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Sarah
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Is your house on the market? If it is, let's share worries, stories, etc.
We've had our house on the market for several months now with no end in sight. Worse yet, there was recently an article that stated we have the MOST houses EVER for sale here in our home city (a record!). 
We've moved out and don't regret it, but sure hope something happens soon.
A couple weeks ago we added new countertops to try to improve the 70's look  . . .and we dropped the price  .
Anyone else?
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Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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Meredith
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What a great topic Sarah!! WE are on the market as well. Our house is vacant and only 3 years old, but the price point is high for most, so...we wait! Have you buried St. Joseph yet??? Has your property ever been blessed?? I'd go for the gusto, then ask for help from all the Angels and Saints, and of course Our BVM!!!
Love to hear what others are doing!!
Praying for quick sales for ALL!!
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Meredith
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rm4mrfrus
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Oh boy, I needed this thread! Our house too has been on the market since March. We moved out almost 2 yrs ago and rented it out for one year. But our tenants moved out in Feb and it has been empty since then!
We have dropped the price quite a bit but have still not had many even looking at the place. When we first put it on the market we had all new carpeting and vinyl put in. It is all completely repainted and a new front door. It is an older home...close to 20 yrs old but is a good first home!
Our realtor also recommended offering a bonus to the realtor who brings in a buyer, but that has not seemed to help either. We have prayed 2 Novenas to St. Joseph and are in the midst of a 54 day Rosary novena. We did not bury St. Joseph but I am seriously thinking of asking a friend or the realtor (a GREAT Catholic homeschooling dad) to run a statue over there and place in the kitchen! My parents put their home on the market 2 months after we did (in the NOVa area) and just went to closing on it a few days ago!! So our Novenas and Rosary answered their prayers! (They got an offer on their house 3 days into our first Novena!)
Our house is out in the Shenandoah Valley area and while it is not the NoVa area, it still has quite a few houses on the market!
Meredith, good idea about having the house blessed- we did not do that but I need to ask Fr. to bless this house we are in now one of the days! Rats he was here for lunch yesterday...should have asked him then! Oh well, the upstairs was a pretty big mess so maybe it was better he didn't! 
We are praying also for all those who are selling their homes!
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Hollee married to dh in 94,
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Dawnie
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Sarah,
I feel your pain, sister.
Our house has been on the market for almost a year...
Here, they say it's a "buyer's market" now. The interior has been re-painted, the bathroom and kitchen have been updated. We're discussing dropping the price AGAIN. We've already dropped the price 3 times (I think).
We've already moved out, into a bigger house in a nicer neighborhood. The house we're in now became available when a family friend inherited it from her mother. She offered to sell the house to us at well below market price. It was a fantastic deal, but she wanted to sell it before the end of January, which was when she would have had to buy more homeowner's insurance for it. We found out about it last September and immediately put our house on the market, hoping for the best. There was hardly any interest in it. My in-laws really wanted us to have the new house, so they took out a second mortgage on their house and paid off the mortgage on our old house so we could buy the one we're in now. There is absolutely no way we could have made 2 house payments. They have also helped A LOT with the improvements we've done to the old house, trying to make it more marketable. As if all that wasn't enough, they have been helping us pay the insurance and property taxes on the old house. They've been very generous, and all of this without us asking them for it. I feel really blessed to be in this house--it's just what we need right now. But I'm really stressed out about the old house! It's costing all of us more money every month it's on the market. DH and I have made some financial decisions based on what we thought it would sell for, and now we don't know if we'll get what we need out of it. I am never doing this again. If we ever move again, I'm selling this house BEFORE we move, no matter how good the deal is and no matter how much help is offered us. I would much rather re-model and add on to this house to make it the size we need as our family grows than deal with the hassle of selling a house again. I could rant and rave about realtors and real estate market for hours. When we made an offer on our old house, it had been on the market for 4 days! It was a fabulous deal, in decent condition (compared to the other houses in that price range we had looked at), and it was in a decent neighborhood. We lived in it for 5 years and made some improvements to it. It's clean and ready to move into. But, it's not quite as nice as many of the other houses on the market in the same price range. Our carpet is 5 years old, a little worn looking, but clean. The cabinets in the kitchen have been repainted and have new hardware. But we're competing against houses that have brand new carpet and brand new cabinets in the kitchen. Apparantly, that's what buyers want, and if they can buy a house that costs the same or nearly the same with those improvements, then they'll pass up a house like ours every time. We haven't even had an offer on it. 
