway you one way or the other.

However, I have sold many, many hundreds of homes and can tell you unequivocally that decor influences many/most buyers and their offers.

Is it fair? No. Is it even a little bit silly? Yes. Does it happen regularly? Yes.

HGTV has made it worse because buyer expectations are totally unreal now. As Realtors we do our best to introduce reality to the buyer...it doesn't always work.

"I want an huge open plan house, high end everything, with ocean views, for 100k."

"I'll see if I can find someone who can find that for you, what country were you looking to buy a home in?"

lol Jennifer, what a terrific answer!

So often the things people want these days might as well be a goose that lays golden eggs - nice idea but highly unlikely to ever happen. :p

I live not too far from you. In my opinion, definitely get rid of the curtains in the wood/paneled room. That would be an attractive room but looks very dated. Let the light shine in.

Show more back yard pictures.

It looks ok, but there's nothing grabbing me that would make me go to an open house and certainly not make an appointment for a showing. Is there anything that is a draw?

It's a darling house on a beautiful piece of property! I don't think it's anything you have or haven't done! It only takes one buyer to love the floorplan, but mainly the location, imo. Their are always going to be people without vision as far as decorating and painting are concerned, so don't overthink in this area.

Their are always going to be people without vision as far as decorating and painting are concerned, so don't overthink in this area.

Fortunately most of the folks here know to look past decorating and painting.

However most folks looking at houses do not know how to look past decorating and painting which is why the house needs to tell the "story" of why the new owners "need" the new house. It's why it's called staging.

Status: Sold!

I think it is OFF MARKET, not sold by the OP.

Yes, showing listing removed as of Aug 14. Sometimes the owner wants it temporarily off market while they are making changes to the property. Sometimes they decide to find a new agent. Sometimes they decide it isn't time to sell. We won't know unless the owner comes back to illuminate us :(

Not sold yet! We are switching agents. So it's off to this weekend. We have also retaken the photos and reworked the description using a lot of your suggestions. We are confident with the right pricing strategy, good marketing and an agent who is incentivized to sell, we will be sold soon. Thanks again for your insights and ideas!!!

Denita and Jennifer, you're too funny! I'm laughing out loud right now

one can drop several words and still would make sense: "you aren't normal. How do I know that? Your comments show that you are logical "

Melinda, I wish you big luck, and fast and easy sale!

(sometimes the first photo is not what was going to be the first photo..the program mixes it up or something, or so I heard. So one needs to recheck how it appears on the site, even if was initially put in correct order)

It's hard to hear but selling a house means not taking things personally. I know when I was told my things and my color scheme weren't going to be a draw for potential buyers I balked. But I knew if I wanted to sell my place on the very short timeline it needed to, going with the changes recommended by the stager was important.

Bury 2 St. Joseph statues upside down, one in the front yard and one in the backyard. It might help some too. Hope the house sells fast.

Bury 2 St. Joseph statues....

I have to laugh at this. Last year when getting my house ready for market I kept reading about people's "success" with burying a St. Joseph's statue, butI I thought it was a ridiculous idea. However, in desperation after a month of a lot of showings and zero interest, even after a substantial price reduction at two weeks, I figured, what do I have to lose? Minutes before the store closed on a Saturday, I bought a little pewter St. Joseph statue and the next morning just before the second open house started, tucked it upside down in the mulch of a big mum by the side door. Four days later, all on the same day, I received FOUR offers, and closed 5 weeks after.

So good to hear from you Melinda! I'm glad you are changing agents. The new agent should have a professional real estate photographer come out and take photos when you make the changes and hire that new agent. The agent pays the photographer, not you.

Photos all done! Should be back on the market this weekend with an open house next weekend. I am off to find St. Joseph statues!!! :)

Well best wishes and good luck! May your house sell quickly and for at least the asking price!

St. Joseph statues worked for 2 friends at work. Good luck to you! :-)

St. Joseph worked for me too. Well, kinda. Two years later.

I'm sure he's mad at me now because I forgot to dig him up - he'd been there so long, you know.

