Both the homes we have sitting are listed on www.seemylisting.com (#05604 & #05978); in addition to being advertised on the MLS, countless magazines, publications, Dupont Registry, online, etc. We purchased a TV spot on a local cable channel which advertises real estate Sunday mornings, we've had open houses every Sat & Sun from 1pm to 6 pm for the past 3 months, and we've spent almost $1800 in just postage, mailing out flyers to people on a mailing list we purchased for $300. On top of that, my wife has been taking flyers and placing them on bulletin boards, in shopping carts, and anywhere else she can think of. What more can we do????

#05604 has generated the most interest with several couples coming back for second showings, they've also brought parents/friends/associates in to view, and we've even had them list their homes in hopes of buying this one, so on...so forth... etc. We had one couple spend over 2 hours in there last weekend. But to date, there have been no concrete offers.

We've had 3 contingencies offered, and more people than we can count have asked us to take their home in on trade; but if they can't sell their home and we can't sell their home, what's the point?

The other listing has 2 couples looking hard at it because they love the idea of living in the trees and having all the privacy offered by the wooded acreage.... but still no offers. Although most people oooo and ahhhhh over the structural engineering involved in the foundation, they also get skiddish when considering the cost to finish out the area, so the potential is there, but the money is not.

Tomorrow a teaser ad begins running which reads:

BUILDER DUMPING LUXURY AND MOVE-UP PROPERTIES AT OR BELOW COST. Call XXX-XXX-XXXX for details.

it will run through the end of Nov. If nothing by then, we are engaging our attorney in some vain attempt at protecting ourselves, and reluctantly turning the keys back over to the bank..... there goes our credit rating.

But at some point, you have to decide to amputate to keep from bleeding out. KWIM?

dach, very nice homes, and seems like they are well-built..What is wrong? I have a 4300 sf home, paid wayyyy tooo much for and it doesn't hold a candle to your baths and kitchen..I have the stereotypical McMansion,nice, but not custom, and i am in at a point north of 900k,well north, can you sell me that home and move it here :), but i also sold a Bilevel 2100 sf, all remodeled, custom baths for mid 800's....

"What is wrong?"

It's just the market. This is a volitile industry. I knew that going in, so I've just learned to deal with it.

But I do know this much: It's not the interest rates and it's nothing I've done. I build a nice home at a fair price. I warranty it, I've marketed it, I've mowed it and mopped it. So I believe it's really nothing more than the media's influence on the buyer's attitudes, if ya ask me. They've got everyone scared to move up for fear of losing value as the great "bubble" bursts. But as has been said in many other posts, not all markets have been overly inflated, even though the media has convinced everyone they've been infected with the disease.

dach--you've turned down three contingency offers? If any of these homes are in significantly lower price ranges and good areas and are priced well,they are nothing to sniff at. They could be your salvation in this case. As long as you have a 48 hour first right of refusal and can keep your home on the market, given your particular tough niche in the market and getting close to giving the keys to the bank--I would go back to these buyers, see if any are still interested, get more facts about the home they need to sell, and possibly put together a deal.

annainpa wrote: As long as you have a 48 hour first right of refusal and can keep your home on the market,

In my area (NoVA) once a home has a ratified contract (contingent or not) it is taken out of "active" status on the MLS and it will NOT be shown by agents to buyers. Especially now with a year's worth of inventory for sale! So by accepting a contingent contract, at least in this area, you are effectively taking your home off the market.

I turned down the contingencies for a couple reasons. The first being that these homes were priced basically the same as the homes I have, but they were much older and without the upgrades most buyers look for in this price range. Now if they would've taken .60 on the dollar, so it would've sold quickly, then perhaps I would've considered a trade. Then I could've updated and upgraded the property and flipped it. But generally the sellers want as much for their resales as what new property in the area is bringing.

The second reason I had for turning down the contingencies is: I had a contingency which went 6 months last year, and as is customary in many markets, (kick out or not) some realtors won't show properties under contract...they just move on. During the time I was under the contingency, I had 4 showings. The market is slower now than it was back then and I have had probably 50 showings since August. So I'm not accepting any contingencies without the buyers willing to bridge loan if they can't sell their property. I just can't afford to wait on someone else, I need to do something now.

