I just want to scream...

[jent]

So, we are trying to sell our house in this crappy market (DH just heard a news report that not only are sales down overall in our state, they are particularly worse in our county. Great.) So, we priced our house low (so we thought), just lowered our price, and finally received an offer for much lower. We countered, they countered back. I know we will eventually come to an agreement, and we should just be happy that we have a viable offer and will be soon done with it all, but when I think of the loss we are taking, I just feel so.... frustrated. It didn't help that DH broke the news to me after a pretty hard day at work, a pretty hard few weeks at work as a matter of fact. It just gets to me that all my life I've worked so hard, been so careful with spending and savings, but I get nowhere.

Right now I am projecting all my anger at these buyers eager to get a bargain, our realtor, and heck even the realtor who sold us this house in the first place.

Part of me knows that this is what it is, it is just our luck. We bought during a seller's market, and now are selling during a buyer's market. I couldn't have changed the timing of either one- we bought when we were first starting out on our own, and now I am moving because of a fantastic career opportunity (albeit not fantastic from a financial point of view). But I just needed to bitch tonight, so thanks for hearing me out.

I actually do feel better just typing this out. As I try to explain our situation, I'm reminded of all that we have that is good in our lives. When we sell our house, we will actually be debt free. And DH reminded me of the line from Little House on the Prairie, (DD has been listening to audio books) when they are forced to move out of Indian Territory: "At least we are bringing out more than we brought in, Caroline." "What's that?" "The mule!"

And so are we... DD!

[SammyeGail]

As I try to explain our situation, I'm reminded of all that we have that is good in our lives. When we sell our house, we will actually be debt free. And DH reminded me of the line from Little House on the Prairie, (DD has been listening to audio books) when they are forced to move out of Indian Territory: "At least we are bringing out more than we brought in, Caroline." "What's that?" "The mule!"

And so are we... DD!

I would focus on this as much as you can. I do feel your pain, our house for sale is just sitting there. Its been almost 5 months, we now plan to rent it out. We are asking less that what we paid in 2007, plus we have a VA financing fee added to the payoff, we financed the whole thing, used profit from house before to pay off some things.

The sales here are ridiculous. We did get a deal on the townhouse we're buying, payment will not be much more than the rent we're paying. We got the house for about 37% of what it sold for in 2006. I feel bad for the sellers, its an estate sale and the children are dealing with it. I can't believe the market was so high and then dropped SO much!

One thing to take into consideration is that the buyers yes, are trying to get a good deal, but also their agent is looking at comparables. Foreclosures will play a big roll in the overall market and appraisal when it comes back. Thats what happened with the townhouse we're buying, it came in a bit below appraisal, the sellers did agree to change the sales price thankfully. He used 3 other homes in the community as comps, they were all foreclosures that sold in the last year.

Wish you the best of luck! I hope we can get some renters in our house that will be ok that its still listed for sale and let it be shown. May have to lower rent :(. We gotta do what we gotta do!

[DebbieJ]

Going through the sale of a house is stressful to begin with--so sorry there is more piled on it for you!

Hang in there!

[Uno-Mom]

Aargh - how sickening.

But wow - you'll be debt free now? That's amazing!!!!

[hellokitty]

You must live in my state or right next to my state. The housing market here still continues to get worse and worse. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for you. The only, "good" thing I can see from this, is if you are going to buy a house for your new job, hopefully it is also in a depressed market and you can get one for a, "good" deal and it will make up a little bit for your loss. I've been insanely jealous of those who are first time home buyers (not needing to unload a house to buy) right now. I know that if we tried to sell our house right now to upgrade, we'd take a hit, it is frustrating to be a seller, esp during these times. I hope that if anything, you are able to sell your house quickly, so you can move on.

[jent]

Thanks, guys.

Well, we did look at comps when we priced our house, and thought we'd priced it fairly. Actually, before we met with realtors, DH and I were very worried about what it would sell for, and when the agents came and went over the comp info and their recommendations, we were actually feeling a little more hopeful.

All in all, it is not *too* bad, but it is still a significant loss. I keep reframing it in positive and negative ways. "Hey, if you divide that by the # months we lived here, it's like we were paying $X per month to live here. That's not that bad!" Versus, "well, that is worth X years of DD's college education", or "we could have added a garage or remodeled for that money."

As far as the move, we are moving to the Boston area and renting first. I have a feeling that the Boston market is rebounding quicker and I wonder what sales will be like next year. (FWIW, we're in the other end of the state. Apparently real estate sales are down 20% in all MA, but 40% in our county).

OK... focus... quick (fairly) sale. Debt free. We have DD. We have our health. We're moving to Boston! And the fellowship I am doing, well, it's like getting into my "reach" school.

[SammyeGail]

Thanks, guys.


All in all, it is not *too* bad, but it is still a significant loss. I keep reframing it in positive and negative ways. "Hey, if you divide that by the # months we lived here, it's like we were paying $X per month to live here. That's not that bad!" Versus, "well, that is worth X years of DD's college education", or "we could have added a garage or remodeled for that money."

OK... focus... quick (fairly) sale. Debt free. We have DD. We have our health. We're moving to Boston! And the fellowship I am doing, well, it's like getting into my "reach" school.

This sounds like a great perspective! I am looking at our house we just moved from as we paid X amount per month for rent. At that time the RE was projected to go up 4% a year-ha! I just hope we get our payoff, if not we will be slinking to MIL to beg for money :bag. If she will all the talking will be done thru DH. She lives in Arizona and won't move because her house has devalued so much. Its best for her to move closer to us, kwim? She could at least get what she paid for it, they went way up then back down.

I live in Bay County, FL, the RE market totally crashed here. There were a few big offices that shut down or relocated leaving the market flooded. Massive foreclosures. I just feel so bad for the families who lost their homes, the people who lost their jobs.

The townhouse is not my ideal home, 1st level has a garage and separate little living area, then 2 more floors above that. I wanted a one story home. Its set up like a vacation home, smaller kitchen and closets, but it is beautiful and has many upgrades. Can't beat the price per sq foot. We can easily rent it out in a few years when we have the other one sold and more financially set.

Congrads on your move to Boston and being debt free soon! I don't know if we'll ever get there, lol!

[mommylamb]

Boston is such a great city! I lived there during college and few years after that, and I miss it terribly. Best of lucky with the move and sorry about the house crap.

[jent]

Thanks again you guys!

I'm back to turn this into an anti-bitch: the buyers FINALLY accepted our counteroffer. So hopefully, this is the end. It's still a loss, but it could have been worse.

As far as debt free: I likely won't be able to say that forever. We would like to buy again at some point and our savings won't go far in the Boston area. Plus, DH still needs to find a job, fingers crossed on that one.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant. I feel better now.

[SammyeGail]

Congrads on them accepting your counteroffer! $1000 here and there is alot to a seller, glad they didn't try to bring you down more!

And congrads on the move to Boston, that will be so awesome, will be sending lots of positive thoughts he finds a good job he likes.

I got an email from our realtor in TN, I had told her we were going to rent it out, she showed the MLS sheet to a new plant manager in town, he was extremely interested in renting for a year, making the mtg payment, yeah!