Selling our house.....UPDATE

[White Cat]

The last 2 homes sold in a day with out signs posted. One in Orlando the other in Toronto.

 

[barkley]

here's our story-

2005 the area we lived in was HOT! norm was a house would be 'announced' for sale/showing with a designated 24 hour window for sealed bids to be submitted. crazy offers over asking-no contingencies (all cash was'nt common back then). we had talked of moving out of state but were in no rush. january of 2006 i got a gut feeling we needed to sell-and sooner vs later. interviewed realtors (we had been courted for months-big boom of newbie realtors in the area peppered our neighborhood porches with buisness cards/gifts trying to get customers). hired old school/long established non nonsense realtor (given all the stats on area sales/told if house did'nt sell within x number of days what his formula was for price lowering....he was forthcoming on some small repairs/cosmetic issues to address-house was listed in mid march).

our house did'nt get an offer for a couple of weeks and when we did it WAS for full price but there was a contingency (unheard of then) but we accepted it-again a gut feeling. we sweated over that contingency but by the time our home closed in may the market had come to a standstill in our area. we learned later that ours was the only home in escrow for the entire month of may. it warmed back up a bit over that summer but a couple of years later after the fallout of the 'big short' housing crash was in full swing we learned our home was being referred to by local realtors as 'the last boom sale'.

point is-i think buyers even in seemingly hot markets are hesitant right now. interest rates are going up again. in some industries there are layoffs, in others there are slowdowns (a friend who has been in hot demand for his skilled trade relating to home renovations has seen a tremendous change-he's still working on high end large scale jobs but they are the ones people had to book a year or more ago. the jobs that his industry is getting calls on today are much lower in scope-he saw similar trends when housing markets started to soften).

be patient-it's a very good sign that someone wants a 2nd showing.

 

[ronandannette]

It is here too to some degree, although I think it has cooled just a bit. There isn't enough inventory and we are in a very desirable area.

We're in a similar situation to yours but we're selling an "apple" and trying to buy an "orange". The price-band our condo is listed for (low $500's) has a lot more inventory available to buyers than the price-band we're looking to buy (mid $300's). While we're chasing all over town looking at places only to find them sold before we even view them, ours has now been on for 12 days with lots of showings and verbal interest but no firm offers. Honestly, our feelings were a little bruised because like you, we put a TON of effort into prepping the place and are very proud of it. Fact is though - 12 days, or even a few weeks is nothing - the professionals and all other trusted advice we've gotten, are very confident it will sell at or above what it's listed for.

What has happened though is that since a sale was not instantaneous, we are now firm on NOT buying before we sell (a common practice in this hot market). We just don't have the stomach for it. So we've backed off looking at new places. We just have to trust that when the time comes, the Good Lord will work the details out and compatible possession dates will fall into place.

...July is generally a slow month. Everyone is on vacation. Even in the areas people go on vacation, they are not looking to buy as much as they are in the spring. Things will pick up around Labor Day...

This is EXACTLY what the professionals here are saying. It's literally the slowest month in the calendar every year. We decided to let ourselves off the hook and have gone away for vacation ourselves. There have been 3 showings booked in the past 24 hours and it's great to be elsewhere and not have to worry about accommodating them. It was so stressful trying to keep everything pristine and get ourselves and the dog off-site at the drop of a hat.

 

[tvguy]

People may be a little gun shy with the current mortgage rates but that should settle down. Current rates are almost exactly what the average 30 year mortgage rate has been over the last 50 years which is 7.74%. Certainly higher than the historic lows in the 2.5% range of 2021, but MUCH lower than the 12.25% my first mortgage was. And we JUMPED to buy a house when rates fell to that level from 16%.
.

 

[DawnM]

My house is pending. It took about 40 days, a price reduction and some landscaping to get an offer. In my current area, the average DOM is about 80. Two years ago when I bought, DOM was about 6. Ask your realtor what the current days on market is for your area.

There are 3 houses near me that have sold in the past 3-4 months that I used for comps. They all had pools, like mine does and are in the same neighborhood. All sold for right around the same price, even though a couple had 200-300 more square feet. Price per square foot isn't necessarily a good barometer.

July is generally a slow month. Everyone is on vacation. Even in the areas people go on vacation, they are not looking to buy as much as they are in the spring. Things will pick up around Labor Day.

The house I sold in 2021 sold before it hit MLS. The house I sold in 2009 took over 6 months. Price had very little to do with how fast they sold. It was all about what the market would bear.

The houses in my neighborhood do vary a lot in cost by size and various things.....the usuals, upkeep, landscaping, updates, etc.....but I am not talking about a 300 sq. ft. difference either, our houses can vary by over 1,000 sq. ft. The house that just went on the market is 1,000 sq. ft. smaller than ours.