In my area (NoVA) once a home has a ratified contract (contingent or not) it is taken out of "active" status on the MLS and it will NOT be shown by agents to buyers. Especially now with a year's worth of inventory for sale! So by accepting a contingent contract, at least in this area, you are effectively taking your home off the market.

This happens in my area too. The status of the house goes to "pending". Buyers don't want to look at homes that are pending because they think that it will be a waste of time, since there is already a contract on the house, especially with inventory up and so many other homes to look at.

But generally the sellers want as much for their resales as what new property in the area is bringing.

Well, Dach, THIS, not the "media" is why we have a slowdown. The press is not responsible for the enormous rise in inventory we have seen this year or for the unreasonable expectations of sellers who have charged more than the market will bear.

We got an offer with a contingency so we discussed with our agent the buyers' house, its condition and the market in their neighborhood. We decided that it was a good risk and accepted it. Their house sold on the first day! Later, the buyers told us some people had already approached them about their house, so they knew they would probably sell quickly.

Our townhouse continued to be shown up until the day of closing apparently, even with the "under contract" or "pending" label. We didn't get as many showings, but we did get an "offer" the day we closed!

Kaleberg-
I agree with Dach. It's the MEDIA in my area. People aren't even looking at homes. The inventory is small in my town. A couple of surrounding towns have a few more homes, but nothing to write about. People stopped buying. It's the time of the year & the media.

The lower end homes are still selling, but the ones in the $450,000-$650,000 are sitting. A Few over the $700,000 have sold. People in the two extreme price ranges are not affected as much as the middle class, I guess.

The irony is that some homes that are priced in the $500,000-$600,000 range are nicer than the ones in the $700,000, but the realtors tend to show homes "in their price range."
I've had a lot of "interested buyers", spending hours in my home, but no commitments.

dach - I remember your posting several months ago asking for suggestions. I can't believe that house hasn't sold yet! It sounds like you're getting to the point that perhaps a huge price cut would be in order to prevent the bank from taking it from you.

Dach, your houses are very interesting and I love that you have so many options open to the buyer of the second one. Your creativity shows well. I wish you the best.

An update on our house - it has been for sale since March and a Realtor has had the listing Since Aug 1. For some reason, we have more traffic right now than we have had since he listed it. Two recent showings and another one today are like a veritable avalanche of interest. The last looker, a woman, was ready to buy, but wants to show it to her husband first. He is expected to visit tomorrow during the open house. Of course we are not getting our hopes up. I cannot tell you how many people went through last spring and summer, when I held weekly open houses, who said that they loved it and would be getting back to us. The woman who saw it last week has the usual problem - may not qualify to buy a house worth $155,000! Their Realtor belongs to the same office as ours, and she is looking into creative financing for them. Old news!

I'll be starting a celebratory thread if we do get an offer, believe me!

What does it take to qualify for a house priced at $155k? I know I'm in a hugely different market (SoCal) but that seems like a small amount. I wonder what level of income that requires?

bump, in case someone has some good news :)

We got our third offer the other night. We just got our counter in so we'll see if this one goes through. The house has been on the market about 65 days.

congrats, and best of luck ,the 3rd time is the charm :)

Minet, Sorry I forgot to get back with you on your comment, and thanks,qdognj, for bumping it up so I would see it again.

Minet, see how much a difference there is in expectations about housing costs from place to place? I bought that house for $69,900 in 1994 when I was single and earning $32,000 my first year after a master's degree. I was not looking any higher than about $85k at that time. I bought a fixer-upper with rotten window sills and rotten fascia in places, 1450 sq ft, 3 br, 1 ba. I think we spent easily $60k getting it into the good shape it is in. When we bought our next house, we were a two-income family of three (one elderly parent joined us) with $90k income and we looked at houses between $200k and $265K. DH is very, very happy that we did not get the $264k home with the big yard, pool, and finished basement now that we have been making double house payments for a year. We cannot even imagine spending $300k on a house, let alone the $500k to $750k a starter home might go for in California. We cannot conceive of how a social worker and a computer programmer/analyst with Masters degrees could even afford to live like that. How do people without degrees or excellent trades ever get to own a house in CA?

