Long story shorter...lol... We bought our current home in Jan. '06. We listed our previous home, received an offer with contingencies. We allowed the buyers to rent until they could close (they needed to sell their property). While "renting", they changed their minds and bought something else. So, after a year of owning this place, we re-list the other place.

We bought that place in '98 and it was only a few years old. It is 4 bedrooms, 2 baths on half an acre with low taxes and utilities. We paid $87,000 9 years ago before it went to reposession. We got a steal. With cost of living and the changes to the home, we are listed at $117,700. Based on the market, etc. it seemed reasonable. It appears that those seeing the home think we are desperate. The first offer was $84,000?! WHAT? We paid more than that 9 years ago! The offer last night was for $93,00 and we pay closing. (Oh...so that is only $90,000). We would clear $12,000. We put down $17,000 in '98!!

Granted, it needs shingles (the roof was done originally in the winter and didn't seal well and it's windy in the country! LOL). BUT...we did improvements and are including all kitchen appliances. (we got no appliances when we bought it ). I think the place looks pretty good. (I was prepared for the worst after the first family moved out!) Our bottom line is $110,000 and they pay closing. I understand the market is soft, but things in our area appear to be rebounding. Is it unreasonable to expect to make a little money after all these years? Is it common to make offers 20-25% below asking price? I know we have never made an offer more than 10% below asking price. I am ready to just list both places and see what happens. We really can't afford any more loss on the other place. As it is, our bottom line is over $7,000 below our first offer. Between that and extra mortgage and utilities, we are ready to lose $10,000. UGH!

Any ideas? Sorry so long!

You have to look at the comps. It's a buyers' market in most places in the US, so you need to look at it from their perspective and what other properties they are choosing from in your area - including new construction, Unforunately, it has little (or nothing) to do with what you paid for it or how much you'd clear on the sale.

cj/

I agree with CJS. This is a buyer's market. We sold a house last year for $281 that we had paid $305 for a year earlier. At this point, you are probably better off just letting it go and cutting your losses. IF you hold out for $110, chances are you will get it - someday. But, what will you spend in taxes, mortgage payments, insurance and upkeep until then? IF you find a qualified buyer with no contingincies- sell it. The market is predicted to get even worse as this year goes on.

OTHO If there was a house for sale here for $117 that was clean, and decent, I would buy 5 of them!

Here, $117K would get me a one bedroom, one bath in a part of town I would rather not live in.

I KNOW it stinks- I have been there!

Losing money is the worst, but, there came a time we had to leave, and it was lose the money ( and take a few years to recover) or be stuck with two mortgages.

I totally understand that. The market here is actually rebounding. There are 2 houses under contract within our very small area that are over $145,000 and they are NOT new construction. I mean really, where can you buy a 14 year old house in great shape for in the $90s? I think most people buy a home as an investment. I certainly don't expect to LOSE money on it! For that, I will keep it and give it away to my own children in a few years.

As for comps, we had 2 different realtors comp it and priced it at $119,900 and $117,700. I don't think $110,000 is unrealistic. It may be a buyer's market, but I guess we wait. It has only been re-listed for amonth. Our other offer ($117,000) was just 9 months ago. I hope the market hasn't dropped 25% in that time. If so, I may need to buy some more property! LOL

I think it is all especially hard now that we had a good offer and then got "screwed". It makes it hard not to feel badly about all of this.

In my mind, I can make YEARS worth of payments for the difference and still write off the interest on our taxes, KWIM? Upkeep is minimal and the propane tank won't need filled utnil the fall. Or if I am going to sell it for $90,000 I will help out a family member or someone we know.

I mentioned before that empty houses are target for "vultures" here. Really, we had done all we could to NOT list it empty. I keep telling myself that I will re-sell this place and move back before we give it away! Maybe I am not the one who should negotiate, huh? LOL I am not in love with this place, especially not for the cost difference. I guess I need to keep business, business and not get into my feelings! LOL

And Cici...I should link the realtor.com listing. The photo is bad, but you get the idea. Unfortunately, the area is very small and I don't want to link that much personal info.

We built a new house expecting our current house to sell quickly. It's now been on the market for 5 1/2 months and we closed on our new home 6 weeks ago. Today we changed realtors. She said it's a beautiful house and she doesn't know why it hasn't sold. In the 5 1/2 months, we've reduced our price $15K and our one and only offer was $20 below that. We negotiated and could only get within $9K. So, we continue. It may be a slow market, but it's for SALE, not for STEAL. We will wait until we get a decent offer...double payments or not.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

I hear ya! Even at $110,000 it is a great deal! We have made the double payments since last March (with 4 months of rent in there), so we can keep going a little while longer. I didn't expect to have an offer before the summer anyway.

