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Scarlett
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Monday evening. I had clicked the box on Zillow ‘make me sell’. (Edited to say---It is actually Make me Move)   A realtor brought a buyer.....his wife couldn’t come at the last minute.....the husband is a contractor....they have 5 kids and one on the way. I really thought they weren’t interested...... but the realtor texted me this afternoon that the wife wants to see it and the realtor said an offer would probably follow immediately.   Soooo. Who knows. 

I already told the realtor before the first showing that the price reflects that we know there is work left to be done. 

I am so nervous,  mostly because if they offer us full price where will we live.  

Edited by Scarlett
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1 hour ago, lmrich said:

WOW! You can find a place to live. Just negotiate the contract to give yourself plenty of time before closing. Congratulations!!!

Well, thank you.  But who knows what an offer really means.  We really have no intention of taking less than full price at this time.  

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So dh and I did not sleep last night.  I mean, maybe an hour or two each but we laid awake for HOURS.  He was reading over our city's zoning laws last night and we might need some sort of variance to build on the lot we have.  I want to build, but I am terrified to build.....So, so stressful.

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I think we have a place to live if our house sells.  We have friend's who recently moved in with her elderly parents and so their home is empty.  It needs a bit of work before we can move in, but dh says it is definitely doable before we close even if closing is in just a month.  I am so relieved.  We haven't settled on the rent amount yet, but I know it will be reasonable.  And they won't require us to sign a year's lease which was a big problem I could see with any decent rental.  It is big enough for us and the boys and the location is closer to dh's work and ds's school.  Same distance for me and dss.  All in all it is a good solution.  

 

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Glad to hear you have a plan!  That makes the whole process a lot less stressful, no matter what - now you just have to deal with whether or not you want to accept the offer, and not all the peripheral where will we go stuff!!

 

Anne

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Just now, Anne said:

Glad to hear you have a plan!  That makes the whole process a lot less stressful, no matter what - now you just have to deal with whether or not you want to accept the offer, and not all the peripheral where will we go stuff!!

 

Anne

Yes!  You can't imagine how relieved I am.  

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The showing went well.  The wife did not think the small master was near as big of a problem as her dh had made her fear.   

At some point the dh told the wife 'I don't know where we would put our entertainment center'  (He showed me a picture...it is a huge massive wide set up)  When they start furniture placement it is usually a good sign.  Also she is due in 7 weeks.  

They looked inside for about 30 minutes.  Then they went outside to leave but stood and looked at the house and talked for about 15 minutes more.  

An hour after they left the realtor texted me that he was preparing an offer.  He asked if I was ok with 3 percent comission.  I said, 'depends on the offer.'  

So.....waiting......

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3 hours ago, Scarlett said:

The showing went well.  The wife did not think the small master was near as big of a problem as her dh had made her fear.   

At some point the dh told the wife 'I don't know where we would put our entertainment center'  (He showed me a picture...it is a huge massive wide set up)  When they start furniture placement it is usually a good sign.  Also she is due in 7 weeks.  

They looked inside for about 30 minutes.  Then they went outside to leave but stood and looked at the house and talked for about 15 minutes more.  

An hour after they left the realtor texted me that he was preparing an offer.  He asked if I was ok with 3 percent comission.  I said, 'depends on the offer.'  

So.....waiting......

Well, it is a terrible offer.  LOL.  Dh wants me to not respond at all.

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1 minute ago, Liz CA said:

Counter offer?

I think we should....but dh is giving me a hard time.  I texted dh over an hour ago my suggestion for the counter...giving them a tiny bit but nothing close to what their offer is.   Dh hasn't responded to me.

 

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1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

I think we should....but dh is giving me a hard time.  I texted dh over an hour ago my suggestion for the counter...giving them a tiny bit but nothing close to what their offer is.   Dh hasn't responded to me.

 

 

Why wouldn’t your dh want to counter? This is just business. The low offer wasn’t intended as a personal insult (although I know it’s hard not to be offended when both of you have put a lot of time and hard work into that house.)

I think you are smart to want to counter their offer. No matter who eventually buys the house, there will probably be negotiations, and this couple seems very interested. 

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We had a horrible offer on our last house.  They wanted a much lower price, most of our furniture, us to pay their property taxes for the next year and to pay their closing costs.  We figured with all of the above, they lowballed us by $50k.  We came back full price, no taxes that we didn’t owe already, no furniture except the kitchen barstools that we had no use for and did pay their closing costs.  They accepted. 

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1 hour ago, bethben said:

We had a horrible offer on our last house.  They wanted a much lower price, most of our furniture, us to pay their property taxes for the next year and to pay their closing costs.  We figured with all of the above, they lowballed us by $50k.  We came back full price, no taxes that we didn’t owe already, no furniture except the kitchen barstools that we had no use for and did pay their closing costs.  They accepted. 