One thing dh and I have learned is that we need to make home improvements a bigger priority. Our house is probably the biggest financial investment we have, but in order to be able to cash in on that investment, we have to make improvements to it and keep it updated and maintained. Now, when we sell our old house, that will free up some money so we can do that with our new house!
This has been a real trial of faith for me, too. I'm trying to trust God, and He has provided for us through the generosity of my in-laws...I guess my pride is really hurting, because I really wanted to do this without needing as much help as they have given us. God seemed to be giving us the go-ahead when my in-laws offered to help us, and now things aren't turning out like we thought they would. Why? 
I'll be starting another novena to St. Joseph tonight...
Dawn
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shartlesville
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We went on the market in March and just got an offer last week. We lowered the price twice and still accepted $5000 less than the asking price. 
We had to update our house last year because we had a major sewer backup that destroyed the carpet, bathroom, and kitchen.  The good thing is the insurance paid for most of it and it was $30,000! It was just very stressful getting everything taken care of and we had to live in a 3 bedroom apt for 3 months (all nine of us).
We put in all new natural maple cabinets, corian counters with the integral sink, new carpet throughout, new tile in the entry, hall, and bathroom, all new bathroom fixtures including a heated whirlpool bathtub, etc. We ended up putting in about $10,000 more than what the insurance paid so everything would be nicer. We really hated to have to sell it once we were done, but Cris took a promotion on the other side of the state so we didn't have much of a choice.
The updating helped us list it at a higher price and I think it helped us finally get a contract. The housing market is just really, really slow in Belen. There have been no closings at all in the last month. I think ours is the first one to go under contract in the last 6 weeks. 
We are still really worried about the sale going through because our county has just been declared a federal disaster area due to flooding. So far our house has been spared (Thank You, Jesus!) but the worry is there, kwim?
St. Joseph is buried in my front yard under my stepping stone. 
Prayers and best wishes to all who are trying to buy or sell!
Blessings,
Krisann
[edit] I forgot to mention that we also put in a new sewer line last summer when that happened, and in November (the day before Thanksgiving!) we had a gas leak and had to replace all the gas lines in the house. The new owners will have a brand new house! 
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Krisann
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DGC Kira, Auston, Travis, & Sarah.
My Blog: Isla del Esperanza
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rm4mrfrus
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Our realtor called to ask if we would consider doing a short term rental for some people who are waiting for their house to be built. They would need it till Nov. We are considering it as trying to make that double mortgage every month is draining us! I worry though about all that new carpet we put in......
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ds(96), dd(97), ds(00), ds(02), ds(03) and dd(05)
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Sarah
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rm4mrfrus wrote:
I worry though about all that new carpet we put in......
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This is my worry too if we go that route. Brand new and perfect. It doesn't take much for the traffic through there to make a dirty path. . . I'm not making you feel better.
Maybe Scotchguard really well. Carpet cleaning companies will come spray it if it wasn['t done at the factory.
Thanks everyone for posting. I really like hearing from you all. Hang in there. . .
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rm4mrfrus
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Sarah,
The Scotchguard idea is a good one! I'll tell dh. I don't think it was done at the factory. I think dh is leaning towards renting it as it will at least cover the mortgage for the next few months.
Still praying for all!
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Hollee married to dh in 94,
ds(96), dd(97), ds(00), ds(02), ds(03) and dd(05)
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amiefriedl
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We took a FSBO class from the FSBO Store and it was invigorating! We hope to list our home next month and hope to not lose the 6-7% to the realtor. We learned SOOO much in that class and feel pretty confident going into it. We'll see how it goes.
Also we are considering offering a lease/opt-to-buy. There are certain pockets of people who can afford to put down 15-20K as a non-refundable deposit but don't have the credit to get a loan from a bank (usually a divorce situation I suppose). But after a year or two of the leasing they can get a letter from the leasor and qualify for a loan. There are several people in our neighborhood doing this. I don't pretend to understand it all but it does present an option to just simply selling and possibly giving away hard earned equity to a realtor. It really is amazing all the "outside of the box" options there are out there these days.
