"Moving" woes (JAWM?)

[EMS83]

Maybe that should read "getting this freaking house ready to list" woes.  It never seems like enough.  We've painted (mostly), we've put $$$$ into a new leach field (had to), houses around us are selling for $20k-$35k more than what the listing agent says ours will.  And I'm assuming that's with it being sparkly and staged, which it's not yet.  But a house we [wanted] was just listed.  ?  BUUUUT say that doesn't work out (because it probably won't, realistically, timing-wise), our criteria and our price point don't cross over very often, so if we stage our house and this one goes, what then?  How do we bide our time with a staged house??  I'm thisclose to renting short term.  Except dogs, chickens, and little pets....  Anyway, I know we did this backwards.  Asked about a house back in September (which was snapped up and flipped), started working on our house, then just called the bank a week or two ago...  ?

I guess I don't mind some constructive thoughts, just please be gentle; I've got all the to do lists and boxes and paint for touching up, etc.  I'm just overwhelmed and discouraged at the present moment.  I probably just need to go to bed.  ?

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

Selling a house certainly is stressful isn’t it! We had to spend $$$$ to put a new furnace in our house. Our first few showings the main comments were that our price was too high and our furnace too scary/old (even though it worked fine). So we lowered the price and replaced the furnace. Ouch. Beyond that, we didn’t worry about things being perfect. We cleaned up, packed up some stuff, painted the exterior, and spruced up the rough spots inside but we didn’t go crazy. We still need to live here!  Fortunately, we had a solid offer in three weeks. We’re closing in two weeks so we’re in the crazy packing stage now. 

If the market where you are demands near perfection and a staged house, I’d stay out of the house as much as possible. Do you have family or friends that wouldn’t mind if you came over to hang out? When ours was being shown we spent a lot of time at my in-laws. They live close and we could take the dog over with us. 

[EMS83]

I'm glad it sold pretty quickly!!  Both sets of parents live within 20 minutes, so we do have both helping hands and a place to vacate.  One has a pool, so bonus.  ?  It's really all over the map here if you look at the listings--some houses didn't pare down at all, other's didn't declutter, some are perfectly staged.  But the listing agent seems pretty a) adamant about decluttering as much as humanly possible and staging and b) not all that optimistic about our price.  It's not like it's a $300k house.  It's a little 3/2 that we just happen to be crammed into (which makes this whole process even more stressful).  What's really discouraging (besides the lack of agent optimism) is there isn't a lot in our price point and the potential dance of having a listed house but not finding the one we want to buy has me wanting to crawl in a hole.

[HomeAgain]

I hate selling a house.  I find it to be an intrusive process, especially with some realtors.

Good luck to you!  I hope it all works out.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

42 minutes ago, CES2005 said:

I'm glad it sold pretty quickly!!  Both sets of parents live within 20 minutes, so we do have both helping hands and a place to vacate.  One has a pool, so bonus.  ?  It's really all over the map here if you look at the listings--some houses didn't pare down at all, other's didn't declutter, some are perfectly staged.  But the listing agent seems pretty a) adamant about decluttering as much as humanly possible and staging and b) not all that optimistic about our price.  It's not like it's a $300k house.  It's a little 3/2 that we just happen to be crammed into (which makes this whole process even more stressful).  What's really discouraging (besides the lack of agent optimism) is there isn't a lot in our price point and the potential dance of having a listed house but not finding the one we want to buy has me wanting to crawl in a hole.

Sounds so familiar! (Even the part about about parents living with 20 minutes and one set having a pool!) Our agent didn’t push us to stage but I did a bunch of decluttering because what’s available on the market right is so all over the place condition wise that I wanted ours to stand out as much as possible. Our agent wasn’t optimistic either. We accepted an offer that’s about $17k less than our lowered asking price and now she’s nervous that our appraisal won’t come back high enough. Looking around at recently sold properties, I think we’ll be ok but her lack of optimism worries me a little. (The appraisal was Tuesday and we haven’t heard anything yet.) We have our closing scheduled on our new house but not on this one yet. We have to close on this one first though and have all the checks clear before we can close on the new one. I’ll be so glad when it’s over!