Wow, that seems really weird to me!  I've never heard of that.  I'm glad you didn't accept their original offer and that they accepted anyway.

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47 minutes ago, J-rap said:

Wow, that seems really weird to me!  I've never heard of that.  I'm glad you didn't accept their original offer and that they accepted anyway.

I think they were out of their price range, but it was an accessible home, the husband was in a wheelchair, and homes for sale  like ours didn’t exist.  We had compassion for them but also needed to buy a new home and spend money to adapt it.  We couldn’t give it away.  

I think with any home, people want to see how desperate you are to sell.  

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59 minutes ago, J-rap said:

Wow, that seems really weird to me!  I've never heard of that.  I'm glad you didn't accept their original offer and that they accepted anyway.

Yes me too...

it is not uncommon at all.  I wanted to counter back and give up $2000.  Dh wasn’t willing to do that even.  Shrug.  I guess if they want it they will resubmit at a higher price.  

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25 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Yes me too...

it is not uncommon at all.  I wanted to counter back and give up $2000.  Dh wasn’t willing to do that even.  Shrug.  I guess if they want it they will resubmit at a higher price.  

 

Are you saying that your dh isn’t willing to negotiate the selling price at all and that he will accept nothing less than a full price offer? 

If the only reason he didn’t go along with your counter offer is because he was insulted by the low offer, I think he needs to develop a thicker skin. The lowball offer truly wasn’t personal and it wasn’t meant to be insulting. I’m sure it was just a starting point for the negotiations. The couple just wanted to try to get the best deal possible on the house. If they didn’t like it, they wouldn’t have made any offer at all. It seems kind of foolish to have walked away from what may very well have been a serious buyer. I hope the realtor at least let the people know that they are welcome to submit a higher offer.

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1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

Well they came back with 10k more.  Still not enough.  Dh let me counter this time.  They want our tractor for some reason which surprisingly Dh was willing to let  go of.  .  

 

It sounds like they’re very interested. Good luck with your counter offer!!!! 

It’s so stressful waiting to hear back about things like this.

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7 hours ago, Beth S said:

From my experience, EVERY potential buyer low-balls.  It's just what potential buyers do.  😉

 

My husband seems to think it is FINE when we lowball but not ok if others lowball us.......sigh.

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7 hours ago, Beth S said:

From my experience, EVERY potential buyer low-balls.  It's just what potential buyers do.  😉

 

We never did. I always have a hard time finding a house I like enough to want to buy it, so we always offer very close to the asking price. 

I would offer a low price if I felt a house was already way over-priced, though, because I wouldn’t want to over-pay by too much, no matter how much I liked it.

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5 minutes ago, Seasider too said:

 

We have sold all sorts of things with houses, including draperies, furniture, a piano, a ping pong table, appliances, riding lawnmower... it’s not really unusual for people to ask. We actually figured when people asked for stuff like that, they were already envisioning themselves in the house. That helped us negotiate from a stronger position. We would entertain offers on just about anything, but for things we didn’t want folks to make offers on, we put them in an exclusions clause in the listing agreement. 

I do have to agree with Catwoman, though, that if you (meaning your dh) aren’t willing to negotiate and give even a little off the selling price... well, you’re really not being savvy sellers (unless of course you live in an exploding market, which you have said you don’t). 

I deduced early on......she is giving birth in 7 weeks. He is a contractor. They want to live out by the lake.  

We live in a popular market.  And we aren’t anywhere desperate to sell.  

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Well they did not accept our counter.  If their pre approval letter is accurate they went up to their max amount.  It was still $10k under our asking.  

Now back to working on our list of improvements. 

Edited by Scarlett
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50 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Well they did not accept our counter.  If their pre approval letter is accurate they went up to their max amount.  It was still $10k under our asking.  

Now back to working on our list of improvements. 

 

On 3/30/2019 at 8:35 PM, Scarlett said:

Our house is not typical.  I get that.  The value is very subjective. 

But.  It is a lake property.  Has a pool.  An acre. A big shop.  Very nice neighborhood.  

 

Maybe this will turn out to be a blessing in disguise! I had missed your post where you said it’s a lake property, but Spring is a great time to sell a house on a lake once everything is all green and lush, because people take one look out the window and start picturing themselves sitting out by the water or swimming or being out on the lake in a boat. You might even end up with a bidding war on your house!

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57 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Well they did not accept our counter.  If their pre approval letter is accurate they went up to their max amount.  It was still $10k under our asking.  

Now back to working on our list of improvements. 

