Time required to sell your house

[NJblue]

I don't expect there to be too many lucky people who will be able to answer this poll, but am curious as to how long it took. A secondary question for those who have been successful is, "what percentage decrease from your house's perceived high value did you have to accept in order to sell your house?"

For those who are still trying to sell their house outside TV, how long has it been on the market?

[CTgolfer]

We have been very fortunate. In our area of Connecticut, homes with rear-yard privacy and in excellent condition have been under contract (since the beginning of this year) in less than one month. Price of the houses have declined around 3-5% since we bought in 2005.

[KathieI]

Good question..

Listed my house in Los Angeles in mid-April, sold it in mid-July, for approx 5% less than asking price.

Buyer's first offer was 10% lower and I didn't take it personally, just worked on logical counter offers (5 in all) until we came to an agreement. All in all, can't complain.

[efrahin]

NJBlue: We are in Long Island. Listed since January, Discounted 20% and still no luck. Nothing is moving in this area.

[Sidney Lanier]

We're snowbirds who are not selling, but our son has an exceptional piece of commercial property including a business by downtown New Paltz NY that he tried to sell on his own for six months, then gave it to a broker for six months, and is about to choose another broker. He recently dropped the price by 35%! And it still isn't sold, though he does have a few interested lookers at this point. We thought commercial would be different in terms of investment, like buying quality stocks when they are low, but not so far....

[jojo]

We sold at 2% below asking in 10 days. Surprised us - pleasantly. While the Columbus area is not moving, we lived in Upper Arlington so had the location and school system advantage plus we had a large wooded back yard and custom-built house.

[sschuler1]

We are in Metro Detroit in one of the nicer suburbs. We have been on the market since late March. Our realtor told us that she would have listed our home last year at $305,000 but we started our listing at $294,900. We are currently listed at $278,900 and will be dropping the price again next month until we sell. We have had plenty of lookers, just no buyers.

[SteveFromNY]

We listed our house may 07. My wife and I both had a number in our head based on offers we had received in 2003 when we were considering selling. We estimated that the value from 03 to 07 had risen probably 25% in our local market, and that the beginning of the downturn (as we saw it on May 07) probably took away some. So our internal number was about 20% over the 2003 offers.
Along came a R/E agent, who conned us into listing 50% higher than the 2003 offer. The dollar signs were clouding our vision!!! We listed with him at the price he suggested. 6 months later, our price was lowered considerable and the listing expired. WQe did get a really low offer from this agent after the listing expired, and we were mulling it over when another agent called (in January) with a qualified buyer who really wanted to see our house. Yeah, right I said. But we eventually let this agent and prospective buyer into the house. The rest is history. They offered the number we originally had in our head!!! We took it, and closed in late June. They even had a house to sell which they sold in a week!! It only took so long to close because of the difficulties scheduling contract reviews etc around everyone's schedules (buyers on vacation, lawyers on vacation, me on vacation).
I realize how very lucky we were in this situation!

[benj]

I have been for sale for two years. 2800 sq ft 2800 sq ft basement, all the good stuff, half acre lot, lowered price 90k still no buyers. Colorado is supposed to be doing better than most markets. HA HA

[Mikitv]

We have been on the market five weeks and not one showing. Since we are in the upper house bracket for our area we know we will have fewer people that can afford to even consider our home. It is 4200 square feet with about an acre on the golf course. Three car garage and custom built home. Homes in our area have always been slow to sell so we are set to wait. Our neighborhood has homes from the mid 300,000 to almost 2 million so it will need the right person to buy. Sitting here waiting for our dreamer buyer. Lol

[villages07]

Took >18 months....Sept 06 until June 08 (with 3 months where it was off the market); lowered the price by 20% between initial listing price and final listing price. Offer came in $10K under the final listing price. Having had the house for 10 years it was still adequate profit and no need to be greedy so we took it. Glad to be done with it!!

Lesson learned...price it right to begin with and avoid a number of smaller price decreases. In my zip code, there are approx 100 houses listed for sale and only 3-6 go under contract each month...guess it was my turn.

Best of luck to all you sellers out there.

[ConeyIsBabe]

My property in southern Oregon has been on the market since June 08 and I'm not trying to be greedy and make a killing. I'm a victim of bad timing; when I purchased it 3 years ago I didn't forsee the real estate market tumble. Therefore, I cannot, will not sell for less than what I paid.

Stocking up on madrone for the wood stove and the coming winter ::)

[Number 6]

We listed our home outside of Elmira, NY and it sold the first weekend. It is a unique piece of property and we listed it at a fair price. Our agent told us that he was not surprised as he is still selling homes. We were still surprised.