I haven't seen real estate pick up in September, usually people want to buy before school starts because around here, if you have a purchase agreement, you can still go ahead and enroll in the new school and start.

I am glad your house is now pending.

 

[tvguy]

I haven't seen real estate pick up in September, usually people want to buy before school starts because around here, if you have a purchase agreement, you can still go ahead and enroll in the new school and start.

We've had open enrollment here for 20+ years so they don't care where you live anymore. They just care that your child shows up each day so they get their $75+ a day reimbursement from the state.
Wonder how many school districts still require proof of residence to admit a child?

 

[sam_gordon]

We've had open enrollment here for 20+ years so they don't care where you live anymore. They just care that your child shows up each day so they get their $75+ a day reimbursement from the state.
Wonder how many school districts still require proof of residence to admit a child?

I don't think any schools really care about when you start. As a parent *I* wouldn't want to have a child change schools during the year unless I absolutely had to.

 

[tvguy]

I don't think any schools really care about when you start. As a parent *I* wouldn't want to have a child change schools during the year unless I absolutely had to.

The private school systems like Noble (now part of the Spring Education group) have taken advantage of parents whose jobs cause them to move frequently. Each of their schools teaches from the exact same planner on the exact same day. So if you take your child out of one of their schools on a Friday, and enroll them in another of their schools somewhere else on Monday, their instruction will pick up right where they were at the other school.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We sold our 5-bedroom house and downsized to a 3-bedroom townhouse about 4 years ago. Our old house was in a very desirable school district. It was about 2 blocks from what's considered the best school in the district, which is a K-8 with lots of nice features. Kids who live within the school's boundaries are guaranteed a spot. Those outside have to go into a lottery and less than half ended up getting in. We knew this would be a key selling point for our house. Our agents met a potential buyer before we even listed the house. They made an offer immediately after seeing it. They had a child going into kindergarten and really wanted him to start at that school. We had planned to put in about 35K in repairs/updates before listing it. But they said not to bother because they were planning a total remodel. The price they offered was great, especially since they were buying as-is. The timing was perfect because we had found our dream townhome. The price was initially too high so we thought we wouldn't get it. The day after we accepted the offer on our house, the price of the townhouse dropped considerably and we quickly moved in with an all-cash offer, which was accepted.

Sounds perfect, right? Not exactly. Our buyers turned out to be jerks. After we accepted their offer and they made a $52,000 deposit, they started asking us to drop the price! They threatened to pull out of the sale if we didn't . We had made a $36,000 deposit on the townhome, which we would lose if our buyers pulled out. They kept asking how much of their deposit they would get back if they pulled out. We said zero! The deposit is not refundable just because you changed your mind. After losing $36,000 but keeping their $52,000, we would have come out $16,000 ahead. But that wasn't the point. We were heartbroken at the thought of losing out on the townhome. It's in the perfect location for us. The interior was beautifully updated with hardwood floors, a newly remodeled bathroom, murphy bed for when our college kid visited with a built-in desk so we could also use the room as a den. The list goes on. It was perfect.

Our agent did a lot of negotiating back and forth to save the sale. We did have to give-in a little, but they finally decided it was better to buy the house than lose their deposit. So yes, we got our dream townhome. I'm sitting here and enjoying it right now! We've bought and sold homes several times during our marriage. We're hoping this will be our last home. It's one-story (except for an additional loft area), so we can get old here and not worry about stairs.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

We're selling too, downsizing to a place out of town - pay off the mortgage in one go, keep a nice house... We're listed with two agents and want £1.6m for our place. So far we've had offers of £1.3m to £1.35m, not where we want to be, but the housing market is poor atm. We have on average two viewings a week. Hopefully someone will up their offer. We'd be open to considering £1.4m.

 

[Southernmiss]

We last sold a home 20 years ago. It was a slower market and took about 80 something days. I honestly think our realtor forgot about our house for a little while until I called and told her we had to sell by x date.

I did a couple of gimmicks when the showings picked up. I printed copies of a list of 'Don't miss these special features of this house,' listing what we loved about the house and left it prominently where it could be seen.

I also baked a few slice n bake chocolate chip cookies in the oven right before we left before showings.

Worked like a charm.

 

[dclpluto]

Try to relax this isn’t your first rodeo. It’s only been 6 days. Why do you move a lot? If it’s not for a job try finding a house that you will know you will love for a long time. Been in my house for 29 years and plan on being here till I die or forced into a nursing home. Good luck

 

[tvguy]

. We had planned to put in about 35K in repairs/updates before listing it. But they said not to bother because they were planning a total remodel. The price they offered was great, especially since they were buying as-is.

