Another buyer may come along soon! Fingers crossed for you!

Thanks Suzi. It has been on the market since February so we are feeling a bit like its not going to sell. It has been at least three buyers second choice and everyone says they like it, no negative comments and other realtors say it is priced right. I guess we'll wait till the contract is up early August then decide if not buyer. I hate getting my hopes up only to have them ripped away :( Onward...

CP the weird thing is there were lots of people looking till May then all of a sudden two weeks ago there were showings every day, sometimes multiple. My dad had a cash buyer only one day on the market on a canal this week in Port Charlotte. It's picked up. I think the real issue is the roof is original, from 1981 but it is tile and we have not had one single issue so why would we replace it? We are definitely taking it off the market in August if it doesn't sell.

I just googled "how long does a tile roof last in Florida" and the answer amazed me. 50 to 100 YEARS! Wow! Your roof is just a baby.

Tile roof definitely is an asset, as it indicates the house is well constructed so that it could handle heavy tile roof. Tile roof with hand made Mexican roof tiles are so charming, expensive and are highly sought after.

Yet in Arizona, at the age of your house, while roof tiles would last for a long long time, the underlayment and plywood beneath the tiles are likely need to be replaced. Is it what your buyers' are concerned about?

Sherry I wish our buyers felt the same as you!

Azmom, from what our realtor said they are afraid of maintenance for the roof and windows. They had a roofer come inspect the roof and he fixed one minor tear in the membrane from what we were told so not sure if the buyers are super cautious or what but I can tell you there are very few homes on the market there in our price range with a house as meticulous and in as good condition. We are all surprised it has not sold yet. It is in a well liked neighborhood too.

I think CP is correct though, that people shopping are looking for a bargain. Our realtor said this past winter some were buying but more were just "browsing." People are being really careful with their money. We live in a seaside town and though it is busy, waterfront restaurants are not as busy as in past years. You can tell it is slower.

Houses are still selling fast in my part of Florida (near Tampa). Three have sold recently with closings scheduled for later this month.

Maddie, our home is a little over an hour south of you and I had noticed a surge in people looking since mid June. Praying we get another buyer soon. Thanks for the input :)

Sounds like we're all in the same neck of the woods.

My condo sold before the others in my building. (If you know SW FL, you'll know exactly where I was. It was right across the street from the statue of the soldier and the nurse). I got lucky but with 7 condos being built now in our downtown area, it was a bit slow. All but one of the other condos in the building wound up selling from May-now but at lower prices.

Right now you have the Europeans who are buyers but once August is over, they head back to Europe. As you know, September is dead in SW FL and then people are starting up with the holidays.

I think the main problem is there is a lot of new building going up now and people are waiting to see. Even in the development we're building in, our builder's sales are going a bit slower than he would have liked.

Nancy message me. Sounds like we're spitting distance from one another.

Nancy: Sorry you are having a tough time selling. I know what you mean about getting your hopes up. I'm on Long Island, NY and have had a few deals fall through. Lots of showings and offers, but no contract signed yet. Everyone has a story... I have my fingers crossed for you!

Barb, Oh no! That makes it so hard! I hope you too finally get the right person to come along and buy your home. It is so disappointing. How long has your been on the market?

Our realtor is going to ask an FHA appraiser if he feels the age of the roof will be an issue. My husband feels we should not put a new one on when it works just fine?!

My house has been on the market for two months. 4 offers. Each one never got to contract for various reasons. Good luck to you!

Ugh! How frustrating! Makes me think I do not want to put my house here on the market (we plan to in the next month or so). Do you have something you are waiting to get into?

Nancy, sent you an updated message. :)

I just googled "how long does a tile roof last in Florida" and the answer amazed me. 50 to 100 YEARS! Wow! Your roof is just a baby

Tile lasts long, the roof usually only lasts about 35 on average, maybe 50 if you were very lucky with the original installation. Underlayment and all doesn't last nearly as long as the tile does and replacing a tile roof is megabucks.

I would always assume that any house that is more than 30 years old is getting close to a roof and take that into account when considering whether or not to make an offer, which I think most other folks would, too. A tile roof from 1980 isn't necessarily an asset in S FL. Most of my friends who own houses built around that time or within a decade after are on at least their second roof.

That is why my husband asked our realtor if it was an issue and he didn't seem to think so. My husband did all along but again, felt if the roof was fine why should we replace it?

Nancy: Yes, we have our condo in Florida that we are moving to. So thankfully we aren't selling and buying at the same time. If we were selling to buy something, I would be pulling my hair out by now .

