Another " I'm selling my house thread"

[seriousthistime]

Can I join this group?  I just bought a place and have to sublet the place I'm renting.

The issues are similar -- showings, keeping things in perfect condition all the time, having to negotiate with the landlord and the prospective tenant, etc.

When I was looking around for a place to buy, I actually had a place where showings had been arranged with the realtor a few days in advance.  We get there, no one home, no lockbox, and calls to the listing agent went to voicemail.  We moved on, and I bought another place that night.  Who knows what would have happened if I'd seen that place.  It was a short sale, and the realtor said the sellers were probably not paying the mortgage anymore so had no incentive for it to sell quickly.

When I sold my house last year it was in staged condition at every moment, and when I left the house in the morning all lights were on.  It would irk me that when multiple showings occurred in a day, some realtor would turn off the lights.  I always hoped it was the last realtor of the day, and not the first.

[TheOtherMe]

I was in the middle of packing to move to Colorado ASAP after an ill timed move to Iowa.  I had told realtor no showings that day as we were loading truck and it would be a disaster.

Apparently, one would be buy couldn't wait one day and had to see it.  I did not usually stay when people came to look but this time I did as I was crazy packing box. 

Her feedback to my realtor was that it was too messy.  Of course it was.  That is the reason I didn't want anyone coming that day.

[Deleted]

Good discussion on availability.  When DH and I sold 2 years ago, we were both retired and had no kids or pets to mess up the place so keeping it show-ready wasn't a big deal, but I never said "no" to a request to show it- I always figured I might be turning down the one person who'd make an offer.

What really steamed me, though, was that the company that set up the showings and collected feedback from agents afterwards was told, "No showings till Wednesday at noon", when it went into MLS Tuesday.  Tuesday night TWO different realtors wanted to bring people in.  I still remember simultaneously eating dinner and running around straightening things up, then getting out of the house.  (In this market, sellers are strongly encouraged to be out during showings.)

No offer from either party- not even any feedback.  My realtor called the appointment-setting company and gave them hell.  I suspect the offenders were a couple of realtors who wanted to impress their buyers by being among the first to check the place out so they'd feel like special snowflakes.

Thank heaven it sold relatively fast to a couple who came through when we were out of town at a wedding.

[debthaven]

Congratulations seriousthistime! What did you buy?

[seriousthistime]

debthaven, I have a contract on a townhouse a few miles from where I'm living now.  It's a few miles further from work (maybe 20 minutes instead of 15, no freeway driving needed) and a few miles closer to the ocean, though there are mountains around, so the drive is no shorter to the ocean, but still very reasonable, and hopefully better ocean breezes and cooler temps in the summer.  Two stories, upstairs two bedrooms each with its own bathroom, half bath down, two car garage, nice backyard. All updated within the past few years. 

[debthaven]

Sounds perfect seriousthistime!

[dee27]

Congrats seriousthistime

[Iggy aka IG]

Fingers crossed, seriousthistime!!


The couple who saw our house Saturday was the same couple who saw it the prior week after our open house.  They are in a lease, apparently, and we should know by tomorrow if they can get out of it.  This is the pre-qualified couple.    Meanwhile, we have a showing scheduled tomorrow evening for a different family.

Once we go under contract with our home, we're going to put another contract on the house we want.  It has had a "pending" offer since last month.

Things happen for a reason, and I am Zen about all this. 

[Jaguar]

For Iggy aka IG,

[jitterbug]

Two things.

I know that Blonde Granny has resolved her situation, but before I got to the end to find that out....I thought about when we downsized my mom and I kept telling her to focus on the things she definitely wanted to keep...and we'd deal with the rest. So if you DO find yourself moving in the future...look at it from that approach...what do you want to KEEP, not what you need to get rid of! Yes, you'll still have to get rid of that other stuff...but it seems less stressful. I also found myself thinking how much FUN it could be to get rid of almost ALL of it...and buy all new for your new life in Nebraska!  We're building a house this year and I'd LOVE to just buy all new instead of hauling the old to the new house!!  (But sadly...we're putting any extra money into the house, not new furnishings right now).

But along with that...any advice for selling a house while building?  In a perfect world, we'd move right from the old house to the new house.  But in this world...we want to KNOW we have the house sold, which probably means we'll have to move into a rental for a couple of months.  And I guess that is better than carrying two houses!  We can afford to carry the old house....it just won't be any fun.  We haven't even broken ground yet (anticipate around May 1) - but do we put the house on the market NOW?  Or do we wait?  And I know....it depends upon OUR market.  Which has been pretty slow...but seems to be picking up.  And there isn't much in our price range, at our caliber of house (middle class, but updated). 

[countrygirl2]

We should have sold our duplex when we did the others in Texas.

