Will the stick house ever sell? - Montana Owners Club

DonandBonnie · 07-01-2007, 03:32 AM

Our stick house has been on the market for three months now. During that time, 3 people have looked at it, 2 of those at an open house last week. No offers yet. The media keeps talking about a depressed housing market the same way that they spread doom and gloom everywhere. The realtor says that everything is lovely with home sales and that the media is wrong, which I can believe. This is the sixth house that we have sold. This is the fewest lookers we have had anywhere.

I guess I am just overanxious to begin full timing.

Ozzie · 07-01-2007, 04:26 AM

I don't know about your area, but in ours there are too many people trying to sell and not enough buyers. Plus the houses just are not moving - average time on market is going way up.
We are also wanting to sell our home to build another, but are holding off until the market improves and we see some sold signs.

Wifeofdano · 07-01-2007, 05:13 AM

Don & Bonnie,

Just read your profile. Bonnie, you have a great title!

My thoughts on selling a home are that I don't care what the media says about anything, they will never be able to predict what the American people will do. Have known customers at our store that have had to give up on the new home being built because the one they have now would not sell. Then there are the ones whose house sells in a couple of days.

When the right person sees or hears about your home, they will buy it wheather they can afford it or not. Why? Because they'll love it and they will find some way to get it. Please Mr. Banker! Patience. You just need to have a little patience. So I guess I would believe in the spirit of the American people, because when there's a will, there's a way.

Besides, you have your Montana to play with in the meantime, right?

Question: So, what things or circumstances are different about this home and the other six houses you sold?

Lisa

jretz · 07-01-2007, 06:57 AM

I guess we were lucky, I sold my place last year and Carolyn has her house on the market now. We have had 5 offers in the last month and a half. One went into escrow but fell out when the interest rates went up and the buyer could not qualify at that rate. Our Realtor was upset that the mortgage company did not lock in the rate. Another offer went back and forth with offers and counter offers, when we decided to take the last counter offer his Realtor could not get hold of him (so she says). Now we just had an offer we took and are going into escrow again. Hope this one works out as Carolyn retried Friday and I have been living in the Montana the last month and a half while working in Yosemite National Park. One thing we did do is price the house just below the other comparable homes in our area and we were also in a position to go lower if we had to. We did not want to give the house away but we are willing to let it go low so Carolyn could retire and enjoy the fulltiming lifestyle with me.

Good Luck and stick with it. It just takes one person to buy your house, and a good active real estate agent does not hurt. OH! the average house in our area is on the market for 5mos to a year, so we count ourselves as very lucky.

DonandBonnie · 07-01-2007, 07:20 AM

Lisa, I wish we had the Montana. We have to sell the stick house first. The only thing different with this house is that it is a manufactured home. I think there is a real prejudice against manufactured homes with the realtors in this area. Prior to listing, I talked with a couple of realtors that lost interest when I mentioned the type of home. Three months on the market is not really a long time. I just thought that more people would be looking.

Cat320 · 07-01-2007, 08:50 AM

If you really want to move the house...lower the price, works every time. Might not get exactly what you want or what you think it is worth, but it'll be gone.

DonandBonnie · 07-01-2007, 10:46 AM

Already lowered the price twice. We are now at the point where what we owe plus the realtor commission equals the new selling price.

Wifeofdano · 07-01-2007, 01:25 PM

Sorry, I had the signature thing turned off because my computer is faster without viewing them and I see there that you don't have your Montana yet. I always try to look at the bright side of things and believe that everything happens for a reason, so hang in there and continue to prepare for your new lifestyle. It will happen. How about another open house?
Lisa

exav8tr · 07-06-2007, 05:05 PM

Our home was on the market for a total of 6 months before it sold. Three last fall/winter and then about 3 this spring. I've had realtors say that homes don't sell from "Open Houses", however, I think the key is exposure. The more people that see your home the better your chances of selling are. Of course, these should be qualified buyers. This can, and should be, controlled by a good realtor.

virgil47 · 07-11-2007, 07:58 AM

We listed our house yesterday (7-10) and I too am already wondering why we haven't had an offer yet.

Moving toward fulltime is scary enough but selling the retirement dream house just sorta takes it over the top in stress level. The good news is that the quality of our problems is sure better than most folks. "Oh no, my house won't sell fast enough to suit me" is a whole lot better problem to have than, "where will I sleep tonight?" I need to remember to be grateful while I am whining.

rldriver · 07-12-2007, 06:55 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by DonandBonnie

Lisa, I wish we had the Montana. We have to sell the stick house first. The only thing different with this house is that it is a manufactured home. I think there is a real prejudice against manufactured homes with the realtors in this area. Prior to listing, I talked with a couple of realtors that lost interest when I mentioned the type of home. Three months on the market is not really a long time. I just thought that more people would be looking.

DonandBonnie,
Don't give up hope, we had a manufactured home for sale a few years back and our realitor had a couple that refused to look at it. She worked on them for 3 months to just go and look. When she finally got them to view the home they made us an offer that day. Right time, right people and it will come for you.

