sell my house

Finally. FINALLY! I moved out last Wednesday and then closed on the house last Friday. I lost some money on it, but in the long run it will be very worth it. The new owner got a great deal, but I got my freedom and my life back. I think it’s a fair trade!

WORTH DOING!!!

The inspection went well. I only have to fix 1 thing, some vents in the attic. I found a contractor to do it for $240, and that’s it. I’ll be out before Thanksgiving. YAY!

Time flies after you get an offer. I accepted the offer last week, the inspection was on Monday, and I only have to fix one thing. I think we’re going to close the deal before thanksgiving! I better get started packing.

I’m so upset that the house hasn’t sold yet. It’s been keeping me from moving on in my life for over a year—first spending all my time finishing the renovations, and now by not selling. It’s driving me crazy.

I met a new neighbor, a guy who bought the house down the block (the only house that has sold in my neighborhood all summer long). He said that he bought it on an impulse, he didn’t even bother to look at other houses—just saw the one and made an offer. Why couldn’t it be my house that he went to see? ARGH!

Don’t know why, maybe it’s the fall weather, but I think someone will be making an offer soon. I’ve dropped my price so that it’s now the lowest priced 4-bed/3-bath in the school district, so that seems to be helping.

What bugs me is that someone offered the same price a few months ago, before I had even finished fixing up the house. They would have bought it as-is, and I wouldn’t have had to do all the extra work and gone through this summer of hell. But I was greedy. I was so sure that someone would pay a lot more once it was all done, but I was wrong. I wish I could blame someone like my broker or my friends for not pushing me into it harder (which they did), but I only have myself to blame.

Still, I think it will all be over soon.

One piece of advice for others: if you’re fixing up a house and think that you’ll be selling it soon, DON’T make it special. Make it boring, traditional, blah, and bland. Don’t do what they show you on those fix-up shows on TV. Use the cheapest or most generic materials. Because even though people seem to like some of it, they don’t BUY it. They buy boring stuff so that they can fix it up themselves.

It’s been 10 days and only one person came to see the house. And only 4 or 5 have driven by and taken a flyer. I checked the home sales in the area, and almost nothing has moved. What’s up with the market? Why now?

I’m kicking myself because before I finished fixing up the house, I was given a low-ball offer to buy it as-is, unfinished. But all of the real estate agents I talked to said that if I finished the house it would be worth at least $30k more than that offer, so I turned it down. That was a mistake. The house has been on the market for over two months and I’ve just lowered the price to only $20k more than that low-ball offer, and I’ll bet that when I finally sell the house I will be getting the same amount I could have gotten nearly 6 months ago—without all the hassle of finishing the house. I probably would have made more because of all the extra mortgage interest I’ve paid in those 6 months. The agents put dollar signs in my eyes and I was blinded by greed. Lesson learned. Real estate agents suck.

A couple from Florida looked at the house this week, and the wife loved it. She kept raving about how perfect it was, how she would have done exactly the same thing to the layout and design of the house as I did. Even the husband seemed to like it. But in the end, they chose to live in a different part of town. There’s still a chance, if the other deal falls apart and they change thier minds about the neighborhood. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

I’ve lowerd the price again. I think I’ll only lower it once more to my lowest comfort level. And then… well, then i really don’t know what to do after that. I guess I’ll have to keep going down until someone buys it, because in a few months I’ll be leaving town for good.

What upsets me is that several months ago, when I was still working on the house and it wasn’t finished, a couple made me an offer to sell it to them as-is. I turned them down because I was convinced by all the agents that the market was still good in Atlanta and that they could get me a higher price. But now I’ve dropped the house so much that I’d only be getting about $10k to $15k more thier old offer. I should have taken it. It would have made much better financial sense. But I took a chance, thinking that I’d get more when the house is completely “finished.” Guess I was wrong. Dammit! (Of course, if the house sold quickly and I made $50k more than that price, I would have gone bananas and praised myself for going the full distance.)

Last weekend, zero buyers came to my open houses on Saturday or Sunday. This weekend – Six! Three on Saturday, three on Sunday.

C’mon, people. Someone make me an offer!

I staged the house, and everyone says that it looks great. No more comments about small bedrooms or anything negative at all. But there are very few buyers right now. In the past 3 weeks it’s been shown only 4 times. I had an Open House this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday and didn’t get a single walk-in. It’s d-e-a-d out there. 4 other houses are for sale on my block now, and they’ve got the same problem. My broker showed me the latest outlook, and it looks like it’s the entire area that’s slowed to a crawl.

I’m lowering the price again, and I’m increasing the Buyer’s Agent commission by 1% if they get a sale this month, or 1/2% for next month. It’s getting closer to the school year starting (in 3 weeks), so I don’t know if that will increase or decrese my odds. (At this point, I think they can only go up!)

It’s very frustrating. I busted my ass for 7 months, all winter long and into spring, working as fast and hard as I could to get the house on the market. And when I do… the market freezes! Before that it was hot. Houses on my block were selling in 2, 3, 4 weeks, and at prices higher than ever. Bad timing I guess.

At one point I wasn’t rushing to sell, I could stay here as long as it took, and it was a nice feeling. Now I’ve got a whole ‘nother life that’s starting in another city, and I’m dying to leave.

Stupid housing market.

Met with my borkers again today. They showed me the data… in the last 4 weeks, only 1 house in my neighborhood has been sold. That’s terible compared to the data for the last 12 months. They’re in the same position I am. The market has slowed down.

I’m getting a little itchy about it, so I’m going to try some new things. I’m lowering the price again, and I’m raising my Seller’s commission another 1%. I’m also going to borrow some furniture to try and “stage” the guest bedrooms since we got feedback saying that they looked small. And I’m also going to get a price quote about how much it would cost to combine the 2 guest bedrooms into 1 to make it bigger, and post it in the house. We’re rewriting the fliers and I’m going to be taking some new pictures for it.

With all these different strategies, I’m hoping it will spur someone to buy.