[teachermom2834]

For my last house I thought I knew which agent I wanted to use but when she came out to the house she was just so negative I couldn’t sign on with her. We had another agent come out and while blunt about the negatives and the price point she was positive in general. Went with her and had an offer in two weeks while others in our neighborhood sat for a year. 

We've sold two houses and I agree that you should declutter and freshen up it I don’t know about the perfect staging. Our first house sale the agent told us to keep it clean but people understand it is lived in and no one cares about a dirty sock on the floor. She was a highly successful realtor in the town we were in. 

Our second home sold to people who saw it when my two teen boys had returned in the middle of the night from a ballgame out of town and had thrown their sweaty damp uniforms in a basement hamper. We had a scheduled showing and I had an hour in my schedule to run home and straighten up...but my car broke down on the side of the road and I never made it home to straighten up. The house was left with morning dishes, garbage not taken out, smelly clothes in the hamper, unvacuumed floors, etc. Those people bought our house. (Though they did question the smell and investigated to make sure “teen boys” was really the source). 

When house hunting we never were impressed by the staging. Some realtors insist but you might want to ask around before you invest time and effort into much of that.

[hjffkj]

We just went through an 8 week renovation and listed the house on Monday.  I was a basket case but it got done.  Out realtor wanted to list it for about $5000 below where I thought we could start with. I was not happy about that but I trusted that she knew better because she had already shown me her expertise in other ways.  Well we ended up getting an offer immediately for $5000 above our asking price almost immediately.  So the realtor priced it well to get a lot of people in the door but it was a bit too low. I knew she was off because I knew that neighborhood since I'd been researching prices for the last 5 years.  All that to say if you don't trust that your realtor knows what they're doing pricing point wise, then follow your knowledge.  The worst that will happen is that you know within 2 weeks if you priced it wrong.

WE moved in with my parents to get the renovations done and while it is in the selling process.  With 5 kids there was no way I could renovate the house and show it while living there. 

[I talk to the trees]

Is there room for two in that hole of yours? ?

 Our house goes on the market Monday, there are still about a zillion things on our to-do list, renting isn’t an option because of our critters,  and we have exactly zero potential homes to look at. 

Stay strong! You are not alone! 

[Pink and Green Mom]

Getting a house ready to sell and then having to live in it while keeping it pristine/staged was the worst time of my life.  My DH was already in the new location 1000 miles away and I was left alone with two kids (11 and 8 year old) and a dog.  We were in a hot market (with overly staged homes being the norm) and had multiple showings per day so pretty much had to vacate from 9-6 (there were days I packed the kids into the car and just cried in the grocery store parking lot before taking them to the pool, the library, a friend's house, anywhere we could go).  Add to it that my oldest was in a baseball tournament at the time and having two a day practices and all the sweaty, dirty laundry that entails....I get queasy just thinking about it.

Here are some things I did that helped:

-every day, dog went to doggie day care/kennel for the day (if not in a hot market, send dog the days you know you have showings)
-everyone used the same bathroom - the one with the shower curtain was easier to keep clean than the doors that showed every water droplet.  No exceptions.
-as soon as you showered towels went into the washing machine; same for dirty laundry (I ran the washer each night)
-kids were pretty much each given one bin they could fill up with toys they could play with during that time.  All other toys (mostly millions of legos) stayed where they were.  Kids watched too much TV (just easier for me to have them sitting rather than making a mess)
-dinners were very, very simple and used paper plates (things like sandwiches, deli roast chicken, we ate out way too much) but the goal was to keep the kitchen as clean as possible (spills wiped up immediately; all mixing/measuring/mess making was done with the bowl in the sink rather than on the counter; etc)
-every morning I cleaned the kitchen, the one bathroom we were all using, did a quick sweep with the vacuum cleaner, and threw all laundry in the washer to deal with later

It was so hard to get everything done so quickly, and so stressful.  The day before we listed, our agent sent her photographer to the house, and she was the biggest witch on the planet.  She kept saying, "too bad you don't have 'x', your house would look so much better; I have 'x' in my beach house too bad you don't."  After hearing this for the 27th time I told her, and I quote, that I did not give a [bleep] about the contents of her [bleeping] beach house and called my realtor and told her if that woman wasn't out of my house in 5 minutes I would fire my realtor on the spot.  Not my finest moment but I was pushed to my limits.  It is very, very stressful.