[Rozzie]

My mom was super fortunate. Before my stepdad passed, they had seriously considered coming down for the tour last year. This past month out of boredom, she thought "for something to do" she still go down and see TV still. She was out walking her dog, about to leave for a lifestyle preview when her neighbor stopped her, the same neighbor that wanted to buy her house before the downturn. She joked "still wanna buy my house" and he said yes I'll go to the bank this afternoon. While she was down doing lifestyle preview he kept calling and offered a little more than everything else is selling for plus all closing costs. He wanted her house really bad! ;) Granted it was a nice home, on the golf course, custom built with all the bells and whistles--but so is a lot of homes that are not selling. My mom and I both took it as a sign for her to sell, move and start a new life in TV.

So all in all, it sold in less than 5 minutes? Even better she saved on the Realtor fee. I was so happy for her!

[njgranny]

Rozzie - I think you get the prize. I doubt anyone could sell more quickly than that. :-)

We don't have our house on the market yet, but, hopefully, it will sell fairly quickly.

[Jim007]

We sold our condo up in Putnam, CT two months ago, for 94% of our asking price. We sold it in the first two weeks we had it on the market. That was the good news. The bad news is, we have to wait for our buyer to sell their house in Pomfret, CT before they can close on ours. Oooh, I hate those contingencies. However, you have to take what you can get in this market.

[benj]

Jim007, I hope you have a contingency in your contract that allows you to continue to market your condo and accept another contract giving the buyers some period of time to either perform on the contract or loose the right to hold you to it. It would be a shame to have you pull your condo off the market for a WHAT IF. Best of luck. Benj

[SteveFromNY]

We sold our condo up in Putnam, CT two months ago, for 94% of our asking price. We sold it in the first two weeks we had it on the market. That was the good news. The bad news is, we have to wait for our buyer to sell their house in Pomfret, CT before they can close on ours. Oooh, I hate those contingencies. However, you have to take what you can get in this market.


Jim, I had a sale contingency too. Make sure you do your homework! I was adamant about putting a time frame in the contract as in NY anyway, I'd have to go to contract and could conceivably be stuck forever waiting for the sale. Amke sure you can start showing the house again after some period of time. Also, go look at their house, and talk to your realtor about how realistically the property is priced. Make sure you are comfortable with the pricing.

We got really lucky - our buyer was able to sell very quickly as they were selling a 2-family to buy my house and in NYC there is apparently still a reasonable demand for multiple family homes.

[scottke]

Our house has been on the market for 10 months and is down $61K from the original asking price. I sure hope it goes soon.

[jojo]

Scottke, Good luck on your house. We moved in last week and our neighborhood is wonderful. Look forward to seeing you in Amelia.

[Pookirgirl]

This Jersey Girl has had her house on the market for over a year. Last year we listed with an agent for a 6 month term which expired in March. It was on a FSBO for the winter. Then we re-listed with another realtor for another 6 months which ends in December. We dropped the price by $15Gs. The only traffic we've had was during our 2 Open Houses a month that we requested. Our realtor has not shown it to anyone and no other realtors have been by either! It is on MLS. We have a lovely home, are the original owners, and have taken excellent care of it. The home and yard are meticulous! What more can I do to sell it other than give it away????
I was so hoping to spend my first Winter in TV! As of now, we have reserved a rental home there for the month of March. :'(
We have an Open House scheduled for this Sunday! Wish us luck.
Scottke...I feel for ya! The pain of selling is too much!!!! Good luck to all of you in the same boat.

[Jim007]

Jim007, I hope you have a contingency in your contract that allows you to continue to market your condo and accept another contract giving the buyers some period of time to either perform on the contract or loose the right to hold you to it. It would be a shame to have you pull your condo off the market for a WHAT IF. Best of luck. Benj


Benj, yes I do have a clause in the contract that would allow me to take another offer. I don't remember the name of the clause, but it basically gives the original buy first right of refusal on our condo, if we got another offer. However they would have 48 hrs. to agree to close in 45 days or give up their contract. The only problem is, there hasn't been anyone else to show our condo to. Not a lot of buyers out there. There is also an outside date on the contract. If our buyer hasn't sold their property by this date, we renegotiate the closing date with them.

[NJblue]

I did some research on house sales in our area of NJ yesterday to help figure what our approximate price point would be. The good news is that there are houses that have sold in the past year. The bad news is the prices have come down a lot from their highs of 2 years ago. My guess is that prices are off by $150,000 from where they were at the peak. What amazed me was the wide range in selling prices for houses that are similar in size, appearance and neighborhoods. I wonder if the sellers were just very lucky or if they had an exceptional Realtor.