I think that property tax increase down there has killed sales. It's

in the Conroe area. Also used to be lots of Hispanics would buy

a place like I am going to list. Now I think they are scared off,

who wants to buy if you may be shipped out, lots of illegals there.

Every house I looked at in that area the price has been dropped

even the very expensive ones. But also the oil prices are probably

hurting there. They also have a tendency to way overbuild when

things perk up.

I can't get a definitive answer out of the back tenants son, his

wife wants to buy it, he not so much.  Now the excuse is she

is in Australia with sick dad and won't be back for a week. Well

they have had close to a month, I told him I'm putting it on

the market.

Have a call in to the realtor I used before and his broker, wondering

if they are still in business, few listings, so may be looking for a

new one. Man he was really good and efficient.

We need to get out of that thing, one of them moves and we will just

break even depending on which one moves.

Don't wait to long sometimes this happens. I'm sure we can put

a low price and sell but hope not to have to. But we are selling.

[Gardening Grandma]

Mar 28, 2017 11:51:14 GMT -5 jitterbug said:

But along with that...any advice for selling a house while building?  In a perfect world, we'd move right from the old house to the new house.  But in this world...we want to KNOW we have the house sold, which probably means we'll have to move into a rental for a couple of months.  And I guess that is better than carrying two houses!  We can afford to carry the old house....it just won't be any fun.  We haven't even broken ground yet (anticipate around May 1) - but do we put the house on the market NOW?  Or do we wait?  And I know....it depends upon OUR market.  Which has been pretty slow...but seems to be picking up.  And there isn't much in our price range, at our caliber of house (middle class, but updated). 

Yes.  If you want piece of mind, sell first and rent while building.  That's what we did. Yes, it was a pain to move twice, but the first move had us getting rid of the stuff we didn't love.  Knowing exactly how much money we had to work with, helped a lot in making financial decisions during the build.  Building is stressful enough all by itself.  The build took longer than expected, so we ended up renting for a year.

[Iggy aka IG]

Our first house was on the market while we were building our house.  It sold, and we stayed in a hotel for a few weeks until we got our CO. 






We had a showing last night.  It was favorable, and we're at the top of their list, but not the buyers first choice.  We've got another showing request this Friday morning, and an open house Sunday.  I really am appreciating our new realtor.  What a huge difference. 

[seriousthistime]

See below.

[seriousthistime]

Mar 29, 2017 13:52:01 GMT -5 seriousthistime said:

Mar 29, 2017 13:30:09 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

We should have sold our duplex when we did the others in Texas.

I think that property tax increase down there has killed sales. It's

in the Conroe area. Also used to be lots of Hispanics would buy

a place like I am going to list. Now I think they are scared off,

who wants to buy if you may be shipped out, lots of illegals there.

Every house I looked at in that area the price has been dropped

even the very expensive ones. But also the oil prices are probably

hurting there. They also have a tendency to way overbuild when

things perk up.

Sorry for the multiple quotes, for some reason I couldn't add a comment underneath countrygirl2's quote.

I just wanted to add that I recently applied for a mortgage and I had to say whether I was a citizen.  If not, I think I would have had to show permanent residency.  The illegal aliens in the area may be depressing the resale market not because they are potential buyers but because they are potential tenants.  Owners might be having a harder time finding tenants who could be deported. It certainly would increase uncertainty for the landlords. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Just heard from our realtor:  We are expecting an offer within the next day or so.  You are the first to know, so mum's the word, LOL.  (DH doesn't even know yet.) 

[seriousthistime]

Ack!  Showings begin on Saturday.  The realtors say that rental inventory around here is very low, and there should be no trouble finding someone to sublet the place.

[suesinfl]

Is it sad that when I think about downsizing there is nothing that I want to keep? Well, other than what I need, clothes, bed, dresser, etc. I have nothing that I want to bring to a new place that is not useful.

ETA: I think my kids will have a very easy time when the time comes for me to move.

[seriousthistime]

Mar 29, 2017 19:11:50 GMT -5 suesinfl said:

Is it sad that when I think about downsizing there is nothing that I want to keep? Well, other than what I need, clothes, bed, dresser, etc. I have nothing that I want to bring to a new place that is not useful.

ETA: I think my kids will have a very easy time when the time comes for me to move.

No, not sad.  There's a lot to be said for a new place, new life. Fresh start, not being burdened by all the mismatched plates, sheet sets with missing pillowcases, coffee mugs from who knows where, the papers that were important to hold on to for a while but have outlived their purpose, and the collection of books read (or meant to be read) that accumulated over the years. If you've seen the place you're moving to, it is easy to know what to take, and if it's local, you can always move stuff and weed out later.  