Realtor said FHA appraiser said it should not be a problem. Called realtor who showed the home to the couple and he is waiting for a call back. Another realtor called about the house. Other than that, nothing.....just waiting.....

Nancy, I agree that it's silly to replace a good roof, and yours might be good for a long time yet, hopefully. But the odds are just against you, generally,and you have to accept that some people will consider it.

But you certainly wouldn't get back the whole cost of a roof replacement when selling, that's for sure.

Best of luck finding a buyer. Real estate is so hot in Fl right now that I would think you will find a buyer anyway. It just might take a bit longer.

If roof is a concern, you may want to call a roofer who understands/specializes tile roofs to find out the actual condition of the roof.

Tile shingles last long time. There is no need to replace them if they are in perfect condition. In fact, some older tiles are of better quality than recently made ones. Replacing underlayment and plywood beneath is not terribly expensive.

A story; Our house was built in 1968 with a tile roof. We bought it in 1982. At the time of inspection the inspector saw no problems with the roof. All of a sudden in 1985 it started leaking badly and had to be replaced. ('Lifetime' roof lasted less then 20 years).

All the tiles were fine, the paper and plywood under had disintegrated.

My point is that a buyer may very well want a newer roof before committing to purchase.

(we replaced our tile roof with a shingle one.)

Sometimes, maybe often, the reasons people give for backing out are not the real reasons. Maybe they found another house they liked better, or they had second thoughts about affording the home, or they are having trouble getting financing, or marital issues-- it could be anything. But in my experience, buyers will almost always say there is something wrong with the house, so they save face, and have a plausible excuse to back out and get their earnest money.

Don't believe everything you hear, and don't feel like you have to bend over backwards to please the buyers, who may not be able to perform on the contract anyway. You'd be surprised how many contracts fall through because the buyers just can't come up with a small downpayment! So don't feel like you have to put on a brand new roof, unless it's really necessary, and it likely isn't in your case.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. The buyers were cash buyers but both my husband and I feel they were looking for a reason to get out. Maybe they got cold feet and decided to wait. Who knows.

While we understand the roof is older and the windows as well, the buyers did have a roofer come look at it because there was a small tear in the membrane which he fixed and afterward stated the roof was just fine. My husband and I do understand that the age of the roof will scare some buyers but it is not enough for us to go out and pay 30k for a new tiled roof when it is in good working order and has been inspected by both an inspector and roof contractor. I feel other buyers will be looking and maybe we will get lucky and get another offer. If not, maybe we will stay and fix it up ourselves. If we had to redo the roof we would never recoup the money, the neighborhood would not warrant that kind of asking price.

Where are you that you can get tile for 30K? I'm afraid that's more an asphalt shingle kind of price in S FL. A friend who's in the process of replacing a tile roof in Davie right now is paying 65K, and they shopped around a lot.

So, no, you definitely don't want to do that without serious need.

Are you serious??? My SIL did an asphalt shingle roof for 10'k. I've never heard of 30k for ashphalt shingles. Does your friend have a million dollar mansion ?:)

No, a typical 4 Br tract home. Tile is expensive, as I said in my previous post. I never heard of any kind of roof for 10K in the Miami-Palm Beach corridor, not in the past ten years or more. Where is your SIL's house located?

EDIT, No, I take that back. I was looking at one of those fourplex mansard roof townhouses that are ubiquitous in S FL, but one where each unit was responsible for their part of the roof, and the roofing co told me that the most it would cost to recoat the concrete roof (foam), was 10K, but that was for one quarter of a roof, and just a coating, not a rebuild.

Hmmm my sister-in-law sold er home last year and needed a new roof. She paid half. It could have been 15k instead of 10k but I know it wasn't more and the roof was asphalt. Well, it will be interesting when and if we have to replace it someday!

Thanks for your input Lilysmom. Our 6 month contract ends August 10th. When we listed our realtor was sure we would have a buyer in 2 weeks because homes in our neighborhood usually sell quickly. We had several buyers tell our realtor it was their second choice, had a very serious buyer who decided not to buy because they wanted to update the home and didn't want to go through a renovation. Now we've had this buyer who backed out and had another offer the same time as the buyer who backed out who was a cash buyer. We too are very surprised this house has not sold. The realtor has all positive remarks and other realtors feel it is a good house and priced right.

We are now thinking if we do not get an offer by Aug 10th we will either keep the house and update down the road or do some updating and put it back on the market. All of us are scratching or heads but figure maybe the buyers want a fully renovated home or they want it at a cheap price. Our realtor did comps recently. Our home is priced only 10k more than what homes sold for. Buyers almost always offer less and our realtor said buyers know this and price is fine. If we lower the price anymore it wouldn't be worth it for us to sell.