[sschuler1]

My guess is that there was a wide range of how updated the interiors of those house were when they sold. Our realtor told us that buyers want move in ready when they are looking for a home to purchase. I understand why! We went through months of remodelling before we put our house on the market. I don't want to have to go through that when we purchase the new house too! We will be looking for as close to move in ready as possible when we start looking.

[starflyte1]

Our house is worth about 40% less today that it was at the height of the housing market three years ago. When we try to sell, we will have to price it accordingly. It is just the way the market is. Fortunately, we will still see some nice appreciation, but if we want to sell, we will have to take in account the market today. We hope we are thinking right-time will tell when we try to sell.

[njgranny]

Since we stayed in our "starter" home and enlarged it to suit our family, we will make a profit no matter what. :-) Our house only cost $10,100 around 45 years ago. Can't even get a car for that now. Our passion has always been travel, so that's where we put our money. Not a big equity maker, but lots of memories.

In our county, houses are still selling if somewhat slower and lower than before. Our neighborhood has a pretty fast turnover compared to others, as the houses are affordable to young families.

We just have the major job of "dejunking" our utility room and finishing painting one room before we can put it on the market.

Good luck to all who are trying to sell their homes (me included, ha, ha).

Jan

[scottke]

Pookirgirl - good luck to you too. One of these days the right person will come through and we'll probably give it away. Can't wait to get to TV just don't know when it will be :dontknow:

[benj]

http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k385/BenSchlick/S6300035-1.jpg
Can someone tell me whats wrong with this house?
2800 sq ft ranch,all the good stuff,2800 sq ft basement,1/2 acre lot, great view of the snow covered Rockies,extensive landscaping,executive neighborhood,920 sq ft oversized three car garage.
I dont know what its going to take. I've lowered the price 90k, thats less than I paid and still no buyers. Lots of lookers. Do you know how tired I am of cleaning up every day?
I'm living vicariously on totv. Thank your lucky stars you live in paradise. http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k385/BenSchlick/S6300033.jpg

[sschuler1]

benj,

I'm feeling your pain, going through the same cleaning up process everyday. Your house looks beautiful, it's just that the market sucks! My realtor told me that everyone is looking to downsize their homes because they can't afford to heat them, so my house should sell at 1654 square feet in no time. But no one can buy because they can't sell their house. So here we sit, waiting for the buyer that will snap up this house.

[benj]

sschuler1,

It took me all day and alot of Tony's time to post my pics. I tried to post them last week when this was a more timely topic, but oh well.

You live in Plymouth? My folks lived near Warren and Ford, Remember the drive-in?

I like that there are people all over the country wanting to move to tv, It validates my choice somewhat.
I sold houses in the Detroit area and now in the Denver area and I'm pessimistic about the market for maybe two years. I'll go nuts if I have to stay here that long. Benj

[ConeyIsBabe]

benj....... congratulations on posting your house pics!! (now where's yourself's photo?) ;)

Seriously, it's a darn shame what happened to this r/e market; I sure didn't see it coming. Honestly, I refuse to sell for less than I paid 3 years ago. No one has even inquired about my property. I know if they actually saw it, they would fall in love with it (like I did) but my asking price scares them away; I have added 50k for negotiation.

My house pics are at picturetrail.com and my member name is rosejolie.

Maybe next year I'll consider droping my asking price to what I actually paid. Does anyone have a crystal ball? What does it say about next spring?

[benj]

Coney

I went to your pics on pitchuretrail, Your place is fabulous. I think you will love tv but I hope you are soaking up the beauty of that place, your going to miss it.
That is exactly the place I've dreamed of for years, only in Colorado. When Suzy passed my life turned upside down and I changed 180 degrees. Now I'm looking for community and friends I would never meet in the kind of place where you live. In my heart I'll live in the mountains but for now I want to be with other people who I can relate to and associate with. I thought alone would be ok but I know better now.
In the spring and fall in CO there are days where it's 65 to 75 degrees, so clear that I can see Pikes Peak to the south and the Medicine Bow Mountains in Wyoming to the north (about 200 miles in each direction) with humidity of around 20 precent and a breeze it;s so comfortable that I try to stand there and just soak it in. Just try to make sure I'll remember it for the rest of my life. The sunrise here is almost indescribable some days it's so beautiful but I hope these things are fond memories some day and Florida aint so bad either,you and I will have the visions of these landscapes in our hearts forever. Benj

[ConeyIsBabe]

Yes, benj.... I agree 100% with everything you said.

When I relocated to the west coast in 01 it was for my retirement adventure - and it has been that. Now I'm fighting time getting older, and priorities change with age!

