New "selling our house" thread for 2007!

[Dsnygirl]

This thread is for all of us crazy people trying to sell our house these days.... I am the only lone "survivor" of the last thread (unfortunately!! ), so I thought I would start a new one to keep the pixie dust coming for any of us "on the market"!!

Brief recap - we listed our house in October, went through crazy negotiating with a family in December and ultimately let their offer go, as it was just too low. We had quite a few showings over the holidays, but it's been quiet since New Year's. We're pulling it off the market for a week or 10 days on Monday to refresh the listing and pictures, as well as to add the much needed fireplace... (we have a chimney chase and gas line in place, just never put the actual f'place in - point of much discussion b/w my DH and I re: whether or not we should put it in to sell the house... I firmly believe our house needs a f'place to sell at our price point and in our neighborhood - he has held out that it doesn't, but is conceding now that maybe we should... he works for a homebuilder, so it's not a heavy cost to put it in) So - hopefully the f'place will be the magic charm, and we'll be "house free" in a few months...

Anyway - anyone in the same boat, or with advice, or who just has extra pixie dust to send our way - feel free to join in!! The more, the merrier!!

[Nana]

I am another one who will be selling our home in 2007. For us, it is good and bad news. We are being relocated. The good news is that if we can sell our home in 60 days, we get a 2% bonus from the company and if we can not sell our home in 60 days, the company will buy it. The bad news is that we have lived here all of our life (not in the same home) but in the Atlanta area and are moving to a new state. It is exciting but sad to be leaving all of our friends.

[CanadianWDWFan]

to you Blythe and Nana! Being part of the Original 2006 thread I understand what you guys are going through.

Blythe, it sure is amazing what one thing can do. We ripped out the old living room carpet and put the new one in. The offer came in within 2 days of us reopening the listing. Keep your spirits up! You will be house free soon enough.

[Caroleh]

to both of you that you get your homes sold. I hoping I can be a buyer this year.

[RedSoxFan]

Blythe and Nana -- good luck to both of you in 2007 with selling your house. I hope the fireplace works for you Blythe -- esp with the cold weather/snow we've been having. Moving to a new state is fun. We're originally from Mass and moved to VA 6.5 years ago and moved to NY in August.

[luvdash]

Unfortunately I am also in the same boat! It's been about 6 months for us. We've had three showings in the last month and a half - all positive feedback, but no bites! We are moving to get in a better school district for our first grader. It's been rough because we are renting a place just to get her in the district so she doesn't have to switch in the middle of the year, but we are still living in our house!! So, we have to drive her to school everyday and we can't really invite her little friends over. Here's some for all of us!!!

[Mickey'sGirl]

I just wanted to wish both Blythe and Nana good luck!

[tink55]

We're trying to sell two houses. The bigger house went on the market in June 2006, right before the housing market took a dive. We thought it would sell that summer and now we're hoping for this summer! The smaller house went on the market in November 2006. We may have a contract signed on the smaller house today, but only after counter-counter-counter offers. It's crazy.

My feeling is that now that 2007 is here, and the holidays are over, that lookers are turning into buyers. So hang in there, everyone.

[bucky at disney]

Add us to the list!!

We listed our house the day before we left on our DW vacation in November. So far we have had 2 showings.....

Last week it was requested we lower our asking price - which we did. Now to just sit and wait....

We are buying a different (bigger) house in the same town we live in now - and will be able to move into that one in June or July.

[murphy1]

Nana, I am so sad you are leaving! I have enjoyed getting to know you and you have shown me how true faith works in life!

I hope we are FINALLY moving this year! We have been in our house for ten years. About five year mark is when we wanted to move, but dh got laid off so here we are still. We have three kids and I would love to get a basement. I go back and forth between wanting to stay in Georgia and wanting to go back to Florida for good. I would have a great job with Disney or go on with my plan to become an RN. I pray about it, so we'll see how it all goes.

I have a question, do you think you need to replace carpet? I keep getting different answers, but would be happy to give some an allowance on the price.

[prprincess]

I was part of the 2006 thread, and boy, did we all have some stories to share. Luckily, we sold our house in December 2006, and then just settled on our new on this past Tuesday, so we'll be moving in on Saturday.

Anyway, I just wanted to wish you all the best of luck!

[sorcerersusi]

We are in Denver Colorado currently and built a big, brand new beautiful luxury home two years ago. We MUST sell it now due to continuing health issues. We plan a move to the Orlando area for the moisture (humidity) for my sinuses (3 surgeries in 4 yrs so far due to the dry climate and arthritis in my back and hubby's many health issues ...ANYHOO......we must sell the beast. It has not been shown yet because we are just finishing the staging process. What a nightmare! We may end up having to move into a small apt or home just to show the place. It is a 6000 sq ft home with a breathtalking view of the Rockies from our deck and has a swimming pool, giant 10 person hot tub, a pool house, elevator etc...etc...It is an entertainers dream home and a very specific market. It IS expensive 1.7 mil so we need to find the right buyer. We HAVE to move. I cannot stay here much longer with my health. We may HAVE to start building our new home in Florida anyway and keep this place on the market til it sells. I hope we can get what we put into it. Not a great market and from the reports I am hearing, 2007 is supposed to be a down market still for sellers. It is not supposed to turn until 2008. Auuugggghhhhh! I cannot take much more snow and cold and DRY air. I just had a steroid shot for my back and am supposed to get a cat scan to see if I need yet ANOTHER (4th) surgery on my sinuses!!!! ACK! Please say a prayer to St Joseph, he is the patron saint of home and they even sell these little kits with a tiny St. Joseph statue and prayer that is supposed to help you sell your home. You can find them online. Just google St. Joseph home selling kit and it should come up. A neighbor of ours swears by it, said she sold 2 homes with the kit. Anyway PIXIE DUST to everyone trying to sell and move, send some looooove this way too...Thanks
sues

