Do I qualify since I only have an accepted offer? days on market: ?? since dec.24th. Accepted offer on 4/30. 20th showing put the offer in. We had two showings after we had the off in hand-just in case. We had one open house, unsuccessful. No one showed up(but it was right after a snow storm). I really think Price was our number one issue. When you have 19 families come in here and give great feedback about everything-it has to be price. If you price your home a couple g's above you "bottom line"...odds are you will hit. We got what we needed for the place.
Here is my opinion of why our house is under deposit: 1. Price. We priced it under comps that have sold within the past month. A dramatic price drop.(over 13k lower than org. asking price) 2. Advertising. Multiple pictures A MUST. Our Realtor adv. in 3 states, in all local newspapers, realtor.com etc. Signs galore. Everytime we cut the price-he called every realtor he knew that had walked through the door-to update them. 3. Having a well known realtor who likes to work hard and negotiating skills a must! Who can save both seller/buyer money. That is always a nice thing. 4. Design to sell. We updated everything. Neutral paint colors. Cleaned and polished every floor before a showing. No clutter was left out(and i have 3 kids under age 6!) 5. Curb appeal. We updated the flowerbeds, with color and new mulch. We cut the grass on a reg. basis. Trimmed bushes/trees if needed.
We accpeted what they offered. No games. They came it close to our bottom line, we cut our loss and accepted. We gave them money back at closing, for closing costs. Our realtor comm. was at 4% split(2% to each agent). We negotiated the deadlines for appraisal and inspections(bumped them up a few weeks). If everything goes well, which i hope it does-we will be closing in 6wks. Good luck to everyone out there!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: flbound08,
We FINALLY (yeah!) got a contract on our house in March (11 months on the market) and it did all come down to price. Everyone that came to the house said they loved it and the only complaint we got is that the appliances were not stainless steel, but in the first six months there was not a single offer.
In December we hired a new realtor and raised the commission(she convinced us that 4% was not going to help us sell in this market.) We also drastically reduced the selling price. The house was re-listed for $50,000 less than our neighbors house which is much smaller than ours.
At the end of January we left for Florida for a couple of months to "get away" from the cold. We gave our realtor free reign to show the house whenever and however she wanted. Before we left I staged it with tables set with china, our best towels displayed and all the other "nice" things out that we really never use! We also sold some of our bigger pieces of furniture (piano, extra couches, desks) to make the rooms seem even bigger.
Since we have kids, (messy ones!) leaving the house made life so much easier- I hated when people showed up at our door unannounced to see the house and the kids rooms were always a mess! Yes, the realtor told us we did not have to let people in on short notice, but we were so motivated to sell, we were afraid to turn them away.
Bottom line: the new price generated interest and several people said they were going to make offers. When someone actually wrote an offer we were so excited that we were ready to negotiate (mind you, we were pretty happy as it was sitting under palm trees in Florida sipping fresh squeezed orange juice under sunny blue skies - it was snowing that day in NJ.) We finally sold it for $189,000 (24%)less than our original asking price.
Our neighbor held their price and recently also got a contract. They said they got their price. I'm happy for them, but a part of me wonders whether we should have kept holding out for more since our buyers offered so much less than our already much lower price? Scratch that last thought, I hate second guessing and I am so thankful for what we got and the opportunity to move on.
So now we are moving out in three weeks and we will go live with my parents for awhile. Am I anxious to go buy another house? Not in the least, especially not if we ever have to go through the process of selling another one again. I'm thinking I would like to be a renter. (ps I am a CPA, I know the tax and financial benefits of owning a home, I am just currently tired from our recent experience)
And that is how we got our house sold. I truly wish everyone else out there luck as they go through the process. I have learned much about staging and being priced right. I believe that if you price it right the first time, you may save yourselves much aggravation in this declining market.
We sold in March after 5 months on the market & a grand total of 62 showings. We had spent a couple of months before listing doing the "designed to sell" routine: cleaning, packing, painting neutral colors, plus doing repairs & improving the landscaping. It was expensive & exhausting, but in addition to making the property more desirable, it helped us let go of the house psychologically. Our agent has a certified home stager on his staff, who said she'd never seen a place as ready to sell as ours. We kept it in top condition; the buyer actually thought we'd already moved out! But we were living there until the day before closing.
Our agent did a lot of advertising: lots of wide-angle pictures & video tour on several on-line realtor sites, write-up on his on-line newspaper, ads in printed magazines & papers, great color fliers with info on both sides of heavy paper, big sign with special reflective quality & riders above & below ("Absolutely Exquisite" & "Spotless"). Also, he's well-known locally & a member of the City Council.
Like the rest of y'all, it came down to price. We were willing to take a loss in order to sell. We have absolutely NO regrets or second thoughts about it! We're just happy to be free to begin an exciting new life!
We've been renting another house that's on the market for the past 6 weeks since our closing. That has meant sleeping on air mattresses while our furniture is in storage. It also has meant helping our landlady by keeping her house clean & leaving during her showings (almost 20 of them!) But in 3 days, we're moving to our new apartment out of state. We wish everyone who's selling the very BEST of luck in selling their homes!!!!
This is great news... we having more sales here on the board!!!! Wahhooo!! I am so happy for your guys! Nice to know also what factors help sell your home.
Well - a brother-in-law of mine outside of San Francisco CA (southwest of there) just got 3 contracts on his house this weekend. Think this was the first open house. Two were above the $599 asking price, one was $60k below. He's in negotiations with the two above. None of them are contingency offers. I'm guessing he priced it right to move so quickly. One of the couples has been looking since January!
This message has been edited. Last edited by: Gail_D,
But that's just my 2 cents!
~Gail~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To quote a very wise person.... "There is a cover for every pot & a homebuyer for every home!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Posts: 3967 | Location: Someplace between FL & NY | Registered: Apr 01, 2005
My mom died a few years ago and my dad has been living in the house alone. This house has not been updated in at least 35 years as it still had shag carpeting throughout the house and no major repairs were done like the roof was leaking heater was the orignal to the house never replaced. The house is a row home built in 1948. He decided to put it on the market on April 26th 2008 a person driving by saw the agent put the sign on the lawn came and knocked on the door said I want to buy this house and my dad said call the agent she called the agent and on April 27th 2008 she came and looked at the house and gave the agent a contract for the house. So my dad had a signed contract for full amount and she did not want an inspection. Today is the closing May 7th 2008. The agent said it was the fastest sale she ever had.
Well - more word from my Brother-in-law - he's still in negotiations but it's because he still has multiple offers! Right now, his best offer is $21K OVER his asking price. He's a bit stunned. Part of the issue is the occupancy date right now.
At his realtor's suggestion, he had put the house on the market for his "I'll take it, but I won't be thrilled about it" price...and then got 3 offers right away- 2 were for over the listing price. To quote him he's been "watching my neighbors twisting in the wind for many months" so he was willing to try his realtor's strategy.
Anyhow - thought I'd share, and will keep you all posted.
But that's just my 2 cents!
~Gail~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To quote a very wise person.... "There is a cover for every pot & a homebuyer for every home!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Posts: 3967 | Location: Someplace between FL & NY | Registered: Apr 01, 2005
Put my house back on the market 31 days ago, it went under contract for less than 1% of asking price yesterday, plus contributing a little toward buyers closing cost. Closing 5/29.
***It's not my job to sell a house to my buyer, it's my job to find the right house for my buyer.***
Posts: 2423 | Location: Colorado Springs, CO | Registered: Jan 18, 2003
