[JGatti]

Speaking with my realtor I'm starting to think we won't be selling out house this year. To this day she still tells me that for the price range we have the nicest house but the foreclosed houses are killing the sellers. People are spending more to get bigger yet run down homes even though ours is move in ready. I guess they think they are going to fix em up and have a ton of equity when they are done.

I find this kind of humorous because everyone I have ever know who had a smoking deal on a house did the same thing. Took out the equity as it developed, fixed this fixed that then the next thing you know you owe more than what the house is worth. Makes sense. We had one lady ready to make an offer 2 weeks ago until she found a house the bank was giving away. 1800sqft on 3 acres with a pole barn. Sure sounds nice but it has a RR track that pretty much run through the yard and the taxes will easily be twice as much if not more than ours. I just don't get it. Our home appraised at $200,000 a few years back, it has about $60K in updates and needs nothing. We're at $130K and would go a little lower but EVERYONE wants the foreclosed homes. I guess they feel if it's not foreclosed it's not a good enough deal.

Well I start back to work next Monday and the plan is to do some updates here and there. If the market is better next year we'll up the price and put it back on the market. I'd hope most of the foreclosed homes are gone by then. Those damn things are killing me!

[preferentialtreatment]

JGATTI,there just is too much grief out there to mention.The unemployment is going to shoot higher and higher.The housing wiped out most people`s hard worked money AND then there is the money devaluation.Some people here said that even the renters will not have money to pay rent because they will lose their jobs.Some say,why don`t they buy.We live in a bizarro world.I used to laugh about few things a while ago,but i guess the US was really sinking so much that it`s own citizens are wanting out.What`s next for me? Another citizenship?These problems are only so acute only here in the US.Btw doctors are leaving for New York :smh:

[MTUCache]

After working with a realtor to get our new place, I've got a feeling you haven't even hit the most dis-heartening thing about selling your house yet...

According to her, even those houses that are priced low enough to generate some interest are having a heck of a time getting the deal closed. By the time you do get an offer agreed upon usually the bank will end up putting the kabosh on the financing just as you're getting ready to celebrate. She's had at least a dozen properties that this has happend to multiple times. Basically, she said that until the deal is actually closed, it's not even worth packing up your stuff to move, because even when things appear to be lined up the banks are backing out at the last minute on all kinds of deals.

Very frustrating.

[jeanniepep]

In more positive news, we just bought a house in July and were definitely looking for one that needed no updates. We are NOT handy!! We looked at a bunch of depressing "estate sales" and didn't even want to look at a foreclosure or deal with the bank uncertainty and delays of a short sale. We managed to find EXACTLY what we wanted with plenty of update so all we had to do was buy furniture! The sellers had the house on the market for about 10 months and did drop the price a few times; the appraisal dragged it down a little more (the appraiser did not use any foreclosures or short sales in the comps).

I don't know if this cheers you up at all, but some deals really are happening. The bank delayed us by about 2 weeks but we still managed to close and move in! Sellers got their money, we got our house, and all is right with the world!

[JGatti]

Funny thing is there are 20 photos, a slideshow. All the info of the house etc etc. We have 2 more showings this weekend and I can only hope the right person walks through. I guess my point is the photos have to give you a good idea if you will like the home or not, but we're at 50/50 on the feedback in regards to liking it and positive feedback.

[fatherjohnson]

Gatti sounds like a clear case of overpricing. When will you people learn, this isn't 1999 anymore, find local comps & price it right. It will sell quickly if priced right, there are plenty of active investors. Face the music gatti. It's over.

[JGatti]

Originally Posted by fatherjohnson

Gatti sounds like a clear case of overpricing. When will you people learn, this isn't 1999 anymore, find local comps & price it right. It will sell quickly if priced right, there are plenty of active investors. Face the music gatti. It's over.

Uhhhh no. My house is under priced, in fact we dropped it 15k from what we were told to list it. Giving my house away is not being priced right. 1999? My house was worth more 3 years ago than it was in 1999 and looking at my calender it was 2006.

[preferentialtreatment]

JGatti you are right.May i ask why you are selling your house?

[momof11]

We sold our house in California last year and took a huge hit, for the most part just getting out from under the huge debt. A year later I looked at comps in our old neighborhood and the prices have dropped anywhere from 50-100 thousand dollars. We would have been upside down in our house had we not taken what seemed like too little for our house. We moved here with very little to put down on a house but did not buy a forclosure either.

[JGatti]

Originally Posted by preferentialtreatment

JGatti you are right.May i ask why you are selling your house?

Trying to prepare for the future is the best answer I can give you. To add to my previous answer in regard to our price. I have two appraisers in our family, a sister in law who owns a mortgage company and it's a friend of the family who is listing our house. Even in todays market our house is priced in the right place. If taking $40k below the appraised value is not cheap enough the buyers can take a flying leap head first into the shallow end of my pool. I'm not going to try and break even just to compete with the home people walked away from.