I moved into an area that was new to me and I stayed in a hotel for 2 weeks while I looked for a place to rent.  Moving across the country at my own expense to a place that was sight unseen made it easier to determine what was an absolute necessity, and what was not.  I spent months on it.  Literally, months.  While working full time. Every day, night, and weekend, I spent some time weeding out.  For the last few months, it was like a second full time job.  It takes multiple passes of going through stuff to get rid of it all.  

One of the most freeing things was going through a four-drawer file cabinet, plus a couple of built-in file drawers in my home office.  I kept maybe 5% of what was in there, put the cabinet up on CraigsList for free, and a guy who was starting his own business came and took it.  The file cabinet was in the garage, and every time I thought of what was in it, I wanted to hide.  When I finally got rid of it, it was freeing.   

[bean29]

Mar 29, 2017 13:37:04 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

Mar 28, 2017 11:51:14 GMT -5 jitterbug said:

But along with that...any advice for selling a house while building?  In a perfect world, we'd move right from the old house to the new house.  But in this world...we want to KNOW we have the house sold, which probably means we'll have to move into a rental for a couple of months.  And I guess that is better than carrying two houses!  We can afford to carry the old house....it just won't be any fun.  We haven't even broken ground yet (anticipate around May 1) - but do we put the house on the market NOW?  Or do we wait?  And I know....it depends upon OUR market.  Which has been pretty slow...but seems to be picking up.  And there isn't much in our price range, at our caliber of house (middle class, but updated). 

Yes.  If you want piece of mind, sell first and rent while building.  That's what we did. Yes, it was a pain to move twice, but the first move had us getting rid of the stuff we didn't love.  Knowing exactly how much money we had to work with, helped a lot in making financial decisions during the build.  Building is stressful enough all by itself.  The build took longer than expected, so we ended up renting for a year.

If you can afford to carry the old house, I would wait to list until the house is done/nearly done.  We sold/moved to an apartment/then moved again when our house was done.  I think we would have made some better decisions if we had waited to sell - we ended up in a position where our lease was  up and the occupancy permit was not issued.  We loaded the moving truck, parked it in the driveway at the house and then slept on the floor at the new house because of the timing.  Our living room carpet ended up being backordered so I changed the carpet to get it installed sooner, and I was never quite satisfied with it.  It ended up not being installed for a week or two after we moved in b/c DH was not done painting anyways...I was sorry I just did not say I would wait for the carpet come in and live without living room carpet for a while.

There are things that you can leave undone, and others that they will not allow. The Master Bath shower door was not installed, I bought a rod and a shower curtain liner, and that satisfied the inspector.  Telling them we had another bathroom with a functional shower door would not.  I think maybe they would allow the living room carpet to not be installed but seems to me the bathrooms had to have flooring.

My biggest thing though was just moving stuff that we should have gotten rid of.  How much is a de-cluttered house worth to you.  If you are not the type to accumulate stuff, then maybe it is not so important. 

My Kids were 11 and 7 When we packed up their stuff for the move and 12 and 8 when we moved to the new house.  I swear I unpacked some of those boxes just before my older child's High School Graduation.  Also at that time, I cleaned out the closet in the family bath, and I dumped lots of shampoo, conditioner, and accumulated personal care items my kids had abandoned.   I doubt we will have a 2008 style crash again.  We bought our land in 2004 and moved into the house in 2005.  We knew the market was artificially high...so we sold, moved to an apartment and proceeded with building the new house.  My DH was willing to take the risk b/c we wanted to stay close to metropolitan Milwaukee and DH said there was a finite amount of land available, so he could not see that we would see too much depreciation.  If we had waited to sell until our house was done, we would have been selling at or closer to the market high point.  So you have to remember that you can also lose out on appreciation by selling too soon.

[Iggy aka IG]

We received an offer this morning from the couple who has looked at our house 3 times.  It is $8,800 below ask.  This is my first time selling a house (DH owned our prior one before we met so he was sole owner) and am open to advice or input.

[Gardening Grandma]

Mar 30, 2017 11:49:48 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

We received an offer this morning from the couple who has looked at our house 3 times.  It is $8,800 below ask.  This is my first time selling a house (DH owned our prior one before we met so he was sole owner) and am open to advice or input.

If the house has not been on the market long, I'd counter; maybe split the difference. Then see what they do.   

Also, look at the rest of the offer carefully.  When we sold MIL's house, we had an offer - below our asking and wanting us to help with the closing costs.  We countered with agreeing to pay the buyer's closing costs, but raising our asking price to cover it.  They accepted (they did not have a lot of cash, but had good jobs and credit). Win: win

[Iggy aka IG]

Mar 30, 2017 13:31:46 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

Mar 30, 2017 11:49:48 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

We received an offer this morning from the couple who has looked at our house 3 times.  It is $8,800 below ask.  This is my first time selling a house (DH owned our prior one before we met so he was sole owner) and am open to advice or input.

If the house has not been on the market long, I'd counter; maybe split the difference. Then see what they do.   

