<p>My wife and I are separating, so I’m just going to rent an apartment.</p>
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<p>That sounds like a terrible plan. Listing a house and then raising the price later? I can’t imagine that would work. I would find a different agent. </p>
<p>That agent is just trying to get the listing. No matter what they say, they will have people coming to look immediately and your property will be firmly established as a fixer-upper at the lower price. IMO, you want to have the house ready to go the day you list it.</p>
<p>If you want to sell it “as is”, price it accordingly and go that route. Or, decide how much you want to fix it up. We did painting, new carpet, new tile floor in the kitchen, refinished the hardwood floors and a whole bunch of fix-it cosmetic stuff, but did not update baths and kitchen (25 year old house). We were bumping up against a price point ceiling in this area where we wouldn’t have recouped the cost of kitchens or baths. In other words, bump our asking price up by the cost of kitchens and baths and we are at a price point where we can’t complete on square footage or anything else.</p>
<p>Half the potential buyers will probably do them right away, but – on the other hand – we would have been pricing a lot of buyers out of the house and someone could certainly move right in and leave well enough alone for now. Most of the realtors said not to, even though dated kitchen and baths would be the “objection”.</p>
<p>idad, re: post 1721, I’m sorry.</p>
<p>We are officially in contract. We bought it sight unseen, and the apartment turned out to be in worse shape than we expected, but it also helped us decide to renovate kitchen and bathrooms before we move in. H was going to wait on it.</p>
<p>It does feel like a big burden because we were suppose to be down sizing (expenses wise), but this place is costing us more than the house we sold 2 years ago. </p>
<p>interesteddad - sorry to hear about your news.</p>
<p>congrats, oldfort… I think. Renovations are a headache, especially if you are long distance. ANd the cost is going up compared to your previous house? Ouch. Well, thats NYC. And sorry about your news, ID.</p>
<p>Ohiobassmom…you have to choose… interesteddad is correct.</p>
<p>Interesteddad…you mentioned your separation before…when I read your post…I felt sad.</p>
<p>I am sorry too.</p>
<p>Oldfort, congrats on finding your future home.</p>
<p>I read the real estate transaction list every week in our local paper. (Central Florida) Two weeks ago one transaction really caught my eye. A condo in the ritzy part of town sold for $450K. It previously sold when new in 2006 for…$1.7 million! Ouch!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. It’s been a transition that’s been ongoing for a while. I like being single.</p>
<p>“red hot” </p>
<p>The house one door up from us sold in two weeks for $70K more than they paid about 7 years ago.</p>
<p>iDad- I hope you have an extra room for your home gym!
oldfort- Good luck with the renovations.</p>
<p>We are due to close on our house sale next Friday. Things have gone smoothly so far. (fingers crossed) Will be nice to have that done.</p>
<p>A friend just sold her house for the full asking price two days after putting it on the market.</p>
<p>Ok Interesteddad…I am glad you like being single.</p>
<p>I read the posts and I see a lot of transactions…</p>
<p>That is a huge hit in Central Fla.</p>
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<p>My requirements are modest. A second bedroom for weights and the Airdyne, a place for the grill, and cats allowed. We’ll see what I find. But, the great thing about being a bachelor is that, if I want to put a bunch of dumbbells in the living room with the HDTV, I’ll put the weights in the living room with the TV!</p>
<p>Hopefully the “place for the grill” won’t also be the second bedroom! :eek:</p>
<p>“but, the great thing about being a bachelor is that, if I want to put a bunch of dumbbells in the living room with the HDTV, I’ll put the weights in the living room with the TV!”</p>
<p>:)…yeah…that is not going to happen at my place…</p>
<p>Hah, the decorator guy who consulted on staging our house didn’t even want my grill on the deck:</p>
<p>“What’s that?”</p>
<p>“It’s my grill”</p>
<p>“Does it have to stay there?” (Note, this is a very fancy big Weber with a fancy new Weber cover, looks nice…, not some old junker)</p>
<p>“Well, yeah, kinda. I cook on it. Where else can it go. Do you really think someone won’t buy the house because there’s a fancy grill on the deck?”</p>
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<p>Truth be told, he really wanted to know if I had to be in the house while it was on the market!</p>
<p>Transfer tax in LA is cheap, look at Berkeley and Oakland… Its 15/1000! that is some times more than an agent will get for selling a house after splitting with the broker(it is customary here to get 5% total commission, splited between two brokerages.</p>
<p>Do you think that city tax is going to be used in the UCB infrastructure? :)</p>
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<p>^^^When I have a house for sale, I read the local MLS by the hours…^^^</p>
<p>Condos got a heavy hit, more so for the Sr. Livings. The higher condo fees, the worse hit. I saw a Sr. Living (55 or over and you cannot rent it out) unit went for 10% of the height selling price. It had a $780ish condo fee! And do you think some Sr. wants to buy a unit that has 10 flights of stairs without wheelchair access?</p>
<p>Wow…stairs in a retirement place…</p>