Is there a thread for people selling their house?

[Mickeyluver37]

I think that we priced our very fairly. We have a 4 bedroom 4 bath home that is 3300 Sq Feet. We listed it for 96,000 more than we paid for it but we also put in a privacy fence, gorgoeous landscape lighting, a rainbow play system, a garage heater, a deck, central vac and finished the basement professionally. It also is coming with my brand new LG midnight blue washer and dryer. I think that $96,000 more is a fair price for all of that. What do you think?

Kristine

I think all those upgrades sound wonderful, but how are the comps? Some areas are actually losing money. But it sounds like you bought before the market plateaued, as well. We also bought in 2003, and are at 104K above our purchase price. People who bought in 06 couldn't even get what they paid around here. It has steadily gone down since.


And I would love a Rainbow!! It must kill you to leave that behind! Sounds like a great house for your family- are you moving out of the area? We are moving (already moved) because we outgrew our 1800SF house with the 3rd kid!

 

[connorlevismom]

I think all those upgrades sound wonderful, but how are the comps? Some areas are actually losing money. But it sounds like you bought before the market plateaued, as well. We also bought in 2003, and are at 104K above our purchase price. People who bought in 06 couldn't even get what they paid around here. It has steadily gone down since.


And I would love a Rainbow!! It must kill you to leave that behind! Sounds like a great house for your family- are you moving out of the area? We are moving (already moved) because we outgrew our 1800SF house with the 3rd kid!

Thanks - I really love the house. We bought it knowing that it would be a 5 year house as we don't like the school district but fell in love with the house. The comps are all over the place, unfortunately. There are a couple that you can tell REALLY need to sell but there are also ones that are right around the same price as mine.

We are sad to leave the Rainbow behind but the place we are planning on moving has a park right in the center of the cul-de-sac so there is really no need for one at the new place.

It is really hard to tell if your pricing it correctly or not. Of course we think our house is the best in the neighborhood.

Kristine

 

[Mickeyluver37]

Im in Caroline.

I actually had to look up to see where that was...how sad is that? LOL We are in Anne Arundel.

 

[Chris2597]

I just put the house I inherited on the market in May. I thought the Realtor priced it high and wasted 6 weeks with only 3 lookers. I lowered the price by 10k last week. The house is 40 yrs old and has been kept in good shape but has 40yr old cabinets and lighting. We got 2 comments from the lookers that the house was nice but needed updates for the price, hence the 10k drop in price. We toured other homes in the neighborhood to compare the houses and our house is by far the nicest. Fortunately, for us our city was listed as the #2 still smart place to buy a home in the US.
The house has outdated custom curtains and venetian blinds. I wonder if I should remove the curtains and blinds and replace with white faux wood blinds. We have already painted and repaired all obvious issues.

 

[eeyore65]

We are getting ready to put our house on the market. It sounds like some of you are thinking of comps as other houses listed. I always think of comps as the houses sold - that is the real market. Where have houses like yours cleared the market? As we interview realtors and set the price - that is what I will be looking at. There was a very good Wall St. article on how to sell a house in a declining market. here is an excerpt

"3. PRICE IT CHEAPLY.

Don't fight the market by trying to price your house at bubble-era levels or by factoring in all those improvements you made. It won't fly.

Set a realistic, salable price on day one. Don't let the house hang around on the market as you gradually lower the price. Forget what you think the house should be worth or what it was worth three years ago. That's not what it's worth today.

Smart buyers will be looking for bargains. So you must set your price below comparable nearby properties. Look at the asking prices of neighboring houses, and set your price to beat them. If prices in your area are generally down 20% from where they were at the bubble peak in 2005, then price your house 25% to 30% below its peak bubble value. Your area down 40%? Be prepared to take just half of what the house was worth three years ago. Yes, it's painful. But if you want to sell, you don't have much choice."

 

[mickeyfan1]

Some markets have not taken the hits that others have. We put around 10K into our house in the 4 years we owned it. We also priced it lower than everyone else in our community. It was a townhouse condo, so all of them are the same except for finished basements. We left all the custom window treatments, all the appliances, a custom made area rug in the LR, custom built cabinets in the garage, and still ended up selling it for less than we paid in 2004. If you don't need to sell, DON"T list. It's not worth the headaches. Until we moved he had to keep the place spotless at all times, and be ready to go out for an hour or two for showings/

I will say this, it pays off on the buying end, my house was listed by the builder last year for over 225 and we will buy it for 169.

 

[disykat]

As eeyore65 said, you can't price based on what you paid or what you spent on improvements. The buyer doesn't care what is fair to you. If there is something similar cheaper, they'll take it. If yours is way lower than other things similar, they'll avoid it thinking something must be wrong with it. You can only base your price on what the comparable properties list for. It's not fair, but it's reality.

 

[MontanaZoo]

So there are already people over looking at my sister's house and she just listed it today! Literally they don't have the sink clean and are putting in linoleum in one of the bathrooms...cross your fingers, maybe it'll sell the first week.