[Scarlett]

I feel your pain sister.  We are also tying to get this house ready to sell and 1) no time to do stuff and 2) dh won't hire ANYTHING done. Also 3) where is the stopping point?  We are going to stop leaving the kitchen and the flooring in the main area (kitchen, living areas and hallways) undone.  

So if we could get the upstairs painted and carpeted and staged (dss sleeps there and it is a wreck) and the laundry room sheetrock repaired, painted and tiled  and decluttered and staged and the fence in the backyard repaired....I think I would then be in a position to deep clean, deep declutter and stage the entire house....and put a sign up out front.  

THEN my mind goes to WHAT IF IT SELLS!!!!!!  Where are we going to go????  There is nothing decent to buy and nothing decent to rent for less than $1500.  I do not want another fixer.  Ugh.  It is so stressful.  Ds18 starts cc in the fall and from this house his drive will be 45 minutes.  Ugh.  Long drive for him.  Dh already drives 55 min.  

To calm myself I have decided we will put a healthy price on the house and if we get a full price or close to full price offer we will take it and then deal with where to move.  If we have to rent in the next town over (closer to the city) that is what we will do until we can build. 

Even though it is stressful, it is very important and wise to continue to monitor the market daily.  You need to know what is out there to help you price your own house and also to know what to expect when you go to buy if you are under pressure.

[G5052]

I feel for you. In January we decided to put the house on the market in the spring.It went on the market in late April and should close later this month. Thankfully there was minimal work other than a light renovation of the kitchen and a few bits-and-pieces found during the inspections. Nothing major at all.

Getting everything done and then going through the process of inspections and offers was nerve-wracking. 

For me, moving out to a rental in March was the best way because we knew we were going to stay in the area and buying again isn't a given. So we moved everything over three weeks. I took advantage of the college spring breaks and had my kids' college friends and various other people helping. Friends helped me clean and do the spring yard work. I bought a lot of pizza :). 

We are still going through things including the process of selling and giving away. The rental house is about 3/5 the size of our other house, and there's a lot of stuff we don't need. There wasn't time to go through it all before we moved, and I'm at a different stage of life now with two commuter college students. 

If we buy again, I don't want anything bigger than what we have now. Everything is much easier to manage here versus the larger house and much bigger yard.

[EMS83]

::group hug::  I'm glad it's not just me.  We year-round, too, so this is really weighing on my Mommy guilt nerve, too.  The logistical plan is to get it 98% toward being listed.  Remove everything we don't need, and we've already don't a lot of the invisible stuff, as I mentioned.  And then deep clean, tidy and maintain the yard, and...idk.  I just can't comprehend staging, listing, and being open to tours indefinitely while we look.  I'm not sure my realtor comprehends this.  I'd rather get the 98% done and get back to "kind of" life, and then do the 2% overnight when we see the listing we want.  Because we are sort of niche buyers.  I can't tell if we're breaking the rules of the "game" or if we have an inflexible company.

[EMS83]

Oh and I'm the one who won't hire jobs out.  I mean I will a little, but DH is the "pay someone" person.  We can't pay everyone to do everything, though, and if I can do it myself, I really don't want to pay someone else to do it.

[EMS83]

The one house went under contract on its third day (yesterday).  ?  Lesson learned (if I ever even need it again!).  Financing, prepping & staging, then open the real estate apps.  I mean I've been looking for like 5 years, but still.  It's more frustrating when the only thing off was timing.  I'll hush now, and update when we have some good news.  ? 

