CrusinSusan wrote: Thanks all. My last day of work is Thursday....I'm independent on Independence Day! Kewl, huh?
And good luck lady! But why not sell everything now? An empty house (some say) is easier to sell then a full one.
We'll be looking for you out here
Have you ever been in a unfurnished model home The reason they furnish them is because it helps them sell. No clutter - just enough to show off the possibilities. That's whay getting rid of the clutter and staging the house is so important.
MAC51 - talk to your realtor and see what he/she thinks of the chances of them selling quickly. I'd be less inclined to make an offer on a house that was under contract and it wouldn't surprise me if realtors are less likely to show a house that's already under contract.
A house still on the market is still on the market - a contengency is not a sale - it's CONTENGENT upon the sale of THEIR home. If they ask for first right of refusal, that means that if someone else comes along and wants your home, they have the first right to refuse to buy. If they do NOT have a first right of refusal, you can sell it to whoever wants it.
Our home is staged, pretty, right colors, everyone (including 41 realtors) LOVE it - and it's been shown 5 or 6 times in 6 mos. It's a buyers market, but no one's buying (or lending from what I hear). THAT'S the problem. So if you take a contengency, find out what the market is in their area and how house's are selling. If they have a dump it may take even longer and you'll be caught in a catch 22.
Bill & Linda
Ladymc & Shuttlebird
2008 Silver Dodge Diesel Dually 3500 - "The Silver Bullet"
Towing 1998 35 ft. Newmar 5th wheel
20K Husky Hitch & Blue Ox Bedsaver
Handheld Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS AND Sat. in dash mounted GPS in the truck
READY TO ROLL!
A suggestion on the "family items", get them out of the house now. Our buyers wanted the house with EVERYTHING - so if we'd left anything we wanted it could have cost us a sale to say we were taking something. By having the house ready to go and nothing behind we wanted it was a clean deal - they wanted everything and we just said OK
People are buying and lenders are lending, they've just gone back to actually qualifing the borrowers.
John Ewing
2007 Allegro Bus 42QRP ("TisIt")
2005 Sportster/HydraLift ("Dinky")
2002 Miata toad ("Mellow Yellow") www.jandse.com
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What goes around comes around - always treat others the way you'd like them to treat you.
There is a way to get into a "contingent" contract but w/ the right to get out w/ proper notice. Here we call it a "72 hr. release clause".
Basically, you make the deal and agree to wait on the buyers' sale of their place, but if another buyer comes along you'd rather deal with (faster close, higher price, etc.) you give the first buyer 72 hrs. to remove their sale contingency or lose the deal. If their house isn't sold, they won't remove the contingency, will give up the deal and get their deposit back, and you go on to buyer #2. If they are pretty confident their deal will close (like they have a pending sale already close to closing) they can waive their contingency and keep your deal alive. If they fail to close, you get to keep their deposit. You can even have buyer #2 in "backup" position to be ready if the first one fails.
It can be a complicated dance . . .
2006 Duramax Chev dually.
2008 Mobile Suites TKSB Working toward "long timing".
trkrhelp wrote: People are buying and lenders are lending, they've just gone back to actually qualifying the borrowers.
As far as contingencies, it is different in each state.
My friend from California just goes ballistic when i tell here how real estate is performed or lack thereof in the Midwest.
That is why some people don't get what we are going thru here.
When a house has an offer with a contingency, it's an 'offer pending' and MUST be put on the sign, etc, yada yada yada. HERE it stops all your traffic, buyers don't put back-up offers in like they do on the west coast. Agents will not waste their time showing an offer pending.
So here you have to think REAL HARD whether this offer is worth the risk of stopping the traffic on your house while your are waiting. Some agents will help you and stall as long as they can before they are forced to put the sticker on the sign AND the notice on MLS so they don't get fined.
In this market I refused all contingincey's, the market was falling faster than the 30 days it would take to comply. And come on......lock down your house for sale while waiting for someone else's to sell their house in this market?