On the other hand, we have comfortably made $2400 in three house payments on two house for a year, while paying down $4000 on one credit card and paying off $4000 on another. Our plan was to sell the old house much faster with enough profit to pay off the cards and then to save enough to get our safety net in the bank again, then start replacing the furnace, windows and doors, insulating, putting down wood floors, and remodeling the kitchen and finishing the basement! All of that is on hold while we wait for the house to sell. We did do electrical upgrades to the tune of $2000 before moving in, replaced the tub/shower plumbing, and replaced a water heater since moving in.

Around here, you have plenty of families making $40k a year. That might be with both spouses working. They can barely get into home ownership. Their first home might be in a trailer park. I paid my neighbors $15/hr to do painting, cleanup, light carpentry, and such around the house we are trying to sell after we moved out a year ago, and I think they thought I was nuts. To me it seemed fair - they had skills I did not have and I valued them - plus I wanted our house fix-up to be a priority for them so we could get it on the market faster.

My sister gets about $14 an hour working in the cash office at Lowes. She says she could not afford a house here. She and my mom bought a double-wide mobile home together and it was paid off with Mom's insurance when she died. DS only has to pay the lot rent, about $300/mo.

Here, people do tend to put some money down on a house. They do not do interest-only loans much. Our economy is headed downhill, so no one is buying with the expectation of earning more next year. People are afraid that they could lose their jobs at any time. I took an 8% pay cut two years ago at my old job. DH is happy to get 3% increases for being a top performer at work. I don't know anybody with granite countertops. My officemate just built the house of her dreams and it has vinyl floors in the foyer , kitchen, and baths. We see all the travertine and granite and multiple-head showers on TV and wonder what world the homeowners live in.

So what do you have to earn to not qualify for a $155,000 house? I just tried a calculator for our $40k income person, taxes comparable to my taxes on the old house,$400/mo in other installment debt (everyone here seems to lease a truck - usually a big one) and a $2000 downpayment. This family can only get a $79,988 loan! It is not until $64k that someone with $5000 to put down can even buy my house, if they have a conventional loan at 6.25%. Most people I know have to save that $5000 without any help from family, so this is a major thing to do. Conventional loans are also pretty common. It is the adjustable ones that are making our area the foreclosure capital of North America.

So how does a MacDonald's manager who earns $45k ever get into a house in California? I know I will never earn $64k a year, even with my Master's degree. What would a MacDonald's manager or a professional counselor earn in CA?

BTW, we had a very interested party have a second showing of the house on Sunday. They also asked for the seller's disclosure, so we may get an offer this week, our first!

I'd drop it in a heartbeat, except for one small problem...

All offers being made (this is coming from realtors, builders, and resale stats in our area) are at least 50K below asking price. If I drop the price by 50K and they offer me 50K less than what I'm asking, then I better be able to scrape up 50K to take to closing with me to pay off the bank note.

In fact, I've had one offer that came in below bank note on the larger ranch last July, and just received an offer on the ranch in the trees which was 65K below my construction costs. We have a counter in place now, so we'll see just how bad they want the home. But I just can't fathom having to pay someone to buy a house I still have to warrant. Besides, there are the investors just waiting for me to cave, then they'll dive in and take them from me at cost. I just have to let my current listing expire before we can actually sit down and work the deal.

Let's hope you finally get that offer, Nancy! You might find it encouraging that when we sold our house in 2004, it had been on the market for seven months. We received our first and only offer around Thanksgiving and after some negotiation (our realtor was invaluable in handling it), we agreed on a deal and closed on December 17.

I know the house you want to sell is in Mt Clemens, so I checked it out on city-data.com. According to the 2000 census, the median household income in Mt Clemens was $37,856 and the median house value was $99,900. While those figures are no doubt higher in 2006, they're also probably both lower than they were in 2005. So I'd say your assessment of how much house people can afford in your area is spot on.

But that'as a big problem for you because your house would be considered a starter house by most people (especially because it has only one bath), but it's definitely on the high end for first-time buyers in your local market. In a good economy, that would be OK, but not now.

The bottom line is that even at 155K, your price is too high for the market. I know that you don't want to sell at such a low price that you'd have to bring money to the table, but you have to balance that against how much cash this house is bleeding from you for each additional month it remains on the market. Rather than paying off credit cards and improving your present house, you might start concentrating on building up enough cash to be able to sell your house at a loss. It sounds like you have enough financial discipline and income to do that. In other words, you could take somewhat of a hit on this and still be OK.

