<p>The 16% was across a bunch of accounts including several cash accounts so the gains were on what I would consider relatively low-risk investments. This run-up from March 2009 has been fantastic. Normally I would get quite worried after a three-year runup but central bankers are in major money-print mode and you have to take what is there when it is there.</p>
<p>We had some luck. I was upset last night because the potential buyers wanted an extension until noon today (fine) but also wanted to look at the other house (the one $30K cheaper)before they got back to us and wanted to look at ours again. Well, I got a call at about 11am that they accepted our last counter offer ($15K below list plus the $9500). I’m so happy and I hope it all goes smoothly. I was actually willing to come down if they said they were leaning towards the other house, because if they bought that at the $30K less than our list, that would be the new benchmark. </p>
<p>Yes, the fact that they have a special needs child tugged at me, but I would not hurt myself financially because of it (anymore than we already are in this market…). There are plenty of nice homes in this county that cost a lot less than ours. I hope these young people are doing the right thing. I’m happy that they love our house so much. It is a GREAT neighborhood with very supportive and fun neighbors and lots of kids.</p>
<p>Keep your collective fingers crossed!</p>
<p>MomofWildChild…nice.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Hooray, MoWC!! I’ll be rooting for you. You deserve a break!</p>
<p>MomofWildchild, I’ve been following your story. Nice! Fingers are crossed!</p>
<p>May you have an uneventful inspection and a rapid closing.</p>
<p>Great news! Congrats!</p>
<p>Congrats mowc. Hope to join the “sold” club. Our house has only been on the market for three weeks. We’ve had a dozen showings and not one offer…not even a ridiculously low one. We have another showing tomorrow. Please, somebody make an offer!</p>
<p>That’s great that you are having so many showings. That’s what it takes. The right buyer will turn up soon!</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. It will be a relief. We weren’t hysterical about it but I mainly want the whole hassle of selling to be over. Besides, it is getting to be time to have to do the lawn etc. Plus,now H will HAVE to get the rest of his crap moved out of the garage!</p>
<p>WOWC,</p>
<p>When we put our home up in a few years, I envision H not getting rid of anything, just making it look neat so buyers THINK it’s going, and then leaving it there.</p>
<p>I think I’m spending the next three months getting rid of stuff. One drawer at a time. My fiance has offered to rent a storage space and start moving the stuff we know we are going to keep, but don’t want in the staged house. Like boxed up Christmas decorations, and all the little mememtos, and photos, and the massage chair. </p>
<p>It’s killing him to store the 65" tv in the man cave, because in real life, that’s a bedroom. And not a huge bedroom.</p>
<p>And we have successfully sold the three extra bikes on Craiglist. Score.</p>
<p>Now it’s fixing the stuff I should have fixed years ago; the light switches that were so cool when we put them in 12 years ago, but became a pain about 5 years ago when touching them lightly turned into stabbing them repetedly, and the dividing the single circuit for two bathrooms, that meant only one person could blow dry hair at a time.</p>
<p>My wife pointed out a home to me that had been empty for quite some time that has occupants now. I’d guess that it was a foreclosure that got sold. Recent sales prices are down about 24% from the highs.</p>
<p>Congrats, MOWC! Things are definitely looking up here. Over the weekend, 6 “pending” signs went up within a mile of my house. I have never seen that before. That leaves only 3 or 4 left for sale.</p>
<p>I drove around central and northern Marin today…loking for something on the lower end of pricing for my aunt…and I did not see anything worth pursuing. </p>
<p>We are into March and I think inventory is still declining.</p>
<p>UCDAlum – While we’ve no plans for putting our home on the market anytime soon, after seeing some of the issues at my MIL’s home, I decided that we needed a punch list of things little and big that need fixing or upgrading at our house, and then we need to start working against them as time and money allow. Some are cheap – the old plastic switchplates and socket covers have yellowed and look nasty, and new ones are cheap and easy to do. With some others, I’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do – a double-paned casement window has a crack in the glass. Can they put new glass in? Do I need to replace the entire window? Will that mess up the security system? And some, like building a new deck system, or retiling/upgrading the master bath wall surrounds and floor are just plain pricey. But, I think if we make the list we’ve at least got something to work against. One of the things I saw with MIL was that once FIL hit a certain point of incapacity, they quit doing anything to really keep up the house, not from lack of money, but from lack of energy. I don’t know if we will be able to completely avoid that, but there is enough deferred maintenance around here that I think we need to seize the day.</p>
<p>Dstark – Any thoughts on pricing and inventory in Sonoma?</p>
<p>Sonoma is a pretty large place. A developer acquaintance thinks that areas of Sonoma are bottoming out. He doesn’t see much downside from here…maybe a few percent…with a lot more upside. </p>
<p>The developer says that newer homes are selling so far below the cost of construction that they almost have to be buys…</p>
<p>I don’t think I am biased, but my parents are probably going to sell their home in
Oakmont this year…and my aunt and uncle are considering doing the same…so… :)</p>
<p>The price drops in Sonoma are very large…
What do you see arabrab?</p>
<p>And to go back to Marin for a minute…I just went through a listing of condos for sale in Marin and most of the lower priced stuff is sales pending. So where is the inventory going to be in that sector?</p>
<p>I do have a contractor friend or two…and they think…overall…Marin real estate isn’t doing much…no real improvement from last year.</p>
<p>We are kind of on hold on this apartment we like. My real estate agent just emailed me this fabulous apartment with a wrap around terrace. We googled the address, and turned out there was a murder in the building 2 years ago. A guy was tied up, robbed by his mistress. Luckily, it wasn’t the same apartment. You have to love the internet. H asked me if it’s a deal breaker.</p>
<p>Wow, oldfort. Interesting history! Keep us posted.</p>
<p>Oldfort – my home has been a dental office (and I do not have a happy history of dentistry), mortuary, and a house of ill-repute. (Some might say that it is still a house of ill-repute :)) I sleep well anyway.</p>