[KungFuPanda]

Can you pack up everything you can live without for six months and get a storage unit or pod? Don’t even LOOK at new houses until you’re staged and ready to sell. Then, with minimal belongings, if the house you WANT doesn’t come on the market, just do a short term rental until it does. You don’t HAVE to sell/buy at the same time, but you do have to sell first. If you focus on that and not getting emotionally attached to the next home it might be easier. 

[Catwoman]

On 6/8/2018 at 7:14 AM, CES2005 said:

I'm glad it sold pretty quickly!!  Both sets of parents live within 20 minutes, so we do have both helping hands and a place to vacate.  One has a pool, so bonus.  ?  It's really all over the map here if you look at the listings--some houses didn't pare down at all, other's didn't declutter, some are perfectly staged.  But the listing agent seems pretty a) adamant about decluttering as much as humanly possible and staging and b) not all that optimistic about our price.  It's not like it's a $300k house.  It's a little 3/2 that we just happen to be crammed into (which makes this whole process even more stressful).  What's really discouraging (besides the lack of agent optimism) is there isn't a lot in our price point and the potential dance of having a listed house but not finding the one we want to buy has me wanting to crawl in a hole.

 

Have you spoken with more than one real estate agent? I think you should get at least one or two more opinions about your selling price and what does and doesn’t need to be done to get the house ready for sale.

If the agent isn’t optimistic now, that doesn’t bode well for that person being particularly enthusiastic about showing and selling your house.

[EMS83]

DH said I need to shop real estate agents.  I emailed one about an hour ago.  And I agree; I want them to realistic but optimistic.  But I really think we could get $10k more than he thinks we can.  But maybe I'm wrong?  idk.  I could be sending mixed signals without realizing it.

I'm in the process of packing up so much stuff we might as well just move out!  ?  

[G5052]

3 hours ago, CES2005 said:

DH said I need to shop real estate agents.  I emailed one about an hour ago.  And I agree; I want them to realistic but optimistic.  But I really think we could get $10k more than he thinks we can.  But maybe I'm wrong?  idk.  I could be sending mixed signals without realizing it.

I'm in the process of packing up so much stuff we might as well just move out!  ?  

 

The one we went with said the initial price is critical. You best offers are usually at the beginning, at least in my area. It's a good market, but not overly so. I was a little surprised when she actually recommended a little higher than the other two we interviewed, but the offer we accepted is very close to that.

I sold my uncle's house several years ago in a very "hot" area of the country, and we got 27 offers. I don't think it really mattered very much how we priced it as long as it was within a range for that market.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

On 6/8/2018 at 12:48 PM, CES2005 said:

::group hug::  I'm glad it's not just me.  We year-round, too, so this is really weighing on my Mommy guilt nerve, too.  The logistical plan is to get it 98% toward being listed.  Remove everything we don't need, and we've already don't a lot of the invisible stuff, as I mentioned.  And then deep clean, tidy and maintain the yard, and...idk.  I just can't comprehend staging, listing, and being open to tours indefinitely while we look.  I'm not sure my realtor comprehends this.  I'd rather get the 98% done and get back to "kind of" life, and then do the 2% overnight when we see the listing we want.  Because we are sort of niche buyers.  I can't tell if we're breaking the rules of the "game" or if we have an inflexible company.

We school year round too. I had these grand plans of light homeschooling during the move - doing an hour or two first thing in the morning before we get started on packing. It’s so not happening. I don’t even have time to cook or do laundry, much less do school. 

[EMS83]

Yep.  I have a ridiculous to do list.  Though this will show us what we can really live without (I mean, why do I have three different bottles of D3??)  And whenever we do move, there won't be much left to mess with!  And somehwere before, during, or after, I'm going to try to stage our house to live in.  Something like this.  Or approximately, anyway.  I've already told everyone, more space does NOOOOOOT equal more stuff; our stuff belongs in a house twice the size of this one. 

[Ausmumof3]

Are you committed to your agent? Have you tried asking around about prices?

