Selling a House These Days is a Drag

RSL and I never wanted to have two homes and it only came about when the best job opportunity, after being downsized because I knew how to find a job, was in the lovely city of Burlington.  This year we decided that another winter in BTV while working in a depressing situation could be improved on by retiring, selling our house and getting on with our lives in NYC.

Two weeks before we put our house on the market in March, an inferior house was listed for $560,000 and sold within two weeks.  We later found out it sold for $530,000.  So we listed for $575,00 and figured we'd be negotiated down, but our upgrades and view would get us an offer that we could negotiate with and be out of here by August 1.

Well, everyone loved our house but they had to sell something.  Months go by and nothing sells.  More units in our development come on the market undercutting us on price but they were not as nice.  Nothing sells.   

Finally, in August we start to hear that our potential buyers are getting offers and we might start to see some action.  We lower our price by 3% to show we are willing to negotiate.  No one makes us an offer because they think our price is fair but they have been so beaten up that they want to buy something for $400,000.  Finally, someone offers us $475,000 and we tell them it needs to have a 5 handle to be considered.  They offer $500,000 and we counter dropping another 2% trying to get to the middle which would be $525,000.  They disappear and are never heard from again.  A long time interested buyer sells their place and is so depressed by the process they buy a place, without giving us an offer, which when they are done fixing it up will be only $20,000 or so less than the $500,00 we would have taken at that point.

We decide that we have to get on with our life in NY so we hire a mover and schedule a move for early November while dropping our price to $524,000.  Dreams of traveling Indonesia end to end are replaced by the issue of it is time to start looking for a job in NY.

Well, as the movers are packing the truck, we get an offer from someone who has been looking around for 3 weeks or so.  $500,000; so we ask if there is any room to negotiate.  No, take it or leave it.  We take it but all ego in our superior value to that sale in March is trashed.  The good news is we have an offer.  The bad news is, of course, there are things to be addressed and I need to be in both NY and VT.  So back & forth I will go.

I tried not to have too much invested in any particular price, but I did really want to go to Indonesia and that will have to wait as we did not get the price to make that a go.  And my recommendation to anyone looking to sell.  Make sure your home is attractive relative to the others around it.  We are the only sale since that one in March because we had the nicest one and showed price flexibility.  It got us the next sale.  And do not get your ego tied up in any particular price.  It is a buyer's market and they don't care whether it's your home or some desperate family somewhere else in your locale.

Bottom Line.  8 months on the market.  Sale price 14% below asking.  Trend for comparable sales (last vs this one) -10% but it has been a long time since something comparable was on the market.