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Big family, house selling question


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We are a large family (5 kids) in a small house. The small house is in a not-so-great neighborhood. Ten years ago, there were lots of families in the neighborhood. As the economy declined, most of the houses became rentals and the neighborhood is going downhill (not slamming renters, just stating facts). I truly do not see the value of our house coming up and neither do the 3 realtors we've talked with. Plus it is too small for us.

 

We will not get any money out of this house so we've been saving and I think we're getting close to having the down payment on our next house saved. I have several concerns with selling. My main concern is homeschooling with 5 kids and keeping the house in tip-top shape :glare:. My other issue is privacy. I really dislike the thought of strangers coming in my home, maybe touching my stuff, ugg.

 

The way I see it we have the following options-

 

-Buy our next house, move and then sell this house mostly empty. The idea of owning two houses is pretty scary but we could do it for a few months. Not much longer though so it is risky.

 

-Move to a rental, sell this house and then buy a new house when the smoke clears. This is my prefered option but DH thinks that we'll spend so much on a rental house and storage that it won't be worth it. Plus, living with 5 kids in a rental and moving twice doesn't sound like any fun.

 

-Rent a storage unit, move tons of stuff out of the house (we don't have clutter but there are 7 people in a small area so lots of stuff), try to keep the place nice while we live in it and sell it. This will be okay if it sells quick. I'm not sure how long I can keep it up though.

 

WWYD?? Am I missing any options??

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-Rent a storage unit, move tons of stuff out of the house (we don't have clutter but there are 7 people in a small area so lots of stuff), try to keep the place nice while we live in it and sell it. This will be okay if it sells quick. I'm not sure how long I can keep it up though.

 

WWYD?? Am I missing any options??

 

This is what we're doing, except our "storage unit" is an empty room in the basement. It's been over 4 months, and I do regret packing a few things, but mostly we're fine living without stuff. I'm worried about having to get our winter things back out if we're still here, though. My guest room no longer has a bed or dresser, just a bunch of boxes on the floor, plus a bookshelf & school stuff - that's my "staging area" for school. The kids have learned what it takes to get ready for a showing, and they've been good about cleaning up their own rooms when needed. It's not fun, and getting less fun by the week, but we can't afford rent in addition to this mortgage and there's no reason to expect it would sell faster empty. We have a similar issue with the neighborhood declining, so I'm a little nervous about leaving it empty anyway. If we had comments from showings that said it's too full, then it might be worth trying to move out first.

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I would NOT have payments on 2 houses. That's very dangerous territory. Given the 3 options you listed I'd go with #3. We sold a house while homeschooling with 5 kids, we moved twice in 3 months, 3 times in 3 years. Not my favorite thing but we sure made lots of decisons on stuff we didn't want to keep any more :D

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Well, we did number one (kind of, my parents own the home we're living in so financially it's less risky). I don't think this is the best move honestly. The stress of what if it doesn't sell is hard for us. We're doing utilities, upkeep, taxes, and insurance on two homes. Yet our parents ownership means, financially, it's not a disaster if we don't sell. Still it's stressful. And, in your case, it sounds like not selling quickly would cause a lot of financial hardship. I would not buy in your situation as much as I would want to.

 

I, too, hated the thought of showing while living in the house. My son's health precluded it also. Financially this one makes the most sense.

 

My husband was absolutely opposed to renting first. He didn't want to move twice and waste the rent money for a year (no one would do short term rentals here). If it wasn't for my parents, though, this is what we would have done because of my son's health (immune system deficiency) meant living in a home while we were showing it might hurt him.

 

In your case I think I'd try the storage option. This would also perhaps allow you to get it on the market quicker than a move would and the ideal selling market, at least here, passes mid-Sept.

 

ETA: could you list short term, say 3 months, and then if it didn't sell plan to move and rent it out?

Edited by sbgrace
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How realistic is it to expect the house to sell at all or for what you owe on it? In a declining neighborhood with no apparent hope of recovery, I would strongly consider buying the home you need and then trying to sell with the idea that it not selling as hoped could lead to pursuing a short sale, renting it out, or possibly allowing a foreclosure.

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How realistic is it to expect the house to sell at all or for what you owe on it? In a declining neighborhood with no apparent hope of recovery, I would strongly consider buying the home you need and then trying to sell with the idea that it not selling as hoped could lead to pursuing a short sale, renting it out, or possibly allowing a foreclosure.

