Selling a house SUCKS!

[leeland]

We are in our 11th month of selling our home and have gone through the progression of having a Realtor...got no where...to where we are now trying to sell on our own.

In the past month we have had one guy that is interested and has actually gone through the process of getting pre-approved and has a Realtor on his side helping him.

The first offer came in this weekend and it was a super low-ball on the price on top of additional things such as 'pay x,xxx to buyer to assist with xxx'

We tallied the costs of commission, our closing costs, and giving the buyer the money for his closing costs and it is close to 10 grand right off the top of the sale price of our home (which is listed in the mid 160's)

That is with only a 2% commission to the Realtor...I would be even more annoyed with this whole process if we would have had to pay the 6% we had with our other Realtor.

We countered the low-ball offer with something a little more reasonable to basically include his request for the closing costs into the sale price...as well as a little more to off set his incredible low ball offer...

I know it is a buyers market...and I would probably do the same if I were offering to buy a home...

Friggin' sucks when you are on the receiving end though and you have to smile and take it in the shorts in order to get out of your home...

Pisses me off more because 7 years ago we were in the era of the "SELLERS" market so we could not bargain at all as a buyer...just had to accept the higher price...

7 years later we are in a "BUYERS" market where they can demand your first born with the home

 

[highland145]

Gotta move or wait it out.

 

[edro]

90% offer is decent in this market. You should probably take what you can get, especially after 11 months.

 

[SunnyD]

7 years later we are in a "BUYERS" market where they can demand your first born with the home

Think about it this way... money in the bank AND one less mouth to feed. Win-Win situation?

 

[leeland]

Think about it this way... money in the bank AND one less mouth to feed. Win-Win situation?

thanks for the laugh!

90% offer is decent in this market. You should probably take what you can get, especially after 11 months.

I agree 11 months is getting up there as far as (time on the market)...

We don't HAVE to move...in our circle of friends we have had others who have had their homes on the market for 2 years or more waiting to sell.

It would be nice to just have it done and be able to move on to the next house with enough profit to be where we want to be.

 

[bullbert]

snip
The first offer came in this weekend and it was a super low-ball on the price on top of additional things such as 'pay x,xxx to buyer to assist with xxx'

We tallied the costs of commission, our closing costs, and giving the buyer the money for his closing costs and it is close to 10 grand right off the top of the sale price of our home (which is listed in the mid 160's)

snip

You could have countered with:

add $20K to price
change to 'pay 1x,xxx to buyer to assist with yyy'

or something like that. Seems he want a good price AND wants you to pay for his down-payment and closing costs. If he is greedy, he will accept a higher base cost, at the thought of walking out of the title company with the loan company paying for all his loan costs + down payment + cash in his pocket.

I hope you have hired a real estate lawyer (with or without a seller's agent) to cover your a**.

 

[OCGuy]

You are priced out of the market.

 

[dfuze]

My neighbor is in the same boat, her house has been on the market for over 6 months, she's looking to get into a condo or something w/o a lot of upkeep

Hope you can sell it soon!

 

[dullard]

It would be nice to just have it done and be able to move on to the next house with enough profit to be where we want to be.

Selling a house is very, very easy and usually very, very quick. All you have to do is lower your price to a price that the market will bear.

I see that you want a profit. Sorry, but your problem isn't that selling sucks, your problem is that you want more money than your house is worth.

 

[Miramonti]

It can be very difficult to get out of a house right now. It's no wonder why some people choose to just walk away...selling it for what the market is willing to buy it for can cost a lot of money, while staying in it until it finally sells at a decent price can also cost a lot of money.

 

[shadow9d9]

It is relatively easy to sell a house if it is priced reasonably in a good area. People are being greedy with their prices. You have to be realistic.

I sold one house in 2008 within 3 months and another in 2009 within 2 weeks. Bought one house in Feb this year.

 

[amdhunter]

Most homeowners should pay me to take their debt of a home out of their hands.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

We are in our 11th month of selling our home and have gone through the progression of having a Realtor...got no where...to where we are now trying to sell on our own.

In the past month we have had one guy that is interested and has actually gone through the process of getting pre-approved and has a Realtor on his side helping him.

The first offer came in this weekend and it was a super low-ball on the price on top of additional things such as 'pay x,xxx to buyer to assist with xxx'

We tallied the costs of commission, our closing costs, and giving the buyer the money for his closing costs and it is close to 10 grand right off the top of the sale price of our home (which is listed in the mid 160's)

That is with only a 2% commission to the Realtor...I would be even more annoyed with this whole process if we would have had to pay the 6% we had with our other Realtor.

We countered the low-ball offer with something a little more reasonable to basically include his request for the closing costs into the sale price...as well as a little more to off set his incredible low ball offer...

I know it is a buyers market...and I would probably do the same if I were offering to buy a home...