31 ft Four Winds
Chevy Tracker 4x4 BlueOx Aventa LX We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
How many of you have buried a statue of St. Joseph in your yard once you put the house on the market? I am not superstitious but just ran across a small statue of St. Joseph in my jewelry box and it reminded me that it was posted on this thread when it was first started that some folks were going to place a St. Joseph statue in the yard.
I'm going to bury mine tomorrow. We need all of the help we can get.
Paul and Karen
New to us 93 Pace Arrow
01 Tracker Toad
Kbix wrote: How many of you have buried a statue of St. Joseph in your yard once you put the house on the market? I am not superstitious but just ran across a small statue of St. Joseph in my jewelry box and it reminded me that it was posted on this thread when it was first started that some folks were going to place a St. Joseph statue in the yard.
I'm going to bury mine tomorrow. We need all of the help we can get.
I'm not superstitious either, but when I laughingly told our realtor about a St Joseph thread, she went out to her car and got one out of her glove compartment and handed it to me. Our home had been on the market at that time since the second week of October and this happened the first week of December. Who looks at homes during Christmas, right?
We accepted an offer on Christmas Eve and closed on Feb. 8th.
As far as staging, using your own furniture and so on? We put a few things away, but what worked for us was, I kept the house immaculate. It looked like a model home. We were lucky to live in an area that was other people wanted to live in. Nice neighborhood not far from the ocean and across the street from a beautiful park.. People do look at real estate all the time no matter what the news reports.
The couple who bought our house lived in a two bedroom condo and the wife was pregnant with triplets. They needed a bigger house and they wanted a finished turn key.
I can't imagine selling it with a contingency, because keeping a house ready to show after you hope it is sold, would just be too stressful imo...
Barb
2001 Chev. 3500 CC Duallie, D/A, 20.5 Pullrite Super 5th, Roll n Lock, StarBoards, Firestone Air Bags, TTT Mirrors, BrakeSmart.
2004 HitchHiker Discover America 33 1/2 CKQG, Disc Brakes, Mor/Ryde IS
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Remember you're not supposed to just bury it and forget it - you're also supposed to do a prayer once or twice a day to go along with it.
Personally I think it's the attitude (saying the prayer a couple times a day) that has the effect not the statue, but whatever works for you. Sometimes a physical item help reinforce the attitude and the more you BELIEVE the more you ACHIEVE
I think attitude is a huge factor. When we sold, the market was horrible in our area. Places had been on the market for years...most had tried the statue and everything else. We opted to think positive only, no gimmicks and sold everything we owned for cash in 3 weeks
Then again, we priced the farm realistically......
Dianne
Fulltimers (8 years)
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Heise Hot Springs, ID for the summer
DataStorm
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Well, I haven't had the closing yet BUT ....drum roll please....the purchase and sale agreement were signed this morning!!!!!!! The only contingeousies are the housing inspection and her financing, which she has 2 weeks to get done. She has 40% to put down and the house is in good shape so the realtor doesn't expect any hangups. If all goes according to plan the closing is scheduled for August 8th. Which means I sold it within 8 weeks of putting it on the market. So it can be done. Pricing and staging, pricing and staging. And now let the Full Timing Begin!!!!
My son just got into contract in LA for a new construction 2 Br condo. But, it is a buyers' market. His final price was almost 30% off the first price when the complex went on the market 10 mos. ago. They are now about 75% sold.
He views it as the price being rolled back to early 2004.
Naturally, we're hoping this is the "bottom" of the market - even if it doesn't go up radically for a while, again.
The reason they furnish them is because it helps them sell. No clutter - just enough to show off the possibilities. That's whay getting rid of the clutter and staging the house is so important.
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Our home had been on the market at that time since the second week of October and this happened the first week of December. Who looks at homes during Christmas, right? 
They needed a bigger house and they wanted a finished turn key.