Of course...this could prove to be a difficult lesson learned too....
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In Christ the King through Mary our Mother,
Amie
Blessed with an awesome hubby and Mom of ds10, dd7, dd3 and dd 10months.
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Sarah
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Wow! I guess I was really scared to try FSBO, but classes sound realistic. DH wouldn't go for it, but that money to the realtor is a huge chunk of why we can't just drop the price.
We are looking to go Bankwise in a couple weeks which is $2500 to the realtor regardless of the price. Has anyone heard anything bad about them?
I've also heard about auctioning off your house. You have a "reserve" on the price.
Keep posting ideas here, ladies. We are all in the same boat.
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JennGM
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This week we celebrate 1 year in our new house. Our buying and selling was a year process. I can't believe how soft the market has become in one year. We had problems finding a house, no problems selling.
The FSBO is a good option, but it doesn't work as well when it's a buyer's market, more when it's a seller's market. I've been watching the WSJ statistics on countrywide how much values have not gone up, and how many more houses are just sitting for sale. Some of the problem is that there were so many speculators using houses as investments...so now there is a glut. It's sad to me that it hurts the families who really need to sell that house.
When we were selling, I used a lot of tips I see on TV shows "Designed to Sell" and such. Neutral colors, no clutter, less personalized touches. I forget who did "Leave No Trace" on the fridge...but that was really our mantra. I also made sure I had some candles burning, toilets and counters wiped down, etc.
When I was fresh out of high school my family moved here from Louisiana. The market was very soft, and not many people want a 5 bedroom house made for a big family. I had to get a job to help pay for the two mortgages until the first house sold.
Praying to St. Joseph for all of you.
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shartlesville
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Sarah wrote:
We are looking to go Bankwise in a couple weeks which is $2500 to the realtor regardless of the price. Has anyone heard anything bad about them?
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I have not heard anything about Bankwise but is it similar to a discount realtor where they list your house for a flat fee?
I have heard bad things about them in general, they do list your house but they don't actively sell it. They let other realtors do the leg work and YOU still have to pay 3% to the realtor who sells it on top of the money you pay to the listing agent.
Be careful, ask for references, and check with the BBB.
Blessings,
Krisann
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Krisann
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DC John, Elizabeth, Lilyann ^i^, Emily, Kate, Julia, Sam, & Jack;
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JennGM
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My realtor explained that the problem with discount realtors that list and give smaller percentage to the buying realtor is that most realtors won't show the houses to their clients. If we asked to have them show it to us, ours would, but many times other realtors won't.
In today's market, many people are searching online for houses. I searched every day for new houses online, and called my realtor to show us properties. Make sure you have nice pictures of the house that are displayed online--that really helps. In our neck of the woods, you want your house listed on the main sites like realtor.com and homesdatabase.com. That unfortunately means a realtor fee, but more traffic.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Dawnie
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JennGM wrote:
| Our buying and selling was a year process. I can't believe how soft the market has become in one year. We had problems finding a house, no problems selling. |
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Anyone know how long these market trends tend to last? Can we expect the market to become more of a seller's market again in a few months, a year, longer??
We thought we'd be able to sell our house quickly, since we had such a hard time finding it to start with. It didn't take us a year to find it, but I was surprised at how many houses we looked at before we found one in our price range that was in the condition we wanted. When we found it, we jumped on it, because it was the ONLY one we had found that was acceptable to us.
We're talking about renting it now, since the rental market is "hot" here from what I hear...we could rent it out for $600-$700/month...but someone could buy it and pay less than $500/month (including the taxes and insurance). I don't get that. Is this a sign that a lot of people have such bad credit that they can't get a home loan?
Dawn
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JennGM
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Dawnie wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| Our buying and selling was a year process. I can't believe how soft the market has become in one year. We had problems finding a house, no problems selling. |
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Anyone know how long these market trends tend to last? Can we expect the market to become more of a seller's market again in a few months, a year, longer?? |
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Could be longer, hate to say. The other trends like interest rates, jobs, gas prices, war in Iraq, unrest in the Middle East...all these factors make everyone jumpy and market unrest.