[EMS83]

DH said I should definitely shop agents (and he's usually right about most things).  I'm just easily guilted, so I've been slow to do this.  But it's likely I will on Monday.  I'm learning at least!  I'm not sure when I'll need the knowledge again, but hey, life experience.  ? 

[Liz CA]

4 hours ago, G5052 said:

 

The one we went with said the initial price is critical. You best offers are usually at the beginning, at least in my area. It's a good market, but not overly so. I was a little surprised when she actually recommended a little higher than the other two we interviewed, but the offer we accepted is very close to that.

I sold my uncle's house several years ago in a very "hot" area of the country, and we got 27 offers. I don't think it really mattered very much how we priced it as long as it was within a range for that market.

 

I just now realized that you are not the original poster of this thread...you guys with your letters and numbers...:)

I have nothing of actual value to offer here other than I get into a slight panic every time dh mentions a possible move.

[katilac]

Threads like this are why I have bought one house in my life, and plan to die in it ?

[sassenach]

On 6/8/2018 at 5:24 AM, teachermom2834 said:

For my last house I thought I knew which agent I wanted to use but when she came out to the house she was just so negative I couldn’t sign on with her. We had another agent come out and while blunt about the negatives and the price point she was positive in general. Went with her and had an offer in two weeks while others in our neighborhood sat for a year. 

We've sold two houses and I agree that you should declutter and freshen up it I don’t know about the perfect staging. Our first house sale the agent told us to keep it clean but people understand it is lived in and no one cares about a dirty sock on the floor. She was a highly successful realtor in the town we were in. 

Our second home sold to people who saw it when my two teen boys had returned in the middle of the night from a ballgame out of town and had thrown their sweaty damp uniforms in a basement hamper. We had a scheduled showing and I had an hour in my schedule to run home and straighten up...but my car broke down on the side of the road and I never made it home to straighten up. The house was left with morning dishes, garbage not taken out, smelly clothes in the hamper, unvacuumed floors, etc. Those people bought our house. (Though they did question the smell and investigated to make sure “teen boys” was really the source). 

When house hunting we never were impressed by the staging. Some realtors insist but you might want to ask around before you invest time and effort into much of that.

When we sold our house in Florida, it was the guy who saw it in shambles and boxes who purchased it. You know the stage of moving where everything that’s nasty gets kicked up from under your furniture and the corners of the house? That was the stage we were in. You never know!

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

1 hour ago, sassenach said:

When we sold our house in Florida, it was the guy who saw it in shambles and boxes who purchased it. You know the stage of moving where everything that’s nasty gets kicked up from under your furniture and the corners of the house? That was the stage we were in. You never know!

My parents’ first house sold to the people who came to look at it an hour after we got home from a week-long vacation. It was an 850 sq ft house and there were 7 of us . The van had been emptied but you could barely move through the living room, there was tons of dirty laundry everywhere, and bikes and toys all over the yard. The buyers didn’t care and made an offer the same day.

[readinmom]

We are just about to enter this, I think.  I have the summer off, and I'm looking around the house thinking "where the heck do I start?"  We've been here 23 years.  

[JessReplanted]

Can I add my own moving woes? We have been looking for a house in MA from TX, which is SO hard. We found one we LOVE this morning.  We jumped on it. I wrote an “offer letter”  (which had me crying) and I just know we are not going to get it.  Moving is misery. 

[BlsdMama]

On 6/9/2018 at 2:39 PM, CES2005 said:

DH said I need to shop real estate agents.  I emailed one about an hour ago.  And I agree; I want them to realistic but optimistic.  But I really think we could get $10k more than he thinks we can.  But maybe I'm wrong?  idk.  I could be sending mixed signals without realizing it.

I'm in the process of packing up so much stuff we might as well just move out!  ?  

A good realtor is going to show you comps - she's going to tell you, "Look, the house down the block with 200 sq. feet more than yours sold for $X,XXX more than I expect yours will.  However, a house next door sold last year for X and I think yours is pretty  similar."  Comps really do speak loudly.  She should also be able to tell you where to put your $$ for the most return.  Tell her, "I have $5,000 to fix this house up - what do you think is most important?"  

