Friday, February 27, 2015

Almost March!

I am not sure that I have been this glad to land on Friday in awhile!  This week has been crazy (most of the crazy I have not shared here....this isn't the place for it).  Even though this is my "long" day at the office....I am just glad the weekend is almost here.  I may go into the office for a few hours over the weekend, unless I can get my "office" stuff done today (unlikely.....).

I am having a hard time that March is HERE.  March seemed very far away back in September when we put the house on the market, but now it is here.  March means we have to start talking about a few things.

The Realtor.  We have been frustrated the the realtor, and our contract is up in a few weeks.  We have to decide if we want to switch realtors, or keep the same one.  Our concern is that we switch, and we find out that this just how it goes and we aren't any better off.

The house.  We have always thought that the house wasn't going to sell over the winter...and we were right!  We are hopeful now that spring is just around the corner (Daylight savings is NEXT weekend!!), that OUR buyer is out there and will be here soon.  But if they aren't....we are going to have to seriously talk about the next steps.

A trip home.  G-man is planning a trip home in April.  IF the house is sold in the next few weeks, that trip will be off, and we will just wait until his trip home for the household move.  There is no sense in spending that much money for 2 back to back trips.  We have a few more weeks until we have to buy his ticket, but his trip home is bittersweet...knowing he will have to leave again, and that it means our house isn't sold yet.

G-man is on a business trip next week....so these discussions will wait until he is back.  He will also be starting a 2nd job when he returns.  We have been making the basic bills on our reduced salary, but all of our pre-saving for other things (Car maintenance, irregular bills, etc) went out the window.  It will be good to know we have that money.  It makes me a little uneasy NOT having it.

So March is going to be a heavy month.  And so it goes.....


13 comments:

  1. The realtor thing is tough. I did switch realtors when I was selling my house but I switched to a person that was highly recommended by a coworker who said the realtor was the best of the best (and she definitely turned out to be). This lady was ultra focused on being the best at selling/buying houses where my original realtor wasn't as gunho. The other difference is my new realtor helped me price my house at a point where it was more in line with market value at the time. It did mean a price drop but my house sold within three months of the drop whereas my first realtor didn't do much research to help me settle on an asking price (and I was overpriced for the market).

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    1. We have been concerned about the price from the beginning. But if we don't clear the mortgage...we don't have the money to make up the difference. We already are at a point where we aren't going to make any money to put toward a new house. We are looking at our options for purchasing a new home since we won't have any equity.

      The realtor said that as long as we are actively getting showings (we have had 6 in the past 6 weeks), then the price isn't a deterrent.

      We can make a mortgage payment...no problem. It is just the upfront costs that are an issue.

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  2. You might want to check one of realtors Dave Ramsey recommends -- you can find the nearest one on his website

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    1. I will look at it if we decide to change realtors. Thanks!

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    2. The realtos that Dave Ramsey recommend simply pay him a fee so he recommends to them. If you are going to change, ask around for good local recommendations. I'm assuming you've done this though.

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  3. we have been very lucky when it comes to selling our houses over the years. I chose realtors who I knew sold well in our area. Did I like them....NO....but I wasn't marrying them, just using them to sell the house.

    What is the feed back on the house from people who have been round? You need to have a face to face meeting with the realtor and see what he/she has to say for themselves.

    I have sold a number of houses over the years and pricing is always a sticking point when houses don't sell............

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    1. We have not gotten any feedback about the price. Every showing has said that the house is nice, very clean. Most want a more "updated" because they don't want to do the work. We have had 2 showing where they didn't like the layout. We had one a few weeks ago that were seriously considering an offer, but they wanted to look at a few more houses.

      The realtor basically said we need to wait for the one person who likes the charm of an older home.

      We dropped the price once, and if we drop it again...then we have no negotiating room. The house will be at the absolute point to clear the mortgage

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    2. then I guess your only option is to sit tight until the Spring Market comes to life. You loved the house, as that is why you bought it, so someone else will also. It's awful though trying to keep everything spotless in case there is a showing!!

      You may think this is funny, but one of my biggest pet peeves about looking around houses is toilet seats that are not put down. I hate to see a toilet seat up.....told you it was funny...LOL Dh is well trained to put the toilet seat down after use.

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    3. I ALWAYS keep the seat down for a showing!

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  4. Here is hoping the spring will bring a buyer!

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  5. Is renting your house out an option?

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    1. Yes...but there are HUGE problems with that scenario. We will only do that if we have to.

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  6. I forget how you decided on this realtor, but I think I would be inclined to get a few more opinions before renewing your current listing contract.

    Have other homes been selling while yours was on the market, or has the whole area just been slow?

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