In a declining market, it's typical for sellers to continue to believe their houses are "worth" more than they can actually get for them. When they do drop their prices, it's only in small increments and never enough to entice the buyers still in the market. So they wind up chasing the market downward and still can't manage to sell. I have a colleague at work who's trod that path for over two and a half years, and he STILL hasn't sold. And like you, he's paying a mortgage on another, more expensive house.

Maybe you'll get that offer you want and all this will be over. I hope so. But if not, I truly think you should drop your price enough to get a quick sale and be done with it.

"It is not until $64k that someone with $5000 to put down can even buy my house, if they have a conventional loan at 6.25%."

More, if they have debts. I have two car payments, two student loans, and two (soon to be one) credit cards to the tune of what was originally $70K in debts to carry as well. Made it so I was barely able to afford a house (on an almost 6-figure income!) in texas, and it definitely would have ruled me out of owning a home on either coast.

Over half that debt's paid off now, but my house has appreciated so slowly compared to the coasts that I'm still stuck in texas.

This is for all you Michigan sellers.

According to the NAR, third-quarter housing prices in the Detroit area have dropped 10.5% since the same time last year. This compares to an overall 1.2% drop for the country as a whole.

Feed, no surprise there.
Nancy, good luck on getting an offer.
Kathy G in MI who is under contract and may close Dec. 15

UPDATE:

In an earlier post I said

"just received an offer on the ranch in the trees which was 65K below my construction costs. We have a counter in place now, so we'll see just how bad they want the home."

Well apparently they want the home pretty badly or they realized they aren't going to run across a home like this anywhere else for the price, because after 4 offers and 3 counter offers, we are finally reaching a point where I might actually be able to pay off my bank note and still make around 2% profit.

Granted it's quite an ego blow to know I'm paying more in sales commissions than I'm making, but at least I'm out from under the interest payment and only lose what I've paid in intrest thus far. And the 2% will cover what I've spent in co-op advertising, so that is a wash rather than another loss. Let's just hope they agree to this final counter, if so.... it's a done deal!!

Our escrow closing is still dragging on. The sales contract we had agreed to said close would be Nov 15, but by then the buyer's agent still didn't have his paperwork to the escrow company. In California the escrow company handles all of the closing, not an attorney as in some other states. Technically, since the close didn't happen on time due to the buyer's problems, we could have taken the things we threw in (w/d, refrig, patio furniture) but we didn't want them and had no desire to sell them at that late date so just left them.

We went ahead and moved out. I was done with my job, and in my head and heart I was done with the house and with California. Arrived in Oregon yesterday afternoon and had arranged via emove.com to have 3 Portland State students unload the truck into the apartment and then into our storage area. Last night I just collapsed on the sofa and snoozed - just exhausted. The move was more demanding than we had thought it would be - we had too much stuff and so we had to add on a trailer for the U-Haul truck to pull and that meant I had to drive our car instead of having it towed. I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it, really - still recovering from recent severe illness and my energy is low - but what else could we do? So DH drove the U-Haul and the dogs and I took the car, and we drove 2 half-days and 1 full day, staying overnight at a motel twice.

Got a call this afternoon from the escrow office. The title company doesn't have the payoff demand from our HELOC, so we did a conference call with the bank and that should be faxed over today or tomorrow. And then that should be it. It seems that every time we think it's over there is some other bit of paperwork that needs straightening out. The other times it was from the buyer's end but today it was ours.

The escrow officer was very nice and thanked us for our patience. I thanked her also, and added it seemed almost as if the other agent was working against us in this sale. She said she'd never experienced anything like it and would be glad if it could close tomorrow and then we'd all have a happy Thanksgiving. So, maybe tomorrow we'll actually have the final closing done.

Today I went to Target and replaced some things we'd left behind - laundry basket, dog beds, that sort of stuff. The rest of the week is devoted to unpacking, and then next week I plan to start looking for a house.

To all those under contract, I wish you luck through closing! It is such a stressful time. Nothing feels better than when the house has officially closed.

