Can't sell wife's house, price dropping like a rock

[evident]

True...I'm not saying the concept doesn't have merit..but the people are likely to have a big let down once they hear it has been on the market for months before. They immediately start saying "well what is the problem with it" and such.

I just purchased a house that was about 150 days on the market. no offers, no open house, no anything from anybody. I felt exactly the same way. "WTF is wrong w/ this place?" aside from not having granite countertops and "european style cabinets" ie mismatched upper and lower cabinets, it's a luxury house compared to others in the development selling for the same price. turns out, everything is new, refinished, and updated.

I think her problem was she didn't have an open house and listed the initial price way too high, so it detracted people from even giving it a look. some people may have thought overpriced and on the market for so long? gtfo.
luckily for us, we were looking over every house in the area no matter what. made an offer for about 8% under asking price, got a reasonable counter, and accepted.

worked out best for me though!

 

[jiggahertz]

Oh I know. The reason we want to sell this is to buy/build our dream home. We've still got mine as well so we don't want to carry 3 mortgages. We want to buy RIGHT NOW, but need to sell hers first and I'm not giving up my negotiating power by having a contingency.

I was in a similar position 6 months ago, getting married we each owned townhouses and wanted to buy a house together. So we both put our condos on the market with the intention of selling 1 and holding onto the other for a rental. Hers was a relatively new build 2005 with ~5 other identical units for sale so we weren't very hopefully about getting offers on that one. Mine was a typical 1980 townhouse for the area but I did a complete renovation of the kitchen so we got a lot of traffic and we were under agreement in just under a month. Then we ran into some bumps with the furnace failing inspection and the appraisal coming in under sales price. Took another 5k hit and when all was said and done paid about 10k to sell the place, but we also didn't want to have to carry 3 mortgages and decided it was time to move on.

The couple realtors I interviewed said they hardly hear of any success stories with open houses. Now I dunno if they were just being lazy or not but now it seems most people check out listings online and setup an appointment. I would think you get more casual people browsing at open houses.

Is putting your place for sale an option, sell whichever goes first? Also, what is the state of your wife's house, meaning furnished or empty? We looked at some houses that were professionally staged and I could see how that would make a difference for some people looking. The house we actually bought had boxes from renters strewn all over the place and the realtor said they were having a hard time because of that. I'm not saying you should pay someone to stage the place, but if the place is completely empty some people have a hard time imagining it being "their home".

Our realtor used eshowings.com and we got feedback from people that looked at our places. Now most of it wasn't really constructive, "looking for a bigger place", etc. but are you getting any feedback on why people aren't putting offers in on her place? Sometimes there are small things that can make a difference for especially first time home buyers which sounds like what it would be from the price point you guys are selling at.

 

[jiggahertz]

If you believe that the housing market is going to futher deteriorate or even crash, why would you be building your dream home now? The right strategy would be to either rent out the extra home to hopefully cover the mortgage until things improve (who knows when), or fire sale both houses, sit on the cash, and then rent a home yourself until prices hit bottom.

A house is more than just an investment. I don't know if the OP has kids or is planning on that, but you also need to factor in what its worth to be living in your dream house vs. the current living situation or renting an apt, etc. You could wait five years, prices could be lower/higher, interest rates could be higher (prob not lower). The point is it's probably worth more to the OP and his family to enjoy their dream home now than continually delaying it because of an uncertain market.

 

[MetalMat]

Sometimes the truth hurts. If people really want to settle somewhere (jobs, schools, weather, whatever) then theyll move. Most of (geographic) America, is a barren wasteland of sameness with shitty restaurants, shitty schools, and shitty jobs with nothing to differentiate itself from a place a hundred miles away.

Wasn't California one of the top states to be affected by the housing crash. Not that I am knocking it though, I have had some crazy wacky times at Newport Beach.

 

[EagleKeeper]

A custom home built for you may not get hit with as much deterioration as one being purchased from a developer.

A quick turnout is not needed to recover capital.
His leverage is that he can have a crew busy for the next 6-12 months

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Louisville, KY. We've been pretty sheltered from most of the housing mess, but every since June it's just dropped like a rock. We check the property transfers every week and it's almost barren.

I believe you said this last month.

The credit DID NOT INFLUENCE housing prices. It just incented people to buy. Home prices did not magically fall after the credit nor were they artificially inflated, in fact they actually were up a slight tick last month.

