<p>“I haven’t seen a house that I think is the one…”</p>
<p>Sounds like you’re looking for a wife!!</p>
<p>Lol…no my wife is good. She’s the one. :)</p>
<p>So…have you found a place? Because I saw your thread about couples living together…so that tells me probably not.</p>
<p>VeryHappy, good luck with selling your house. </p>
<p>Our house was bought in 2007 in a new subdivision. And it was all my fault to buy this house. Obviously, we lost a lot value/ money in this house as the housing price kept going down for the past 4-5 years. I was at fault to make my family moving multiple times (sometimes because I changed my jobs; the last time, because I just want to buy this house). We bought our first house when I started my training program in Midwest. After finished my six-year program, I moved to southeast with our two daughters. My retired parents were helping me at that time. H had a real hard time to relocate, since he was already a tenured professor then. After quite a few years, he finally found an academic job here, but it was a starting position. So he has always been resentful. He is tenured now and is in the processing of become a full professor again. </p>
<p>Got side tracked. Anyway, we are renting our prior house. D2 is a HS freshman. She told us not to move to a different house during her HS period, since she knew that I always like to look at houses. Our current house is too big for us. D1 is a junior in college. I do not expect her to move back after she graduates. Downsizing will be after D2 graduates from HS. Hopefully then, the price can go back a little. </p>
<p>dstark, are you moving out of your house before you find the next one? I am glad that you are so sure that your wife is the right one. I don’t know if H and I are right for each other. But we still tolerate each other after married for almost 25 years.</p>
<p>Susan4, my wife tolerates me. That is how I know she is the one. :)</p>
<p>I am selling my house first. I don’t want to own two houses.</p>
<p>Me too. Too risky otherwise. Especially in this economy.</p>
<p>The second agent came today with different comps – and thinks I could sell at about $125,000 to $150,000 more than yesterday’s agent thinks. That’s not chump change. </p>
<p>Next step is for DH and me to declutter declutter declutter.</p>
<p>This will be a challenge for the DH. It will be hard for me and a lot of work, but I don’t think it will be emotional. For DH – very.</p>
<p>For those of you with experience in this sort of thing, how do I know whether Agent A or Agent B is being more realistic? Which one’s comps are more comparable? Which one’s Competitive Marketing Analysis is more accurate?</p>
<p>And if I decide i like Agent B’s comps and suggested listing price better, can I still use Agent A to sell it?</p>
<p>I know it’s very bad to price the house too high because then it will languish. But how do I know if Agent B’s suggested price is in fact too high?</p>
<p>Help!</p>
<p>(In the meantime i removed all the family photos from the downstairs, put many cookbooks and water bottles in my boxes for the tag sale, and used a Mr. Clean eraser on the front hall walls. Regardless of who the agent is or what the listing price is, all this will still need to be done.)</p>
<p>VeryHappy,
That is quite a range. In your shoes, I woud want an explanation of the comps. I’d probably drive by to see the curb appeal and the street. I think realtors want a sale, and the difference in pricing doesn’t mean much to them. I also think some realtors praise one’s house and give high estimates, then when house doesn’t sell, they push you to lower the price considerably.</p>
<p>My realtors explained to me that the house around corner (with same layout) was priced $150,000 higher because it had better view, bathrooms had been redone, new carpet, paint, etc. The furniture inside looked good. Anyway, we sold $35,000 below asking price. I could go and check what that other house sold for.</p>
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<p>I know some realtors will “flatter” me by telling me how great my house is, but if it’s too high-priced and doesn’t sell for months and months and we wind up lowering the price, how does that benefit the realtor?? It sure doesn’t benefit us!</p>
<p>Some realtors give too high of a price as a way to get the listing. They figure you’ll eventually come down, and they’ll get their commission.</p>
<p>Some realtors give too low of a price so that your house will sell quickly without them doing much work.</p>
<p>We went through that situation. For the low-baller, I drove past the comps and saw why they were so low. One was directly across the street from a large water tower. Another was very close to an operating gravel pit. The third was wood frame, not brick like ours, and was obviously falling apart.</p>
<p>I spent two Sundays going through all the open houses that were somewhat similar and came up with my own price. We sold ‘by-owner,’ as this was years ago. But it worked out well.</p>
<p>Good idea, Bonnie. I guess that’s next week’s plan.</p>
<p>Well my wife and I just interviewed two agents and we also got prices 100,000-200,000 apart; although the agent with the higher price target wanted us to put a lot more money into the house fixing it up. Maybe 60,000.</p>
<p>We went with the agent who gave us the higher potential price…but…we talked the agent down to a lower price and spending less money updating the house. I have this feeling it is very rare for sellers to tell an agent the price is too high. :)</p>
<p>There is a very, very good chance the first agent, with the lower price, s correct, but the second agent is more enthusiastic. I think it is more important to her that the house sells. I think the second agent will do whatever it takes