Our home is now on the market for about 2 weeks and hope to sell soon as it's a sellers market here. Usually about 85 homes on the market but right now there is only 30 so hope to sell soon and move into our new big sky and will stay in the area until my wife retires next April and then we will be off to see the wonders of this great Country.

Dick

DONnANNIE · 07-12-2007, 01:51 PM

I shouldn't say anything for fear of jynxing our deal. We've had our home on the market for about 3 months. Finally accepted a reasonable offer yesterday with closing set for 9/1/07.

We plan to travel in the fall. Our new home won't be ready before Christmas, if that early.

As everyone kept saying to us, "Someone will come along and buy - It only takes one buyer".

Our area is real slow on home sales. We saw several homes that we almost bought but didn't, that we thought would be gone in a day. Real nice homes that were reasonably priced.

Joyce H · 07-13-2007, 03:27 AM

Don't panic guys. It took us almost 6 months and lowering the price two times to finally find the buyer. Just be patient. The right people will come along eventually. We took advantage of the extra time for sorting things and having garage sales and donating to avoid storage or moving items we really did not need. Enjoy the extra time in you home. Switching to retirement and full timing or long timing as we are is quite an adjustment, but you will love it once these trials are behind you and you can hit the road in your Montana.

DonandBonnie · 07-13-2007, 11:35 AM

Thanks for the words of encouragement, guys. It gets frustrating when no one is looking. It makes you wonder if the market is that bad or the if the realtor is not doing her job. Things hopefully are turning, three couples have now looked at the house. No offers yet, but at least we now have some lookers. We gave the realtor an extended contract that runs until the first of February. The only reason for the extension was that an auction before or near the holidays was not a good idea. We told her that this is her only chance, once her contract expires we are going to contract with an auctioneer. Either way we will be full timing by the time retirement rolls around, 353 more days, not that I'm counting.

borfaloo · 07-16-2007, 07:42 AM

Donnie and Bonnie,

A couple of questions for you.

1.How do people 'find' your house. Drive bys are good for word of mouth sales. Signs,Signs and more signs with directional arrows will bring traffic to your home hopefully.

2.Do you have a flyer box (Realtors hate those because they cost them money when they have to print flyers) I like them as you can get a feel for how many folks are seeing your home at least from outside.

3. What is your Realtor doing to make your home stand out from the others?

4. most of the time now a home will be viewed online.. is yours easy to find on the realtor website, do they list it on craigslist?

These are things that have worked for me in the past and might work for you if they are not being done yet.

Good luck

Sean

Wagonmaster · 07-16-2007, 12:56 PM

Don & Bonnie, We had our stone house on the market for over a year before we sold it. We were really getting impatient. We came down on the price twice before it sold. We are finally full timing and having a ball. So hang in there, it will sell eventually. Good Luck and happy camping. Janet

don m · 07-27-2007, 08:26 AM

We have had our house on the market for more than a year!

Have come down on price twice but first price was too high. It is listed at a fair price now. Considering lowering the price again.
Our house is a big house and sits on 5 acres. I don't understand why no one is buying it. It is in a rural area. Going to list it on Craigs list today.

Don and Bonnie I hope your house sells. I understand very well when a house is holding you back from doing what you want.

Bob & Lee · 07-27-2007, 10:55 AM

We took 18 Months to sell ours, it was in a country area of kansas. I just looked at it as every payment I made lowered the pay off so should get it back at closing..but we didnt sold for what we owed.

DONnANNIE · 07-27-2007, 12:10 PM

All it takes is the right people. We had our home on the market for 2.5 months. We did FSBO - for sale by owner. The couple that is buying have a split entry on 5 acres. One day they decided to sell there place and down size to a one acre rancher. The next day they drove by and saw our sign. They made an offer, we accepted and they gave us earnest money. The only exposure we had was on the website for FSBO. I ran ads in the Sunday papers about 5 times. Even ran an ad in LA Times, $75 for nothing.(no response) We went "exclusively" with this FSBO website for $189, so I couldn't use Craig's List or any other website. If I did it would cost me $300 more for my website. I could do TV & magazine ads but I didn't. We had the house inspected and appraised prior to listing, so we knew its value and could fix things the inspector found.

We are in a very soft market here. So we feel quite satisfied that we were able to sell at all.

Here is our website: http://www.spokanebyowner.com/457/
Someone mentioned flyers - all I did was print up our webpage - front and back and replenished as needed. Sometimes 10 per day or 10 every 3-5 days.(I'm on my 2nd color cartridge)

I hate talking about this for fear of jynxing our sale.

Patience is a virtue.(Patience is not one of my virtues) Anyway hang in there, the right people will be along.

DonandBonnie · 08-24-2007, 02:13 AM

Keep your fingers crossed and pray for us. We just had a couple check out our house for the second time. They seem really interested, but I made the mistake of telling them that we plan to full time. Now the wife is rethinking her future.

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