Selling my home-Vent

[dakcp2001]

What a nightmare. It is the worst! Keeping it showroom clean, getting a million calls from the realtor every day at ungodly hours, and today the most offensive offer! I think I am going to take my house off the market & just carry it for a couple of years. A guy serioulsy offered us 50K under what we asking, and we priced our house low. I dont want to counter offer, I just want him to go away. I am aware the market is bad right now, but I am not desperate. I am not going to GIVE the house away. I guess people just assume in this market we are all desperate? IDk, just wanted to vent. I dont want to rent it out,I do not want to be a landlord at all, I just want to keep it empty I think and have family check in on it while we are gone. I dont think it is worth all the aggravation of trying to sell in a bad market.

 

[kidzmom3]

Just a thought. You can and will encounter the same things in a good market. It sucks to sell a house unless the market is so hot that inventory is low and anything available is scooped up in a couple of days.

We had realtors call from 2 houses away to say get out, we are coming with clients and you have 1 minute. People critique your decor, your housekeeping, your lifestyle and your income.

 

[lecach]

At least you got an offer. We've been on the market since July 2. House is priced right and is in great condition and staged well. Only had 1 real showing and 1 agent preview. In our price range in our town there were only 9 showings - total - last week.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Decline the offer. People are looking for deals and there are instances where homeowners will take the bait.

Limit your realtor to calling at decent hours OR to conact you via text or email if not notifying you at midnight isn't possible.

Listen to any notes the agents showing your property are returning to your realtor.

Before letting it sit empty, check your home owner's policy. Ours for an empty home would have been extremely expensive. In the event something occurred to a vacant home and your homeowners was for an occupie home, you may not be able to make a claim.

We are renting our home and it is very weird. I think we got a really good fit of a couple, but it still feels weird. But they are repainting our interiro for us and should keep it in excellent shape until the market improves and we get closer to positive equity.

As Dave Ramsey would say...sometimes it is best to say "the heck with the cheese, let me out of the trap". Before rejecting any offer as insulting, evaluate it veruses the cost of holding out on something better.

As for his offer--to see if he is willing to do antyhinf more honorable, counteroffer at full price, no contingencies. Or just reject it all together.

 

[Meriweather]

We just took ours off the market after 2 years of being for sale.
Nothing serious came of it at all. I lived being compulsive about keeping it clean and missed personal pictures and such around the house.
We decided to go ahead and move and put it back up in 3 or 4 years....hoping things are better by then.
In the meantime, DH is up that way every month and will stay there and check on it.
It got to the point of it just not being worth it anymore.

 

[ksjayhawks]

Give him a counteroffer, but don't come down much. You will find out if he is serious or not.

In deciding whether to hold out for a better price, consider all the costs for the house for a month (include taxes and insurance and any upkeep--lawn mowing, etc). Figure the difference between the lower offer you might accept (not this one that is 50k under) and what you want is. Then divide that amount by the monthly costs. You will get the number of months that you would be paying the costs before you could start to lose money. If you think the house will sell in that time period, you can hold onto it. If you don't think it will, it might be worth it to take a lower offer now and get out from under it than have to carry it, worry about it and what could happen if someone would break in and have a party there, get hurt, etc.

 

[ilovejack02]

I encountered the same thing with a few crazy low offers when we sold our house 5 years ago . I sold at the one of the highest points in the market for sellers, post Katrina when people were paying insane prices for homes here.

We had already purchased a new house and had moved. Because it was empty people thought we HAD to sell, which was not the case at all.

Don't take it personally, just decline or counteroffer.

We declined one man 3 times before we did a counter offer and ended up the same guy buying for only 5 k under asking.

 

[dakcp2001]

We have only been on the market for one week, and I feel like I am getting kicked out every day for a showing. We already know our "bottom line" that we are willing to accept and what we are not willing to accept. I just think this is insanity! I am a reasonable person, but offensive offers are getting outright rejected. This guy also went over & knocked on the neighbors door which I think it unacceptable.

 

[abdmom]

This guy also went over & knocked on the neighbors door which I think it unacceptable.

Why? The neighbors are usually a good source of info AND an important component of whether someone will enjoy living in the property.

 

[golfgal]

Some friends are moving to our area and they were up today and we went looking at houses with them. One house we looked at was a split level, walked in the front door, there were 3 spots in the family room of cat poop on the carpet, walked out. Unbelievable

I agree with others-the way lowball offers are very common just to test how desperate you are. Offer back maybe $5K under your list price and see what happens.

 

[pooh98378]

Why? The neighbors are usually a good source of info AND an important component of whether someone will enjoy living in the property.

Yes I would also like to know why? The neighbor would be the best person to talk to, to see if they like the neighborhood, if there are any nutcases living down the street, etc. I see no problem with that at all.

As for the offer, why not just counteroffer 50k above asking price? OK, in reality, you wouldn't do it, but still, the guy might get the message.

 

[Belle0101]

Ditto with what a PP said. The house next to us sat empty going on 2 years now. He bought a house elsewhere.

So for the past two years he has been paying the mortgage, insurance, taxes, water, electric, gas (although minimal just to have on for showings)and coming in to mow once a week.