to sell the house. If the house doesn’t sell she will take it personally. And…I think she likes the house better.</p>
<p>I do not want to overprice the house. I do not want to spend all this money getting the house ready for sale and then overpricing the damn thing. I have seen that happen too often. The right price is the best advertisement. </p>
<p>VeryHappy. Ask for comps…homes that have sold in your area…and try hard to look at them with an objective mind. There is a house that sold near me and I will never get the same price per square foot as that house got. My house is larger so I may get a price close to that house, but I doubt it.</p>
<p>Did the agents use similar comps? Are the comps really recent? Have you been inside any other listings on the market in your area just to see what the differences are between the two price points?</p>
<p>I now that’s a lot of running around when you are out of town all week, but it might help put the two agents’ assessments in perspective.</p>
<p>From recent and bad experience: Do not trust a realtor to represent your best interests. </p>
<p>Document everything. Communicate with them via email. They will resist but stand firm. Follow up every voice comm with an email outlining the content of that discussion. </p>
<p>Make sure all your messages to a prospective buyer actually reach the buyer, unchanged.</p>
<p>Make sure you inform your realtor that any last minute financial demands made by the buyer at closing will be borne by both realtors. </p>
<p>If you live in a state where lawyers do the closing do not hire a referral from your realtor. You’ll want a lawyer that will represent you, not the “deal”.</p>
<p>We sold before we bought as well–can’t handle the stress otherwise and also don’t know how we could manage our cash flow obligations in any other way. Our neighbors have been able to build their 6000+ foot dream house (complete with elevator) while leaving their “old” home on our street totally vacant. They say they’re waiting for the market to improve but I’m impressed that they don’t need to have a tenant or do anything to it while it remains vacant! Not something we or most could afford to do.</p>
<p>I’m beginning to think that the real estate market is so volatile that agents don’t really know how to price. We sold a house about 6 months ago and ended up getting $75,000 less than what the agent originally had us list it at (it was on market for 18 months). My buyer also used the same agent and her house sold at full price the first day. She is one of the best agents in this area and she told me that it is so unpredictable these days that lenders are requiring any comps to be no older than 30 days. She also said it is very hard to predict what will sell fast and what won’t.</p>
<p>I asked her about selling our current house and she gave me a price that was $100,000 more than what it appraised for a few months ago when we refinanced. So who knows? If you aren’t in a hurry, I would go higher. You can ultimately reduce the price. Reducing the price and being on the market for a long time isn’t a stigma anymore. Though it’s a pain in the rear to keep a house ready to be shown at a moment’s notice.</p>
<p>“She is one of the best agents in this area and she told me that it is so unpredictable these days that lenders are requiring any comps to be no older than 30 days.”</p>
<p>Then the lenders, where I live, are going to be looking at a blank page. :)</p>
<p>My second agent told me six months of comps is what the banks look at. That’s what she gave me. </p>
<p>Next weekend I will see what Open Houses are in the area and go to some of them. One of the difficulties is that the Open Houses have an asking price but haven’t sold yet, so one doesn’t know what the market for a certain house really is. I guess if I go to Open Houses for several months, I’ll get a feel for what the houses are, what their list price was, and what they finally sell at. Whoosh. I thought agents would do all of this for me, but I guess it’s more confusing than I thought.</p>
<p>In the meantime – declutter declutter declutter.</p>
<p>The second agent gave me a total of 17 comps – some not yet sold, some under contract, and 7 of them sold. They all had appraisals (which is what our tax is based on) very close to ours. The first agent gave me 13 comps, and only two of them had actually sold. When I looked at the two sole houses with fresh eyes tonight, I see that the appraised value of both of those houses was less than ours – and the sale price is lower than I would want or than I though we could get.</p>
<p>Continuing to ponder.</p>
<p>The more I think about this, the more I realize this is a huge critical step – setting the price right can mean a sale relatively quickly or can mean the house sits on the market for six months or even a year. And the amount left over after we buy a smaller house is going to be a huge chuck of our investments in retirement, too.</p>
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<p>We’re right beside you, veryhappy. Our contract with a 4 1/2% agent expired 12/31 and we are dragging our feet about relisting, mostly because of this. In our case, we had 3 agents out back in September and there was a $225,000 difference in the pricing range they recommended! We went with the middle guy, but it still didn’t sell.</p>
<p>givings, do you think it was overpriced? Or was it that not enough people are looking right now and there’s a glut of inventory?</p>
<p>The second agent told me today that the house will sell for the right price regardless of where you set the price. She said that if it’s underpriced, buyers will bid it up.</p>
<p>Maybe. If there are enough buyers.</p>