My cousin is a realtor and she sells a lot of middle income homes.  She actually has a stage person come into every house she lists if the seller will agree because arranging the furniture and making the house seem uncluttered really DOES have an effect on buyers.  I'm not talking about renting new furniture, etc. but rearranging.  You might LOVE your La-Z-Boy directly in front of the fireplace, but if it's in a clear walk way or line of sight, it might look better moved, kwim?  

I am so sorry it's so stressful.  We rented a home that was on the market for a year.  White carpet -I cleaned that carpet about once a month.  I'm glad I was very pro minimalism back then.  With nine kiddos and homeschooling, it was a huge challenge for me.  Something you might want to think about - telling your realtor you need X amount of hours notice.  Our landlords had an agreement with the realtor that we would get 24 hours notice.  In turn, we made sure the house looked nice.  But we had none of the, "Hey, someone would like to swing by at five.  Can you do that?" at 3:30 in the afternoon.  That might take some weight off!

[EMS83]

22 hours ago, katilac said:

Threads like this are why I have bought one house in my life, and plan to die in it ?

I might die in this one trying to get out of it!!  I'm with you; I'm looking long term--will this house suit our changing needs in 10-20 years?  Are the trade offs worth it for that long?

[Scarlett]

6 hours ago, JessReplanted said:

Can I add my own moving woes? We have been looking for a house in MA from TX, which is SO hard. We found one we LOVE this morning.  We jumped on it. I wrote an “offer letter”  (which had me crying) and I just know we are not going to get it.  Moving is misery. 

Awww...it is stressful and even more so across country.  I hope you get it!

[Scarlett]

5 hours ago, BlsdMama said:

A good realtor is going to show you comps - she's going to tell you, "Look, the house down the block with 200 sq. feet more than yours sold for $X,XXX more than I expect yours will.  However, a house next door sold last year for X and I think yours is pretty  similar."  Comps really do speak loudly.  She should also be able to tell you where to put your $$ for the most return.  Tell her, "I have $5,000 to fix this house up - what do you think is most important?"  

My cousin is a realtor and she sells a lot of middle income homes.  She actually has a stage person come into every house she lists if the seller will agree because arranging the furniture and making the house seem uncluttered really DOES have an effect on buyers.  I'm not talking about renting new furniture, etc. but rearranging.  You might LOVE your La-Z-Boy directly in front of the fireplace, but if it's in a clear walk way or line of sight, it might look better moved, kwim?  
 

Your cousin sounds like a good realtor.  I can't belive how many pictures out there show a kitchen full of dirty dishes or the bathroom with hanging wet towels and the counter covered up in flat irons and make up.  It is ridiculous.

and the realtor that looked at our house about a year ago....I wanted her to tell me what needed to be done,.....she said oh it's fine just sell it like it is........I realized then  how much *I* KNEW that was not the way to go.  So we put in new Windows, doors and siding and painted it and put on seemless gutters.  

[Annie G]

We’re looking at houses in a hot area and since we’re 800 miles away we do a lot of online looking. House are selling fast- days, not weeks. And yet it’s amazing how many have pics that include a cluttered bathroom, a messy kitchen, unmade beds, and closets that look ransacked. I truly think staging isn’t a big deal in that market, but in our town average time on the market is like 6 months. Staging is going to be important if I want to sell my house. 

Sending up a fist pump of solidarity to my fellow ‘moving across the country’ boardies. After 25 years here this task seems quite overwhelming. 

[hjffkj]

6 hours ago, BlsdMama said:

A good realtor is going to show you comps - she's going to tell you, "Look, the house down the block with 200 sq. feet more than yours sold for $X,XXX more than I expect yours will.  However, a house next door sold last year for X and I think yours is pretty  similar."  Comps really do speak loudly.  She should also be able to tell you where to put your $$ for the most return.  Tell her, "I have $5,000 to fix this house up - what do you think is most important?"  
 

