Well! We listed our old house for sale, had thirty-five showings plus an open house the realtor described as “slammed,” got seven offers (five of which were above asking price), and accepted one of the offers—all within three-and-a-half days. We are feeling pretty satisfied with our realtor’s “Do nothing to fix it up, underprice it, and sell it fast” plan.
Now we are in the part where it’s too early to celebrate because it could still fall through between now and closing, but we are tentatively feeling good—and if the sale DOES fall through, it’s nice to know there were so many other people interested and we could probably get another offer.
I am a little sad about one offer we didn’t take. It was lower than the offer we accepted, but it was a family with four little kids and two dogs (I snooped them on Facebook), and my fervent wish has been that the house would go to a family with lots of kids, perhaps a family that was priced out of the current housing market but COULD afford our underpriced house and was not too fussed about the cosmetic issues. (That was the very thing that happened when WE bought that house: it was the only way we could afford a house at all.) But they were going to get an FHA loan, and our realtor told us our house would not be approved for that loan unless we fixed it up more, and we really did not want to fix it up more. And then as it turned out the offer we accepted went even higher, widening the gap between the two offers to the point where even “but a FAMILY!!” wouldn’t have made it justifiable. So there is no reason to still be feeling a little regretful, but I am.
On the happy side, the house is going to someone who wants to live there herself, and perhaps she will soon add children and dogs. She specifically mentioned the great backyard in her offer, which seems promising. I’d feared we would only get offers from developers/flippers—not that that would be terrible, especially if it was a GOOD flipper who did nice work, but I was worried the house would be bulldozed. We did get one offer from someone planning to tear it down, but it was a low bid, much lower than asking. Again, nice to know that offer EXISTS, in case inspection shows something impossible that means the house NEEDS to be torn down (this is very unlikely, but that doesn’t stop me from fretting about it, apparently)—but happier to me that it went to someone who plans to live there herself. I hope she is feeling happy and excited right now, rather than wondering what she’s gotten herself into, and I hope she will love the house, and I am fantasizing that she is handy and will gradually go through the house fixing it up, whistling happily and maybe being more decisive/adventurous than I was with paint colors.
I’m a total softie; I would have been sad too that the family has to keep looking. But FHA makes it tricky, as you noted, and that made your house not the right one for them. You are very kind to have empathy for their situation.
I hope this chapter is ended very soon! I love that your realtor’s plan was perfect. And even though there was so much suckitude with the move and the difficult winter, I’m thrilled that you won’t have any moving issues associated with the sale.
I hope some interesting shoots will pop up at the new place soon.
She will be more adventurous than you were with paint colors, but she will also be grateful for your neutral choices, which left her space to dream her wild, colorful dreams.
Yes, this! People love a clean, blank slate!
Congratulations- what a huge relief. The opposite of what we did (over-renovated, listed too high, sat on the market, hated our realtor, ended up being pissed off at the nickel and diming buyers, etc, etc). You absolutely made the right call, and I’m so happy that you can take that good karma (and $) and carry it forward into your new house!
Awww, I’m imagining a young woman just starting out, buying her first home! How exciting. Or perhaps a woman in early to mid career transitioning from apartment life to house :) Also a charming thought. Well, congratulations on a slammin’ open house! May the best offer win! *Clicking a champagne glass to the computer screen*
Mazel tov! And I love how you are visualizing the future owner happily going around fixing and painting and whatnot.
Does this make it easier for you to relax in your new home?
Congratulations! It took TWO YEARS to sell our last house, and we had two small kids and had to do this death-march-like (but FRANTIC! Like a FAST death march!) cleaning every time we had a showing, which were spaced out enough that the house was never cleaned once for two or more showings.
Your way sounds SO MUCH BETTER!
Wow! This is great news. I feel your pain about the ‘family’ but it does not sound like it would work for you. It will be good to have closure, right? I am so glad you had a wise realtor to make this happen so fast vs drawing it out and making you question whether or not you should have done more upgrades to sell. Happy for you!
CONGRATULATIONS!
That must be a big relief, after all your house stress.