If it was updated without putting on a new roof but just "freshening" it up, what do the comps say it would sell for?

Not sure, we would have to ask the realtor wouldn't we?

It would need a new kitchen and 2 bathrooms. Realtor thought we could do it for about 14k

Hi Lily, the rooms look great and the house is turn key but the rooms are dated. The houses weren't listed at 10k more they sold for that. The two offers were 9k and 11k less and we accepted the 11k less. When people look to buy they look at comps and that helps them figure out a price to start their offer. We do not expect to get our price but if we lower than offers will be lower than the comps for homes sold. Our realtor feels the price is good. Hoping we get an offer but if not I am guessing we will stay. Houses sold were mostly lower priced but either 2 bedroom instead of 3, no pool, not a pool that has just been redone along with the pool decking or not in as good shape. There are 3 in a neighborhood close to ours and three homes sold that are like ours but sold for the 9-10k less price. We could lower the price but could not accept a price much less because it wouldn't be worth it to us. Thank you for your comments. I do understand that a lesser price may get more buyers interested but then we could barely move on the asking price. Not sure what to do. Maybe I will talk to my husband and see what he thinks. The thing is we do not HAVE to sell. We put it on the market hoping to sell because prices jumped. Also we would like to have a newer home.

Oh ok. Thank you for your suggestions! I do appreciate them. Our realtor has not suggested dropping the price again. We did once already. We had two buyers look Friday and have another tomorrow. We really do not want to put any more money into the house either. We did 8 years ago when we moved in ripping out rugs that were basically everywhere except the kitchen and bathrooms and replaced with new tile as well as new paint everywhere and taking down a half wall. This past year we redid the pool and pool deck. We really, really do not want to do anymore unless we decided to stay and even then it wont be for another year.

Realtor emailed tonight he has a strong buyer looking at our home tomorrow who has a special needs child. She wants a safe neighborhood-check, pool-check and does not want a remodeled home-check. He says she likes that we are near a nature park (around the corner). Please pray that this will be THE ONE. Here's hoping. Fingers and toes crossed.

Fingers and toes crossed for you nancy.

Thank you! Our realtor is showing it so he will be giving her every reason why this is the perfect home for her. He will make 5% on it so at least i know he will work hard to make the sale.

You say your home is turn key and then go on to say that it needs new kitchens and baths. Therefore, it is not turn key in the eyes of the buyers. You also say that a lot of buyers have your home in second place. It has been my experience that homes that repatedly come in second place are slightly overpriced. The buyers are finding other homes that offer more value. As you know, in selling, second place is the same as last place.

Also, if your agent is representing this upcoming buyer as a dual agent, then she should not divulge the information which you cited above. If she feels like this is fine to do, then one wonders what info she is divulging to the buyer that you have not given permission to divulge?

I hope this is the buyer for you, but if it is not, I would bet that you are slightly overpriced.

Did the sold comps need new kitchens and bathrooms?

Hi NC and thank you for your thoughts, appreciate them. The three other comps were not updated so very good comparisons to our home. Our realtor (a man btw) had spoken to quite a few other realtors and they all felt the price was right. We told the realtor up front we did not have to sell and what our bottom line was. If we reduce the price much further we would not have much room to negotiate. When we first put it on the market our realtor was sure it would sell in two weeks. It is a desirable neighborhood that is older but well kept with larger lot sizes and a nice nature walk around the corner from me in the neighborhood that walks along the bay. Not sure remodeling would have brought us in a good enough price to make up for the money spent. I know it can be iffy when the realtor represents both parties. I cannot think of anything he could say that would be negative for us. He knows our bottom line and as I said there isn't a lot of wiggle room. He knows what the comps are from recently sold homes and would use that if she were interested. I do not doubt he will do his best to try and sell this house as the contract is up August 10th. I am not getting my hopes up because I know how this works but still going to keep my fingers crossed for the showing this afternoon. He has an open house scheduled for next Sunday as well.

Thanks Lily! You know, I feel like if its meant to be it will sell. If not, it will be ok too.

The woman likes the house but is looking at other houses this week. Another buyer who really likes our house was waiting for an offer on his house. He got one he is accepting so our realtor said we may be getting an offer from him. Waiting, waiting.....

I'm headed down that way tomorrow. Do you need me to kick some butt for you? ;)

Yes!!!

Any news?

If you go to my new post Low ball offer that tells the story but we got a bother offer that we,accepted. Waiting on the inspection. Fingers crossed! Thanks for asking!

Great -- good luck.

Good luck Nancy!

Thanks so much!