 

 

This is what our realtor did for us.  She came to the house a little over 2 months ago, showed us the comps, told us what needed to be done to get it to match the highest comps or what to do just to get it close to the highest but not spend so much renovating.  She also told us what we'd get if we sold as is.  The difference was roughly $40,000 so that $5000 reno was so worth it.  We immediately packed everything up, moved in with my parents, and started the reno.  The only part of her information that was wrong was the work needed to match the highest comps.  We were able to skip a few bathroom and kitchen upgrades and still got an offer in the high comps range.

[hjffkj]

The inspection on the house was yesterday and I haven't heard anything.  It is driving me insane.  At least I know that it won't go on forever because the buyer has to give us the report within 2 days or forfeits negotiating rights on the findings.  But it is still killing me.

[EMS83]

So here's a question.  DH told me last night he'd rather find something based on his base, which was about 54% of his income in 2017.  It's really low by itself, and our criteria make it really hard to find anything in that price point, and in all likelihood, it will be a fixer.  But I'm not afraid of dated houses, brown tile, wood trim, crazy colors, etc.  It depends on the price and the bones and guts.  We were also considering building but I think we've nixed that idea for now (90% sure).  I've repeatedly told the agents that we're kinda nuts, and all the various possible directions we can go in (and they contacted me about listing and buying and mortgage people; we never went agent shopping.  I saw a house drop in price, wanted to know why, and then I was assigned a team, lol).  Anyway, the short and sweet version is: this is going to take a while.  Should I feel guilty about that, since I've been as up front as I possibly can be?  Is there a time limit within which agencies prefer to be done with their clients?  I'm not asking to tour random houses for no reason, though all the ones we toured I ended not loving.  Good houses, two priced wrong, but the two that were solid candidates lacked things that are major priorities for us.  And you can't really get a good feel of a house until you've been in it.  (Long distance people: get someone to take a video walkthrough and send it; I'm doing that for DH because he's super busy).  and I'm finding a lot of the listings I'm interested in on my own.  I really just need the agent to show it and help with all the closing hassle.  Am I being burdensome or annoying?

edited to remove stuff.  ? 

[EMS83]

Ok, another question...neither agent has mentioned signing anything?  No contract between us and them?  I'm really confused, y'all.  I really wish we'd done this in a different order.

[Scarlett]

49 minutes ago, CES2005 said:

Ok, another question...neither agent has mentioned signing anything?  No contract between us and them?  I'm really confused, y'all.  I really wish we'd done this in a different order.

I would probably try to stick with one agent to show you houses. And if you aren't happy with the one that is currently showing you houses or answering your questions then you should go agent shopping.  Showing houses to a client over a long period of time is just part of the gig for real estate agents.  Of course you aren't going to needlessly waste their time but if you are shopping on line yourself or driving through neighborhoods and see something you want to see inside of and learn more about....what else can you do but have an agent show it to you?  

My XH was sooooooo hard to please in the house buying department.  I bought two houses with him and both times the agent spent at least a year and a half showing us houses.  She was a dear.  So it happens that way sometimes.  Don't feel bad.  

 

[EMS83]

Well I'm not really want to agent hop so much as I'm not sure what their view of our business relationship is, or if no paperwork is SOP for them until X stage in the process.  The buyer's agent and listing agent are two different people.  I disagree with the listing agent over what we can get out of our house, but the buyer's agent has been fine.  It's just I've been doing things in the wrong order, potentially sending mixed signals (but I don't know).  I don't want them to feel like we're intentionally jerking their chain.  Honestly if I'd listened to DH to start with, this would have gone in the right order... ? 

[Scarlett]

4 minutes ago, CES2005 said:

Well I'm not really want to agent hop so much as I'm not sure what their view of our business relationship is, or if no paperwork is SOP for them until X stage in the process.  The buyer's agent and listing agent are two different people.  I disagree with the listing agent over what we can get out of our house, but the buyer's agent has been fine.  It's just I've been doing things in the wrong order, potentially sending mixed signals (but I don't know).  I don't want them to feel like we're intentionally jerking their chain.  Honestly if I'd listened to DH to start with, this would have gone in the right order... ? 