Minet: I am sorry you had to leave CA without a resolution to your house. We did the same thing back in July when we left CA for CO. You are smart to rent until you have offically closed in CA. We went ahead and bought in our new state because of school for the kids, and I still struggle with that decision because life is so stressful owning 2 homes. Be sure to post when you are CLOSED!! :-)

is what my link should have said.

Sorry for the misplaced decimal.

Minet, I'm glad that you got up to Portland before the storm that is supposed to hit today dumps snow in the mountains. That would have been really stressful and slowed your trip down considerably.

Thank you terriks. I was surprised to see signs about chains/snow tires at that low of altitude - about 2000 ft. But the local weather guys are saying there will be snow in the Siskiyous - I'm really glad we got through there with just a bit of rain.

And Monday afternoon here was not rainy, so unloading the truck was not bad. We had some tarps to throw over things if it was wet, but we had a nice cloudy day with no rain.

Yesterday and today it's been raining. I've had to rediscover shoes. I wore sandals almost year round in SoCal so now have to buy some appropriate footwear. And maybe even socks! :-)

FF, believe me, we are ready to bring the money. I have $5k ready cash, $1000 available in three day's notice, and a credit union that can do an unsecured loan in 24 hrs. I had DH call today, just to be sure.

We will know something by Friday. The buyer-to-be wants to offer, but has an expired preapproval letter from the mortgage company. It is being replaced, and we are told an offer wil come in on Friday. If it is the one in a million who wants to close on the next business day - I am ready!

Dach! We are all holding our breath that you will come out of this okay, let us know how negotiations work out. At this point, stopping the bleeding would be a relief for a lot of us. Your houses are far too nice for you to be stuck in this way.

Okay, here is the house. This is a way-to-expensive custom kitchen remodel that we should never have done, but we expected to live there forever...
Kitchen album
and below is a link to our current listing. Yes, I know how awful the caps are and the abreviations are.

Nancy your kitchen looks very nice! I like maple cabinets. And you have so much storage space. When did you do the remodel? You said you expected to live there forever - I forget - why are you moving?

I looked at Mt Clemens on mapquest and it seems like a wonderful location - so close to the lakes and easy in to Detroit. Good luck with your selling!

A couple of reasons. DH's dad moved in with us after DH's mother died. Three adults in that tiny-bedroomed, one bathroom space was tight. I had been using the smallest of the three bedrooms as my dressing room/craft room (all my clothes were in the closet there), the second bedroom was my office and where I grew my flower seedlings each spring. DH used that room as his dressing room, keeping his belts, clothes, and sweats on hooks on the back of the door. When Dad moved in, I lost my desk and the growing room and DH lost his dressing area and moved into mine. That made the smallest bedroom so crowded, I could not get to my craft things. This 9 x 11 room was just overstuffed. Our bedroom was the largest, about 10.6 by 11, and DH's closet was in there, but with two dressers and three dog beds, it was not large enough to have room to get dressed.

I have always had knee problems and I never expected much out of my knees. So it took me a while to figure out that I could not straighten my knee on my own unless I was swinging my leg to walk. When I did notice, tests showed that the femur was ground into the inside bowl of my left kneecap. I don't mind not having the ability to straighten it, but that is going to just be the begining of what is going to happen. I will need to have the outside half of my knee and femur replaced, and maybe my hip repositioned. I would like to put this off as long as possible, so that means I can do no stairs. The laundry was in the basement. If Dad had not moved in, we could have plumbed the second bedroom to be a temporary laundry (reversible for the next owners). But we had no options left when he moved in. DH was working full time and then doing about 50 music gigs a year, so was not home enough to do the running up and down to the basement laundry. Plus, being tall, I cannot dry a lot of my clothes or they get too short, so we also lost our main floor drying area when Dad moved in. We were all just too tight in that house, even if the kitchen was wonderful. So we moved for a couple hundred more square feet, an extra half bath, and a first floor laundry. Plus, the dogs can be let in and out through the family room sliding doors and Dad does not have to go up and down five stairs several times a day to let them out. He is ninety now.