Our other neighbor is more blunt than I am so he asked why doesn't he just lower the asking price. He said he wasn't going to take a loss on it. His best offer was 10K under his asking price. He's lost double that in 2 years time.

To his credit though, he finally rented it out last month though and the renters have done a great job with the yard. It looks the best it has in years! He told them they could paint and paint they did. Really nice color schemes, steam cleaned the carpets ... they've done a great job on the inside too.

Funny thing is, the wife keeps hiding the for sale sign in the bushes.


Best of luck to you OP! I hope you can find a solution that works best for your situation.

 

[tvguy]

My boss sold her house. Home inspector did something and burned out the A/C conpressor. Turns out he was unlicensed and uninsured. Buyers backed out, because the A/C was dead. Contract clearly says that the buyers are responsible for any damage. Of course, they are refusing to pay to fix it.
Here's the legal reality. My bosses attorney says it will take several years in the courts to resolve it. Legal fees would cost her more than the $7,500 to replace the A/C. And it could make it difficult to see the house.

 

[shortbun]

We moved out and empty our house sold in 9 days for asking price. It was immaculate, had updated baths and kitchen and freshly painted outside. I see no reason to even respond to an offer of 50K below asking if you're in the ballpark with comps. Don't let the crazies get you down!! Good luck.

 

[disfan07]

50K under is nothing. When we had to sell our house in 2008 it was valued at $675,000. We had no houses in our neighborhood to compare to when pricing it. No one had sold a similar house to ours in years. We priced it at $630,000. It was on the market for 3 months form june-oct. At the same time that we we still paying our mortgage on that house while we were trying to sell it, we were also paying $1300/month for rent in california. We finally decided we could not wait any longer and took the best offer we got. An offer of $570,000. More than $100,000 less than what it was worth.


Luckily, we bought that house in 1998 when it was about $270,000 i think so we didnt lose any money. We just had less money to buy a house in a more expensive area.

 

[cm8]

Decline the offer. People are looking for deals and there are instances where homeowners will take the bait.

Limit your realtor to calling at decent hours OR to conact you via text or email if not notifying you at midnight isn't possible.

Listen to any notes the agents showing your property are returning to your realtor.

Before letting it sit empty, check your home owner's policy. Ours for an empty home would have been extremely expensive. In the event something occurred to a vacant home and your homeowners was for an occupie home, you may not be able to make a claim.

We are renting our home and it is very weird. I think we got a really good fit of a couple, but it still feels weird. But they are repainting our interiro for us and should keep it in excellent shape until the market improves and we get closer to positive equity.

As Dave Ramsey would say...sometimes it is best to say "the heck with the cheese, let me out of the trap". Before rejecting any offer as insulting, evaluate it veruses the cost of holding out on something better.

As for his offer--to see if he is willing to do antyhinf more honorable, counteroffer at full price, no contingencies. Or just reject it all together.

Great sound advice

 

[golfgal]

We have only been on the market for one week, and I feel like I am getting kicked out every day for a showing. We already know our "bottom line" that we are willing to accept and what we are not willing to accept. I just think this is insanity! I am a reasonable person, but offensive offers are getting outright rejected. This guy also went over & knocked on the neighbors door which I think it unacceptable.

WOW-at least you are getting showings. I guess I don't know what you expected but this is pretty much what happens when you put your house on the market. Try doing it with 3 kids under 3 and a DH that had already moved for a job. I kept laundry baskets in a couple rooms, would do a quick pick up of anything that was left out and would put the laundry baskets in the van with me as I went away for the showing. It kept it easy and I wasn't going nuts picking up after the kids all the time.

 

[dakcp2001]

My neighbor works nights (as do I occassionally), and I cannot believe some people think it is acceptable to knock on the neighbors door when lookng at a house! That is so rude! If someone was thinking of buying my neighbors home and woke me up by knocking on the door, I would not have been polite. Luckily my nieghbor was polite.

People never cease to amaze me.

 

[dakcp2001]

WOW-at least you are getting showings. I guess I don't know what you expected but this is pretty much what happens when you put your house on the market. Try doing it with 3 kids under 3 and a DH that had already moved for a job. I kept laundry baskets in a couple rooms, would do a quick pick up of anything that was left out and would put the laundry baskets in the van with me as I went away for the showing. It kept it easy and I wasn't going nuts picking up after the kids all the time.

I cant imagine trying to keep the house this clean with children! Bless your heart for trying! lol. It is hard enough to keep up with our own stuff, toys would be really hard to keep neat.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I've been looking around at houses on and off for the last few years (bizarre hobby of mine). The houses were going for less last year then the year before, and are even lower this year. One's house is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it ultimately. Without seeing the house and knowing what others have sold for recently (not the year before), it's hard to know if that's a really low offer, or just what the market is right now. The places I saw this week were all (7 of them) listed for $100,000 less or so than the owners paid due to the drop in the market. They will sell for less than they are listed for, no doubt about it or they will not sell at all. There is plenty available and people have higher expectations for the money these days.

I wouldn't get upset over the offer and instead counteroffer in the middle. $25,000 isn't really all that much money and might just get your house sold. It might be better than continuing to pay the mortgage, insurance, etc. for who knows how long. I've known several people that refused supposed low ball offers last year, only to finally accept even lower offers this year. Don't let pride get in the way of business.