Update on Moving/Selling.

17 years ago

To make a long story short...no offers yet.

I had a lady come thru this past Sat and she seemed fairly positive...I was at work but she told the kids it was on her short list.

I am just waiting for the realtor to call with feedback.

Not sure if I mentioned I have this neighbor who I am very fond of...well the whole family is adorable but anyhow they live in the duplex next door.

Its very Jerry Springer but lets just say he has a lot of kids with a few women and this past year he has gotten full custody af ALL of them.

So he lives in this 2 BR duplex with his current lady who is expecting, their 2 little boys and 3 older children.

Honest to Goodness I NEVER hear them!! They are beyond well behaived and just a sweet as can be.

So we were chatting the other day and I "casually" mentioned he should buy my house...said he wouldn't have to rent a moving truck LOL!!

Here he confessed that he DID look into buying us but his credit is (in his words) beyond out of conrtol!!

Oh well?

In the meantime, a few houses we were looking at in our target area have either sold or been retracted. I am waiting for the grey vicky to be put back up just so I can get a look inside LOL!!

On another note we have rented a storage unit. Its pretty big and we are taking our time packing "it" up with things we really won't need right away like our holiday stuff ect...I have totally de-cluttered the place and I LOVE it!!

Now I an working on reducing my pantry items-just rather use everything up than move it all LOL!!

I am maintaining my hopeful but realistic attitude through this whole mess...I know by this time next year we should be moved and fully settled!!

Cheers!

Susie

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Comments (9)

dedtired
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Susie, in these times, you are not alone in this boat, although Philadelphia has not been hit as hard as many parts of the nation as far as the real estate downturn.

I guess the operative word is patience. Sooner or later the right buyer will come along. It seems there are plenty of buyers out there, but they just can't get a mortgage.

As for that stuff in the storage area, if you find you don't miss it, then when it's time to unpack, take it to the thrift shop instead of hauling it to your nice new home.

I always go into major purge mode this time of the year. I get such pleasure in seeing stacks of old stuff sitting by the curb for the trash or bags and boxes going off to the thrift shop.

The Christmas decoration put-away project got me into cleaning out the basement, at least partially. Aahhhh!

As for a new house for you, I'm sure you will have your pick of many. Good luck. Glad to hear you have such a good attitude about it.

Nice that the fellow next door is a responsible parent. In the end, good parenting will save the world.
goldgirl
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Susie - You have a great attitude that will get you through the long haul of this.

I have a bit of gypsy blood and actually enjoy moving. Except for selling ;)