I do see TV in my future, for the same reasons you have expressed, I just don't know exactly when ::)

benj..... I lived in s/Florida for over 40 years and know exactly what to expect. We won't discuss it here cuz I don't want the negative-post-police to get after me ;)

[tkret]

Maybe next year I'll consider droping my asking price to what I actually paid. Does anyone have a crystal ball? What does it say about next spring?



No crystal ball here but the head-honcho at Freddie Mac and his colleagues have an opinion.
Sorry to send this link but you DID ask about the prospects.....

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/08/freddie-mac-ceo.html

[ConeyIsBabe]

tkret..... thanks for the link; honestly.... I'm very lame when it comes to financial matters and didn't understand most of it, except that it didn't sound like the economy will rebound to where the r/e market was 3 years ago, in the near future.

If that is accurate.... I'll be wearing long-johns in my house for the next couple of winters :dontknow: and I'll remain a TV-Wannabee :dontknow:

:'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

[Village Kid 2]

Every sale has a story. I listed my townhouse at the end of March at the price it should sell for, not considering the market. By mid July, two people had looked at it. I dropped the price 5%. As an aside, I also buried the St. Joseph statue I ordered and let sit for a month. The NEXT day someone looked at it. I had an offer a week later and we close August 14. The offer was 6% lower than the new asking price but I didn't even counter-offer. With two other townhouses still for sale on my street I didn't want to lose the sale. Then after the inspection, they said it will need a new roof in two or three years (it's 10 years old) and if I would lower the price another three thousand they would take it. So, the final selling price was about 12% less than the original asking price. Geez, sellers have so little bargaining power. Anyway, like Villages07 said, I bought it 10 years ago when things were much less so it's still a profitable situation. Can't complain about that. And most importantly, I can come to TV unencumbered!

Congrats Kathie on your new TV home. Benj, CIB, Sschuler1, njgranny, Mikark, scottke, Johnnie & Barb, and all the rest trying to get to TV, keep the faith. It will happen.

VK2

[sschuler1]

benj,

I see that you used to live in Dearborn Heights. My husband and I lived in Dearborn for 8 years before we moved to Plymouth 14 years ago. We used to go to the Ford/Wyoming drive in all the time.

One of our favorite vacation stops is in Estes Park, CO. We always plan that into our journey whenever we can. It is so beautiful there. I can't imagine that we will stop going there even after we move to TV permanently.

[benj]

sschuler1,

My dad is now in plymouth(old folks home)My brother is in Dearborn and most of my nephews. My niece is in Dearborn Heights,My sister and brother are in Walled Lake and my Aunt/uncle are in Milford. I guess I was the only one who couldn't stand the area I split to Co 30 years ago. The best thing I ever did.
I ride my harley to Estes 3 or 4 times each summer, It's getting a little to touresty for me now, but it's sure pretty. Do you go to the Rocky Mountain National Park also? Benj

[chuckinca]

Benj:

Nice looking house on Saddleback Ave!

I have a daughter and three grandkids in Erie, CO and my wife was thinking of buying a smallish home in that area to use in the summertime. Small = about 1700 SF. Your home looks great but too large for us.

[benj]

chuckinca,

Sure tease me!.

[chuckinca]

Didn't mean to tease you - just admired your home.


Finished basement? (LOL)

[jerseygirl008]

Listed our PA house in April, closed 7/31. Unfortunately, we had to take $34,000 less than we wanted to get for it but in this market, we were glad to be done with it. (Well I was anyway, don't think my X was). NJ and PA are horrible right now. Scottke, I feel bad for you guys. Same to you Jersey Girl (not me, the other JG). I think the bottom line is HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT TO SELL?? But I do understand not wanting to give your house away. We sold to our first and only offer in 3 months. Tough market.

[scottke]

Thanks for thinking of us, JG - we're still trying. We're down $61K at this point and our only offer was $80K less than our original price. Not acceptable and they didn't want to negotiate. Our day will come - God willing. Another open house this weekend.

[rshoffer]

Our house sold BEFORE it was even listed on the market. We called our realtor, told her we bought a house in TV and asked her to do a market analysis on our house in Pa. She did. A week later she calls and says she might have someone interested (we hadn't even listed it yet). They bought it for the market analysis price!

[Peazoup]

Just listed here in southern Connecticut two weeks ago. VERY slow out there. Hoping, hoping, hoping.............. Have house in Bonnybrook - can't wait to get there.

[NJblue]

rshoffer, I hope you are moving near us in TV - I could use some of your luck to rub off on us.

I'm glad that your situation worked out for you, but I am of the opposite opinion with respect to telling the Realtor that we have already purchased a house. I'm guessing that the word will quickly spread around the Realtor community that we are "desperate" which probably translates into low-ball bids.