[Dsnygirl]

Welcome everyone!! Thanks for all the and encouraging thoughts - I am remaining positive that 2007 will be our year - more specifically, February!! We had a showing today, we have another on Sunday after our Open House. We'd love to see something come through before we go through the hassle of the f'place and re-listing it, but we'll see...

So many of you have mentioned having your home "staged" - what is that?? We've been told that our home shows beautifully, so I don't know that we'll need it - but hey, I'm willing to look into anything - is it something specific we could do ourselves?? We've done all the 'advised' stuff... cleared clutter, opened up spaces, changed lighting, made the house seem as open and cheerful as possible... we even did the St. Joseph statue/prayer. But, most houses in our neighborhood seem to take a few months anyway, as there is so much building going on around us, and our house is only 5 yrs old. So - we're keeping our .

Good luck and to everyone out there!!!

[RedSoxFan]

Blythe: There were some things that we did (before we actually moved and the house was vacant) and that was put all pictures away, took down some curtains to make the rooms brighter and put a LOT of my daughter's toys in storage. But she was 9 1/2 at the time so it wasn't a lot, but she had to part with most of her Bratz collection. We also packed what was not needed in the closets to make them look bigger. Hope this helps.

[CanadianWDWFan]

Blythe, we were told that our house showed well as well. It was in the marked for 8 weeks and nothing. We had the home staged and within a week it had sold. What our stager had us do was the same things that Tracey said. We had to put away all of our family picures. We had 8 or nine boxes of them! All the kids toys were put away, with a 2 YO it sure was hard on him. All drapes and curtains were removed to help make the rooms look brighter. Large mirrors were hung to help rooms look bigger. It was a hassle but it was worth it. It seems like that folks who are looking for homes want to see a house not a home.

Good luck and !

[pink]

We are in Denver Colorado currently and built a big, brand new beautiful luxury home two years ago.

We used to live in Colorado and we also had a home made for us and then we had to sell it short after. We couldn't find a buyer for awhile simply because of the price, but eventually some people from Texas bought it. A buyer will come soon! Good Luck in Florida.. I bet you're happy to get out of all of that snow!

For everyone else, my mom is a real estate agent and I've heard her talking about how the market has been slow lately; but recently the market has started picking up the pace after the holidays ended. Just keeping crossing your fingers and keep all of your options open! Good luck everybody!

[Dsnygirl]

Okay, all of the family pictures are put away... that was the one thing we resisted (in fact, my DH just walked past a pile of pictures and said, "It just looks too bare...") I agree with him - I'm trying to re-arrange what's still out to fill the spaces - I refuse to unearth things that are already in boxes!


Thanks for all the advice and tips... hopefully things will continue to look up - our market is definitely busier than it was before, so hopefully that will work in our favor!

Good luck to everybody this week!!

[sorcerersusi]

Staging is done by a "professional decorator or stager". They come in, organize, decorate and basically make your house look generically great. No personality, pretty bare, what I like to call generic elegance. I fired our stager, she overstepped her boundaries too often and so I am finishing up the last of the staging. I could NOT have done it by myself, with my back problems and hubby does not have an eye for decorating, he is a pack rat and i am having trouble getting him to cooperate with putting stuff away. We may end up moving into a small apt and selling it empty, OR going to Florida and start building our new home and live in an apt down there while this house is on the market. I just want the thing to sell. We need to get out of the cold and dry weather SOON!!!! I can just imagine that warm Florida humidity and the lure of WDW just a few miles away....WAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! I wanna go now....
Pixie Dust for everyone and here's to a lucrative selling season!
sues

[magicofdisney]

I'm from the original thread. We put our house on the market about 2 weeks before Christmas. We didn't hire a professional stager, but I did a lot of research and knew what should and shouldn't stay. Like a previous poster stated, you sell a house, you buy a home. So make your house look like a home for buyers (especially getting rid of personal photos). Although we stored a ton of toys, we have 4 children ranging from 1-8, so I HAD to keep some toys around.

Our home has shown several times. We're always told is shows well. We had one family look at it 3 times but they never bit. I HATE selling a home. It's just so stressfull. Good luck to all.

Genna

[Dsnygirl]

Well, our listing "expired" today, so we're re-listing with new pictures, and a little lower price... we got a TON of phone calls this morning from realtors wanting to list our house... just wish one of them would SELL it!! (We have it listed with my DH's company, as he works for a home builder, so we don't need a new agent, thank goodness.) So - here's to hoping the new price and updated pics will help... and to everyone else out there, too!!