Tom & Cathy -

I can totally sympathize with your situation.

When I decided to hit the road back in 2007, the market was just coming down. My co-owner (an ex) and I were ambitious in thinking we could still turn a profit and held out. A year later, the market completely crashed beachside in Florida (on top of the recession, we also had a closing Space Center and insurance companies pulling out due to hurricane claims) - and now we were upside down by tens of thousands of dollars.

What we did was evaluate what it would cost us to keep the house paid up & maintained until the market was projected to rebound. We picked a number of 2 years (way optimistic as it turns out). That cost was what we were willing to pay out of savings to get out of the mortgage and on with our lives. Freedom isn't free, after all.

It was still an ambitious number in the market due to surrounding foreclosures and short sales. But a quality, kept up home is a rare thing in some markets - and there is a segment that is willing to pay a bit more for a sure sale that doesn't have to go through the red tape of short sales, bank approvals, etc. Foreclosures and short sales usually come with other problems of not being kept up on maintenance, and can take months longer to go into closing.

Sure enough, just as soon as we mentally made the decision we were ready to pay $X out of pocket to make up the difference - we got a cash offer on our house and closed 2 weeks later. It was the most freeing, and expensive, day of my life.

I'd say, find what your bottom dollar is. Interview other realtors for their opinions. Don't compare your home to just short sales - if yours is kept up and upgraded, it has increased value over those around you. And there ARE people who are looking for homes that don't come with the complications of a short sale.

Best wishes,
- Cherie

We really didn't think it was a good time to sell either.  Our house near Jacksonville, FL was surrounded by foreclosures and short sales. We consulted 4 different realtors and relied on the best 2 to give us a price at which the house would sell.  It was actually less than we paid for it 8 years ago, but enough that we would make a decent profit. 

To our complete amazement the house sold in 2 days!  It turned out that NOT being a short sale was a huge advantage in that we could close quickly.  The folks who bought it were from out of state and had cash money to spend so there was no waiting for financial approvals.

Bottom line: I would definitely NOT rely on just one realtor's opinion as to what to do.  We even had one realtor who told us we could not sell the house for what we owed on it. Another told us to list it for $20K more than the others... a price that would have resulted it languishing on the market for who knows how long.

Do your homework and like us you just may be surprised with the results!

We sold our house last year.  It wasn't a good time to sell, many houses in our area had been for sale for 2 years or more & were still sitting there.  However, we priced ours reasonably, and made sure it was spotless & totally move in ready.  All the buyer had to do was bring their furniture.  Ours sold in just a few weeks, for just slightly under our asking price.  We ended up with money in our pocket.  So even in this bad market, it is possible to sell.  Good luck to you!

Cindy T  

We have been there too, we had been in our home over 20 yrs and owed very little on it but still took us 3 years in a tough North Florida market to get a sale.

We took a beating on the sale but again we looked at the big picture and the length of time for the market to recover and decided it is time to take our lumps, don't look back and move on.
Our biggest competitor was the forclosure's all around us driving prices down.

We too finally found a cash buyer and got the deal done.
There were homes around us of similar size that are currently listed for more than 30K less than we sold for last October.

Realtors are saying in the Tallahassee, Fla area, 2012 home sales will be more than 50% distressed property sales.

Hi, I'm probably a bit closer to you geographically, as our home was in Las Vegas, the foreclosure capital of the US. We now F/T, but spend several months a year here. I'll echo some of what the others told you.We sold our house in three weeks last June to a cash buyer,who also bought everything else for a price over the sale,down to the dishes and linens. Our house had been updated and very well maintained,and not to brag,but it was immaculate. The buyer (an out of town guy recently divorced) said he got tired of looking at homes poorly maintained,and dirty. We got 97% of the asking price. the key was to price it right,and to be sure it showed well. We were lucky, our realtor is a friend who had her own share of losses in the market, and advised us properly. There were untold numbers of foreclosures and short sales, but ours sold. Stay positive. In all saturated markets, the bottom feeders will come in and buy up the crap at bargain sale prices which tend to drive values down, but an end user with cash or a large enough down-pmt will see value and act  on it, provided it is priced fairly.

R.

Richard:


That's quite a Las Vegas Selling story! And we can totally believe it. Yes, the investors might have their fun with the short sales. but you and all the others have given us some hope. New realtor came over this afternoon, and we signed listing papers. Waiting for sign,MLS, and pics to be posted. Figured we'd go 6 mos listing and see what happens. Trying not to worry about a buyers appraiser, but mebbe cash or large down? Thanks again for your encouragement.

One thing I forgot to add is to make sure your realtor is listing the house on more than just the MLS system.  We specifically chose a realtor that was Internet savvy and could push our house hard there.  She told us that within 48 hours of listing the house we should be able to Google our address and see where it popped up.  She was right - after only 24 hours it was on at least 3 or 4 "For Sale" sites.  She had statistics that nowadays the very first place folks look for a house is on the Internet - and they do a Google or Yahoo search.

Hi Everyone:

Thought we'd give a quick update, and again thank you all for your encouragement & ideas!
After listing on Mon, we had an offer on Thurs. nite! A little less than asking price, but we're not complaining. Now to wait for the "dreaded" appraiser visit, due in 3 weeks. Still can't forget about the many,many shortsales nearby.
Had about 10 showings I believe. Some were rather unusual, but we'll save those for another time. Thanks again, and here's hoping................

Sounds like you listed the house at a fair price if you got that many showings.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that you make it through all of the hoops successfully.

Well everyone, had our closing Fri. May 18, and as of Mon. May 21, funding and recording is complete and we're out of the s&b and debt free! For the interim, we found a nice 55+ apt complex nearer our jobs, giving us a chance to catch our breathe and make further plans. DW & I would like wholeheartedly thank all of you for the selling tips and encouragement.
Closing the detached garage door for the last time and glancing at my 16' workbench was a bit disconcerting, but time for another gearhead to make it their own.
Thanks again folks!

Nice! Congrats!

Woo-hoo!! I love a happy story, thanks for the update... and cheers to the adventures ahead of you!

- Cherie

I am so glad for you. Like us, you are now free of worry about a house. Been a year now, I don't miss the house anymore. I'm glad you didn't listen to the first "Realtor" you spoke with.

R.

Wow!!! Congrats on the sale!!!