<p>A property that qualifies as a building lot off my street which has been on the market since 2009 now has a “sold” sign. DH and I looked at it, but decided to pass. It is small (less than .5 acre), has no street appeal, and is situated in a funny spot (would have 5 neighbors). I hope the buyer got a good deal.</p>
<p>As for inspections, when we were looking for my mom’s house, we actually found one we really liked. It was very pretty, and just a block over from the one we eventually bought.
The sellers were an elderly couple who were moving into a condominium.</p>
<p>The inspections, unfortunately, found two major problems. Aluminum wiring, which had been used for a short time in that particular subdivision, and collapsed underground pipes. We would have had to convert the wiring, by either a quick, though not necessarily the safest, fix, or total rewiring of the house. We would have had to bear most of this cost. The pipes, though, had to be repaired by the sellers, whether we bought the house or not, as it was now “on the record”. This is 20K repair, which I felt so bad that this elderly couple had to undertake because of our inspection. We were able to get out of the contract and got our deposit back, because of the wiring issue. My mom is in a wheelchair, and I could not put her in a fire hazard. Luckily, the elderly couple were under contract within a couple of weeks, but that was when it was a seller’s market.</p>
<p>When we sold my mom’s house, the inspection was a killer for us because of termite damage that had been overlooked by my inspector. Even though some things had been pointed out on our inspection just a couple of years earlier, the seller’s husband was a contractor, and he repaired most of the deficiencies. However, his repairs were not to the satisfaction of the couple we sold the house to a couple of years later, so we just gave a discount, rather than try to hire someone to cure the inspection deficiencies.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine why anyone would use aluminum for wiring but I guess that it was done at one time. I would probably rewire as it would allow me to put in modern wiring like CAT6.</p>
<p>The aluminum wiring was done for a very short period of time by a particular builder on a limited area. My mother’s purchased house was a street over, built by another builder, and older. </p>
<p>A fix to the solution was a piggyback, but we consulted a friend who was an electrician and he advised us to pass on the house. He said problems usually arose during the piggyback process, and it was better to remove the sheetrock, rewire, resheetrock, which was a costly endeavor. This is why we passed on the house, even though it was a nicer neighborhood that has, in fact, held its value more. It’s amazing how much difference one block over makes.</p>
<p>Ironically, a year later, my mom’s house took on eight inches of water in Katrina, so we had to resheetrock up to four feet anyway. We considered ourselves lucky, though, since if we had taken the first house, which was the same price, we would have resheetrocked the house twice in two years.</p>
<p>I am a Realtor, but I’m mostly in Commerical Real Estate.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, I can answer some basic questions on resale residential real estate.</p>
<p>I will start with some of the more recent postings in this thread.</p>
<ol>
<li>Commission. Cutting commissions may not be the best policy to the seller. An experienced agent is worth its money. Cutting commissions may result a lower price, slower sales or mistakes that will cost your griefs.</li>
<li>You do not buy homes with major defects unless you know how to DIY or at a major cost reduction. In the case of aluminum wiring, you should expect much lowered offer or just walk away. The “pain and suffering” is not worth your effeort some times. BTW, an experienced agent can help a seller in this case.</li>
<li>Do not run low voltage wire such as Cat6 along side of high voltage wire, ie electric wire. The high voltage wire may interfer the internet traffic.</li>
</ol>
<p>I have not gone through the thread, but to answer the topic with our local selling conditions in SF Bay Area. I can summerize as follows:</p>
<p>Local resale residential market is moving very fast. The multipule offers came back, but the price is no longer at the height of 2006/7 level. As long as it is not over priced, you can expect fast turnover. A hose in the neighborhood 'sold` for around 900k in 6 days. The term ‘sold’ is definded as pending without attachment.</p>
<p>Commercial market is still very depressed with exceptions, of course. Most owner/user(vacant) and land properties have been on the market without offers.</p>
<p>Send the buyers east please!!!</p>
<p>^^^Yeah, looks like everybody wants to live on the West Coast! Or in Uptown New Orleans.</p>
<p>jym, sorry about your non-offer. My agent says there are bottom feeders who throw in what they know to be way below market, just to see if they get paniky sellers to unload. That may have been your situation. Anyway, good luck on the next one.</p>
<p>Thanks, hayden and dstark. If they had made another offer we might have been workable, but we were still too far apart. And with the market doing exactly what it was expected to do this summer, they might have gotten skiddish anyway. The realtor’s associate referred to them as “vultures”.</p>
<p>Hi all – just spent some time catching up on this thread before posting the outcome of our sale saga. Like so much in life, I see there have been many ups and downs …</p>
<p>Well, our house in CT is sold, with the deal signed, sealed and delivered. The Asian couple who drove us completely nuts did, in fact, buy the house. We feel very fortunate that we sold for less than 4% off our original asking price. We had lowered the price once by $10K. These people had “walked away” no less than 3 times – by the second time that “strategy” was no longer working in their favor. As H says, “walking away” means just that – but they kept coming back. So, all their plan did was tell us they really wanted the house. At the end of the day we lost some money on the house since we had only been in it for 5 years, but everything is over and done and the money is in the bank.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, we have moved into our new condo in Cambridge. We’re trying to figure out where everything should go, and where everything is, but for the most part it’s all good. In all honesty, I wasn’t quite ready to make this move yet, but there are so many positives about the new place that it would have been a real gamble not to have grabbed this opportunity.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone still trying to sell.</p>
