subject: The Roller Coaster Ride of Selling and Buying a Home [print this page] The Roller Coaster Ride of Selling and Buying a Home
Over the past several months we have been trying to sell our town home and get into a single family dwelling. For a year we had our town home listed and as most of us are aware, it was tough to even get a showing, let alone any offers. We tried lowering the price and always had it very clean for showings but in the first year we had only 10 showings and no offers. It was very disappointing.
The reason we wanted to sell was that we are a family of five plus a dog and we felt like we needed more space and wanted a yard where the kids and the dog could run. We also had 2 storage lockers filled with things from my previous home and from our present home. So we were paying for storage every month. On top of that our mortgage is an interest only loan and so we are not getting any equity and the interest rate is on the higher side. So there were several reasons we wanted to sell and more besides the ones I have mentioned.
Four months ago we took the house off the market. When we decided to try again, we also decided to lower the price significantly and get a stager's advice. The stager's advice was well worth the $150 or so we paid. We took her advice and moved even more furniture and things out of our town home and put them in a third storage locker. We were told it would mean more inconvenience for us for a short time versus less inconvenience for a longer time. In other words the house would sell faster by following the stager's advice.
It was hard on us to live with only 1 television and to share desk space and to have things in storage that we sometimes wished we had immediate access to. But it was worth it. We put the house back on the market at the end of February and had showings right away and on a regular basis. That was great! The down side was having to clean before every showing - sometimes not as thoroughly as other times since we may have just had a showing but things had to look their best.
Another part of the up and down ride was we might hear from a potential buyer that they would be making an offer and then the offer didn't come. Finally, we did get an offer and after a little negotiating came to an agreement. Wow! This is great. But the next day we heard the buyer got cold feet and was withdrawing her offer. What a letdown.
After a couple of days our realtor calls and tells us that the buyer is back in and we do have a purchase agreement. That was great news!
Since then we have been seriously looking at houses and last Sunday found a couple we liked. One of them we all really liked. So we made an offer that we felt was fair and quite strong. We were excited to know that this could be it. However, we also know by now that it isn't done until it is done. We waited all day Monday to hear back from the owner but no response. Then we got an email from the realty company saying the house we had made an offer for was going to have an open house on Tuesday. Our hopes have been dashed once again. We still do not know whether our offer will be accepted but it seems like the selling side is playing games. So tomorrow we will resume our hunt for just the right house. It will be nice to get into our new home and once again relax and enjoy some popcorn and a movie. But until then we will continue to ride the roller coaster for the next few weeks until we have closed on our house and also closed on the house we have yet to purchase.
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