Your realtor sounds like a GEM. Glad the process of selling is going well, and hope that it ends uneventfully and according to plan!
We are going through sort of the opposite- purchasing a home that is currently being rented (they will vacate before we close.) When we did the first viewing of the home and the few times we’ve been back (for inspections, meeting with contractors for quotes, etc.), they have been SO KIND, and I feel like a horrible rotten person for uprooting them from their home. (Which they knew the house was for sale when they signed the lease! They understood what they were going into! My husband totally thinks I’m being unreasonable about it.)
House buying and selling is already SO FRAUGHT WITH EMOTION, I could really do without the human-interest emotional aspect of it, too!
This is lovely.
Oh, this is SUCH a good outcome! I am so glad things went quickly and in your favor, and that there’s a nice pool of backup plan just in case.
I bought a house by myself, a big house, that needed a lot of work, when I was single in my twenties. I did a lot of fixing-up, and my parents would come for a week about twice a year and help me with the big projects. It had a huge yard, that I’d lie in to study for my masters. I had lots of parties. I was able to let a girlfriend who was in a hard patch come and stay with me for free, because the house was so big. Eventually I met my husband, and while we didn’t live in my house, I was able to rent it out for a few years, once to a family, twice to young couples who also loved the house as much as I did. My family and I moved cross country a few years ago and I sold the house, and was able to pay off all my student debt with the profit from the sale. It will always be SUCH a special home and launching pad for me. I’m so happy for the woman who got your house. I hope so much for her too.
This is such a great narrative! I bought my first house as a single woman in my 20s too and it seemed like a really rare thing at the time, but boy, did it set me up well financially going forward. More single women should take this plunge if they can afford to and are “house-minded”. (Which I was: I have always LOVED houses and when I opened my first bank account when I was 11 it was with the intention of starting to save for my first house.)
I totally agree. I did it partially because I was sad at how my life was shaking out– all my friends were married with kids, which I really, really wanted and it just….wasn’t happening for me. It felt like a way to create something in my life that was adult that I actually COULD control. And I will say those same girlfriends were jealous when they came to visit– a whole house! to myself! Ha.
Yay! So happy you’ll soon be able to tie up the loose ends that belong to the old house, and that you can enjoy picturing who will live there. Can’t wait to hear that all is final!
What a satisfying update! Congrats and hooray!
I’m so happy for you, Swistle!!
Yay!! Congratulations. That is so fast! I would feel similarly about the family but agree there is a better fit for them somewhere else, and good for you all to take the better offer. I love your good wishes and dreams for the new owner.
How did she comment on the yard in her offer? Is this common? I thought the offer was just the financial papers and not so much personal things. Did she communicate that through her realator or just attach a note? I’m very curious about how that works. And about how personal messages from buyers would impact my feelings and leanings as a seller!
It was in the email her realtor sent with the offer. I wish they’d all included personal things—although, actually, now that I say that, I’m glad they didn’t: it would have been harder if the family had said something heartstring-pulling!
We included a letter with our offer and believe it tipped the seller in our favor. We were a youngish family looking to move to our second home but our ‘forever’ home. We had already lived in the community for 14 years and were planning on staying here. The previous owner had a fairly identical story to ours when they first moved into the house. There were three offers on the house and they rejected one outright. Thanks to our letter, they gave us time to get our financing in order (we were dealing with a VA loan which can be tricky) and we were able to do so. I believe the other offer on the table was slightly higher but they ended up going with us.
I know someone who essentially held interviews of potential buyers and picked someone they felt would fit in well with their neighbourhood, which they described as “Sesame Street”. They literally turned down a blank cheque they could have written anything on, dismissing that man as too arrogant to inflict on their former neighbours.
I feel like Frank Capra should have made that movie!
When we sold, the first offer was the friend of a mid-twenties guy moving in across the street from us. I was happy about it because I felt like it signaled young blood moving into an older neighborhood. When his money all fell through and we had to relist, the buyer was an older man with money who was just planning to rent it out. I didn’t like that at all but at the same time, he paid what we were asking. So I totally know what you’re saying here.