We did the remodel in 2003 because we had reasearched housing prices and it made more sense to remodel than to move. We had great neighbors and I did not want to give them up, either. We did a cash-out refi and did the kitchen and reroofed the room above the new pantry/mudroom. DH is Vegan and was buying most of his food through a co-op in quantity, so we needed a lot of pantry space. We had 21 cabs, a 6 ft long, 7 ft high and 1 ft deep pantry, and a utility closet made. Plus storage window seats, storage under the pantry platform, and the paw-washing station for our three dogs. Then in 2004 I got a job that paid twice what I had been making, so when Dad moved in, the move we could not afford to do in early 2003 became possible. So we left our custom kitchen, thinking that at least it would get our house sold faster.

Ha! Joke was on us!

Dach, did you reach an agreement?

Adellabella, how did your offer go?

Our offer was for $119,000 with us paying $6000 for the buyer's closing costs. Our house is listed at $154,900. No deal, see my other thread, "Got an offer (well, kinda)"

Thanks for asking!

We are almost to contract. Our buyer wanted to talk to the engineer who made the structural report first. Then he countered our counter. He's at our rock bottom, but it's cheaper than sitting on the market over Christmas. I don't think he can afford much more. If things go well, we'll close before Christmas.

Our house in Norfolk VA has been on the market 6 months next week (stupidly signed a 6-month contract because houses were selling so fast). I think the realtor has shown it an average of once a month. We have asked and asked to have her do an agent's open house or ANYTHING to get people in it. People who drive by say it has no curb appeal but when they go in they love it. She held 2 open houses, both unadvertised and on short notice bringing in a total of 4 people.

We moved to a different state in July and have a lawn service and a friend who flushes the toilets and runs the dishwasher.

We're interviewing new realty companies this week and will switch the minute we can. It will be for sale or rent. I hear nothing is selling in my zip code but I also hear stuff is. The newspaper used to post details on line but hasn't since...the week we moved! Of course. I have asked the realtor about specific properties that were on line but aren't now but she sends me info on other ones, despite repeated requests. I don't get it.

Robin

QUOTE: " Let's just hope they agree to this final counter, if so.... it's a done deal!!"

They agreed to our counter, the sales price, upgrade freebies, etc was all established. However, they added the following contingency:

"Seller agrees to purchase buyers townhome at a price of 155K."

Crap! OK. I'm a reasonable guy so I decide to tour the property and have my realtor pull up all the stats.

The townhomes are 35 yrs old. The resale prices average 134K with the lowest resale at 122K, and the highest resale at 141K. The homeowner assoc dues cost $180/mo. The couple purchased the townhouse 11 mos ago at 127K. They claim to have spent 30K remodeling the kitchen with new tile flooring, cherry cabinets, granite countertops, and stainless steel appliances. They also claimed to have turned the open deck off the kitchen into a screened in porch with slate flooring and to have installed new carpet on the main level.

Linda (my realtor) and I pull up to the property and the first thing I notice is the aging cedar shake roof. My trusty pad comes out and I begin taking notes: On the exterior, the wood around the windows is rotting. We walk inside and find the original 1970 dark mediterranean wood trim has been beaten up pretty badly. It doesn't take long to realize it would be cheaper to replace than spending the man hours needed to strip, fill, sand, and refinish it. Where's the new carpeting? Oh....now I see, it is being chewed up by one of the two small dogs that are running through the house dribbling all over the place.....nice.

We go up stairs and find at least 4 water stains on the ceilings which confirm my suspicions regarding the cedar shake roof. In one bathroom, a linen closet has been turned into the laundry area with a stacker unit; however, you must enter the small bathroom and close the door before opening the linen closet....so I'm assuming you have to set the laundry basket in the bathtub to be able to actually access the washer and dryer. Moving on..... all the bathrooms still have those lovely black cultured marble vanity tops, you know.... the ones with the gold glitter veining running through them; so they will have to be replaced if I want to sell the property quickly.

Finally, we enter the kitchen. OMG!!! This is the worst do-it-yourself work I've ever seen. Let me paint the picture: The homeowner has ripped out the old cabinetry, replacing it with bottom of the line cherry veneer cabinets, and when he put them together, he failed to adjust the doors properly, so some of them appear to be crooked. But here is the big problem, the original kitchen had soffits above the cabinets and the new cabinets are a differing size than the old cabinets; thus, they stick out 2 ½ " beyond the existing soffit. The new tile floor is definitely the work of an amateur. The grout lines are layed out in such a way that the entire room appears to be horribly out of square. Finally, the granite counter tops are prefinished sections purchased through a discount supply, and offer a stunning view of several horrible seams thoughout the L-shaped kitchen. As I step out the slider to inspect the new screened in porch, I trip over the edge of the slate which rises 1½ inches above the threshold leading out. Apparently our handyman homeowner negelected to take into consideration that adding a layer of concrete board and slate tiles to the existing deck would add additional height to the deck floor. I exit the porch, walk into the yard, and inspect the underside of the deck. Just as I thought, the deck is old and beginning to rot, so it will not support the new slate flooring for very long.

