the competition

Last week marked the first showing that we've had after re-listing our house on June 1st. After some urging by our realtor and the advice of her colleagues, we decided to lower the asking price on our house once again. This weekend, while out on a leisurely stroll with my son, I decided to check out the competition in our neighborhood. Pictured above are two other two-bedrooms/one-bath homes with similar square footage that are for sale in our neighborhood. The one on the left is listed at $5,000 less than ours and the one on the right is listed at $1,000 more (neither house has granite counter tops, by the way). Both houses are located two streets away from ours, but what you don't see in either picture is what you'll essentially find in their backyards. Here's a little hint:

Yes, our neighborhood is lovely, but there are railroad tracks that mark the boundary and trains scoot by at all hours (I wish I had a schedule because I swear there's one that comes choo-chooing around 3:00am every day).

The tracks, which may have a Stand by Me sort of romanticism, are not a selling point in my opinion. Our house is located four streets away from the train, but we can still hear it rumbling in the distance (especially in the middle of the night when the streets are silent). I can only imagine how loud it is to those houses situated much closer to the tracks. We should get bonus points for location, right?

The only other serious competition in the neighborhood is the house pictured above on the left, which is also listed at $1,000 more than ours. It is on the same street as the two mentioned above, but it doesn't have the unfortunate distinction of the train running through its backyard (it is located on the other side of the street). However, what you don't see on the MLS listing is the house next door (pictured on the right). While our neighborhood boasts half-million dollar homes on the most desirable blocks, there are also several "fixer-uppers" scattered on the fringes of the neighborhood where you'll find lawn art and AstroTurf-covered front porches. Our competition has great landscaping and is totally cute on the inside--at least from the pictures I've stalked online--but the rundown home next door and the neighbors across the street who have two or three pickup trucks parked in their front yard at any given time are surely a turnoff to home buyers, no? Of course I'm biased in thinking our house is a better deal, but don't they always say location, location, location...