Joining the Ranks of Frustrated Home Sellers
May 17, 2008 – 3:55 pm
Fifty nine days ago we listed our house for sale and we jumped into the real estate market feet first. It wasn’t until this past week that we joined the group of frustrated homeowners who are struggling to get their homes sold. It hasn’t been too bad; we’ve had umpteen million showings and have been 2nd choice on many buyers’ lists. But being 2nd choice will not sell our home.
Why Are We Moving?
We are moving 2,000+ miles away to live closer to family. My husband’s employer is relocating us so we don’t have to worry about finding a new job. But we do have to move soon and we’d rather have the house sold before we move. I do not want to juggle a house payment and a rent payment. We’re moving to Southern California where are rent will be pretty close to current our mortgage payment.
The “Reduced” Sign
After much thought and discussion we made a call to our realtor on Wednesday and told her we were ready to do something crazy. We dropped the price. It’s the only thing left to do. Our house is in perfect condition (it’s only 3 years old) and it’s spotless. We are still going to break even, but we are getting pretty close to our bottom line.
Thursday the “Reduced” sign was added to the For Sale sign in our yard. Seeing that sign felt like a small punch in my stomach, but we truly have much to be thankful for. Thousands of homeowners are underwater on their homes and would have to get a Short Sale approved by the bank or bring money to closing just to sell their home. We are in a fairly stable market. Homes here never saw the huge price increases a few years ago that places like California did. But we are still affected by the slow housing market because those that are trying to move here aren’t able to sell their old homes. Not to mention the competition with new developments is huge.
So, Thursday the “Reduced” sign went up and the price was changed. That night we had 2 showings. Today we had FOUR more! One of which was a 2nd showing. Here’s hoping our realtor calls with good news tonight.
14 Responses to “Joining the Ranks of Frustrated Home Sellers”
That looks like a pretty nice home from what I can see in the pictures. Good Luck on getting your hold sold without having to drop the price again.
By SingleGuyMoney on May 17, 2008
Good Luck!
By stngy1 on May 17, 2008
Before you get caught in the standard trap (list, drop the price, drop the price, drop the price…and maybe sell - forcing your own devaluation), you may want to consider other options.
There are a grwoing number of people that are doing creative things to sell properties (including simple auctions) - some of these techniques only work well if you maintain or even increase (appropriately) the percieved value of your property before going to work.
There may be some folks in your area that have the background to help - be careful about up fron fees however (they should be willing to be paid only upon success if they are any good) and be sure to make them demonstrate a history of succes (with real people you can speak with).
It looks like you are moving toward your goals well!
Best wishes for continued success,
John
By John on May 18, 2008
I can tell you from personal experience that setting the correct price is the ONLY factor to getting your home sold. Beware of a realtor who tells you what you want to hear instead of the unpleasant truth. As home prices continue to fall don’t get caught in the game of “chasing the market”; i.e. everytime you reduce your asking price a whole bunch of other sellers are also doing the same and setting their asking price lower than you. If you really want to sell these days you have to be aggressive with your price and undercut your competition (all the other sellers out there). Good Luck!
By Carlos on May 18, 2008
Thanks John, I’ll have to look into that. Never heard of anyone doing auctions in my area so I have no idea how that would go.
Thanks Stngy1 and SingleGuy Money! I’m probably biased
but I love this home and think it’s very nice too. I’m sad to be leaving it.
Thanks Carlos, I appreciate it. We are now priced under other homes so I hope that gives us an edge!
By Momof3 on May 19, 2008
Have you considered renting the home out? It seems that your mortgage isn’t very high and maybe you can keep the house until the market gets better?
By The Baglady on May 20, 2008
Yep! Renting is also a very viable option. A lot of people down here in Florida are now renting out their properties ’cause this is not currently a “seller’s market”.
By Carlos on May 20, 2008
The Baglady and Carlos,
We did briefly discuss renting out our home, but it didn’t seem like it would work. Our mortgage is $2800 (that’s PITI). I said rent in California would be close to our mortgage payment here and that’s only because rent in Cali is expensive (for a smaller home compared to what we have now). One of my neighbors rented out her house when her family relocated to Europe for 2 years. They are coming back to the house and the area so they didn’t want to sell. It took them 9 months to find a renter (the house was empty the whole time). Most people tend to buy here (there are a plethora of new homes being built in all price ranges).
Thanks for bringing it up though. If the house doesn’t sell it could be our only option. I know nothing about being a landlord so I’ll have to research what it entails.
By Momof3 on May 21, 2008
I don’t know how the market’s doing in your area. In Florida we now have a lot of amateur reluctant landlords holding property with negative cash flow. It’s either that or pay the full mortgage or face foreclosure. Often they’re renting to ex-property owners who lost their homes to foreclosure or a “short sale”.
If your home is in good shape and everything’s working and you screen your tenants carefully you shouldn’t have too many hassles. Educate yourself before becoming a landlord, though. THere are a ton of things that come up that you never think of until they happen…
Check out the “Landlord Protection Agency”;
http://www.thelpa.com/
By Carlos on May 21, 2008
Well, I’m not sure where you will move to in SoCal, but you can rent a 4bedroom house down there for under $2000 in areas like San Diego and San Bernadino. I dunno about the OC or LA, though. I live in San Mateo, which is one of the most expensive areas in Northern California and the rent here could go as high as $3000+ for a big house, but to buy the same house you’d need a mortgage of a million dollars. I guess $2800 a month is a lot.
By The Baglady on May 25, 2008
We’ll be in northern San Diego County. We are looking at Carlsbad due to the location of my husband’s job. If choosing a good school district wasn’t an issue we’d look somewhere even cheaper. But then again we have to deal with the commute time for my hubby, and if he’s paying more $$ in gas and time away from us is it worth it to save $100 or so in rent? We are looking for a 3 bedroom or larger (3 is the minimum. we have 3 kids and are expecting more). I think we can get one for $2500, maybe even a bit cheaper. I’ve got my eyes open for a deal.
decisions, decisions….
By Momof3 on May 25, 2008