<p>Ironing board?</p>
<p>What is this thing of which you speak?</p>
<p>notrichenough, I was wondering the same thing about the word “kitchen”.</p>
<p>I bought a house this summer- a condo townhouse. Low ball offer and ended up buying it signficantly less than what it would have been if all the repairs had been done by sellers.</p>
<p>I sold my house in 28 days-- had 15 looks, 3 strong buyers (in multiple times) and in the end, sold it for 5% less than list price.
Banging my head I didn’t list it higher – but it sold.</p>
<p>Very nice, Staying…</p>
<p>Interesting reading about different regional markets in above posts.
Just sold our family house, had it on the market with older baths and little updates and got low ball offers. It is in a desirable area with plenty of lookers. Renovated to look hotel-like and offers close to asking were in a couple of weeks. Not fun doing the renovations but certainly worth the effort and cost. Seems like today’s young family buyers want move in ready so that they can go back to work after the closing.
What surprised me was how inexpensive materials are. We build the house 25 years ago and some of the tile, flooring. lighting and cabinetry costs are less today. Either I was really dumb back then or China imports brought costs way down.</p>
<p>Not selling, but H wanted to refinance at a great rate. Dissappoineted to find our house was appraised at about the same price we bought during “the recession of the early 90’s”, and with many upgrades. Couldn’t get the “great rate”.</p>
<p>Yes, we are grateful we are not “underwater” like most of our county.</p>
<p>Flyaround, yes, but what about the labor costs?</p>
<p>I’m remodeling a kitchen. In 1999, It cost 35,000. In2011 it is going to cost 65000…well more…but I am doing more this time. I do think material costs aren’t bad. I think granite costs less.</p>
<p>A good friend of mine just told me about his sister. His sister built a house on a golf course in Toledo, Ohio, 17 years ago.</p>
<p>It cost $550,000. Today, she says it is worth $350,000. Foreclosures are hurting the value of her home.</p>
<p>Shrinkrap…that sucks…</p>
<p>Rates are so low now, …savers are crushed…yet borrowers can’t borrow…so what is the point of low interest rates?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is the way I look at it - getting the price low enough to interest multiple buyers but not so low you leave money on the table is an art. Of course, all sellers want as much money as they can get but if you had priced it higher, you might not have sold it as quickly. In this market, I say go low and sell quick…I’m someone who had a house on the market for nearly two years. We ended up selling it a lot lower than what we bought it for (2 years earlier), so count your blessings. It could have sat there for 2 years and you still would have sold it for less. :)</p>
<p>There’s a lot to be said for just selling a place and not having to maintain it & keep showing it repeatedly for months which turn into years. When we sold, offers were made as soon as (or perhaps even before) the places were listed. Those were the only offers made & both were for full list. No backup offers were made and no bidding wars ensued, so we felt it was priced in the correct range. </p>
<p>We also bid full list on the house we currently live in before it was put on MLS. We were happy that things went as well as they did. Hindsight and second-guessing is really not worth the aggravation. </p>
<p>If the price was really that low, a bidding war would have ensued (as has happened in our neighborhood) and in some houses we were somewhat interested in that were priced slightly or significantly below market. Be happy you priced RIGHT and were able to move on.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That depends on the area, if the area is hot, you don’t have to dress it up.</p>
<p>We have bid and lost on many houses with multipule offers that are either</p>
<ol>
<li>Half baked: Unfinished home that builder skips town, need 200K or more to finish. One did not have utility hookup or drive way paved.</li>
<li>Totally destroyed by the previous owner, with hole in the wall and kitchen and bath totally removed.</li>
<li>Homes that needs to be torned down</li>
</ol>
<p>Wow ALP ^^^. Most of the buyers around here are young families and they just don’t have the stomach to start a project like your above examples. Those kinds of properties would only be of interest to builders and that’s a not a huge market round these parts.<br>
Love reading about the different pockets.
I can report, from my recent and apt hunting expeditions, that the free market system is alive and well for apt rentals in nyc. A rental comes on the market and if there are no applications submitted within the first week or two, the price is lowered by $50 or $100 until the market determines the value. There really is no getting a “good deal” with past rental histories and floor plans online for the larger rental buildings. On the other hand its also harder to get ripped off and grossly overpay because you can often see what the exact layout rented out for in previous years on various floors.</p>
<p>We’re finally there. The inspections are done (pool, roof, house and termite) with no major issues found. We spent last weekend landscaping and doing final touch-up painting. The stager is coming today to install furniture in the living room and add accessories in some of the other rooms. The photographer will take pictures this afternoon for the flyer and virtual tour. Friday is the broker tour and Sat/Sun will be open houses. We’re leaving town Thursday for 10 days - this seemed to be a good idea, to miss both this weekend and next weekend’s scheduled open houses. The dog will go to her favorite boarding place and the Realtor is taking the cat.</p>
<p>Houses in my town are selling and inventory is fairly low. There are only 9 houses that are priced +/- 10% of ours. We thought more would come on the market after Labor Day but only 1 has appeared so far. Our house is priced well (I think) and our Realtor believes it’s at a price point where multiple offers are likely. </p>
<p>Fingers crossed!</p>
<p>I am not sure I can survive this house listing stuff. We have been working all summer putting furniture and “stuff” in a rented storage unit. Our realtor hired a stager. Today was picture day. All the counters had to be clear and the stupid fake fruit and fake flowers had to be out. Listing this Friday, I guess. Still work to do on H’s man-cave/office and the garage. If the garage (3 car) is “too crowded” they “will be afraid they can’t get their cars in”. This whole moving and building a new house was H’s idea and I am NOT doing well with it. We simply have too much stuff.</p>
<p>That said, inventory in our area (very desirable subdivision) is low, which should help. Here we go…</p>
<p>Good luck, MOWC!</p>
<p>We filled 4 Door-to-door portable storage containers with packed boxes and everything in the garage. I don’t think our garage has been this clean since the day I moved in. And clean garages aren’t expected where I live - in most cases garages are jam-packed full of boxes & extra furniture when a house goes on the market.</p>
<p>Good luck vballmom and MomofWildChild.</p>
<p>Two friends of mine just sold their homes in a couple of days. It can happen.</p>
<p>Our D#2 will be leaving for college next fall and DH has started the downsizing discussion. He went house hunting last week and is now going over our finances. I will not join in until after the pre approval because I tend to be an emotional buyer! I’m actually looking forward to a change. We have 6 bedrooms and one child left at home. But I am not looking forward to weeding out the excess furniture and stuff!!</p>
<p>MOWC and vballmom, I will be reading your posts with renewed interest.</p>
<p>“I tend to be an emotional buyer!”</p>
<p>I am sure there are a few sellers that would appreciate this.</p>
<p>I have friends that never want to leave their 4 and 5 bedroom family homes. People are different so I understand. But it is a relief to downsize. :)</p>
<p>Good luck to the newbies! We took our house off market in August when my parents’ health took a turn and I was at their place for an extended time. Just before that we got a low ball offer that didn’t go anywhere and today I got a note from the agent, asking if we’d reconsider. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Just went into contract with a builder who I assume will take down everything but the foundation and chimney. Contract price about 10% lower than our original asking price and 11% more than what we paid for it 10 years ago, much less than our last two homes. But at least no zoning or violation concerns, warranties and representations as to roof, appliances etc. and cash closing in 30 days. I only wish we hadn’t spent all that money back in March to give it curb appeal and make it look pretty inside.</p>
<p>great! mhc, consider yourself lucky. In some areas of America, home price dropped below the price 10 years ago, some times even 15 years ago.</p>