<p>Yes, I think the situation last year was simply unfortunate and one can’t generalize from one incident. Re the other house I think I could get the commission down to 6%, however, if we decide to sell for such a low price I’d perhaps try FSBO first. It’s a small town so choice of realtors is limited and houses typically move slowly. Just putting out the word we were planning to sell generated interest but I had wanted to talk to realtors re price, but after that conversation we’re wondering whether we could hang on for a while and perhaps the market would pick up.</p>
<p>It won’t cost that much to keep it but we are not living there and probably would be
unwilling to rent it though don’t completely rule that out.</p>
<p>Wow…I was surprised at the going rate for commissions noted here! A friend realtor said the normal rate in our area is 7%! (maybe 6% for some). That’s especially why we’re considering what it would take to sell ourselves.</p>
<p>We had the house inspected before putting it on the market so we could take care of things before someone else (like the only prospective buyer in the universe --) discovered them. </p>
<p>The one outstanding issue that we haven’t yet taken care of is the roof. We’ve been in the house for 25 years, and the roof pre-dates us. That said, we have never had any leaks of any sort, and the inspection of the attic shows no leaks. However, the inspection of the roof shows many cracked shingles. </p>
<p>I think these are our options:</p>
<ol>
<li>Replace the roof entirely. It would cost $4,200, based on an estimate from a recommended roofer.</li>
<li>Replace the cracked shingles. It would cost $3,000, based on the estimate from the same fellow.</li>
<li>Do nothing.</li>
</ol>
<p>If we do nothing, there are a few possible outcomes:</p>
<ol>
<li>The buyer’s inspection doesn’t say anything about the roof. Ha, ha, ha. In my dreams.</li>
<li>The buyer demands that we put on a new roof.</li>
<li>The buyer demands that we give them some allowance so they can do the roof.</li>
</ol>
<p>It strikes me as extremely unlikely that the buyer will say, “Replace the cracked shingles and we’ll call it a day.”</p>
<p>We’ve already spent around $20K to get the house ship-shape. What should I do??</p>
<p>$4200 for a roof sounds very, VERY reasonable to me. A roof that old could come up as an issue. That said, when we sold my dad’s house it was noted that they had redone only half the roof (the front half) with shingles and that was probably 10 yrs ago. The back half was still the original slate. Too bad its in the back. Slate is beautiful (though tend to slide off). We had to replace a few of the slate tiles after that freak hurricane last year, had to repair some rotting wood underneath, and also had some caulking around a windo to repair. But surprisingly they did not make a big issue of the roof itself. Then again, we had it priced to sell and probably would have said no.</p>
<p>Actually, it’s half the roof, over the main portion of the house. We also have a family room over the 2-car garage that has a cathedral ceiling with skylights, and that we had done about 8 or 10 years ago. </p>
<p>dstark, no we haven’t received a bid yet, and no one has inspected the house except for us. No one has gone on the roof yet; they’ve just been looking at the fun stuff. I will ask my realtor if she has an opinion, but I’m not particularly enamored with her.</p>
<p>In my town, houses a lot less expensive and houses a lot more expensive are selling. Houses in my price range – which is below the average in the town – are not moving at all.</p>
<p>I live in a very desirable town within commuting distance of NYC, with excellent schools, excellent cultural opportunities, lots of corporate transfers. So, I know the house will sell eventually.</p>
<p>Yeah, people want to live here, and though the market has slowed here, like everywhere, it is still moderately active. So all I need is someone to love my house for what it is.</p>
<p>Hey VeryHappy, with regard to your comment of houses priced much lower and much higher than yours selling, I am curious. What is the price per square foot of yours compared to the other houses? Are the higher priced ones much newer/nicer and the cheaper ones old/decrepit? For me, PPSF was an important factor both in buying and later selling the house and was an important factor in my search for comps.<br>
And about your roof, since your house is already on the market, it doesn’t make sense to me to replace the roof. Of course your buyer is probably going to want a credit, just be ready for it. Less than $5,000 to do the area you have to do sounds like a great price to me if you end up taking it off the market and doing some more stuff. I sure hope that doesn’t happen and you have an offer soon!</p>
<p>WordWorld, my PPSF is slightly less than most of the other houses. That’s because we have a 600-sf finished area in the basement that gets counted in the total SF but only raises the price of the house slightly.</p>