Linda and I put pen to paper and decide I would have to gut and remodel the home to the tune of about 35K if I want to turn it quickly. I would also have to be able to price it at no more than 135K. I have to figure my expenses of realtor fees and homeowner dues..... So if I decide to purchase this townhouse, I should offer no more than 90K if I want to keep from taking another loss.

If I offer these homeowners 90K when they want 155K, I'm going to piss them off and lose the sale on the other home. So I decline the contingency. I can't take a hit on my home and then take a hit on their home. Sigh.

Although upset, they have agreed to try and sell their home themselves and when it sells they still want to purchase mine. Since I don't want to lose showings, I am refusing a contingency and if I get another offer, I promise to let them know so they can reconsider waiting on their home to sell. Note: They are already approved to purchase my home without having to sell their townhome, so they could keep it on the market while living in the new home or they could rent it out. When I returned from the thanksgiving holiday (we were at the wife's family this year) Linda told me they had listed the townhome for 140K. With the market the way it is, the home's condition, and it's price.... I just don't see them selling it anytime soon.

So I'm definitely not holding my breath.

dach, sorry to hear this...You are doing the right thing about continuing to show the home, and perhaps if you get ANY other offer,regardless of price, you can call these potential buyers and notify them you have an offer coming in..Maybe this will spur them into the purchase,and rent their townhouse..best of luck

Dach, you have dealt with so much hassle. You are totally right continuing to sell your place and let them deal on their own with the townhouse. I can't believe they had the "gumption" to even ask you to purchase it. Blows me away. Hang in there and good luck!

This is one of the worst cases of buyer entitlement I have ever heard. Usually, when I read these posts I think to myself, "deluded seller refuses to acknowledge market has changed." However, these "buyers" appear to have come from another planet. Sorry, Dach.

"This is one of the worst cases of buyer entitlement I have ever heard."
I really couldn't believe it myself. After paying over 29K in interest charges this past year...... I am selling a property for 416K that it cost me 365K to build.... I'm throwing in 24K in upgrades as a freebie.... so my hard costs are now 389K.... I'm paying 24K in realtor fees.... this brings us to 413K.... and then the buyers want to make 28K on some crappy, throw-it-together upgrades on a 36 year old townhouse, they overpaid for 11 mos ago?????

WTF????

In fact, one of the things we went back and forth on, was granite countertops. They kept saying they expected granite for this price. I said fine....I'll give you 6K in an allowance for switching out the countertops. They swear up and down that I am making money on the upgrade. I'm like... "uh....no. I'm telling you that you can spend up to 6K on the granite you choose and I'll pay for it. If you go over that amount, you need to pay for the overage." How easy is that? I'm giving them my prices! I'm allowing them to see the invoices....what more do they want?

But I'll tell you one thing: I'm not giving them an open checkbook to go out and order 3" imported blue pearl from china and put a 3 step layered edge finish on it!!!

I swear to god, I'm thinking of taking my properties off the market, marking them up by 70K so I can recoup my costs, and bringing them back on the market next spring at the higher prices. At least then I will have some room to negotiate with the greedy buyers!!!!

Besides, no matter what I do, 99% of the people out there think I'm taking advantage of them anyway, so why shouldn't I? I'm going to have to take the grief over it regardless....

But this is EXACTLY what I've tried to avoid. I've seen so much dirty, underhanded, sh** in this industry, it makes me want to puke! And I hate those jerks! I've dealt with them all my life and they make me sick! Besides, I'm trying to raise a son who isn't a jerk, so I have a conscious.... go effin figure!!!

I guess the good guy does finish last.

No! You're doing good work--don't let them get you down. Boy, I wish you built houses (in my price range) in northern Virginia!! :)

bump

I guess I never really told you all that my house did actually sell.