Also, look at the rest of the offer carefully.  When we sold MIL's house, we had an offer - below our asking and wanting us to help with the closing costs.  We countered with agreeing to pay the buyer's closing costs, but raising our asking price to cover it.  They accepted (they did not have a lot of cash, but had good jobs and credit). Win: win

How long is long? 

They're willing to cover the closing, and are on track to sell their current home 04/13.

ETA:  Our realtor just responded saying we should meet them halfway.  Good call, GG!

[jitterbug]

Mar 29, 2017 19:11:50 GMT -5 suesinfl said:

Is it sad that when I think about downsizing there is nothing that I want to keep? Well, other than what I need, clothes, bed, dresser, etc. I have nothing that I want to bring to a new place that is not useful.

ETA: I think my kids will have a very easy time when the time comes for me to move.

I think this is GREAT! As someone who's been the final resting home for too many others' precious "things" - I think it's great when people don't get attached to their stuff! Live in the moment!  Remember the old - but embrace the new! As my husband and I look ahead at a move...it's all this old stuff that's the problem! I don't want to move it - but I can't just throw everything away. So piece by piece, we're looking stuff up on eBay to see if it actually has value. The good news / bad news is that a lot of it DOES. I'm happily donating the <$10 stuff to Goodwill...but what should I do with an envelope that somebody saved because they're collecting stamps - and the postmark on the envelope is from 1919 I can't just throw away a 100 year old envelope, can I?

[busymom]

Mar 29, 2017 13:37:04 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

Mar 28, 2017 11:51:14 GMT -5 jitterbug said:

But along with that...any advice for selling a house while building?  In a perfect world, we'd move right from the old house to the new house.  But in this world...we want to KNOW we have the house sold, which probably means we'll have to move into a rental for a couple of months.  And I guess that is better than carrying two houses!  We can afford to carry the old house....it just won't be any fun.  We haven't even broken ground yet (anticipate around May 1) - but do we put the house on the market NOW?  Or do we wait?  And I know....it depends upon OUR market.  Which has been pretty slow...but seems to be picking up.  And there isn't much in our price range, at our caliber of house (middle class, but updated). 

Yes.  If you want piece of mind, sell first and rent while building.  That's what we did. Yes, it was a pain to move twice, but the first move had us getting rid of the stuff we didn't love.  Knowing exactly how much money we had to work with, helped a lot in making financial decisions during the build.  Building is stressful enough all by itself.  The build took longer than expected, so we ended up renting for a year.

     Do you have an idea of when your new home will be ready to move in?  We sold our last house on a contingency that we wouldn't close until we could move into the new house.  We were fortunate that our house was purchased by a first-time home buyer who was still living with his parents, so he wasn't in any rush.  It worked out beautifully!  

[suesinfl]

Mar 30, 2017 13:57:29 GMT -5 jitterbug said:

Mar 29, 2017 19:11:50 GMT -5 suesinfl said:

Is it sad that when I think about downsizing there is nothing that I want to keep? Well, other than what I need, clothes, bed, dresser, etc. I have nothing that I want to bring to a new place that is not useful.

ETA: I think my kids will have a very easy time when the time comes for me to move.

I think this is GREAT! As someone who's been the final resting home for too many others' precious "things" - I think it's great when people don't get attached to their stuff! Live in the moment!  Remember the old - but embrace the new! As my husband and I look ahead at a move...it's all this old stuff that's the problem! I don't want to move it - but I can't just throw everything away. So piece by piece, we're looking stuff up on eBay to see if it actually has value. The good news / bad news is that a lot of it DOES. I'm happily donating the <$10 stuff to Goodwill...but what should I do with an envelope that somebody saved because they're collecting stamps - and the postmark on the envelope is from 1919 I can't just throw away a 100 year old envelope, can I?

I just don't have anything of sentimental value. What little I do have would fit inside a plastic tote. I guess that's why when I left my first husband, I took nothing but my clothes. When I kicked the second husband out, he took EVERYTHING including the washer, dryer, kids bedroom sets, dishes, pots and pans, etc. He thought I could not live in an empty house with NOTHING. Well, I proved him wrong. It was actually fun to find bargains to re-establish the household. To me it's just stuff and could be replaced.

[Iggy aka IG]

We countered, they accepted.  We need to find a place by the end of April.    The good news is we have come across what I believe is the perfect place for us.  Hopefully we'll be able to check it out tomorrow.

[Chocolate Lover]

FINGERS AND TOES AND EYES AND ARMS AND LEGS CROSSED!!!!!!!!!

[chiver78]

Mar 31, 2017 14:53:58 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

FINGERS AND TOES AND EYES AND ARMS AND LEGS CROSSED!!!!!!!!!

 

[Iggy aka IG]

Thanks, guys!