By the Time He Left...I Was Crying...

I know that Karen is talking a lot about building a home, and I'm afraid that my blog is going to become one about selling one. I hope that doesn't bother people too much, and I'm sure we'll have interesting stories to tell...so just bear with me....

The realtor came over today. We really like this guy. We respect him. He knows what he's doing. We wanted him to come over today and tell us what needed to be done to the house before we put it on the market. We also wanted to talk about whether he even thought it was a good idea for us to sell right now.

After I told him about the deal the hospital was offering if we moved in the next 11 months, David (our realtor) told us we'd be crazy not to take the offer. He told us that even if we waited a year to sell, we wouldn't make more than and extra $1000 over what we'd make selling this year. We talked about the housing market right now, which SUCKS for sellers, and he told me it would take at least 6 months to probably sell this house. The market is just saturated with houses. And esp. in our neighborhood. That didn't suprise me too much. He told us to put it on the market March 1st. He also said that we have to look at the benefit of moving as a buyer as well. Because it's also a great time for us to buy a house in Troy, we could probably get a 300k house for 270k.

That leaves us 40 days to fix or change the following items:
1. New carpet- We knew this was coming
2. New kitchen counter top- not expected
3. Recaulking, slight replumbing of our shower
4. Glass block for the basement
5. Front porch painted
6. All of our molding needs painted
7. Decrapping of the house- we have to basically clear out our entire basement and half of our office. He says it's way too crapped up. (My words, not his)
8. Mulch all beds- even though it's freaking cold out and there probably isn't any mulch to be sold, we have to find some....

There are other things I'm sure I've forgetting, but needless to say, I was pretty overwhelmed when we were finished. The carpet and countertops alone will cost us several thousand dollars that we'll probably never get back in the sale. I was in tears as I said goodbye to David. He felt bad, but he reassured me that our house isn't that bad. He's just looking at the fine details that would help it sell faster. His direct quote was, "Your house isn't a 10, but it's also not a 5. It just needs a little work to make it look its best." I know our house is old. It's never going to be a 10 unless you gut it. It made me feel a little better.

The worst part was that he told us for an asking price, we should go no higher than what we paid for it three years ago. Now that sucks, because there is a lot of new money in this house. A roof, gutters, central air, landscaping, and a patio. By only asking that price, we'll barely break even after paying the realtors! *sigh*

Saturday Reflection: Having had time to read my draft from yesterday and having had time to actually price things and talk with Kendall, we probably won't do all of the things on the list. We're actually contemplating only doing the carpet and painting and cleaning. I just don't think it's worth putting that much money into the house on top of what has already been done. If someone bites and wants something extra, maybe we'll fork over some cash at closing. And I think we're going to ask a few thousand higher than what we paid for it. I don't know....honestly, it's not a huge deal if it sits on the market once July rolls around because we'll have triple the money and will be able to afford both mortgages. We'll still be able to move. And we don't know how long it will take to sell. We could sell in the first 30 days! It's anyones guess. We live on a nice block with great neighbors. We think our house is cute. Our friends all say they think it's cute. Who wouldn't think it's cute?

Please spread the word about our little "gem". We'd love to just sell it by word of mouth instead of waiting on someone else to find us.....ah, dreams!