 

I honestly have no idea. There are several houses on our street for sale and not selling. If we sold for 10k less then them (probably the most we can get out of it), we would would break even. I have ethical issues with doing a short-sale or foreclosure when we can afford the payment. One realtor wants us to rent it out but I don't want to be tied to this neighborhood any longer and I don't want to be a landlord. There is too much risk of something big needing fixed.

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-Buy our next house, move and then sell this house mostly empty. The idea of owning two houses is pretty scary but we could do it for a few months. Not much longer though so it is risky.

We are doing this at this moment. We are living in our new house and preparing to put our former house up for sale.

-Rent a storage unit, move tons of stuff out of the house (we don't have clutter but there are 7 people in a small area so lots of stuff), try to keep the place nice while we live in it and sell it. This will be okay if it sells quick. I'm not sure how long I can keep it up though.

 

We have done this in the past. After you purge any unnecessary items, put practically everything into storage. You want the bare minimum to survive left in the house. It's the only way to keep it clean and show ready at any time.

 

For me, these would be the only two options. Renting just while a home was being sold (unless it is very overpriced and one knew it would take forever) seems as such a waste of money. Plus, it isn't easy to find an adequate rental for a large family, especially if there are pets.

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I honestly have no idea. There are several houses on our street for sale and not selling. If we sold for 10k less then them (probably the most we can get out of it), we would would break even. I have ethical issues with doing a short-sale or foreclosure when we can afford the payment. One realtor wants us to rent it out but I don't want to be tied to this neighborhood any longer and I don't want to be a landlord. There is too much risk of something big needing fixed.

 

I personally have no ethical issues at all with a short sale. That is simply the bank acknowledging that they loaned more money on a house than it was worth and accepting the loan security as payment for the loan. I am not suggesting that you not pay if you can; I'm suggesting that you move because you need to and if the existing home does not sell, continuing to pay its payment unless you cannot any longer.

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I am a realtor and have done an awful lot of short sales. They are not worth it unless you absolutely HAVE to do it. They still hurt your credit, are a pain in the patootie for the seller because of the endless amount of paperwork, and are difficult to move because the banks take for freaking ever to get them approved, even after there is a buyer for them. I have had a few that moved fairly quickly, they were with Chase and a local bank here. I recommended short sales regularly until lately because (locally) the economy is improving and if you can hold on, it will be easier to sell. I have decided that I have an ethical issue with them, too, if a person has the ability to pay and doesn't absolutely have to move. No judging, I just couldn't make that decision personally and feel good about it.

I think your predicament is exciting! Get rid of stuff! Declutter! Paint your walls and make it fresh. Get more for your house than anyone on your street can WHILE living there! Get crazy!

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If I had to do it all over again (have a house on the market while homeschooling 5 kids), I'd move out. I'd live in a hotel if necessary. Of course I also gave birth to our 6th in the middle of the 6months it was on the market so that may have had some bearing on the situation. There is virtually no way you could get me to go through that again. :)

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-Rent a storage unit, move tons of stuff out of the house (we don't have clutter but there are 7 people in a small area so lots of stuff), try to keep the place nice while we live in it and sell it. This will be okay if it sells quick. I'm not sure how long I can keep it up though.

 

 

This is what we're doing. I've moved a ton of stuff already, and have another ton to go. It's been fun organizing and boxing our huge homeschool library.

It's also been fun for the kids to go through their "stuff" and only keep out the stuff they absolutely love and can't live without. I wonder if I can just give away the rest? Will they ever miss it? Will I ever miss all the stuff in storage? I'm open to ditching all of it (except the homeschool stuff) :tongue_smilie:.

My only question is what to do with my jewelry..... I want to have it around, but I don't want to have it around when strangers are walking through my house, kwim?

We really want to sell this house on our timeline and terms. We've spruced up the yards, planted flowers, painted inside and out, and upgraded the countertops and cabinets in the kitchen. We won't get any of that money back out of the house, but it's worth it to us to make the house sell in a timely manner. If it works, we'll only have to "show it" for a short time. I'm hoping anyway.

 

Best of luck to you!

Jackie

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My only question is what to do with my jewelry..... I want to have it around, but I don't want to have it around when strangers are walking through my house, kwim?

 

 

I have a piece of furniture that locks, and we've put that kind of thing (plus documents, like passports) in there, and leave it locked unless we need something.