Sue
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We moved in June. We were moving into an apt. because our house wasn't ready, so we couldn't take too much. The cost wasn't a factor for us since it was a job-related move. We knew we had a lot of stuff that needed to go even if we didn't have to pay to move it. We just didn't want to have to deal with it again. We didn't even attempt a yard sale. I did put a few things in boxes to try to sell on Ebay. Guess what? I haven't gotten around to that yet. I only have about five small boxes, though, & hope to do that around the first of the year. We filled a dumpster with junk & donated a a lot to charity. They sent a large panel truck to pick it up & it basically filled it. My tastes have been changing over the past few years to a cleaner, less cluttered look. I love the cottage look & wanted to have something similar in my new home, but not quite so fussy. I was able to get rid of a lot of things just because I knew they wouldn't work with what I wanted. Julie mentioned decorative items & knick-knacks. That was a difficult one for me. Although I knew I wanted a less cluttered look, I still had a hard time letting go of a lot of decorative things. We'll go through the boxes again when we move & will probably gid rid of more stuff. Some major things we were able to get rid of: Tupperware: I had too much & it was all odd sizes & shapes that didn't stack. Plus part of it was missing lids. We kept only a fraction of it that we actually use. Pots & pans: We had bought a new set about a year before the move, but still had some odd pieces that we didn't use. Small appliance: We had some things like a sandwich maker & baked potato maker. They were gifts, but we never used them. The George Foreman does double duty making grilled sandwiches & the microwave works for baked potatoes. Out they went. Clothes: We kept a few too-small pieces. I kept more than DH, as I have some classic things that I love that I've outgrown in the past couple of years. Anything that looked really dated or frumpy went even if it fit. We also got rid of our worst "around the house" clothes. How many stained t-shirts do you really need for cleaning? Books & magazines: We got rid of a lot. We only kept reference type books & a few hardbacks by DH's favorite authors. We got rid of almost all magazines. I kept a few for reference for the house. We don't really buy DVD's except exercise & a couple of movies, so those stayed. If we'd had a big collection it would've been thinned. CD's & DVD's: We use iTunes & have the device hooked up so we can play our music wirelessly thorough the stereo. We ripped all CD's to digital format & stored the originals in one box. An even better thing is that now I don't have to arrange storage for those CD's in the new house. I think this is one of the best clutter-busters I've even seen, even better than one of the large CD changers. CD's take up so much space in most people's living rooms. We only have a few DVD's because we don't really buy them (usually rent movies), so all stayed. If we'd had a large collection we would have thinned it. Linens: We tossed anything really ratty. Paperwork: This has always been a problem area for me. We purged a lot of old paperwork that we didn't need. A shredder was an excellent investment. Electronics & computer stuff: DH is a programmer. We had all sort of software, as well as various cables from purchases like DVD players. He kept only what we'd need to hook everything up in the apt. & then in the new house. Hobby/craft supplies: I like to work with silk flowers, making wreaths & arrangements. I had accumulated way too many flowers, in large part because of not saying "no" to donations from my sister. I purged a lot of that. I also purged quite a bit of old fabric that I'd been keeping to practice sewing. A lot of this again was due to donations from my sister. When she cleaned out her stash, she offer me what she didn't want. I won't fall into that again unless it's something exceptional. Tools: We kept the majority of them. We kept the majority of our furniture, but only until we move into the house. We were planning to buy new family room furniture before we moved, so we moved what we had & will buy once we're in the house. Good luck!
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Thanks again, everyone, for all of the replies! To address some of things that have been mentioned... We will definitely talk to the landlord before making any final decisions. Our friends, the current tenants (who are wonderful people and a landlord's dream), are also planning to put in a good word for us. Our agreement would be contingent upon the rent remaining the same, the lease going month-to-month after one year, and the landlord not having any plans to sell the house. If any of those conditions are not met, we will not rent the house. The landlord does not know yet that the tenants plan to move out, so we have to wait for them to talk to him first. All of this is hinging on the deal for their new house, and they are currently still in negotiations. If their deal does not go through, which is certainly a possibility, then we will do nothing for now. I want to be ready with our decision as soon as they know for sure, though, which is why I am going through all the pros and cons now rather than waiting to see if the opportunity will actually materialize or not. If we do move into the rent house and put our current house on the market, we will not start looking for a new house until our house is sold and our lease is up or almost up, so there will be no issues with finding the perfect house and not being able to get out of our lease. Trust me, I remember how stressful house hunting was last summer, and I am not eager to begin the process again until we are completely ready. We were totally jumping the gun last summer (not even having our house ready to sell), and have learned a few lessons. Next time around, we plan to be ready to buy with no contingencies once we find a house we want. I'm prepared to be patient and just live in the rent house for at least a year while we get all of those things in order. We can't buy a new house now and just pay two mortgages until our current house sells because the monthly mortgage on a new house will most likely be higher than what we will be paying in rent. Also, we may need to dip into our savings to be able to pay for both rent and mortgage (especially if our house takes several months to sell), and if we bought a new house, we would deplete our savings for the down payment. Finally, we need to sell our house before we'll really know what we can afford and how much we'll have for a down payment. It may be that we need to save up for another couple of years, and I am OK with living in the rent house until then. Saving money will be pretty impossible while we're paying both rent and mortgage, but should be easy once our house sells and we're only paying rent. Thank you to those that suggested daily check-ins at our old house. If we do move, I'll make a checklist that my husband (or one of our neighbors) can quickly run through each day. That will be easy for us since the rent house is only a few minutes away from our current house. The more I think about this idea, and the more I talk with my husband about it, the more I like the idea. It would certainly not be right for everyone, but I think it might be the right decision for us. Of course, this all depends on whether or not our friends get their new house and whether or not the landlord agrees to rent the house to us at the same rate. We will see! We should know something next week. :)
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cloudy_christine
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Susie, I think when January ends and it feels closer to spring, more people get ready to buy.
I've been wondering, if you don't mind my asking, why you want to move across the river to New Jersey. Doesn't it have much higher taxes than Pennsylvania?
susie_que
Original Author
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Oh No!! The TAX question!! Nah I don't mind you asking.

I hear it all the time..."are you sure you want to move to NJ-the taxes are high"

Yes we know all about the taxes.
Truth be told we have done our homework and know which counties to avoid as well as how the NJ tax code is set up.