Friggin' sucks when you are on the receiving end though and you have to smile and take it in the shorts in order to get out of your home...

Pisses me off more because 7 years ago we were in the era of the "SELLERS" market so we could not bargain at all as a buyer...just had to accept the higher price...

7 years later we are in a "BUYERS" market where they can demand your first born with the home

11 months, huh? Seems to me like you missed the obvious as the downfall of the home construction market, the collapse of the housing credit market, and the sub-prime mess leaving a huge over-inventory or properties available would make it a bad time to sell your own home.

They estimate that the unsold inventory along with the 1st and 2nd waves of foreclosed homes will result in excess supplies for another 3-5 years.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

your price is too high

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Simple rule of real estate. If your house doesn't sell in 3 months, you are asking to much. And these days, to many people are asking for what they want, not what they will get. I see some $300,$400,$500K listed in my area and they are off by over $100K.

The funiest thing is someone that overpriced their home during the bubble. They wanted $700K for a home worth, maybe $500K. nice neghborhood but SQFT wise it was worth $500K. We didn't even bother looking at hte place even though it was in our price range. If priced correctly though, they might have had us buy it. Now the place is probably worth in the low $400s.

Exception: Extreemely pricy homes. I have seen some homes in the $3m+ range take years to sell. Thee's just less liquidity in that market.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

PS: You are going to still pay a 3% commision. And if not, you still have people looking at your house that know you are not paying 6% and they will want to pay 3% less than they would pay otherwise. Saving money is not a 1 way streat when selling on your own. Also, enjoy all the vacation time you are going to waste when showing the home. And hte 50% of people that don't even want to buy a home that you are wasting your time on. And yes, I have sold on my own. I did it once and never will again. It is a waste of time and effort and you won't get that much more if anything.

 

[WhiteFireDragon]

lol the housing market now is just shit for sellers, and great for buyers. my mom is in real estate, and she would know. we had this same problem of selling one of our houses without any luck, so one solution is to rent it out for the time being until the market gets a little better, then try to sell again when it's at more value

 

[Triumph]

First off, why would the buyer involve a realtor when it is FSBO? Who pays the commission, the buyer or seller? Because if I was FSBO, I don't think I'd be happy paying someone else's realtor to do their job for them.

Secondly, I don't know what your market is like, but houses are funny - it's possible for buyers to snag a really good deal now and then, but it's rare for sellers to try gouging and win. What happens instead is...your house sits on the market for 11 months. Again I don't know what your market is like but you must be overpriced by some extent if no one is buying.

 

[IGBT]

it will be worse yet next year when to obama tax hikes kick in, in January. Tons of property for sale in my area. People want to get out now rather then loose on higher taxes in January.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

We are in our 11th month of selling our home and have gone through the progression of having a Realtor...got no where...to where we are now trying to sell on our own.

In the past month we have had one guy that is interested and has actually gone through the process of getting pre-approved and has a Realtor on his side helping him.

The first offer came in this weekend and it was a super low-ball on the price on top of additional things such as 'pay x,xxx to buyer to assist with xxx'

We tallied the costs of commission, our closing costs, and giving the buyer the money for his closing costs and it is close to 10 grand right off the top of the sale price of our home (which is listed in the mid 160's)

That is with only a 2% commission to the Realtor...I would be even more annoyed with this whole process if we would have had to pay the 6% we had with our other Realtor.

We countered the low-ball offer with something a little more reasonable to basically include his request for the closing costs into the sale price...as well as a little more to off set his incredible low ball offer...

I know it is a buyers market...and I would probably do the same if I were offering to buy a home...

Friggin' sucks when you are on the receiving end though and you have to smile and take it in the shorts in order to get out of your home...

Pisses me off more because 7 years ago we were in the era of the "SELLERS" market so we could not bargain at all as a buyer...just had to accept the higher price...

7 years later we are in a "BUYERS" market where they can demand your first born with the home

wow mid $160's?
that was like the down payment on my condo. i wish i could own a home for that much.

 

[Pardus]

Some people on my block are walking away from there mortgage's and taking the big hit on there credit report.

House #1 - Paid: $475.000 in 2004, now its valued at $254.000
House #2 - Paid: $467,500 in 2003, now its valued at $229,800

My neighbor's say the bank wont re-negotiate the new homes value and they figure why keep paying such a high mortgage.. when they can claim bankruptcy and rent for a few years till there credit clears up.

This is why i rent

 

[Jumpem]

Selling a house is very, very easy and usually very, very quick. All you have to do is lower your price to a price that the market will bear.

I see that you want a profit. Sorry, but your problem isn't that selling sucks, your problem is that you want more money than your house is worth.

This. If a house is for sale for more than a few months it is priced too high.

I just hope that my future house, along with a good location, will make it easier to tolerate getting hosed selling my current house.