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I think your predicament is exciting! Get rid of stuff! Declutter! Paint your walls and make it fresh. Get more for your house than anyone on your street can WHILE living there! Get crazy!

 

I wish I could share your excitment. When I found out we were expecting #5, we decided to sell so we went through all the painting, decluttering, etc. Then reality hit us. We won't get money out of this house.

 

I'm actually really sad about it. I love this house. It is a sweet, cozy house. We've been really happy here. I've brought 4 babies home to this house. When we bought it, I imagined fixing it up, loving on it a little and then selling it to another nice, young family.

 

That is just not the reality. My house will probably go to a bottom-feeding landlord who will turn it into another low-income rental and it will be destroyed in 5 years (I've seen it happen over and over).

 

My MIL says I'm too attached to my house. I have no idea why she would think that :tongue_smilie:.

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Rent a storage unit, move tons of stuff out of the house (we don't have clutter but there are 7 people in a small area so lots of stuff), try to keep the place nice while we live in it and sell it. This will be okay if it sells quick. I'm not sure how long I can keep it up though.

 

 

That's what we did. It took our house three years to sell (we put it on the market in August, and the bubble burst in September, and we eventually dropped the price OVER 100k dollars), and it was agonizing. Cleaning up after 7 kids on a moments notice in a small house was an exercise in suffering, let me tell you. It was so stressful.

 

You *could* rent your current house out--but I don't advise that. Renters can be jerks-flat out. We were looking to buy houses who had renters and they would do really evil things to make sure you didn't buy the house they were renting.

 

If you can swing both mortgages, owning both houses is the easiest way to do it. BUt it depends on how long you can hold onto both. And, you have to plan for bad things happening to both houses. New hot water heaters, leaks in roofs, whatever.

Edited by justamouse
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Put your stuff in storage and ask the realtor to put in the showing instructions that 24 hour notice for showings is preferred.

 

That is futile. THe buyer holds all the power-if they want to see it on a moment's notice, the realtor will call, they're obligated, and if you want to sell, you'd better show. It's a good idea in theory, but it never really works well.

 

As a seller, in this economy, you are at the mercy of the buyer. And that's just that.

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I'm actually really sad about it. I love this house. It is a sweet, cozy house. We've been really happy here. I've brought 4 babies home to this house. When we bought it, I imagined fixing it up, loving on it a little and then selling it to another nice, young family.

 

That is just not the reality. My house will probably go to a bottom-feeding landlord who will turn it into another low-income rental and it will be destroyed in 5 years (I've seen it happen over and over).

 

My MIL says I'm too attached to my house. I have no idea why she would think that :tongue_smilie:.

 

Well, if you're looking to break your attachment to the house, I recommend having two mortgages for awhile. You'll be more than ready to be DONE with the old house by the time you sell :D.

 

That's what we did....we didn't really intend to; we listed our house first, but then the deal on our current house seemed too good to pass up, so we went ahead and moved. It worked out well in the long run, but it was a tense couple of months. And we only did it because we knew we could afford to sell the house cheap enough that it should sell fast....we took a decent sized loss, but we had a lot of equity so we could afford to do it.

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Option 3. Our place we outgrew took longer to sell than anticipated so option 1 and 2 were not doable ad would have been bad. We couldn't have swung that. We rented after we sold and it was really annoying to move twice in a short period of time. It seriously messed up my routine and had the kids really off too and took longer to recover than expected. It was hard having to keep everything clean all the time and then scrambling once we got a call for a showing to clean when it was on the market but we managed. We had a storage unit in our garage so everything went there but we would have rented something if need be. The privacy thing actually isn't bad if you go to to basics. We always left the house for showings and they barely left signs of their presence.

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Another vote for option 3. That's exactly what we did, and getting rid of so much stuff really helped a lot.

 

We also requested that we have notice. I forget how much - maybe 24 hours? But I don't remember for sure. Our realtor just flat out put on the thing that we homeschooled and were there all the time, so we needed some notice so we could get out. I did *attempt* to keep the house within 30 minutes of "clean" just in case someone didn't listen to our request. I sure hope no one opened my dryer during some of those showings - it were crammed full of stuff LOL!

 

I don't know where you are, but here (metro Denver), the buyer does NOT hold the cards. My dad is a real estate agent, and he was telling me the other day that there is next to no inventory. People are trying to buy houses and there is just nothing to even look at. So depending on where you live and what the market it like, you just might be able to get away with the notice request.:001_smile:

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