My experience is limited to my wife selling her mom's house in 1999 and me selling my mom's house in 2013. In both cases, realtors told us not to spend a penny on remodeling, paint or upgrades, only spent money on repairs required by law. In both cases the realtors were spot on. Something as small as paint probably wouldn't have paid off, people want to choose their own colors etc. In the end we spend $1,100 on dry rot repairs on my MIL's house, and $75 having a seismic safety strap put on the water heater at my mom's house.

 

[barkley]

Wonder how many school districts still require proof of residence to admit a child?

the ones around us certainly do-and one has put a moritorium on interdistrict enrollments because they are already struggling to meet their existing student population's needs.

we were actually approached by someone we did'nt even know (friend of a friend) who floated the idea of letting them use our address in order to enroll their kids in our school district. shot that down and then called the district (my kids were in private school at the time) and asked if they could flag our address somehow to ensure noone claimed it as a basis for enrollment.

The private school systems like Noble (now part of the Spring Education group) have taken advantage of parents whose jobs cause them to move frequently. Each of their schools teaches from the exact same planner on the exact same day. So if you take your child out of one of their schools on a Friday, and enroll them in another of their schools somewhere else on Monday, their instruction will pick up right where they were at the other school.

one of the public school districts near us implemented the identical system-all teachers instruct on the identical curriculum/schedual b/c depending on where you live within the district you are assigned to a specific school. large rental population so it makes it easier for a kid whose family moves (teachers DETEST it b/c they can't spend more time on a subject/concept if class needs it or excellerate it if they show mastry).

 

[DawnM]

We've had open enrollment here for 20+ years so they don't care where you live anymore. They just care that your child shows up each day so they get their $75+ a day reimbursement from the state.
Wonder how many school districts still require proof of residence to admit a child?

If that were true here, everyone would show up to the highly desirable schools and the low performing schools would be left with only a few.

 

[DawnM]

The private school systems like Noble (now part of the Spring Education group) have taken advantage of parents whose jobs cause them to move frequently. Each of their schools teaches from the exact same planner on the exact same day. So if you take your child out of one of their schools on a Friday, and enroll them in another of their schools somewhere else on Monday, their instruction will pick up right where they were at the other school.

That doesn't matter to me, what matters are the activities he is in, his friends, etc....the academics will be similar throughout our state. But yanking a kid out of school is far more than simply "hey, he won't miss a beat academically so it won't matter!"

 

[DawnM]

We last sold a home 20 years ago. It was a slower market and took about 80 something days. I honestly think our realtor forgot about our house for a little while until I called and told her we had to sell by x date.

I did a couple of gimmicks when the showings picked up. I printed copies of a list of 'Don't miss these special features of this house,' listing what we loved about the house and left it prominently where it could be seen.

I also baked a few slice n bake chocolate chip cookies in the oven right before we left before showings.

Worked like a charm.

I wouldn't really call the baked cookie thing as "worked like a charm" if it took 80 days to sell the house. I honestly wonder if your house would have sold in the same 80 days without having to bake 80 batches of cookies (or however many showings you had)

 

[tvguy]

That doesn't matter to me, what matters are the activities he is in, his friends, etc....the academics will be similar throughout our state. But yanking a kid out of school is far more than simply "hey, he won't miss a beat academically so it won't matter!"

I agree. Which is what gets me in trouble on the Cruise Line Forum where some parents are of the belief that it's not big deal to take a kid out of school for a week for a vacation.

 

[tvguy]

If that were true here, everyone would show up to the highly desirable schools and the low performing schools would be left with only a few.

That is what happens here. Parents camp out to get a slot for their child at the desirable school.

 

[tvguy]

the ones around us certainly do-and one has put a moritorium on interdistrict enrollments because they are already struggling to meet their existing student population's needs.

we were actually approached by someone we did'nt even know (friend of a friend) who floated the idea of letting them use our address in order to enroll their kids in our school district. shot that down and then called the district (my kids were in private school at the time) and asked if they could flag our address somehow to ensure noone claimed it as a basis for enrollment.


one of the public school districts near us implemented the identical system-all teachers instruct on the identical curriculum/schedual b/c depending on where you live within the district you are assigned to a specific school. large rental population so it makes it easier for a kid whose family moves (teachers DETEST it b/c they can't spend more time on a subject/concept if class needs it or excellerate it if they show mastry).

We have had declining enrollment and that is what brought about open enrollment. Lots of public schools have closed here in the last 20 years and they wanted schools to be able to compete for students.

To your second point, yes, keeping students up to speed does take work. The private schools often have mandatory study hall after the normal instruction day for students to do homework, get homework help, and tutoring to keep them up to speed with their class. Some public schools do this too.