 

[rh71]

Selling a house is very, very easy and usually very, very quick. All you have to do is lower your price to a price that the market will bear.

I see that you want a profit. Sorry, but your problem isn't that selling sucks, your problem is that you want more money than your house is worth.

my first thought too... so what are comps saying your house should be worth? That's what buyers should go by although a lot will just lowball your asking... price it right plus a little negotiating room and you'll know which are the serious buyers. And find out the negative points of your particular house and see if you can do anything about it.

We sold ours in May after about 40 days on the market... it only had 1 bathroom but we were priced on par with the others, slightly above because of condition and backyard. We ended up getting about 29k above what we bought it for 8 years ago... fine with us... we just wanted out sooner rather than later. Showing all the time with kids' crap to clean up is not fun.

Our new house they overpriced it so badly... 489k start and we only offered 400k and ignored their asking... had 430k in mind and got it for that... (400k initial offer for a 430k is about right) - they were desperate as it was sitting empty with 12k taxes. God only knows why they overprice in this economy, and being desperate - they didn't exactly hide it either.

 

[child of wonder]

We sold our house 3 days after it went on the market. But we were extremely motivated to sell because the longer it sat on the market, the longer I would be 250 miles away working M-F while my wife and kids were at home.

We got our full asking price without paying any buyer closing costs. We could have gotten $5k-$10k more had we held out but I'd rather be out the money and have my family back together right away.

 

[leeland]

my first thought too... so what are comps saying your house should be worth? That's what buyers should go by although a lot will just lowball your asking... price it right plus a little negotiating room and you'll know which are the serious buyers. And find out the negative points of your particular house and see if you can do anything about it.

We sold ours in May after about 40 days on the market... it only had 1 bathroom but we were priced on par with the others, slightly above because of condition and backyard. We ended up getting about 29k above what we bought it for 8 years ago... fine with us... we just wanted out sooner rather than later. Showing all the time with kids' crap to clean up is not fun.

Our new house they overpriced it so badly... 489k start and we only offered 400k and ignored their asking... had 430k in mind and got it for that... (400k initial offer for a 430k is about right) - they were desperate as it was sitting empty with 12k taxes. God only knows why they overprice in this economy, and being desperate - they didn't exactly hide it either.

A little info on the house:

all appliances included / 2 year old trex deck / 2100 sq. ft / 3 br / 2 bath / finished lower level ranch / finished and insulated 2 car garage included wall mounted LCD tv

The most recent tax appraisal came in at 163,000

We have done many updates (which I realize you don't get a ton back on that investment and is more for a selling point) and put in new flooring and totally remodeled a bathroom.

When we had a realtor it was priced high in my opinion at 176,000 (no action for 5 months and we put it on the market at a bad time right around school starting).

Come spring we dumped the realtor and went FSBO and purchased a MLS number on our own.

First off, why would the buyer involve a realtor when it is FSBO? Who pays the commission, the buyer or seller? Because if I was FSBO, I don't think I'd be happy paying someone else's realtor to do their job for them.

The contract for the MLS number allowed us to offer 2% commission to a realtor if they brought a buyer. I have no idea why the guy has a realtor...she showed him some houses apparently...found ours and he has used her to write the offer but didn't sign a contract (not sure if he has to pay her anything...I don't think he does)

You could have countered with:

add $20K to price
change to 'pay 1x,xxx to buyer to assist with yyy'

or something like that. Seems he want a good price AND wants you to pay for his down-payment and closing costs. If he is greedy, he will accept a higher base cost, at the thought of walking out of the title company with the loan company paying for all his loan costs + down payment + cash in his pocket.

I hope you have hired a real estate lawyer (with or without a seller's agent) to cover your a**.

Ultimately we could have said we put the price at 200,000 and it wouldn't matter...what matters is the assessed value when the bank comes in and does the assessment of the property. If they say it is only worth 160,000 then that is the amount they will finance and we would have to make that decision if we accept.

We are close with this buyer now (within a couple of thousand of dollars)

We offered 167,000 and he countered with 164,000...

I would almost be willing to take it or counter with 166,000 or 165,500

My wife doesn't want to drop that low so that is a convo we have to have (dreading it)

Also we did hire an attorney for our side of things

PS: You are going to still pay a 3% commision. And if not, you still have people looking at your house that know you are not paying 6% and they will want to pay 3% less than they would pay otherwise. Saving money is not a 1 way streat when selling on your own. Also, enjoy all the vacation time you are going to waste when showing the home. And hte 50% of people that don't even want to buy a home that you are wasting your time on. And yes, I have sold on my own. I did it once and never will again. It is a waste of time and effort and you won't get that much more if anything.

I can understand your point and I totally agree...

I kind of look at it like a double edge sword...the realtor we had (wasn't that good) didn't generate more interest than what we have on our own...

IDK if I would do it again to be honest with you