I don't really understand lowballing. I mean, I get that everyone wants to get a good value on a house. Who doesn't? But if a home is priced right for the market, don't people realize that sellers aren't rich just because they're selling? I don't know too many who could afford to just eat 10K or more on a sale. Sometimes part of the proceeds has to go toward paying off the bank. Sellers still need to buy another property. It just seems like a waste of everybody's time and good will  not to make offers reasonable. And then you have the issue of a lowball offer making people feel hostile toward the potential buyers. Who honestly would want to work with and potentially make other concessions with a buyer who does that? I don't get it.

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1 hour ago, Valley Girl said:

I don't really understand lowballing. I mean, I get that everyone wants to get a good value on a house. Who doesn't? But if a home is priced right for the market, don't people realize that sellers aren't rich just because they're selling? I don't know too many who could afford to just eat 10K or more on a sale. Sometimes part of the proceeds has to go toward paying off the bank. Sellers still need to buy another property. It just seems like a waste of everybody's time and good will  not to make offers reasonable. And then you have the issue of a lowball offer making people feel hostile toward the potential buyers. Who honestly would want to work with and potentially make other concessions with a buyer who does that? I don't get it.

 

This is all true but it is a business transaction and occasionally a seller will price higher or has personal wiggle room. An astute buyer may start low and see where it goes.  Feelings and emotions really have no place in this which is difficult as most of us have not only financial but also emotional investment in our homes.

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28 minutes ago, Liz CA said:

 

This is all true but it is a business transaction and occasionally a seller will price higher or has personal wiggle room. An astute buyer may start low and see where it goes.  Feelings and emotions really have no place in this which is difficult as most of us have not only financial but also emotional investment in our homes.

Oh, I understand that there is going to be some give and take. That's part of the process. What floors me is someone coming in ridiculously low on a property that's priced right for the market. Maybe the seller has wiggle room. But to imagine someone has thousands of dollars' worth would be surprising since most people (I think anyway) are counting on that equity for the next purchase. But then, maybe I just haven't bought and sold enough houses. It's interesting to hear about though.

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To Valley Girl (I cannot quote for some reason)

You are right on all accounts. The average seller needs to pull out the best possible equity. As a buyer you don't know though what the circumstances are. Our aunt passed away in a home she had lived in for over 60 years. It has been paid off since the early 1960s and had appreciated tremendously. Her two sons just wanted to sell it but 30K up or down would not have mattered that much. They were out of town and wanted to be done with it and the house had appreciated so much that they had a wonderful profit either way.

As a potential buyer, I would not know this but it would be advantageous to try low first and see what happens unless you know that the seller is absolutely firm. Then it would be a waste of time, I suppose.

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1 hour ago, Liz CA said:

To Valley Girl (I cannot quote for some reason)

You are right on all accounts. The average seller needs to pull out the best possible equity. As a buyer you don't know though what the circumstances are. Our aunt passed away in a home she had lived in for over 60 years. It has been paid off since the early 1960s and had appreciated tremendously. Her two sons just wanted to sell it but 30K up or down would not have mattered that much. They were out of town and wanted to be done with it and the house had appreciated so much that they had a wonderful profit either way.

As a potential buyer, I would not know this but it would be advantageous to try low first and see what happens unless you know that the seller is absolutely firm. Then it would be a waste of time, I suppose.

Ah, I see what you mean. Thank you for walking me through it.

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2 hours ago, Scarlett said:

It isn't on the lake but near enough that the lake is very much part of the appeal.  Dh wasn't offended.  Not sure where that idea came from.  He just didn't feel like the offer was worthy of a counter.  

 

When you said it was a “lake property,” I assumed you meant it was on a lake. 

I guess things are different where you live, because where we are, property isn’t lakefront, the value goes way down — even houses across the street from the lake are priced much lower — and once you get beyond walking distance, the lake might still hold some appeal for buyers, but they won’t pay extra for it unless it’s part of a prestigious lake community with lots of amenities.

What kind of offer does your dh consider to be worthy of a counter? Depending on the asking price of the house, a much lower opening offer and a final offer of $10k under asking might be pretty typical. (I’m not saying you should accept it if you know the homes in your neighborhood are selling for higher prices, though, and I know you’re not in a rush to sell.)

Also, will the rest of the remodeling projects on your house cost a lot of money and/or time? If so, you might end up making more money by accepting a lower offer and not having to spend more money or do any more work.

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1 minute ago, Catwoman said:

 

Also, will the rest of the remodeling projects on your house cost a lot of money and/or time? If so, you might end up making more money by accepting a lower offer and not having to spend more money or do any more work.

 

I was also thinking that you may want to take into account that this is not with a realtor, so those fees will be saved as well.  

And I think most of us feel our house is worth more than it is.  Me included.  I don't like FSBO because they often think they can get more $$ and aren't as willing to negotiate.