People aren't buying homes and it's not because of price, it's because of the uncertainty of a terrible obama economy.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Our house sold for $525k at the peak. We bought it at $370 and put another 150k in it (that includs 1000 more sq/ft).

I think zillow has it at $461k right now. But we are not moving anytime soon so the money we put in was not a "investment" but to make out qulaity of life better.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7009-Ben-Franklin-Rd-Springfield-VA-22150/51941935_zpid/

why would you post your house on the intertubes?

 

[HopJokey]

Wasn't California one of the top states to be affected by the housing crash. Not that I am knocking it though, I have had some crazy wacky times at Newport Beach.

I believe this was due to how hard the non big three metros (Bay Area, LA, SD) were hit (Central valley like Sacramento/Stockton, etc.).

Everyone was and is affected by the housing market downturn however.

 

[Vette73]

why would you post your house on the intertubes?

OH NOES!!! Now people know where I live. Its not likes its public info or anything.

jesus, I think most of you live in your parents basement thinking someone is going to get you any minute now.

 

[Slew Foot]

I remember about 10 years ago, driving around the Bay area with a friend who worked at Dolby in San Francisco. He wanted to show me this house for sale.

He took me to this run down house (don't recall the town, but it might have been Palo Alto) and asked me to guess how much they were asking. The house was a single story house and at most, was 1500 sq ft and was in desperate need of update/repairs. Turns out it was selling for $400K. I still laugh at the prices of California housing. Sure, it is a beautiful state and I love visiting, but $400K for a dump I wouldn't put my dog in? No thanks. I bet just a few years after that, with the bubble inflating more, it hit $600K or $700K. I wonder what it would be worth now.

Run down 1500sqft house in PA? Probably close to 1.3 million.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/894-Ames-Av_Palo-Alto_CA_94303_1119271844

Like I said, live in a place with jobs that people want to live in, and you dont have to worry about your house going down in value. Live in bumblefuck and expect your house to make you a billionaire, well, then you're a moron.

 

[sactoking]

Sometimes the truth hurts. If people really want to settle somewhere (jobs, schools, weather, whatever) then theyll move. Most of (geographic) America, is a barren wasteland of sameness with shitty restaurants, shitty schools, and shitty jobs with nothing to differentiate itself from a place a hundred miles away.

Average home value in San Jose is $520,000, down from a peak of $702,000 (per Zillow). You fail at trolling.

 

[Deeko]

Run down 1500sqft house in PA? Probably close to 1.3 million.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/894-Ames-Av_Palo-Alto_CA_94303_1119271844

Like I said, live in a place with jobs that people want to live in, and you dont have to worry about your house going down in value. Live in bumblefuck and expect your house to make you a billionaire, well, then you're a moron.

Seriously kid, your ignorance would be a lot more forgiveable if it weren't backed by such absurd arrogance.

Take a gander at estimated values on Zillows for Palo Alto, San Jose, etc. Are their homes that made it through with an increase of value over the past few years? Yes. Did the cities as a whole see a drop in value (much like the rest of the country)? Also yes.

Its hard to fathom an educated person truly having an opinion as douchy as the "lolz us rich cali peeps r sooo much bettar than u!!1!!!1one!1" that you're displaying here, so I'm going to assume you're butthurt over something Spidey said in the past, and therefore just trolling for the sake of being a dick. So I will say again - grow up, sport.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Spidey,
Sorry to hear you're having a rough time. I'm gonna chime in with a few things I've learned in the past year about real estate.

1. It costs money to sell a house. Either you lose it by the blood sucking realtors that list the place or by the ones that bring their clients to the table with a list of stupid things they want done so they don't have to lift a finger when the move in....or they use the list to whittle the price down a few more thousand dollars.

2. Your first offer is often the best. Lately, the prices are dropping...if you get any offers on the place, don't counter too steep. Factor in paying the mortgage for 6-8 months and swallow your pride.

I was lucky because my wife and I were making a move a year ago. I sold my house in 6 weeks, but dropped the price $24k off my asking price just to be done with it. Looking back, it still hurts, but I was able to buy a home in my new city with no issues from the bank.

Good luck finding a buyer. If you know anyone that works for big companies or universities...ask them if they have company listserves you can post your listing on. People do that at my old place of work all the time and my wife gets those too at her current job. It seems people are always selling houses to coworkers instead of buying from complete strangers...

 

[Slew Foot]

Haha, you believe Zillow and you call me stupid?
Try actually living in the area and knowing what the market is like, me and SPidey actually see eye to eye on most things.

