Selling a house SUCKS!

[Demon-Xanth]

You joke about the first born, but I do know of an instance where a dog was included in the sale of the house.

The people buying the house loved the dog and the people selling were moving to a place that the dog couldn't go. So they sold the house with the dog.

 

[Dulanic]

People that think the housing market in Texas defines the market in the rest of the country are stupid.

People who also don't know the reason texas houses are cheaper and stupid too 🙂 Property Taxes are rather high there. You add the taxes + mortgage and those "cheap" houses suddenly become much more expensive... and the taxes never stop.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

People who also don't know the reason texas houses are cheaper and stupid too 🙂 Property Taxes are rather high there. You add the taxes + mortgage and those "cheap" houses suddenly become much more expensive... and the taxes never stop.

Seriously you've never lived in Texas. We don't have a state tax and I'm pretty sure we have one of the lowest cost of living in the U.S. Where do you get the idea we pay out the nose for property taxes? All you guys up north bragging about how much you make makes us laugh. You would have to make 100K+ to live as comfortably as I do here in Texas making much less.

 

[DrunkenSano]

If you pay property tax in Jersey, taxes just about everywhere else seem much cheaper.

 

[evident]

i think the only thing worse than buying a house is selling one probably.

 

[Dulanic]

Seriously you've never lived in Texas. We don't have a state tax and I'm pretty sure we have one of the lowest cost of living in the U.S. Where do you get the idea we pay out the nose for property taxes? All you guys up north bragging about how much you make makes us laugh. You would have to make 100K+ to live as comfortably as I do here in Texas making much less.

Dead wrong 🙂 I lived in Flower Mound, TX. I love TX by the way, I want to go back and am not bashing TX. I am simply saying, TX does have higher property taxes which is factored into the housing prices. I know overall cost of living is cheaper there than where I am, there is no question in that. I'd love to move back to TX. I was simply talking about housing prices... thats it.

Damn you got defensive lol. And damn do I find it hilarious how you made statements of things you have no idea about.... like where I have lived.

 

[vi edit]

i think the only thing worse than buying a house is selling one probably.

Building one is in between...with maybe a chance of superceeding both depending on the snafu's you run into during the process.

 

[leeland]

Good luck. Bad move selling a house right now. Is my house worth what I paid originally? No. Am I gonna get bent over just to sell? Hell no. Paying my house off early and gonna go from there. Too much invested just to sell just to sell.

I can't argue with you on that statement...we have land that we want to build on and just want out of the house. We are going to walk away with a profit and are just happy we are at the next phase...which is find a place to live temporarily while we get the new home built

 

[shadow9d9]

Try living in Jersey. A small house here can buy a mansion where you live.

There's a good reason for that. Recently moved back from Florida and you couldn't pay me to live in the south again.

 

[SandEagle]

just walk away

 

[Evadman]

I got mine for less than what the buyer bought it for new 13 years previously. Welcome to suckyness as a seller, awesomeness if you are a buyer.

 

[OutHouse]

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 🙂

i feel the pain. im so upside down now im stuck.

 

[Dirigible]

Why the hell can't my local housing market go in the shitter? Dammit! I want to buy a place and prices are still ridiculously high.

 

[Mermaidman]

Whatever you "lose" on selling your house, you will recoup on the house you're buying. Same depressed market--It all evens out.

 

[vi edit]

Whatever you "lose" on selling your house, you will recoup on the house you're buying. Same depressed market--It all evens out.

While true....

If I have to bring $10,000 to the table to get out of my current home I'm out $10,000. Which is no small amount of money to just throw in a fire.

If I "save" $10,000 on the next place I'm buying that's only $60 a month savings for a typical mortgage. It's not apples to apples.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I agree, if my parents didn't have this stupid house, I could have 5-6 really nice cars.

Even with the house I could have maybe 1 or 2, but now they have an excuse not to buy me one..WTF.

You are joking I assume. If you aren't, you're a jerk, go buy your own car.

 

[StageLeft]

It sucks. I spent 6 months selling our house a few years ago in same price range as yours. I'm sure you've heard endless advice, so I have none additional, but I feel your pain 🙂 Buying is a far better experience in my experience.

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.

Is there a point to this story other than to piss off the OP? I'm being serious, what was the point of it?

OK I do have advice. Everyone says you're priced too high and they are probably right. It's possible something is key-wrong with it, though, like a musty basement or it's staged horribly.