I'll have to tell my realtor the "It's for sale, not for STEAL" quote! LOL He is pushing us to work out things with this offer. He listed it at $117,700 and then seemed surprised when I told him that was our last offer. DUH! I think he thought we were paying closing, etc. on that last offer. For $117,000 I will pay closing costs!

you can get a good idea about housing values and prices at Zillow - Real Estate Valuations, Homes for Sale, Free Real Estate Information

I know when we were looking to buy 2 years ago, we looked at one house, it was listed for $219,000. The house had a pool and a wood shop out back, no real land to speak of, and it was 30 years old. The "owners" bought it less than a year prior as an investment. It honestly needed to be gutted, so, we offered $189,000. Of course they didn't take it, and thought we were nuts, but, that was all we were willing to pay. We wound up finding a 1yr. old home one street back and bought that instead. Funny thing is, we drive by that first house EVERY day, and it is always something being replaced,windows, heating/AC unit, and I'm sure they did a LOT inside, as you would have HAD to, we were in it, and saw it. They paid FULL PRICE, too.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is, people can offer whatever they want. It is up to you if you want to accept that. It is a soft market, and people thing you should give them your house, basically.

Good Luck. Give zillow a look, you'll be surprised.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Has your Realtor done any marketing of your house?
Has the Realtor done an Open House? Do you have a yard sign with flyers of your home that include a picture or pictures of the house, as well as room sizes, house features and improvements?
When we were selling our last home, we planted colorful flowers, made sure all our shrubs were shaped and cut so you could really see the house. We placed air freshners throughout the house.
On the MLS listing we pointed out some updates we had recently done like freshly painted, new appliances, new carpet and tile.
For a few hundred dollars you can include a Home Warranty to make it more attractive to people who want a brand new home.

Good Luck, hope your home sells fast!

P.S. One more thing you can do to push your house is offer an incentive if the house closes by lets say June 1 for full asking price you will give a $500 bonus to the selling agent. This incentive might motivate some Realtors to push your house.

THANKS for the ideas. Yes, he has done quite a bit of marketing and 2 open houses in a month. He has a yard sign, but no flyers attached (I have not really seen many realtor signs that do this around here.) The shrubs are trimmed, the yard mowed, things clean, it smells good (I was worried about that empty house smell), etc. One thinf we could do is offer the incentive. That would be interesting.

The comments on the home are good (other than the roof). It is in the country and that is the problem now. It has a small yard for a rural home. We have changed everything we could except the roof. That is in line for the summer if needed.

We bought a house in Dec of 2005 that was a foreclosure and we put our house up for sale the same week. SO we had 3 morgages at the same time, one on each house and a home equity to fix the forclosure. We NEVER thought it would take 6 months to sell our first house, but that was the downturn around here.

We originally listed for $319, then came down to $309 by February and really NEEDED $300 when all was said and done. We had an offer of $279! FORGET IT, we were SO MAD!

We ended up taking $290 on the 6th month, but they let us take all of the appliances, a wood stove, and some other things that were going to be included. The realtor also pitched in a thousand dollars to help the deal along. We got out just in time, we were 2 weeks late on our one morgage payment, but we made it. 3 morgages was really tough on one salary!


Have you thought about holding on to the house and renting it out? The morgage shouldn't be too high or you could refinance to make it cheaper per month. The rental market is going to start taking off because of intrest rates going up and the forclosures that are looming. If you aren't going to make anything selling it, at least let someone else pay the morgage for you!

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

I am with the others its a bad market right now for sellers the house next door just went on the market for 79k same house as mine we paid 60k for ours 10yrs ago so I dont think its great considering what they sale for will most likely be lower 70 - 75 if they are lucky take out closing & you arent coming out with much KWIM I think its sad too.

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mom of 3 greats girls

Oh1 my god are you kidding $110,000 I bought a 1 bedroom condo for that price not a house. I am not sure what state you are in, but here in West Hartford and Hartford for that price you can find a home that needs everything re-done. I wish I could find something for that price I would of bought it from you LOL. I am not sure if you look at Design to Sell and those tv show they do give you great ideas to make your home look more appealing to those buyers. Also go to open houses around your area to see what others have and see what you competing with since everyone else is selling. I am not sure if I can post a site that will help you put a free ad with 6 picture of your home I know many people here go that route and it works I am going to pm the site to you now and you just have to make sure you post it in the correct state where your home is. Good Luck! and if you are better off keeping it and renting it you can also list it for rent on that site and place it for sale when the market booms again.

We have been debating on buying a home..We have talk to a realtor and they told us most of the time the seller will pay all the closing or most of it.. Everyone we know that sold their home (in this area) they paid all the closing......From a buyer pespective what catches my attention are pictures..I want to see what the house looks like inside & out before wasting my time with it...I've seen houses that I thought I would never consider but when I saw what the house look inside online it becomes a potental home for us.

Our next door neighbor sold his home himself rather quicky..He made a website,posted ads in the paper,base paper,base housing, and attached flyers to his for sell sign..He website was amazing it had a nice homey feeling..he had cute little sayings about every room in the house

Things I want to see in a home is nice carpet "not worn." .I don't care about appliances or window treatments....I would like to see freshly painted walls,nice floors and cabinets that are in decent shape.. nice water fixtures & lighting fixtures, ceiling fans in living room and in all the bedrooms....nicely groom yard and finally a extremely clean house..

