Daniel and I are in throws of negotiating a contract on a house that has been on the market for three months.  When we showed it to them over the past holiday weekend, they fell in love with it enough to put an offer in.  Mind you, we have to make this offer contingent upon the sale of their property, which as of a few months ago still would probably never have flown.  Sellers are just becoming aware that it is not their time in the sun anymore.  An interesting question came up from our buyers, “Why didn’t it sell?  The house is great!  How did somebody not snatch it up months ago?”

Two things we believe came into play–1) price and 2) clutter!  Evidently, there was tons of clutter all throughout the house that was very distracting to anyone coming through to view it.  Now you make think this rudimentary but I’m telling you some people don’t even realize they have “stuff”  busting out at the seams.  Visually, you can’t even imagine your own furniture in there because you can’t see past the Tonka toys and eighteen photos of grandma’s quilt sewing party! 

Seriously, want to get your place sold?  Price it right to begin with and then streamline, streamline, streamline!  I’m not saying take everything off your shelves but take enough off so that when people view your home they can actually see it!  The whole of it-not just the foyer jam packed with dirty Uggs, mis-matched rugs, the tricycle, and the stack of yellow-pages in the corner that will go longing for use!  An uncluttered space will likely attract the right buyer who’s willing to pay closer to your asking price than the other way around.  Stick that in your closet and box it!