[Muncle]

First of all, forgive my verbosity, but I just want to demonstrate that the good lord often takes care of fools.

Since housing market trends are local, it’s hard to tell even in retrospect when the downturn started. All I know is that for once in my life, my timing for selling was perfect. It was 2005 and I had a condo is Fairfax County, VA, right outside the beltway. For the last couple years, prices had been climbing steadily and good units were going in days, often in bidding wars. I’d visited TV twice and had decided to move here, but I hated the idea of putting my house on the market – I detest having people coming into my place while living there. I don’t do beds. And I spread newspapers around the living room. I’m a guy.

Then in June, my nephew and his wife in Leesburg, VA, decide to go to the US Open in Pinehurst. They ask if I’d like to house sit and watch their dogs. I agreed, then wondered what I’d gotten into. Suddenly, a blinding flash of the obvious. I could put my house on the market while I was in Leesburg. I called my realtor and proposed a plan.

Thursday: I’d have a cleaning service come in and erase bachelor slovenliness. Dana would enter the unit on the MLS having it available for viewing starting Friday.

Friday & Saturday: Hundreds of potential buyers would flock to view my unit.

Sunday: I’d return to the unit and in the evening meet with Dana to compare bids.

Monday: We would negotiate with the highest bidders and take the best price, insisting on a 13-14 Aug closing.

Wednesday I would leave for TV and buy a house by Friday, with a 15 Aug closing.

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft a-gley

Well, I met Dana Sunday evening, and there were no bids to compare, zero, zilch, nada. There had been 8-10 prospects view the place, but no buyers. Dana was crestfallen and started talking about lowering the price. I said no, that I was on no deadline, and to give it at least another week. I’d sleep on top of the bed spread and not use the bathrooms or kitchen – I could rough it.

So Monday afternoon, I got a call from a realtor who wanted to show the place that evening. So I got out of there and went for a 2 hour drive-about. When I got back, there was a voice mail from Dana that we had a full price offer, no new carpet, no paint or allowance, no nothing. I asked if it was from the guy who called about the showing, but it turned out to be someone who was right behind them – guess they thought it was a hot property if two realtors were showing it on a Monday. We agreed to wait until the next evening, and if nothing new came in, to accept. Nothing did, so we did.

So I came down here, looked at a bunch of resales, and nothing tickled my fancy. The first new place I looked at, I loved and agreed on the spot. He bridge loan and mortgage were a piece of cake, and I went back north in days as a homeowner in TV – 15 August closing.

Once back north, Dana informed me the buyers had to close by 31 July. Impossible! I had to stay there until around the 10th, at least. Unless they agreed to a rent-back, the deal was off. (Boy was I full of it, bravado, I mean.) No rent-back. The buyers agreed to let me stay in the condo until the 14th, rent free, and no apportioned condo fees or taxes. I conceded that this would be acceptable.

All went well with the move. The packed truck left the condo on the 13th. I left that day also, heading south. Got in the 14th, did a walk-thru on the morning of the 15th, and closed that afternoon. The household goods arrived the next morning.
Now the good part. In talking to my realtor Dana and friends from the condo, I learned mine was the last unit to sell for about 6 months. This is a 200 unit place with a 20-25% annual turnover. And I recently discovered that my selling price is still the top price for the complex, three years later.

Sometimes you do step in it and come out smelling like a rose.

[NJblue]

OK Muncle, I want you on one side of me and rshoffer on the other. Between the two of you I should absorb enough real estate karma to get our house sold in a few months.

[NJblue]

It's been 5 months since this was posted and since then more people have had luck selling their houses so maybe it's time to bump this to capture any new data.

Our house has been on the market for 3 months and was almost sold until the buyer backed away from the contract. However, despite the doom and gloom coming from our politicians and the media, there still are people out looking (whether they are buying is another issue). Our agent said that things are really picking up now that the holidays are over. We had two showings today - and for the first time, one party came while the first one was in the house. While waiting to see the house, the prospective buyer joked that we would meet in the kitchen for a bidding war. If only!!!

[ouma1938]

We put our house on the market in mid-May 2008 and have had about 10 showings to date. But not a single offer. We did a lot of upgrading, live on a beautiful lake, have a well maintained home and yard, and still no offers. I know its not the realtor's fault, she is the best agent around here, lol, and we dropped the price by $115,000. I am hoping that now the holidays are over the market will turn around a bit and we can sell and get on with the rest of our lives inTV. To everyone who has sold and are already in TV, congratulations, to my fellow wannabees, hang in there, our turn will come.