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2 hours ago, Valley Girl said:

Oh, I understand that there is going to be some give and take. That's part of the process. What floors me is someone coming in ridiculously low on a property that's priced right for the market. Maybe the seller has wiggle room. But to imagine someone has thousands of dollars' worth would be surprising since most people (I think anyway) are counting on that equity for the next purchase. But then, maybe I just haven't bought and sold enough houses. It's interesting to hear about though.

 

Sometimes a buyer will think the house is overpriced for the market — and sometimes the buyer is right. 😉  

Also, a $10k discount on a $100k house is a lot, but $10k on a $1M house doesn’t seem like much at all, so I think the asking price of the house makes a big difference in what would be considered a reasonable offer.

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6 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

I was also thinking that you may want to take into account that this is not with a realtor, so those fees will be saved as well.  

And I think most of us feel our house is worth more than it is.  Me included.  I don't like FSBO because they often think they can get more $$ and aren't as willing to negotiate.

 

Good point about saving the realtor fees!  🙂

We don’t even look at FSBO houses because we don’t want to deal with the nuisance of dealing directly with sellers. I’m sure most sellers are wonderful people, but let’s face it, most people have an emotional attachment to their homes, and I don’t want to be the one pointing out its faults and negotiating the price directly with them. I’d rather let my real estate agent deal with that. And I agree with you that many of the FSBO listings I have seen appear to have been overpriced — although I didn’t actually go and tour the houses, so I was only judging by the comps in the area.

Edited by Catwoman
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Yes of course a lake front property is worth more than a property in a lake area. And yet our property does have appeal to people wanting to be near the lake . 

These people brought their realtor so his fee was a consideration. We did not get as far as negotiating his fee . 

Since no one has anyway of knowing what a property will bring, is always a gamble to put one more dime in to it. Whether it is a new window or staging or hiring landscapers. Everyone surely has to do what they think is best. We are doing improvements that we want. It will either make it attractive enough to get the price we want or we will have a nice home to live in. 

Their initial offer was 25k below our asking. And it is not a million dollar home so that is a significant amount to us. 

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In our area, the price had better be the asking price or a bit higher if you're serious. There have been three houses that sold in our neighborhood in March, all within 48 hours.

Housing prices are so location sensitive. Some other neighborhoods here take a little longer to sell here, a few miles or a school district can make a difference.

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34 minutes ago, TechWife said:

In our area, the price had better be the asking price or a bit higher if you're serious. There have been three houses that sold in our neighborhood in March, all within 48 hours.

Housing prices are so location sensitive. Some other neighborhoods here take a little longer to sell here, a few miles or a school district can make a difference.

Yep.  I keep a close eye on the market. 

Also it might have got lost in this thread but our house wasn't even actually listed or even had a sign out front.  It just did a 'make me move' on Zillow.  We put a real price on there...not a fantasy price.  So if someone offers us that we will take it.  

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1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

I just checked a house a few roads down from us.  It sold for full price and it was a major fixer.  Hmmmm. Same size as ours but no pool and no shop.  Our house is definitely not over priced.

 

That’s good news!

For some buyers, though, a property with no pool and no shop could be a positive rather than a negative, if a family doesn’t want the maintenance of a pool and has no need for an extra building on the property that will need to either be maintained or torn down.

There are so many variables with houses! One person’s negative is another person’s must-have. Ultimately, it comes down to the right person seeing a particular home at the right time for the right price. 

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13 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

 

That’s good news!

For some buyers, though, a property with no pool and no shop could be a positive rather than a negative, if a family doesn’t want the maintenance of a pool and has no need for an extra building on the property that will need to either be maintained or torn down.

There are so many variables with houses! One person’s negative is another person’s must-have. Ultimately, it comes down to the right person seeing a particular home at the right time for the right price. 

 

My realtor told me that in her 30 years she has just decided there is often no rhyme or reason to who buys what and when.  It is all about the right buyer for the right property.  One house she thinks will sell fast can take months and a house she thinks will sit a while can sell in days.

I know for our house it will just take the right buyer.  

And Scarlett, I would consider an inground pool a plus and DH would love the outbuilding!  Maybe I should look at your house? 😂 . Got any pictures?

Edited by DawnM
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30 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

My realtor told me that in her 30 years she has just decided there is often no rhyme or reason to who buys what and when.  It is all about the right buyer for the right property.  One house she thinks will sell fast can take months and a house she thinks will sit a while can sell in days.

I know for our house it will just take the right buyer.  

And Scarlett, I would consider an inground pool a plus and DH would love the outbuilding!  Maybe I should look at your house? 😂 . Got any pictures?

Ha it might be a tad outside your school district.  

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