 

[kmp1191]

We put ours on the market LAST MOTHERS DAY weekend....that's 2007. We moved out of state....the house didn't sell by December so we moved back....took it off the market...or so we thought...(realtors MOTHER/also a realtor relisted it without a contract and without our knowledge.... ) Anyway, we relisted it with a different agent in February. (was never actually off the market thanks to the dumb@$$ agent...yes, I had MAJOR words with her, and her broker...lots of apologies, don't know how that happened...blah, blah, blah!! word of mouth is the best, AND worst advertisement!) Anyway, new agent has had an open house, and done everything that can be done. We've had 7 showings in the last 3 weeks...3 to one person....and still nothing!! When we get feedback, it's great....but it doesn't come very often.
We originally listed it (with the first agent) at 174900....brought it down to 169900....then 165900. When we started with the new agent we started at 165900 and have finally dropped it to 155000. That's as low as I can go...that is what we paid for it 9 years ago.
I'm aggrivated, frustrated and irritated! My DS12 can go through and pick up stuff in a matter of minutes to have it ready to show....that's how clean the place is. I told DH that our next house will be a mess for the first year because I'm tired of cleaning all the time!!!

ok...I'm done ranting....guess I shouldn't have responded to this thread. I'm just ready to move up and move on!!

 

[Mickeyluver37]

We put ours on the market LAST MOTHERS DAY weekend....that's 2007. We moved out of state....the house didn't sell by December so we moved back....took it off the market...or so we thought...(realtors MOTHER/also a realtor relisted it without a contract and without our knowledge.... ) Anyway, we relisted it with a different agent in February. (was never actually off the market thanks to the dumb@$$ agent...yes, I had MAJOR words with her, and her broker...lots of apologies, don't know how that happened...blah, blah, blah!! word of mouth is the best, AND worst advertisement!) Anyway, new agent has had an open house, and done everything that can be done. We've had 7 showings in the last 3 weeks...3 to one person....and still nothing!! When we get feedback, it's great....but it doesn't come very often.
We originally listed it (with the first agent) at 174900....brought it down to 169900....then 165900. When we started with the new agent we started at 165900 and have finally dropped it to 155000. That's as low as I can go...that is what we paid for it 9 years ago.
I'm aggrivated, frustrated and irritated! My DS12 can go through and pick up stuff in a matter of minutes to have it ready to show....that's how clean the place is. I told DH that our next house will be a mess for the first year because I'm tired of cleaning all the time!!!

ok...I'm done ranting....guess I shouldn't have responded to this thread. I'm just ready to move up and move on!!

That's the second horror story I've heard today! A friend of mine has had her house listed for almost a year, and the house next door is now on the market for HALF of their asking price, which is hundreds of thousands less than they paid.

We moved out of our house too, but it looks really good! Maybe having to move back wouldn't be so bad now that it's finally the way I wanted it!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Hey there! We sold in March (in Texas) and I am finally sitting in an apartment (in Missouri). We moved in on Sunday.

As a buyer for the area we are looking, homes are overpriced and need too much work.

It is like a catch-22. People want top dollar but don't want to fix the house because they are just throwing the money out.

Now that I am on-line today...YEA!!!!....I can get down to business. I don't want to build a house if I can help it.

Good Luck guys and hang in there.

 

[barkley]

Hey there! We sold in March (in Texas) and I am finally sitting in an apartment (in Missouri). We moved in on Sunday.

As a buyer for the area we are looking, homes are overpriced and need too much work.

It is like a catch-22. People want top dollar but don't want to fix the house because they are just throwing the money out.

Now that I am on-line today...YEA!!!!....I can get down to business. I don't want to build a house if I can help it.

Good Luck guys and hang in there.

don't you love on-line real estate shopping? makes it nice to be able to sit back and cruise the houses that at least meet your minimum needs.

i think one of the most imperitive issues with anyone selling today is to make sure your on-line listing is top notch. if those photos are too dark the place does'nt even get looked at, if there's not enough photos it makes you wonder what's being hidden (esp. those ones with only one or 2 and both are of the exterior ), if there's something that sets your home apart from all the identical competators-make sure it's noted in the listing.

some people think that the first impression of a home occurs when a potential buyer walks in the front door-i think with the advent of on-line listings it's what is visable before an attempt is even made to travel to the property.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

don't you love on-line real estate shopping? makes it nice to be able to sit back and cruise the houses that at least meet your minimum needs.

Well....normally I love it. DH & I would always "look" as a hobby.

Now the market is dead as a doornail here. The area we are looking at will not budge on the $ per sq ft.

So..what do you do? We can build a house that meets our needs before we can buy existing. It stinks. I really do not want to build but it is leaning that way.

 

[acadia1960]

Our house has been on the market, since April 30, of this year. Our realtor, called 2 weeks ago to tell us, the market is getting saturated in our area, due to people trying to sell homes they will not be able to afford this winter. We came down 5,000.00 on the price. Having about 3 showings a week,but no offers. We have been 2nd choice for several buyers.

