STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Cricket · Gucci

Anyone selling their house right now?

joy0302 · Kate Spade

We have had two houses in our neighborhood sell very quickly recently. I was rather shocked both because of the bad market and the fact that there are so many new homes coming up in our area. Good luck!

Teresa · Kate Spade

my parents have their house on the market. It been on for almost a month now. They "priced it to sell" and while that has gotten them lots of showings, they havent had any offers. Many people seem genuinely interested, and one couple said they were going to make an offer on one of two houses next week, so we shall see.

halleybird · Hermes

My grandma's house has been on the market for almost 1 1/2 years. BUT her house is at a higher price point ($500k+), which is the worst selling market right now.

My SIL sold her house last year, but she sold it to an investor for about $50k below list price. A lot of it depends on the area, too. Far outlying areas are doing worse in Phoenix than the more central suburbs.

IMO, you can really never win on buying/selling. You get screwed on one or the other because of the market, so I wouldn't worry too much. If your house sells lower than expected, you'll probably end up paying less for your new house (the opposite happened to us when we sold ours during the housing boom).

I think I remember that you live in the West Valley, but I can't remember where -- I have a great realtor who works out of the Avondale/Litchfield area, so LMK if you need her info. Good luck! Where are you off to?

Cricket · Gucci

We're out in Litchfield Park. We'll probably put our house up for half of what your Grandma is asking, so hopefully ours will sell quicker. We're hoping to get another military family to buy that might be coming in as we leave. We're not sure yet where we're going, though. We're just pretty sure of the time frame we have to work with. We should know next week. We're hoping to head back across the pond to Germany or Italy, but we'll see!

We do have an agent, though. DH's aunt is one, but thanks!

jj · Kate Spade

I'm in Tucson, and the houses in my neighborhood are all over the place in terms of size and price. Two houses two blocks down from us with 3 br/2 ba were listed at $285 and $275 and sold IMMEDIATELY - within 2 weeks of going on the market in August. Another house down the block in the opposite direction is 4br/3ba, much bigger and has been on the market for months at $700k.

pollyjean23 · Marc Jacobs

I live in a larger neighborhood (reportedly 400 families) that is well-established (homes built in the 1960s) and beautiful (sidewalks, old trees, quiet, nicely sized yards). It is only 7 miles out of Uptown Charlotte (one of a few areas in the nation not hit as hard by the crappy market).

There are 12 houses for sale (which is a lot for a neighborhood in which people tend to stay until they're old). Only one is under contract/sale pending; and some of them have been on the market since early summer. At least three have had the price reduced a bit.

Other neighborhoods aren't having this problem in Charlotte. The market has definitely slowed, and there is probably a saturation of available homes. But, because the prices in Charlotte haven't dropped as much as other places, people aren't buying either.

I would ensure that your agent prices the house well and you all work closely to show it well (neutralize, clean, update inexpensive details, etc.). You can do your own little "Sell This House" makeover. Perhaps your enthusiasm and effort will show through to buyers and get them excited about buying!

Cortney1982 · Chanel

On 20/20 tonight it's about tips on selling/buying homes. Maybe you would want to watch that.

But yeah, take tips from those tv shows. Detail clean, I even clean air vents. I replaced a couple that were scratched up with broken levers and it made the house look cleaner and newer. Polish up doors and trim too, they can get dusty! I don't know how old your house is, but try to make everything look new.

Also sometimes I like to browse real estate listings online. I cannot believe people don't realize their personal style or way of living greatly effects a sale! There will be ugly paint colors, or tacky children's murals. I like my peachy orange color I have up in my living room but if I was selling, I'd definintely go neautral and paint over it because I'm sure it would not go with 95% of people's tastes around where I live.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

I'm not, but we bought recently and have been keeping a close eye on the market. The average price around here seems to be around $250k and they seem to be staying on the market for 4-6 months.

Definately make the house as move in ready as possible, so people doing a walk through can imagine themselves living there. There were al ot of great houses that we saw that just needed so much cosmetic work in terms of style, that they weren't worth it.

boobaby · Kate Spade

I'm not, but some friends of mine just took their house off the market and are thinking about building an addition. They aren't in the best neighborhood and the house is old and small.

millie30 · Nine West

We are in the Midwest, and sold our house after being on the market for only 3 days. We were very fortunate with the way the market was and there were several other houses for sale in our sub-division. Our house was only 4 years old and didn't need anything done to it, so it was very much a "turn-key" property. I did spend a lot of time organizing and cleaning up so everything had its place and there was no clutter. Upon the recommendation of our realtor, we played "mellow" music during showings and turned on lamps.

Good luck....I know it's a stressful time when you're trying to sell a house.