Melinda, I forgot to say good luck! I was happy for you when you changed your realtor; this can be such a stressful process even in the best of circumstances without creating or adding to our own roadblocks. Keep us posted!

Realtor we used to buy current home who had 30 yrs in business said there are two main pools of buyers...

1--by far the larger pool are those who are committed, have financing arranged, are actively looking and ready to buy. They check each listing in their area @ their price point, decide to view or not, and make offer or not almost immediately. For that group a new listing has a 48 hour window in a competitive market. The time line enlarges as lack,of competition shrinks... Slow markets = less urgency. You are more likely to get the most/best offers and have more showings the first 4-5 days in a competitive market. And those people rarely return to reconsider current listings they have turned down initially unless something like price change gets attention or their time constraints put more pressure on them to finalize a choice. They often consider that a home fallen out of the sales contract is "damaged" in some way or unlucky.

2-second set of possible buyers come into market more sporadically...transfers, immediate changes in circumstances that start the process, and they would be the ones who come late to the listing party for any particular house...so if you have been listed for 3 wks and viewings slowed after first wk...this is the group that asked for a viewing.

So reworking some photos might help if they were really poorly done, but it is likely price vs your particular attributes that have caused current stalemate.

Good luck Melinda. It is a cute house with a lot of positives!

And we are SOLD! We went back on the market on Friday at a $20k reduction, had a showing on Saturday, St. Joseph buried in front and back for good measure, full price offer from a good buyer on Sunday.

Congratulations, it's a nice relief for you, I am sure. (:

Congratulations!

Good work! Very happy for you.

So happy for you! Cheers! :-)

Please remember to dig out St. Joseph. :-)

Awesome!!!!

Congratulations Melinda!

Congratulations. Good job.

Did your first agent ever suggest a price reduction?

The price reduction and timing sold your property. Not quantity of pics or the order of them.

Congratulations and actually I absolutely would have chosen to not view the house based on the very first listing picture. It would have been a pass. Agents are responsible for the photos so not surprised they say that has noting to do with it, meanwhile the house is passed over again and again.

The original agent did recommend several price reductions, it was a weekly thing. She started us too high in the first place. Reducing the price every week by $10K until you reach a magic number is not a good pricing strategy, and doesn't leave the seller or the market feeling good about the property. You hire an agent for their knowledge and expertise. Anybody can pick a price and drop it until it sells. We picked an agent who proved not to know the market well, and as a result did not price it or market it well. Cape Cod's are hard to photograph - even with full dormers and additions, they look small from the front. In this case what worked for us, was an agent who knew what the price should be to sell (now more quickly than when we started) and demonstrated it, got to know the strengths and weaknesses of the house, and then knew how to market it to buyer's agents. Your suggestions to order the photographs to show the house from all sides I think really helped. We ended up with more showing requests and offers in the last week than we had in 2 months! We learned an expensive lesson here - make sure you check the track record of your agent's actual sales for sellers and not buyers! Thanks again for all your help!! Now on to finish building the new one!

Hockeymom, I never said that poor quality photos do not affect the number of showings. I only said that true potential buyers of this property, which you are not, would not pass on the home based on the fact that there were 4 pictures or 34 pictures, nor do they determine to view or not view a property based on the order of them. In fact, I would have placed them in a more logical order too.

It was just simply overpriced by an amount that kept potential buyers from scheduling showings.

Melinda, nice looking new home. Looks like it is a private lot too.

Melinda, a beautiful house you're building there! Nice porch! I can picture a porch swing there.......Are you getting a circular driveway this time? You have room for it. :-)

Our house sat in the market for a year and the photos were awful we only looked at the property because of square footage. The house across the street is over priced but also has awful photos, very few showing. We didn't waste our agents time visitIng properties that didn't appeal to us. Many actual buyers on here said the photos didn't represent the property well at all but agents all jumped straight to price. Wonder who is actually doing the buying.

also you may want to take a refresher class on the psychology of sales.