In my experience no paperwork is SOP until a certain stage.  I wouldn't overthink it.  Just ask to see a house when you need to and eventually you will buy or they will suddenly be 'busy' everytime you want to see a house.  ?  

Have you considered having the same agent sell your house and sell you a new house?  I think there is value in having one person doing it all.

[EMS83]

I didn't get a choice.  I'd agree and had I don't it the right way round, that absolutely would have been what I'd do.  But it's a team set up; I don't think they'd even be allowed, honestly.

 

[Scarlett]

2 minutes ago, CES2005 said:

I didn't get a choice.  I'd agree and had I don't it the right way round, that absolutely would have been what I'd do.  But it's a team set up; I don't think they'd even be allowed, honestly.

 

I don't understand.  Have you signed a contract with the listing agent?

[Scarlett]

And really there is no 'right way' to this stuff.  It just isn't an exact science.

[EMS83]

Nope, no contract with anyone.  He came one and did the walk through and "do this stuff" list.  I think he didn't expect to come back until we were ready to stage, I did call him back pretty much for no reason.  I guess we'd sign a contract then?  It's the same company, but two different agents.  

[Scarlett]

7 minutes ago, CES2005 said:

Nope, no contract with anyone.  He came one and did the walk through and "do this stuff" list.  I think he didn't expect to come back until we were ready to stage, I did call him back pretty much for no reason.  I guess we'd sign a contract then?  It's the same company, but two different agents.  

If you haven't signed a contract you can use any agent you want to list it.  So I am not sure why you say you have 'no choice'.  If you don't like a vibe from an agent, don't sign with them.  They are knowledgeable but you have to feel like you are working with them....I mean actually they are working FOR you so you should hire who you want.

[EMS83]

I just meant if I want to work with this company; I don't think my buyer's agent could also be my listing agent.  I could ask, but they seem to take a team approach.  So if I wanted one person to do both, I think I'd need to go find a different company/person.  It's an option.

[Scarlett]

9 minutes ago, CES2005 said:

I just meant if I want to work with this company; I don't think my buyer's agent could also be my listing agent.  I could ask, but they seem to take a team approach.  So if I wanted one person to do both, I think I'd need to go find a different company/person.  It's an option.

Have you asked?  I don't know why they couldn't be.  Just tell the main broker at this company that you are more comfortable working with which ever agent you like best.

[EMS83]

Not yet.  I don't dislike the listing guy; I just disagree with him.  ?   But I'll keep that in mind, and maybe that's an option.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

I just sent my DH to the basement with some boxes to start packing. There’s not much down there but it needed to be sorted and packed. I went down later to find a huge pile of trash (wonderful) and one box with things heaped in it. It’s about three boxes worth all piled into one. ?‍♀️ Why does he do that?! At least I know what he wants to keep so I can go down there and pack it correctly. ?

[vonfirmath]

On 6/9/2018 at 6:01 PM, G5052 said:

 

The one we went with said the initial price is critical. You best offers are usually at the beginning, at least in my area. It's a good market, but not overly so. I was a little surprised when she actually recommended a little higher than the other two we interviewed, but the offer we accepted is very close to that.

I sold my uncle's house several years ago in a very "hot" area of the country, and we got 27 offers. I don't think it really mattered very much how we priced it as long as it was within a range for that market.

 

My parents are in the midst of selling their house. They have the advantage of having a recent appraisal for their house. The real estate agent recommended pricing it 5% higher than that appraisal and it appears that may have been wise. In the week it has been on the market, they have had several people look at the house. One made a verbal offer and counter (But as of Tuesday morning they were being more reluctant to put the offer on paper my parents indicated they would be willing to accept). Last night they heard there's another contract coming in. If they get something acceptable on paper before the first lady follows through, they are going to take the one that is on paper and signed.