Finally closed after 3 years

19 years ago

Please join us in a glass of champagne. Tonight we closed on the home where we lived 26 years and raised our children. It was the site of wonderful times, but we put it on the market 3 years ago, and we've finally sold. The mistake we made was trying to get too high a price. Based on an appraisal, we put it up for sale in June '04 for 649,00. Had we asked 550,000, we probably could have sold it for that price by owner. We tried to sell it for 1 1/2 years, and then we got a wonderful tenant who rented for 14 months while their house was being reconstructed from a fire. We put it up for sale in Feb, dropped the price from 549,00 to 499,000 2 weeks ago and got 470,000. It kills me to think we got so little for this wonderful house, but meantime, there are 4 other houses comparable to ours in our neighborhood sitting. Our realtor told us, and I believe she was right, that if we didn't cut the price we'd sit there forever. We've sold; the other 4 have not. Our house was paid for, but the taxes, insurance, grasscutting, utilities, etc. were killing us. I'm so glad we're out from under not only the expense, but the responsibility. I'm celebrating...this is a tough, tough market!

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Comments (8)

qdognj
19 years ago
congrats, where was this home located? Was it on the market while being rented?
nancylouise5me
19 years ago
Wow, 3 years is a very long time. Congratulations on finally selling. There are 2 houses across the street from me that have been for sale for almost as long. One is asking way to much for the property, $785,000, and the other couldn't come down any lower in price, $349,000 so now the owners are doing a rent to buy. The market is very tough and I don't see any signs of it getting better in the future. NancyLouise
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dabunch
19 years ago
Congratulations!!!

It killed me too, to sell my house for what I did. I never overpriced it. In fact, I listed it under comps. However, there were no buyers in Oct 06-Jan 07 & it was a struggle to get a legitimate looker, never mind a buyer.
My buyers from Aug 06 (they backed out in Sept) really hurt my timing & sale. In the end, I was just glad to sell it.

This happened to my neighbor: They've listed too high & then the price could not have come down low enough or fast enough to sell. Many times, if you list too high you will end up selling for less than you would if your were listed closer to where it should have been. Perhaps, that is exactly what happened to you.

Nonetheless, it's champagne time for you!
ravlegend
19 years ago
Congratulations.

Puzzled, you mentioned lowering the price 2 weeks ago and it closed already in 2 weeks? That's some fast closing.
sudiepav
Original Author
19 years ago
Our house was empty and the buyers didn't have to sell their house to finance ours. They asked for a quick closing and we were happy to oblige. When they made the offer that we accepted, they asked for a July 31 closing, but they'd been pre-approved and could close more quickly. We took the house off the market the 14 months it was rented, as we had income coming in and we felt that taking it off the market was a good move. Maybe so, maybe not. Things were very slow by then, too and still are.
dgmarie
19 years ago
Well, you did have a fire in it, after all. That would be a rather big turn off.
dgmarie
19 years ago
just re read it
Katie S
19 years ago
Congratulations!!!!! You mentioned that price was "so little" but wow, my 5 bedroom house in Marietta (near Atlanta) was HALF that and is a lovely home. Markets are sooo different.