 

[Deeko]

Haha, you believe Zillow and you call me stupid?
Try actually living in the area and knowing what the market is like, me and SPidey actually see eye to eye on most things.

Another source for you: http://rereport.com/scc/main.html

I have yet to see a city-wide or county-wide source that shows San Jose or Santa Clara County avoiding the real estate crash. Are prices there still higher than other parts of the country? Yes. Have they dropped a noticeable amount percentage wise, similar to other parts of the country? Yes.

Seriously, troll, you are unbelievably wrong, and your cocky 12 year old attitude isn't helping your case.

You have three courses of action to save what remains of your dignity:

1) Actually provide a rebuttal, more than just the current selling price of one house
2) Admit you're wrong and apologize for your attitude
3) Slink away and don't post in the thread again

Any other course of action just makes you look even more wrong, and like even more of a dick.

 

[Saint Nick]

It is a renter's marker. Rent it out and sell when market changes.

 

[FelixDeCat]

How about $100,000 cash paypal right now, sight unseen? :sneaky:

 

[sygyzy]

You think it's tough being a home seller? Try being a buyer. It's definitely not a buyer's market because of the over-inflation of prices in past years. Sure, the market may have dropped 25% (or whatever). So that brings a $800k house to 600k. And I can't afford that. Oh, you think I am looking at a mansion? No, that's what 2 bedrooms go for here.

I could move to a shitty part of the country but the salaries will be in-line and I'll have the same problem, just different part of the pricing scale.

 

[Ns1]

The credit DID NOT INFLUENCE housing prices. It just incented people to buy. Home prices did not magically fall after the credit nor were they artificially inflated, in fact they actually were up a slight tick last month.

lol

//edit

damn, I was beat at post 56

 

[alkemyst]

You think it's tough being a home seller? Try being a buyer. It's definitely not a buyer's market because of the over-inflation of prices in past years. Sure, the market may have dropped 25% (or whatever). So that brings a $800k house to 600k. And I can't afford that. Oh, you think I am looking at a mansion? No, that's what 2 bedrooms go for here.

I could move to a shitty part of the country but the salaries will be in-line and I'll have the same problem, just different part of the pricing scale.

you are very wrong at it not being a buyer's market. If you have good credit or cash you can steal homes.

You may be still looking in places beyond your means though. Our Island of Palm Beach and Jupiter Island saw a bit of a spike during the boom, but most of the values for the 'real' properties haven't fallen too bad.

My home went from $265 to 96k though in 2 years...$265k was what I paid, this is not a 'paper' loss for me.

 

[IGBT]

no jobs. No sales. It's that simple. Rent it out.

 

[PricklyPete]

you are very wrong at it not being a buyer's market. If you have good credit or cash you can steal homes.

You may be still looking in places beyond your means though. Our Island of Palm Beach and Jupiter Island saw a bit of a spike during the boom, but most of the values for the 'real' properties haven't fallen too bad.

My home went from $265 to 96k though in 2 years...$265k was what I paid, this is not a 'paper' loss for me.

What do you mean it is not a paper loss? Did you sell at 96K?

 

[Slew Foot]

Another source for you: http://rereport.com/scc/main.html

I have yet to see a city-wide or county-wide source that shows San Jose or Santa Clara County avoiding the real estate crash. Are prices there still higher than other parts of the country? Yes. Have they dropped a noticeable amount percentage wise, similar to other parts of the country? Yes.

Seriously, troll, you are unbelievably wrong, and your cocky 12 year old attitude isn't helping your case.

You have three courses of action to save what remains of your dignity:

1) Actually provide a rebuttal, more than just the current selling price of one house
2) Admit you're wrong and apologize for your attitude
3) Slink away and don't post in the thread again

Any other course of action just makes you look even more wrong, and like even more of a dick.

I dont need to prove anything to you, you can keep living in your depreciating house, ill live in my appreciating one.

 

[Phokus]

My parents bought a 1440 square foot home in florida for 90K cash to use as a rental and probably eventual retirement home lol.

 

[Fritzo]

Yeah, that's happening everywhere You're in the "death zone" for house pricing, because that's the level that all the people making 25K a year thought they could afford, and now the market is flooded with forclosed and abandoned houses in that range. The only houses that are selling are sub $100K and over $500K--meaning people are either buying super bargains or are too rich to care about the economy.

I feel your pain because I went through this a couple of years ago. Hopefully you'll get some bites soon. Maybe try another realtor.