Selling an outdated, ill kept house, cluttered house
outsdthenrom
16 years ago
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lyfia
16 years agoxamsx
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Landlords Selling. Open Houses Are Planned. A Cleaning Dilemma.
Comments (16)My deepest thanks to all of you for your comments. I love this board. You've helped strengthen my resolve to push back. I think I was letting my nice, mommy side override my common sense. The landlord has pushed pretty hard to wiggle around the lease on several occasions. They tried to put the home on the market two months earlier than the lease allows. When we first signed, they tried to insert a clause keeping the house on the market for the entire rental year. Whenever I push back, they back down. However, I do sense their desperation and want to helpÂbut only so much. Actually, their situation is a good example of why one should be very careful about rushing to buy a new home before the old one is sold. They bought this house 3 years ago during the boom. It appreciated very quickly...50% over two years. Using a cash-out refi, they bought a very expensive home (twice the price of the rental) and moved in. The market turned. This house didnÂt sell last year so they rented it to us for 67% of their carrying costs. Now, theyÂre trying again. For their sake, I hope they succeed. Financially, theyÂre hurting. If I were selling, IÂd wait until September and let the house shine. August in DC is dead, real estate wise. We decided to rent to avoid the exact situation. I did my time as an "accidental" landlord in the 90Âs downturn. Been There, Done That. Great lesson that, once learned, never needs to be repeated. The lease directs us to make the home available to the landlord for showings during the final 60 days. They cannot use a lockbox and must schedule showings at least 24 hours in advance. The law is silent on Open Houses and my attorney says itÂs a gray area. We can fight them on it but is it worth it when weÂll be gone by the third week in August? I wrote off the security deposit when the landlord spent 45 minutes photographing the hardwood floors in the kitchen/family room. Why do I think weÂre going to disagree over what constitutes "normal wear and tear"? So, IÂll keep the place neat and clean, one of us will stay for the Opens, and the rest of us will take a break from packing and relax at the pool. WeÂre packing the valuables now and will move them out before vacation. As for the boxes and moving clutter? IÂll remind them of what theyÂre facing. Thank you all so much for the reality check. By the way, despite the problems described in this thread, renting has been a very positive experience for us. At first, I dreaded it but the financial savings and sense of freedom has been great. Over the long haul, I prefer owning both financially and emotionally. But, in our market, itÂs quite easy to find a lovely rental for substantially less than the costs of owning. I love putting money away for the future. Best of all, IÂm so relieved that I wonÂt have a home to sell before we build/buy again. Thanks againÂNova...See MoreMy white kitchen is preventing my house from selling :(
Comments (45)I did not have time to read all of the replies but to offer a bit of friendly support from someone who has recently been there and done that...we fnally sold our house about 9 months ago after a year on the market. Prospective buyers, especially in today's market, are just very fickle sometimes and trying to predict what they will go for is beyond me. We had redone our kitchen with Wolf/SZ etc (all top end appliances) nice granite etc so it was very updated (and the house was only 7 years old anyway). In the beginning everyone said "That kitchen will sell your house in a minute and bring a premium. Well, as the market tanked, the most common comment was "Nice kitchen but we really don't cook that much" or..."Kitchens are not our thing" etc. Another dig was the wall color in one small room. Many people did not like it at all. Hello! It was one room...2 gallons of paint at most...paint it whatever floats your boat for about $200. I even stipulated in the fact/seller allowance sheet that we would repaint rooms for an allowance up to $1,000. My point is that in such a down market, people focus on what is wrong or they don't like (not what is right or they do like) to negotiate the price down even further. What a difference 24 months makes! Anyway, good luck. I know selling right now is stressful at best. FWIW, when you least expect it, someone will walk in and say, "I love it!"....See MoreMove into a rent house while selling current house?
Comments (35)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. :)...See Morefeedback on photos on selling a house
Comments (41)First pic - Living room. Remove one of the armchairs and put the couch under the front window. Remove TV and stand it is on. Remaining armchair can likely fit well in that space. Don't need coffee table in the LR for pictures or showings - more floor space is a plus. You likely don't need the table that is currently between the armchairs either unless the light from the table lamp is needed in the room. Clear the mantle and get a nice vase with some fresh flowers for pictures and showings. Clean, clean, clean. Second pic - Kitchen. Remove everything from the top of the cabinets and the valance on the window. Clear out at least half of what is behind the glass doors on the cabinets and keep pretty colour coordinated pieces to display through the glass door. Take down all the hanging cups and is that Garfield in the corner - if so, sorry Garfield but you've gotta go too! Clean, Clean, clean. Third pic - Bedroom. Move the storage armoire out and the armchair too. Move the head of the bed to that wall. New plain bedding. White would be nice or another plain colour. Get rid of the plant and the stand and whatever it is sitting on. Clean, clean, clean Fourth pic - washroom. Remove plants and valance on window and the folk art in the window. Clear at least half of the stuff out of the cabinet with glass doors. Leave only pretty things showing in there. Remove all the things from under the sink and roll up a few towels if it looks too bare. Clean, clean, clean and then clean some more. Nobody likes to see someone else's dirt in a washroom. For pictures and showings the house should look like nobody is living there. All towels clean and folded straight. Put wet towels in the laundry before you leave the house. Please put the toilet seat down for pictures and showings. Nobody needs to see the inside of a toilet to know what it is used for! Clean, clean and then clean some more. If you are using an agent they should offer their opinion of other changes that might be needed. In my opinion clean and clutter free is key, that includes the outdoor spaces too. Power wash walkways and clean up garden beds and make sure garbage bins etc are out of sight if possible. Good luck with the sale. It is stressful having your house in saleable condition and keeping it that way so I hope it sells quickly and you can move forward....See Moregraywings123
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