My story: We put our house on the market in SoCal in August because we were moving to Oregon. 6 days later we had a good offer, we signed the papers and then found out my DH's mother was in emergency care in Maine and we had to jump on a plane and get there. Stayed there for a week (MIL was critical but improved greatly) and came home to find that the buyer had disappeared. He wasn't returning calls, his agent couldn't locate him. Finally the buyer said he'd changed his mind. We lost the earnest money ($3k) because of the 17 day no-strings contingency period in CA. Put the house back on the market. DH moved to Oregon in late September while I stayed to continue at my job and to sell the house.

We reduced the price and the next offer, in mid-October, gave us $27k less than the first - ouch. We bartered on the closing date and a few other things, their inspector did a very CMA report and the buyer asked for ridiculous amounts of repairs & updates (this was a 1958 small tract home), we said no and did the few actual repairs needed. I faxed to our agent all the repair paperwork but the buyer's agent never said if this was satisfactory.

Closing was supposed to be Nov 15 but the buyer's agent kept messing things up and delayed getting the loan papers in to the escrow company. Every day he told them he'd have the documents the next day. I finally moved out of state on the 18th not knowing if the sale was going to go through or not. It was almost as if the agent was working against the sale ...

During the last week when it looked as if the other agent was messing up the deal, my agent put the house back on the market. That seemed to make the other guy straighten up a bit - he was about to lose a $19k commission.

I spoke with the escrow company rep who said she'd never seen anything like this transaction before. She called in some favors and pushed the papers through the title company asap when they were finally all in because she also wanted to get it over with. It closed on Nov 21.

Since the buyer failed to close on time we could have called off the transaction or continued with it and kept the items we'd offered as incentive for the Nov 15 close (w/d, refrigerator, patio furniture) - we didn't want to cancel the transaction and we didn't want to keep those items as we were moving so we went ahead and just left them.

The sales contract stipulated that we had 3 days to occupy the house after closing. We moved out earlier because we'd already made the moving plans and were ready to go. Wednesday the 15th was chosen because that would give both families a chance to get to their new homes for Thanksgiving. Since the close actually happened on Tuesday, 2 days before Thanksgiving, I don't know if the buyer was in the house for the holiday or not. Too bad if they weren't - but it was their agent that was holding up the process, not us.

It was a true Thanksgiving Day for my DH and me, even though we're living in a small rental apartment and ate turkey at a restaurant instead of cooking for ourselves. But we were so thankful to have the deal finally done. That 5 weeks of waiting for the escrow close were so stressful - if the deal had fallen apart, I think I would have too!

Congratulations and a big sigh of relief, I'm sure! Good luck on your search for a house in Oregon.

bump...Happy holidays and best of luck in 2007 for sellers...

Our house buying venture in the Portland, Oregon, area has closed. I picked up the keys tonight. We had a rough patch this morning when it turned out some papers hadn't been done correctly and the lender wanted more info blah blah blah, but we got that handled and the sale was recorded.

This sale happened in record time. We put in an offer on Dec 11, it was accepted on Dec 14, and now 2 weeks later the sale is complete. This was not a cash sale, and I hadn't even shopped for a mortgage before we put in the offer!

We ended up with a fixed 5.875%, 30 yr loan that we plan to pay off in 15 yrs or less (no pre-pay penalty).

A few things worked in our favor: When we first saw the house it had just fallen out of escrow with another buyer *a day before closing*. So the title search had already been done, a recent appraisal had been done, etc. Our lender waived having another appraisal and just charged us $50 to have the other one recertified, so that saved several days. We (DH and I) both have good credit and no other debt except for small car loan, and we didn't have another house to sell before we could purchase this one. So it was an easy process but still surprised everyone with how fast it actually went.

We won't move in for a couple of weeks as we want to have some tiling done, a fence built etc, but Sunday midnight will find DH and me celebrating the New Year in our new house!

Congratulations, Minet! That fast close is my dream as a seller! :)

It's just nice to hear that someone actually bought. (lol)

All the best to you and yours in your new home!

Congrats minet...how great to have such a fast closing. Good luck in your new home!

Congrats! I was shooting for buying b4 the holidays but now the "holiday" will probably be Valentine's day. :) Enjoy!

bump, thought i'd revisit this post