I'm in the middle of placing an offer and of course my company announced more layoffs in Sept.It's a buyers market because people lose their jobs in this country on a 6 month rotation.

Back out now unless you're sure you'll be ok for at least a year if you lose your job.

BTW make sure you are NOT looking at $2k as "well $2,000 is a new tv, laptop, vacation, etc." that is absolutely the wrong way and will force obsession over a small dollar amount. The correct approach is $2k is less than a percent of purchase price so who gives a sh*t, really; it's not like your life depends on making repeated good margins with houses and I bet it sucks, the stress of selling it, it always does if you're going on for months and months. My parents and parents in law both spent a year selling their homes recently and truly hated the experience.

 

[vi edit]

And to continue my last thought....

You don't really have skin in the real estate market until you go to sell. That's when you get the full circle feeling of what it's like to be on the selling end and how frustrating buyers are haggling over a couple thousand bucks.

To a buyer $5,000 bucks is $30 a month or less. Less than $400 over the course of a year.

To the seller $5,000 is huge. It's the difference between paying off a car and saving several hundred a month in payments. Or the difference between paying for a good chunk of tuition for their kids for that year. Or any number of things...

When you go to sell you want to squeeze every quarter you can out that thing. Because the realtor is going to stroll away with $10,000....$20,000...$30,000...and you are left with whatever else you can rip away from buyers because that's *real* money.

 

[shadow9d9]

And to continue my last thought....

You don't really have skin in the real estate market until you go to sell. That's when you get the full circle feeling of what it's like to be on the selling end and how frustrating buyers are haggling over a couple thousand bucks.

To a buyer $5,000 bucks is $30 a month or less. Less than $400 over the course of a year.

To the seller $5,000 is huge. It's the difference between paying off a car and saving several hundred a month in payments. Or the difference between paying for a good chunk of tuition for their kids for that year. Or any number of things...

When you go to sell you want to squeeze every quarter you can out that thing. Because the realtor is going to stroll away with $10,000....$20,000...$30,000...and you are left with whatever else you can rip away from buyers because that's *real* money.

So what? Wasting 11 months because you are being stingy is the equivalent of a ton of money you just wasted.

 

[spidey07]

Had to lower the wife's house 25K. This sucks. Thankfully we're not desperate to sell but like vi_edit pointed out, that is cash we would like to have. But the market sets the price.

It's been on the market a little under 3 months. Like others have said, if you want to sell a house quickly it has to be priced lower and stand out from all the others in the area. If it hasn't sold in 11 months the simple fact is it is priced too high.

 

[child of wonder]

Is there a point to this story other than to piss off the OP? I'm being serious, what was the point of it?

The point is we priced our house aggressively to get it sold ASAP. Despite how crappy the market is, you can sell a house quickly if the price is right.

I'm not saying the OP is asking too much, but I'm pointing out how quickly a house can sell even in today's market.

Unfortunately, the housing credit bubble is up. Perhaps the OP could have offered a lower price before the credit expired to get a buyer. But I don't know his situation and I'm not qualified to judge.

 

[shadow9d9]

The point is we priced our house aggressively to get it sold ASAP. Despite how crappy the market is, you can sell a house quickly if the price is right.

I'm not saying the OP is asking too much, but I'm pointing out how quickly a house can sell even in today's market.

Unfortunately, the housing credit bubble is up. Perhaps the OP could have offered a lower price before the credit expired to get a buyer. But I don't know his situation and I'm not qualified to judge.

That is another great point. Not taking advantage of the tax credit available and pricing aggressively was a huge, huge mistake.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Seriously, why would anyone pay over 100,000 for a house? The turnpikes in Jersey are not worth it, especially with all the rude & tacky people who live there.

 

[Golgatha]

Just sold a house for a $3,500 loss when you exclude value added by down payment and building equity for 6 years. So disheartening. We did however get a sweet deal on our new house and I'm not paying two sets of bills and mowing two lawns anymore. Took about 3.5 months from beginning to end.

Price and presentation are key.

 

[OutHouse]

Whatever you "lose" on selling your house, you will recoup on the house you're buying. Same depressed market--It all evens out.

the value of my home dropped 45K. and thats just about the difference between what i owe and what i could sell it for. how would i recoup that buying a new house when i would have to roll that into the loan.