It probably means nothing, but...

[Sam_2.0]

After months of showing our house valued around $60k, Zillow is now showing it at $120k!!! When I tried to figure out why, I found there have actually been recent sales!! In my neighborhood!! I don't think we could get $120k, but we could probably at least get the $83k we need to get out of it Especially when compared to the comps I've seen in the recent sales. DH is calling the realtor in his networking group to see what he thinks (the guy has given us great advice in the past). KMFX that the realtor thinks it is a good time to get out!!!

I don't care if we have to go to a small rental for awhile. I just want the heck out of here. And I hope this is our chance

[NastyWoman]

Fingers crossed Sam

[Jaguar]

Sending you some luck Sam. Go for it.

[The Captain]

Good luck Sam, I know the housing situation has been a thorn in you side for some time.  Hopefully it will work out for your family!

[Waffle]

That sounds very encouraging.  I hope it turns out well and you can move soon.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Good luck!

[alabamagal]

Good luck! You should be able to find out the actual sales on Zillow. Just go to a map of your neihborhood and select to show recent sales. It should show you the house and the sale price. It may take some time (a month or so) for the information to get updated in zillow though.

I was excited last night to find out that our neighbor sold her house for a "good price". She had been trying to sell for a while to move back nearer her kids after husband died. She had it listed for the last year or so with various agents, and I really thought she was asking a bit much, but she told us last night that she sold it, but it wasn't through an agent, and sort of implied it was what she was asking for. That will be goof for us. Will be interesting to find out (in a month or so) what she got for it.

[Sam_2.0]

That's great news, georgiagal! I think that's what happened with the update - I think Zillow finally figured in the recent sales. We sorted out our neighborhood and saw the same mix we had been seeing. But when searching only the past 90 days the sales were much more promising!! And it was good to see there were several within the 1-mile radius they have to use for comps (according to the last realtor we talked to).

[shanendoah]

Fingers crossed for you.
Another way to keep an eye on local real estate values (that is better than Zillow) is to use one of your local real estate company's websites and track the homes that are for sale in your neighborhood. I live in Seattle where Zillow is based, and they still are off on our neighborhood values by roughly $30k.

[mollyanna58]

Sounds promising!  Good luck!

[pinksunshine]

I remember your thread on YM. Good luck to you! I hope you can sell sooner rather than later.

[seriousthistime]

Fingers crossed!

[redwagon]

Good luck! I'm hoping we can sell ours at a good price too. If not, we'll be staying a while longer.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Fingers Crossed!

[Sam_2.0]

We looked at a trade, but realized we can't quite afford it just yet due to our current debt level. So the plan right now is to get a realtor to list the house (DH's networking guy doesn't work in our area, but he gave us some names to check out). The IL's have offered to let us live in their basement apartment until we can get a new place, rent free. Right now they just use it for storage but they've been wanting to downsize their house and this will give them a chance to clean out a lot of stuff. Glad we will have a place to go if we do end up selling quickly!!

[raeoflyte]

Yay Sam!

[Sam_2.0]

Realtor coming on Saturday!! Keep your fingers & toes crossed for good news

[redwagon]

Hoping for good news for you!!!! We'll be listing in about a month if we get a good assessment from a realtor after our kitchen upgrades are done.

[chen35]

Good luck, and keep us posted!

We sold our house about a month ago. It was a huge hassle, but so worth it in the end.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Fingers crossed! Have you rechecked Zillow?

[Sam_2.0]

Yep, DH has been watching Zillow like a hawk. And the house down the street just sold a couple weeks ago. Still waiting for that info to up date since it takes awhile. I am cautiously optimistic. If they at least tell us we can break even we are going for it.

[Peace Of Mind]

Great news that you most likely will be getting out of there.  Congrats early!!  Has it been pretty quiet since the last episode? 

[Sam_2.0]

No major excitement over the past couple of months. Hopefully that continues. I am also staying away from reading the police blotter. I just can't handle it anymore.

[Sam_2.0]

Well, lesson learned. Completely ignore Zillow. The actual sales have not changed much over the past three years and we wouldn't even come close to breaking even. So now we wait, keep paying down debt, and hope we can rent or bring enough $$ to the table to get out of it.

Oh well. At least my house is amazingly clean and de-cluttered.

[raeoflyte]

Oh Sam- I'm so sorry! I know how frustrating and disappointing that is.

We are in a similar boat, but plan to do a rent to own on our place for 2-3 years. We think we will get better tenants that way. I'm not sure if that would help you guys out so you could rent in another area? (If you look into it, you'll want a lawyer to structure it so they are still tenants if you need to evict).

[Jaguar]

So sorry Sam.

[Sam_2.0]

Well, shoot. The realtors just called back and said they would be willing to list it at $80k after doing some more extensive research into comps. At that price we would have to pay $12-15k to get out of it after commission, closing costs, and remaining mortgage balance. It's a big amount and we would have to borrow some or get a loan, but it's actually do-able (at least, more than $30-40k is!!). We are trying to decide now if we take the chance and list or not. IMO, can't hurt to list it and see if there's any interest. If it sells - awesome. If not, we are no worse off than we are now.

[Jaguar]

Well Sam Good Luck to you and yours.

[kittensaver]

Good luck to you, Sam. I hope things work out for you. I agree with your realtor about Zillow - it's not reliable. My next door neighbor just sold his house (the first weekend it was Open) for a little more than $200,000 (yes, FIVE zeros) MORE than Zillow said it was worth. I hope a good buyer comes along for you!

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

It seems worth a try