<p>Maybe you can start another thread on living in Cambridge. We haven’t been down there in a while (outside of shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joes) - we mostly go to Boston.</p>
<p>CBBlinker…congrats…and good luck…</p>
<p>CB, sounds like you had a similar situation to us. The couple who eventually bought our house had toured it three times before finally putting an offer. I think they were doing the vulture thing, circling until prices came down and competition was fierce among sellers. In other words, they were waiting until we were desperate enough to take their low offer. You will feel cheated for a while, as I did, especially after taking a huge loss after only living in the house a short time, like you. But as you see neighboring houses still remain on the market long after, you will be happy you cut your losses and just moved on. Wishing you luck on your new place. I see you have a condo. As we are currently sinking the equivalent of Catholic HS tuition into our house this summer, I told me son, I have five words for you, CON-DO-MIN-I-UM! He, of course, reminded me that if we lived in a condo, we wouldn’t be able to have all our cats. Ah, the price we pay for being animal lovers!</p>
<p>As an aside, my yard man just had a fit, after neatly spreading loads of dirt across my lawn in preparation for new sod, my sweet little Calico proceeded to christen his hard work! She’s been supervising and marking everyone’s work every step of the way!</p>
<p>How many cats do you have, Montegut? In my neck of the woods, it is not uncommon for condo dwellers to own HUGE dogs.</p>
<p>H and I drove through some local neighborhoods and saw 2 more properties with “sold” signs. On has been on the market for less than a month, I think - nice house sitting on a very busy road. The other house is facing a lake.</p>
<p>Stuff is starting to move in my neighborhood. The bank is apparently fixing up the old foreclosure that has been off the market for a few years.</p>
<p>Can I get some of the sympathy as well? House on the market 1 1/2 years now, rare showings. Tired of leaving the sinks clean et al when we go away… Have culled so much for downsizing, have my mental list of what goes with us and what won’t. Letting the garden/landscaping stay as is instead of investing in changes the gardener in me is itching to do. After some price drops- started below tax bill’s FMV- realtor says price isn’t the issue- it’s the local market inactivity.</p>
<p>Sunday’s local paper mentioned how in the good old days the market was 6 months to selling in Wisconsin. Not like other areas. Movement in the neighborhood (a lot of empty nestors who bought when new)- others trying to sell longer than we have finally sold. Maybe our turn is coming.</p>
<p>We’re interested in a Florida city house. Have good realtors there and have made some trips. Unfortunately, while we can afford to own two houses we can’t be there for the ones that come and go quickly. We have learned you have to actually walk through a house. One looked good online but the first thing I noticed was the master bed seen through the open door from the entry- they don’t emphasize the negatives in virtual tours. I refuse to have to keep my bed made or close the door all of the time in case someone comes to the front door. Two houses were not available when we could have seen them, now sold. One was off the market only the month during our visit, we likely would have purchased it but someone else got to. From our past viewings it isn’t worth the cost of hopping on a plane to check out the ones with possibilities as they come on the market. We have to be philosophical and figure a good choice will come up when we can be there again, or we can rent a few (7 months minimum lease) months if this house sells and nothing we like is available.</p>
<p>Have been following several real estate sites for multiple sources of info. Zillow not to be trusted since they don’t know local conditions per realtors in Florida. However- you can see the house price inflation in the mid 2000’s, values on Zillow spiked and have come back down to pre 2006 or so prices. I feel sorry for those who bought high and now are trying to get what they owe on their mortgage, but I won’t subsidize them. Since FL changes property values every year for taxation (we have mandatory 10 year assessments in WI I believe) you can see relative values despite owner hopes. Some sellers are realistic and others- well, when the realtors tell you a place is probably $50,000 overpriced… </p>
<p>Thanks for letting me vent. It is frustrating to be ready to relocate but waiting to sell. Eventually we’ll get to move and H has been doing some post retirement work so far so it has its merits in being here.</p>
<p>ok Wis75…I am sympathetic. Good luck…maybe this week is the week…</p>
<p>Why would somebody buy your place? What’s the hook?</p>
<p>You mean this year, don’t you? Unfortunately our house is not the standard traditional house we hate and therefore built more contemporary (hard to find around here)- so another buyer who doesn’t want that will like ours. But none of the other area houses that are traditional are selling any faster. Updating didn’t make for a faster sale for one house over one not as well cared for. The buyers just aren’t out there. Many frustrated real estate people in this area. Our agent says the house shows well, with online info changing agents won’t help. Now people don’t need to see as many houses in person. We had an excellent place to raise our son- preschooler through HS- now he and the neighbor kids have grown and gone and it is time for another generation of families in the houses.</p>
<p>Some lack vision and don’t see the hill/ravine/flat area acre woods backyards as a delightful place for a kid’s fort/exploration and privacy while they can use the cul de sac for a safe place to throw the football… Close to good schools and shopping… Never was a rapidly selling market here.</p>
<p>wis75, my fear is that after being on the market a year and a half, many people look at that and wonder what’s wrong with the house. The herd instinct takes over, and makes people afraid of a house, because they assume others saw something wrong they may have missed.</p>
<p>Are you in a position to take the house off the market for a while once the listing expires?</p>