Raise your price & go shopping! What's the issue? Hold out any heirloom stuff.

Good luck...

Tricia

Can you rebuy most things? Is anything custom, if it is would it look right in your new house anyway? Sell at a premium and as said above, hold onto anything sentimental. Make sure you get enough to replace everything

Nothing heirloom. I am into shabby chic urban country so lots of my furniture is distressed, mix and match looking. I guess I am attached to my "look" but don't want to offend or lose a potential buyer.

I would treat the furniture purchase separate from the sale of the home. It's hard to put a pricetag on all that stuff and while I would be open to including some things in the sale, I wouldn't want to include everything.

Don't forget, if the value assigned to the furniture is part of the house sale, it will be included in your capital gains limit for taxation purposes.

If you've only been on the market for a couple days and you received an offer, you may want to hold out for another if you don't feel comfortable including your furniture.

They are treating it like a vacation rental, where many units are sold furnished. (I've seldom seen a condo on Maui sell unfurnished.) Do they really want YOUR furniture, or would any furniture do? You could replace or arrange to have some rental in place for them to use while they choose their own stuff.

When we bought on Maui, the seller was willing to gut and refurbish to our instructions, including getting in enough for us to live with when we arrived to close in Feb.

I can bet that UK folks find anything in the USA a steal now, given the exchange rate.

I have an idea they're hoping to get the furniture thrown in for nothing. (I had a similar offer.) I'm glad I did NOT sell my furniture. I would have undervalued it badly.

I did sell all the contents when I sold my mom's home. There were a few antiques, but I wasn't planning to ship them across the country anyway.
The beauty of the deal was, they asked for all contents, so when I left the home, I pitched a few personal items & took linens & towels to Goodwill & went to the airport to leave -- No clean out of garage etc. Easy way to go.
Susan

Well, I could be getting all excited for nothing. No calls or faxes from the agent. He could have been feeling me out or was waiting to look at more houses this weekend, who knows. I think the buyers are looking for the best deal and if the house was turn key they could immediately rent it out I guess.

Will keep you updated!

Here is a link that might be useful: MLS Listing

this may be an indicator that you should prep your home for sale WITH the furniture. Take out of it anything you would NOT be willing to sell, and be prepared to negoatiate the furniture as part of an offer.

They came again for a second viewing. Their realtor says it it between my home and another home. They are British. Not sure if a contract is coming. Still waiting!

My buyers bought the house with the patio furniture. I really regret it now. I didn't know how much I loved my old ratty furniture until it was a done deal!

I wanted the townhouse I am living in now to include the furniture and I was willing to increase the price since it was decorated so nicely. But some of the furniture I loved, he would not part with and the other furniture he wanted more than it would cost me to buy new. I also didn't realize prices then of very good quality furniture and how much time it takes to find nice pieces. My home is pretty but it was stunning when the buyer lived here. Sometimes I wish I just increased my bid on the furniture.

You have to compare apples with apples. A friend of mine has a beautiful dining room suite that was hand-carved in Pakistan and she paid $8000 for it. She considered selling it before moving but soon realized that people are such cheapskates here that she would have difficulty even getting $800 for it.

I finally received the offer today! Yes, 3 months later! OK, my house was listed at $449K until Monday when I lowered it to $419K. The comps I have are two houses with similar SF, in my subdivision and same tax record values as mine sold in June for $460K and May $450K (both bought by Europeans). The offer came in at $345K (from Europeans) with seller paying all closing costs and close date 8/29/07. Good closing date, bad price. What should I do? I am not making any money on this house since I paid $370K plus I put in hardwood floors and outdoor lighting system totaling $15K in upgrades.

I am selling via flat fee, so I only have to pay their realtor. I do have my sister's husband who owns his own real estate company in a local beach town looking over the contract. He was the one who told me the comps.

Oh, and they did not ask for any of my furniture! LOL

Any ideas on how to counter without losing the entire deal? I would feel comfortable doing $410K including closing costs (asking is $419K).

Any ideas on how to counter without losing the entire deal? I would feel comfortable doing $410K including closing costs (asking is $419K).

Well, I would start with that.

They're obviously taking into consideration the fact you're flat fee listed in terms of their offer. Even so, their offer is extremely lowball compared to the comps. I would definitely start at $410 and in your head determine what your absolute bottom line is. Also, make sure you tell them the comps from May and June. With such a low price already, you should be getting close to asking considering the comps.

I will be countering back at $410K with seller (me) paying title insurance and MY closing costs only.

We will see what happens!

Thanks!

Try countering at 409,900. It looks more appealing to a buyer than 410,000 - even though they are only 100 apart.

I don't live too far from you. Your property is on the high end (because it is newer and/or larger than many homes in the area) of real estate for the area for property that is not on the water. Keep that in mind. You might have to go down a bit more in order to sell. You know all the recent stories in the newspaper about the glut. Buyers are reading that too.

Beachmama: Are you still negotiating with the buyer? Hoping you are under contract.