In my opinion I'm paying for the sq footage & how old the home is ... I don't care about location...I have seen older homes (same sq footage) for around the same price as in fairly new subdivisions and better locaton.. I really don't understand that one.

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Angels may not come when you call them, but they'll always be there when you need them.

I'm in the process of buying right now and I'm going in low on every property I look at. If the seller doesn't take it, there is another house down the block...that's just how it is right now. I put an offer on one today that has dropped in price $60k in the last 6 months. It's in an area that houses list at $500k. I will pick it up for $410....

Cici is right, if you find a qualified buyer with no contingincies and they even come close to 90-92% of your asking price - you should jump at it. Some of the houses here have been on the market 300 days or more...and with all the new construction and forclosures popping up all over the country, you might put yourself in a rough spot if you wait too long.

Good luck and I will keep my fingers crossed for you!

I'm in Ohio and where I am the market is great for buyers but not great for sellers. We are looking for a house now. It's amazing to me that some houses here have been on the market for 1-2 yrs and they have never dropped the price or are not willing to negotiate their price at all. I guess that's why they're still for sale after a year or so. Those are the houses I will never go back to even when or if they finally lower the price. People around here seem to think their houses are these big gold mines but that's not the case. Our realtor has actually told us to start the offer process at about 20% off the listing price. I just haven't seen anything that I like with 4 bedrooms and a nice yard around here that I like.

Jen

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Mom to Jake, Zach & Meghan
SJCC STREAKS FOOTBALL!!
CLEVELAND BROWNS FOOTBALL!

LOL...we just talked to DH's sister who is a realtor near Marysville/Columbus. She said that they usually tell people to expect to get about 90% of what you are asking. It's just hard to start when the offers are 25-30% below!

We have 4 bedrooms with a nice yard in the country here in rural NW/West Central OH.

We countered at $114,000 and we pay closing. Our realtor reiterated that we aren't being unreasonable and you can expect to have the price increase 2-3% a year. SO...we are totally within reason. (even with us getting a steal 9 1/2 years ago.)

I wouldn't even counter an offer of 80%... an offer that low would make me think they weren't serious.

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

The funny thing here is most the houses we looked at have ended up being sold for almost 15-20% off the asking price. So the market here isn't too great. That's why they tell us to start at 20% off asking price. It is unheard of here to see a house sell for asking price. I have 3 friends who just bought houses here in the last year and the all offered ALOT less then asking and were accepted Houses just aren't selling here.

Jen

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Mom to Jake, Zach & Meghan
SJCC STREAKS FOOTBALL!!
CLEVELAND BROWNS FOOTBALL!

Interesting. It is slower here than it has been in years past, but definately not dead. We just changed realtors today and she showed us the comps in the area and they are selling for 97-99% of asking. One was $2K over asking price (to be so lucky!).

We are in the midwest, though, and we were never as over priced as a lot of areas (the coasts).

We started at $349,950 and are currently at $334,950. We had an offer of $315,000. We came down to $329,000 and they came up to $320,000 and we didn't get closer than that. We just weren't coming down that far - I know it will sell soon for a reasonable amount. Just gotta get the right looker!

Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

Maybe you should replace the roof yourself if you could afford to do that so that people cannot take money off the list price for the roof repairs, and if you dont have any furniture in there I would probably invest a little bit of money to make it not look so bear and make it look pretty to the buyers. People cannot envision for themself for themself so they need to actually see a finished product. Do not have clutter all over the place either. But I am shocked that a realtor would actually allow their buyers to put in an offer that far below asking price.

The buyer can offer anything they want and the realtor has to present it whether they agree with it or not, unfortunatly. It does waste a lot of time and paperwork!

I believe the rule of thumb is that houses usually sell for at least 10% off the original list price around here and that held true for us. We are in New Jersey and you can't touch a decent house for under $300000 around here and my town is the CHEAPEST around!

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"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." ~ Bernard Meltzer

It's a pain right now for sales it seems. Across the street a house that was listed at $465K sold for $385 and it took 9 months to sell at that We paid $35K less than asking on our house 1.5 years ago right before the market dropped out here. It was great timing for us but sucked for our builder (who had to take the offer because he couldn't build anything else until he sold our place.

We are fixing up a house right now for my mom to sell. "starter" homes here are $200 and we are updating it so people won't low ball $5K allowances for stuff that cost $500 to fix. I would fix whatever you can. No one wants to come in and replace a roof and they will take the estimate to repair and double or triple it before making an offer.

Also be sure to haggle with your realtor over commissions. There isn't a "set" commission and it CAN be lowered. We told our realtor who sold our last house we would pay a total of 4% commission so if he shared with another agent, he would end up taking less because the other agent would want 3%. He ened up busting his butt to get a buyer in here so he got all 4%

Good luck

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003