If you open the pages of any tabloid these days, you'll find headlines screaming about the marital woes of Jon and Kate Gosselin, of the wildly popular reality show, "Jon & Kate Plus Eight."
It seems paparazzi and rumors of extramarital affairs aren't the only problems the duo -- parents of twins and sextuplets -- face. The two have been unable to sell their Cape Cod home of nearly 3,000 square feet in Elizabethtown, Pa., since moving to a $1.3 million estate in Wernersville, Pa. The pair purchased the Elizabethtown Cape Cod at 2190 Andrew Avenue for $280,000 in 2006, Cyberhomes data shows.
Their former home -- listed at $325,000 -- has been on the market for about 88 days, according to its listing on Cyberhomes.com. The listing includes several images of the house -- including one that shows the swing set out back that Jon put together, and a Microsoft Virtual Earth image of the home that appears to show the family's mega-sized van parked in the driveway.
Why it isn't selling
Looking at the listing, I can see a few reasons why the home hasn't sold. For one, it seems greatly overpriced in relation to its comparables, which have an average sales price of $274,200, according to Cyberhomes. (But then again, the average living area of the comparables is 1,672 square feet, much smaller than the Gosselins' home.)
The listing does mention that the Gosselins' old house has a geothermal system with backup electric. (Despite Kate's diva attitude, fancy clothes, well-coiffed hair and permanent tan, it seems she's a crunchy granola type -- she had solar panels installed on the roof of her new home, and even had celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse teach her how to make homemade granola.)
Perhaps the geothermal system and a chance that the Gosselins are hoping their notoriety will get them a high selling price account for their house being listed for a price that's at least $80,000 more than the estimated home values of their neighbors' homes (directly on either side of the house).
Sloppy photos
The photos chosen for the listing don't do the home justice. All the rooms are stripped of their furniture, and it looks like Kate left a bunch of to-do notes or lists on one of the bathroom mirrors. (Which sits next to a toilet with the seat left up -- yuck.) On the kitchen counters are what looks like a Dunkin' Donuts coffee cup and some containers of household cleaners.
There is also a very unappealing winter shot of the back of the house (why include that photo, I don't know) -- they'd do well to keep the images of their home season-appropriate.
The Gosselins should consider staging their photos with well-placed furniture and décor to better appeal to buyers. "People" magazine says that the pair hired contractors to get their home in "tip-top shape" before putting it up for sale, but apparently, they didn't consider the finer points of home staging. You'd think that with Kate's hyper perfectionism, she'd pay better attention to her own real estate listing.—Lauren Baier Kim