I will lay it all out.
My taxes for my city row home are $1200 a year.
Many many many folks from this are have moved to an area called Willow Grove Pa. My bestest friend moved there!!
Its about 15 minutes outside of Philly and a very nice suburban area.
My bestest friend pays $4550 a year in taxes...her home is small and her yard backs up to a major highway.
Her brother, also a good friend, mpved to the same zip code 2 years ago. He has a LARGE home on a lovely street and he payes over $5000 a year in taxes.
Mother in Bensalem-also just outside the city, pays just under $4000 a year and Franks folks deeper into the burbs pay a whopping $6000 a year.

So lets cross the bridge and look at NJ.
If I stay in my target area, National Park...and my price range of $200,000 or thereabouts...most homes have taxes of $4000 or LESS!!
Not to mention the price per Sq foot is so much cheaper in NJ so I am getting more house for my money.

Way back before we started to get serious about the move we considered buying a home from a co-worker who was selling his moms home here in Philly about 5 miles north of me. It was a twin or semi-detached home, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath with a slightly larger front lawn than I have now. Bobs asking price was $240.000.
I looked at new construction in NJ a few towns away from my target area that were from the $180s!! The taxes were a little over $4000 a year

Yea I get the tax question a lot from everyone LOL!!

So how am I planning on going from $1200 to $4000 a year???
Well after much thought and prayer we decided that Drew would be going to public school when we move. Another selling point are the wonderful public schools in NJ.
Anyhoo we just got his tuition bill for next year and yep its going up again to $5100 per year!!

That will pay our taxes and have a little left over!!

There is also a popular misconception that I will pay higher car insurance so I looked into that and nope...that one is also not a fact. I am talking to a state farm agent from Nj now and he says my rates will stay about the same and maybe a tad lower.

Believe me, I was always one of those people who thought the idea of living in NJ was absurd but after I started to research it all out I have found its the best place for Frank and I to move to at this stage of life.

Pam, I so agree about the idea of getting rid of stuff. I am finding as I get older that I am a minimalist at heart.
However dear Frank is a pack rat.
I have always said that I love mondays because I can clean house and set out all the trash. Yea it makes me happy LOL!!

Frank...not so much LOL!!

So I haven't heard from the agent so I suppose we got nixed from the lookers list LOL!
I will still get feedback and just go from there.

About Ben the neighbor, yeah he is a keeper!!
I hope that he is able to get his financial situation fixed so he can give his kids a nice place to live!

Wish us luck!!

Cheers!
Susie
dedtired
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Hey Susie, looks like there are no flies on you. If you do want to think about lower taxes, consider moving out to Upper Merion. There are so many businesses out that way that the homeowner taxes are low. I don't think too much of the schools, though.

Anyway, I'm always impressed by the number of Philadelphians who move over to Joisey. I guess it's partly because it's such a quick commute back to the city over one of the bridges.
goldgirl
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
We got the tax question constantly when we moved to Jersey. It was even worse because we rented a house in Bucks County, PA (after moving from MD) for a year before settling here.

People assume that because NJ has some of the highest property taxes in the country that it's more expensive overall to live here. One has to look at the bigger picture because other states may have lower property taxes but hit you up in other ways - it's just a matter of where the taxes are hidden. This is especially important for people who are self-employed, like my DH, because of business taxes. It's very important to run all the numbers, which we did. For us, there's been very little difference.

Sue
cloudy_christine
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Thanks for anwering my question. I'm amazed at the Philly real estate tax! I guess you have looked into the differences in income tax too. You've really done your homework. Glad it's going to work for you to move where you most want to be. We'll miss you of course!
susie_que
Original Author
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
No worries!!

National Park is just acrossed the river from Philly LOL...so I won't be all that far.
Actually National Park is right acrossed the river from Fort Mifflin/Philly airport/Chester/Navy base.

There is a HUGE park on the river so we have had a few outings there just pack a little lunch and watch the boats and planes. Its just so very nice!!

Pam, if we stay in Pa and the thought is still out there, we were looking out 202 in and around Malvern, Exton, West Chester area.
The new construction we are comsidering is Ryan Homes and they have developments out that way in our range (sort of).

The link below is to the home site we likes in NJ-just a few towns South of our target area.

Cheers!
Susie

Here is a link that might be useful: New construction we liked
doucanoe
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Wow, I guess I won't complain about my $3000 taxes on my 20 acre homestead anymore! LOL

Susie, I love how your glass is always half full! You'll get through this just fine and will be settled in your new home very soon, I am surre of it!

Linda

Update on Moving/Selling.

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Update on Moving/Selling.

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