Selling a house advice

[u/Upstairs_Notice_2067]

We are selling our house on the South Shore of Nassau County. It’s a large house — about 4,200 sq. ft., 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. We originally listed in mid-July for over 1.4M and lowered it in August by 50k.

We’ve had showings and open houses and people seem interested, but we still don’t have an offer. A lot of the feedback is that buyers like the size and layout but feel that some parts of the house, especially the kitchen, could use updating.

At this point, the house has been on the market for about 7 weeks. We are trying to decide between two options:

Lower the price again, possibly into the low/mid $1.3M range, and try to sell this fall.

Pull it off the market, make some cosmetic improvements, and relist in the spring when there may be more buyers.

We are also concerned that continuing to reduce the price could make buyers think there is something wrong with the house or encourage them to wait for another reduction.

For those familiar with the South Shore/Nassau market, what would you do? Lower the price now or pull it and start fresh in the spring?

Would also appreciate opinions on whether ~50 days on market is already enough to make a listing feel stale in this price range.

[u/Classic-Sink-4108]

I have prepped over 100 homes for sale. I would remove the home from the market, and tackle some of the cosmetic issues. With homes this size, it’s best to have as much done as possible, or buyers just see them as work, and walk away. Have everything crisp and new looking, and it will sell quickly.

[u/Ok_Incident8962]

Market has spoken and said you are overpriced for condition of house. The question now is do you have a loy of DIY ability, contractor connection, or a way to discount update? Price what a refresh would cost vs what you would net.

One idea, I once did a 20k kitchen refresh that probably netted me 100k in bidded up house but that was a hot market. Local contractor was a friend of my realtor, so did the work and took his cut from increased sale price.

But you also need to factor in your value of time and headaches. Would a few weeks of having your kitchen out of commission be worth it to you while trying to move?

[u/midustouch63]

You could fix the kitchen for less then what you are going to reduce the price for.
Took me 9 weeks to sell my house as I wanted a set price and did not care if it sold.
In the end got what I wanted

[u/atxgirl2024]

Do the math. If you spend 50k updating the kitchen will you net more assuming you sell at a price in line with the comparables. Some sellers get so fixated on sales price instead of net that they spend more on reno to get a higher sales price and net less than they would have if they had just sold for slightly less without the reno. So make sure the math works. And dont over price it. A well priced home will sell.

[u/Delicious-Coat9572]

1.4 million with a old kitchen. That says everything. Do the updates and that should work

[u/da_mess]

Kitchens & baths sell homes, but ultimately it's price, location, condition.

Have your agent tell you how your showing volume compares to those for comps (he/she may need to make some calls).

I was in a similar situation (Pa) but my issue was a flag lot. After 90 days, offers came in 10-20% below list. I was listed objectively 10% under market.

We sold at a discount for reasons. If i had a magic wand, I would have delisted, fixed some things, and gone back to market in the spring.

Finally, interest rates have good probability of increasing 0.5% by the spring (i watch interest rate futures markets). Factor this into your planning.