 

[connorlevismom]

I am really stressing out! I did not expect to be this stressed and my house has only been on the market for 5 days! I need to chill out but my agency has a program where you can see the amount of times that your house shows up in someones search, when they click on it, people who put it on a "watch"....that type of stuff. So I see the amount of people that have looked closer at my house but I have not gotten a call for a showing yet.

Kristine

 

[luvflorida]

Southern Maine chiming in. Our house went on the market May 1st. Our realtor has held four open houses, and two broker open houses. Three of the open houses NOBODY came. One couple came to one of the open houses. Never heard back from them. One couple looked at our house but thought it was too close to the main road, and another couple thought the house was too close to the woods (we can't win ). One lady made it as far as our driveway and then refused to get out of the car with the realtor. She thought the house would be closer to the ocean, as in oceanfront property.

It is SO frustrating, but we know it's not a seller's market right now. Everyone that knows our house agrees that it's a very nice house. It has three huge bedrooms (oh yeah, someone thought the bedrooms were too big ), two and a half baths (one with a jacuzzi tub), hardwood floors, new carpeting, living room, dining room, kitchen with center island, den, laundry room, farmer's porch on the front, screened in porch on the back, full basement, and two car garage. The house is two stories, expanded cape-style, with an open floor plan. We have a large, nicely landscaped yard (front and back), brick patio, and a 16'x32' free-form in-ground swimming pool. The house is five years old, so nothing in the house is old. It's clean and not cluttered.

We have priced the house a bit below what comparable houses are on the market for, or have sold for. We haven't had a single offer. Yesterday we signed papers to lower the house by $20,000. I guess we'll just have to see if that makes a difference.

Regardless, we're moving by mid-August. We're relocating to Arizona. We have plans to build a house in Arizona, but will not go forward with those plans until our house in Maine sells. Too risky and expensive. We have rented a three bedroom house outside of Tucson and when our house sells (hopefully it will!) we'll start building.

I do not want to spend another winter in Maine! Maybe nobody does and that's why nobody wants to buy our house.

Good luck to everyone trying to sell a house!

 

[mickeyfan1]

Southern Maine chiming in. Regardless, we're moving by mid-August. We're relocating to Arizona. We have plans to build a house in Arizona, but will not go forward with those plans until our house in Maine sells. Too risky and expensive. We have rented a three bedroom house outside of Tucson and when our house sells (hopefully it will!) we'll start building.

I do not want to spend another winter in Maine! Maybe nobody does and that's why nobody wants to buy our house.

Good luck to everyone trying to sell a house!

Hey! Hooksett NH to Casa Grande, AZ here. I don't care to ever see another snowflake again. The housing market here seems to be on the upswing, although very slowly. Lots of FSBOs. lots of foreclosures. I think PHX got hit a lot worse than TUC, housing prices there seem to be high. We chose to come to Casa Grande because we could get a house that we wanted for 100K less than same house in the valley.

Good luck with the move, expect the heat to be over 100 daily till mid September and the humidity will be way up till then too. Afternoon thunderstorms a lot. But then, it's back to beautiful.

 

[luvflorida]

Hey! Hooksett NH to Casa Grande, AZ here. I don't care to ever see another snowflake again. The housing market here seems to be on the upswing, although very slowly. Lots of FSBOs. lots of foreclosures. I think PHX got hit a lot worse than TUC, housing prices there seem to be high. We chose to come to Casa Grande because we could get a house that we wanted for 100K less than same house in the valley.

Good luck with the move, expect the heat to be over 100 daily till mid September and the humidity will be way up till then too. Afternoon thunderstorms a lot. But then, it's back to beautiful.

Every time we visit Arizona we meet people that have moved there from New England. We just returned from spending two weeks in Tucson. Our youngest had to attend a new student orientation at the University of Arizona. It was hot while we were there, but not as hot as I thought it would be. And, yes, we had thunderstorms every day! I'm just looking forward to the nice, warm, winter months!

We're renting in Northwest Tucson (near Marana and Oro Valley), but want to build south of Tucson in Rancho Sahuarita.

 

[mickeyfan1]

This is our second tour here, we lived in Mesa from 95 to 03, then went to NH. I told my husband that I will NEVER move back to the east coast unless it's the south easty on the beach. I like it here just fine.

 

[maddiemom]

We have had our home on the market for just over a month now. We are assured by our agent that we have had more traffic than most. Though we had two open houses with a grand total of 3 people coming through (that was depressing). We have had 1-2 showings a week, good comments but no significant bites yet. We have a home being built so the time pressure is rising. Good luck to everyone else in the process of selling.

All the gloom and doom reports about the economy and mortgage problems freaks me out sometimes but hopefully it will all work out for the best. We sure have done everything we can to prep the house, set a good price and get a good agent to market, market, market.