Dawnie wrote:
We thought we'd be able to sell our house quickly, since we had such a hard time finding it to start with. It didn't take us a year to find it, but I was surprised at how many houses we looked at before we found one in our price range that was in the condition we wanted. When we found it, we jumped on it, because it was the ONLY one we had found that was acceptable to us.
We're talking about renting it now, since the rental market is "hot" here from what I hear...we could rent it out for $600-$700/month...but someone could buy it and pay less than $500/month (including the taxes and insurance). I don't get that. Is this a sign that a lot of people have such bad credit that they can't get a home loan? |
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We looked so long for our current house...and the townhouse we had previously. I know what you mean.
For us, we couldn't have made the jump to the single family home except that the market was so hot that our townhouse appreciated in 5 years, giving us enough for a down payment. It's not that people have bad credit, it's other factors, too. If they don't have enough equity in their current house, the mortgage rates are higher...can't buy a house if you can't make the mortgage payments. You don't need equity to rent a house.
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alicegunther
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Gang, we bought and sold a house a couple of years ago, and it was the most stressful experience of my life, although, I must say, everything did turn out well in the end.
You are all in my prayers.
St. Joseph, pray for us!
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Sarah
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Bankwise is one of those flat fee things. I just don't have a good feeling about it. We are really in a bind.
Dh has so much in med school loans (who ever said doctors are rich?). The only extra we can barely do right now is our cleaning ladies (which may sound fancy, but right now they are essential in our home running more smoothly). Dh has no time to help me around here at all and the kids do help, but not enough. The house gets disgusting fast, and I have the kids helping with general maintenance.
Anyway, we HAD to move because we were in a very hostile-to-the-family neighborhood. Our kids were the only children and NOT welcome. While we were waiting to close on our house, we found out we weren't even "safe" in our backyard since a lady 2 houses down would watch us from her top story, since she worked out of her home, then report our children's behavior to the next door neighbor who works for the Dept. of Education. No one had kids. They HATED us! I felt like it was a matter of time before we'd have a social worker at our door. Our children were questioned in our yard when we weren't with them, and I lived looking out the window watching them, etc. We had to flee. Isn't that sad?
The joy in another neighbor's eyes when we said we were moving was just sick, but I guess the feeling was mutual. Its is VERY DIFFICULT to keep growing boys (and maybe girls?)who are home 24/7 quiet and still. Balls flew everywhere, kids chased butterflies. One neighbor took my son's buterfly net when he had it resting on the fence, on our side!!! I lived in fear.
Now, the look behind dh's eyes. . .the fear I see that the house won't sell makes me so sad for him, . He knows he's headed for moonlighting. Maybe that's how St. Joseph felt with the Flight into Egypt. I know my husband just wanted to protect his family. We feel safe out here on our 3 acres in our little house (we even downsized), but its hard. I'm sorry to vent here. People in the world have it so much worse than I do. . .I just needed a shoulder cry on.
God will provide for all of us. Hang in there. We'll keep supporting each other.
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Dawnie
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Wow, Sarah. No one should have to live with that kind of fear. My girls are outside a lot, too, when the weather is nice. It's so hot here now, that I keep them inside until after dinner, when it's a bit cooler and the sun isn't beating down on them. We haven't had any complaints, but the house next door is vacant and the house on the other side of us was JUST bought by a semi-retired couple. They know we homeschool and that we're expecting another baby and haven't said anything negative (yet). Neither has anyone else in the neighborhood. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
Don't feel bad about venting...I felt like I should apologize for venting, too. It's such a frustrating process, and even though we have help, the thought of that house not selling just makes my stomach knot up.
I hope your DH doesn't end up having to moonlight--dhs work so hard as it is.  to you--I'm glad you started this thread so that we can at least lean on each other a little bit.
Dawn
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Cay Gibson
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Sarah, my heart goes out to you.
What an unfriendly neighborhood to live in and expose one's children to.
I'll be praying.
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Cay Gibson
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rm4mrfrus
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Sarah,
How simply awful! I'm so sorry you had to deal with that! We are praying for all and looking forward to seeing good news here on this thread. It will be good to rejoice as each home is sold!
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Hollee married to dh in 94,
ds(96), dd(97), ds(00), ds(02), ds(03) and dd(05)
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Is your house "For Sale"?
