<p>megpmom, you may have mentioned this, but where are you located? That’s a tremendous amount of interest, and a very good offer!</p>
<p>Post 3248 says she’s in Dallas</p>
<p>You are not obligated to sell at offering price. If there are multiple offers, consider countering at a price over listed price.</p>
<p>Yep, we are in north Dallas/Richardson ISD (if you know the area). We’ve got 24 hrs to respond, so I’m trying to get in touch with husband in London, who seems to be in meetings all day… And just found out that buyer is willing to close and then lease back to us for a couple weeks until my job is finished. So, I think we’ll be able to hammer this one out pretty easily.</p>
<p>That’s pretty darn good, megpmom! Yes, Dallas real estate is going well.</p>
<p>When we bought our house, we paid well under asking (seller had bought at the height of the market, was carrying two mortgages, and other factors). No sooner did we put it under contract when we asked the realtor to cancel the open house, which she did. Unfortunately, it still made the paper, and while DH and I were at the house measuring windows and rooms for window treatments and furniture placement, people kept showing up, trying to get into the house. One lady banged on the door, and I answered it and said, “yes, the open house ad was a mistake. I’m sorry, the house is not open.”</p>
<p>A little while later, we were leaving and this lady sent her husband up to the house to ask me for my name and employer. He said his wife was LIVID that I didn’t let her in and wanted to call the real estate company to complain that I was rude and unprofessional as to not let her tour the house anyway. I was shocked, as I certainly had not meant to be rude, but I was tickled at the same time. This lady wanted to get me in trouble so badly, and was about to be quite disappointed that it wasn’t going to happen. I told him, “I’m so sorry, your wife misunderstood. We have just purchased this house. Well, it’s under contract, but we are closing tomorrow, and it’s a done deal.” The poor guy turned triple shades of red and apologized.</p>
<p>All this interest got my husband thinking about a flip. I told him no way, no how.</p>
<p>But given the Dallas market, we could probably turn the house now for a really good profit, but since we’ve only been in it for 6 months, we wouldn’t get the capital gains advantage, so, still no way no how.</p>
<p>It really has become a seller’s market in certain areas of Dallas!</p>
<p>Dallas/Richardson ISD is doing well.
How about the “nearby” city, Austin? It is in the NW area, Round Rock ISD/Westwood high school.</p>
<p>We are inclined to lease our house at this moment. (Downsize because of empty nest.)
We have no experience in this. So we signed a contract with a real estate agent to help us. We still need some weeks to get the house ready. Hopefully, it is not too late.</p>
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<p>That can actually be pretty pricy for you. Why not postpone the closing a few weeks more??</p>
<p>^ We need the cash to close on a house in London.</p>
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<p>Sweeeet! ( to quote my kids back in middle school)
Please tell us about your experiences there.</p>
<p>dragonmom: H is already in London and has been scoping out some properties for us. I’m heading over on Sunday for a week of house hunting. Kind of exciting, but the prices over there are making me choke! Luckily we are now empty nesters and only need a 2 br.</p>
<p>megpmom</p>
<p>tell us a little bit about your experiences in London, when you have a chance.</p>
<p>megpmom – how exciting! You’re probably up to speed on where to look, but I’ll just mention that my nephew and wife found an affordable place in West Hampstead when they were working in London for 2 years.</p>
<p>On the hiding money thing…I recently ran across a case on appeal where the former kids who sold parents old house were trying to negate the sale contract after the new owners demo’d and found about 1/2million in the walls of the house (more than house price). Court said no way.</p>
<p>The new owners got to keep all of the money?</p>
<p>Interesting…</p>
<p>I was told by the police, if there are pets left in the yard abandoned by the previous tenant, they are landlords as well. So it goes both ways.</p>
<p>WE DID IT!!
House sold in July. Realtor tried it out at a higher price than market because there were so few comparables. Her strategy was to price it just above market to see if someone out there was shopping, and if there’d been no offers, she’d have dropped it l0K to market.</p>
<p>We decluttered and made smooth open surfaces as much as possible. We took the realtor’s advice to put a lot in boxes in the basement from upstairs. Somehow people don’t mind boxed stuff in a basement because they know it will move. So all the knick-knacks went that-a-way, along with family photos etc.</p>
<p>We had put on a new roof, HVAC system, and landscaping, which the realtor said was commendable. All we had to do was repaint two small rooms that had a quirky blue color, changing to… beige.</p>
<p>It was important to get 'er done in the Spring/Summer as it’s a 4 br in a good school district, so sales of such homes is seasonal. Also in cold upstate NY, you do not want to be sitting and waiting for yet another winter, so it’s all about the good weather showings.</p>
<p>After 8 viewings by appointment and 1 Open House, we got one offer that we could work with, and agreed to terms.</p>
<p>After the property sold, we had a professional estate sale – the best kind, while still alive - and sold approximately 70 percent of all we own, in order to squeeze down into NYC space, our destination.
That sale pays for our cross-state move twice. I can hardly remember what it was we sold, but for the very nicer larger pieces I have photos for the memories. </p>
<p>Definitely was worth it to have a professional estate sale, not a DIY which we’ve done in past moves. Their advertising, set-up, pricing ability and followers made the professional sale much better, even at their 30 percent commission. I got the tip here on CC. We did have to vacate the house for 3 daytimes during the Estate Sale, as it’s not wise to be nearby. When buyers see you, we learned, it inhibits them from buying your furniture and belongings.</p>
<p>We rented a nice 2 br apt in Washington Heights in NYC that will allow us to keep our big doggie. As renters with our house money banked, we’ll spend the coming year looking for our townhouse purchase, but better able to view properties close-range there than long distance. </p>
<p>Meanwhile this move to NYC will let us begin living in the same city as 3 of our 4 adult kids (I count the daughter-in-law in now), and easier to visit my own mom and brothers in New England. We did not want to age in place alone here together, and having lived here only 9 years our emotional investment here was less than folks who know a community for 25 years. All this helped make it possible to move on. </p>
<p>Aside from missing some good friends we made in the past 9 years here upstate, I’m only happy and excited to begin a new urban chapter. Downsizing and moving is crushing hard work, but I’m so glad we’ve done it.</p>
<p>Time from listing the house to selling it: one month.</p>
<p>^^^^^Congrats!</p>
<p>Paying3tuitions…congrats.</p>
<p>My sister and her husband just bought a house 6 percent above asking. Their bid wasnt the highest either but it was all cash. Market is still pretty hot in the north bay SF area.</p>
<p>Times have changed since this thread started.</p>
<p>Congrats, p3t! </p>
<p>Housing market in Seattle is on fire! One young couple just made an offer on a 1950s rambler… 10% over the asking price (above 500K!!!). It was on the lower end of what the seller expected the property to fetch, and there were other offers, but the seller liked the couple and decided that good neighbors were worth more. 
Now the kids need to think about new roof, windows, oil tank removal… :eek:</p>
<p>p3t.</p>
<p>That is awesome news! And I agree – doing all that is no picnic, but in the long run it will pay off. How wonderful to be someone and rent for awhile. No worries!</p>