The Frustration is getting deeper! This home must sell! (Margate: mortgage, loan)

[JimKing]

Wow....you need some brutally honest advice. You are so far away from reality that it is sad.

You bought 4 years ago, at the height of the biggest bubble in real estate history. That $350,000 house you bought was more likely worth $200,000.

Then you made it worse by putting in $80,000 in upgrades. Upgrades are worth very little in a bubble because new houses have them anyway.

So you have $430,000 in a house worth maybe $250,000....and you listed it starting at $495,000....then fired the realtor for lack of effort?

People can rent houses for half of the monthly payments to buy your house. They can get some stuck builder to give them tremendous incentives on new houses. The buyers have tons and tons of options. Why would they want to grossly overpay for the house like you did?

I'm sorry to inform you that you have two choices....cut the price to under $300,000 and hope for a sucker or let the bank take it back. You are headed deeper and deeper into this bubble. Things will be way worse in a year and in 2 years. Take a big loss now or a huge loss later. This thing is going to get very ugly.

[ddlove01]

Sorry you had such rough luck...We have had no show open houses and we advertised like crazy! 10 signs in different areas of our town, newspaper, word of mouth, last week we had 1 person stop by during our weekend open. It's very discouraging...Hang in there!!

Just curious...what are other homes in your area selling for with the same credentials? Or how about what's on the market in your area (check local paper)? Try dropping your price 10-15K less than your competition. That's what we did.

What kind of upgrades did you add that weren't there when you bought it? 80K sounds like a lot of money...If it's a pool, you really can't consider that an upgrade, but more of an improvement. We are priced alongside with houses without pool. It's more like a bonus. A lot of people are not genuinely impressed with upgrades. Their style may not be your style, however, the wood floors, granite and cherry cabinets do sound nice...but buyers can always buy for cheaper and do that themselves later.

Good luck and chin up!

[ddlove01]

One more thing, 4 months isn't that long. I know it seems like an eternity, but I have some friends that lasted over a year. Your time will come!

[mcbadhair]

It will never sell at $449,000 for 2,000 sq ft. That is the price of 4,000 sq ft houses. You are 2 yrs to late when trying to flip the house. My parents sold there house 1800 sq ft and on 5 acres in 2000 in Orlando for $235,000. In2004 and 2005 later they were selling the same houses on 5 acres for $600,000 to $700,000. That is complete off balance, even nuts.

Sorry and good luck but miracles can happen

[BrowardResident]

Lisa~ A tip for you... This is what my friend did when selling her home. She put in a $ incentive for the realtor who "brought" the buyer. I can't remember the exact amount, I'm going to say between 3 and 5K. Anyway, she immediately had a lot of traffic coming through and sold the house within a few weeks. Just something to think about.

[Kingsnkali]

The problem with Florida real estate is the log jam in the upstream markets like the Northeast and East Coast. Real estate is slow and dropping there too. Your buyers would likely be retirees from those markets but they can't sell there home either...

Real estate may be local, but destination places like Florida, Arizona and California suffer when the markets that feed them are hurting too.

[SKB]

Originally Posted by lisalisa4444

As I sit here holding my own open house I have read many post's on people that have sold. Here is the deal. Almost 4 years ago we purchased our home in Sarasota Florida for 350K. We put about 80K in updates to the place, we never planned to sell. We listed the home with a realtor 4 months ago at 495K. We ended up firing him due to his lack of effort. We hired a well known agent who has done a great job. This agent has had the listing for two months. She has done everything and more that she said she would. While we have had a few showings we have not had the action we had hoped so ended up doing a second price reduction to 449K. All of the comments on the home have been great. Everyone seems to like it. One couple got a "better deal" and the other said they loved it but it was too small for them. The home is 2,000 sf. Its a 3/2. Wood floors, granite counters, cherry cabinets and the works. It is in a very desirable area of Sarasota, you can walk, jog or bike to the beach. It is a very private area tucked away.
My husband's buisness has currently been sold and we need to sell this house in order to move (Jupiter Fl).
I decided to hold my own open house just because I wanted to see for myself what the deal is. BUT I HAVENT EVEN HAD A BODY THROUGH THE DOOR! We really can't afford to reduce it again with everything we have into it.
I need advice, comments, anything!

Originally Posted by JimKing

Wow....you need some brutally honest advice. You are so far away from reality that it is sad.

You bought 4 years ago, at the height of the biggest bubble in real estate history. That $350,000 house you bought was more likely worth $200,000.

Then you made it worse by putting in $80,000 in upgrades. Upgrades are worth very little in a bubble because new houses have them anyway.

So you have $430,000 in a house worth maybe $250,000....and you listed it starting at $495,000....then fired the realtor for lack of effort?

People can rent houses for half of the monthly payments to buy your house. They can get some stuck builder to give them tremendous incentives on new houses. The buyers have tons and tons of options. Why would they want to grossly overpay for the house like you did?

I'm sorry to inform you that you have two choices....cut the price to under $300,000 and hope for a sucker or let the bank take it back. You are headed deeper and deeper into this bubble. Things will be way worse in a year and in 2 years. Take a big loss now or a huge loss later. This thing is going to get very ugly.

I am in agreement with Jim and the others that said you overpaid for your home.
The fact that your husband is a business owner makes things more difficult as his credit is important. If he wasn't a business owner and didn't rely on credit, I would say mail the keys back to the bank and walk away.

If you can afford to rent it out at a loss for years that may be the only solution for you to avoid ruining yours and your husband's credit for the next seven years.

I do empathize for you as you seem to be an innocent victim in a bubble that should never have happened.


This is another example of why the bubble was one big Ponzi scheme and the fallout of this is going to hurt many people deeply.

[Mike Peterson]

Please, whatever you do, talk to someoneone that knows the market in your area.
Do not rely on posters that are not even in your area telling you that your home is overpriced.
Check to see what similar homes within 1 mile of your have sold for in the last 6 months and set your price just below that average.

[WOWAddict]

Originally Posted by JimKing

Wow....you need some brutally honest advice. You are so far away from reality that it is sad.

You bought 4 years ago, at the height of the biggest bubble in real estate history. That $350,000 house you bought was more likely worth $200,000.

Then you made it worse by putting in $80,000 in upgrades. Upgrades are worth very little in a bubble because new houses have them anyway.

So you have $430,000 in a house worth maybe $250,000....and you listed it starting at $495,000....then fired the realtor for lack of effort?

People can rent houses for half of the monthly payments to buy your house. They can get some stuck builder to give them tremendous incentives on new houses. The buyers have tons and tons of options. Why would they want to grossly overpay for the house like you did?

Have to agree Jim on this one. You bought at the height of the market and it is going to be tough because prices are not going to go back to any level close to that any time soon. They will eventually but though a natural appreciation of the property 3-4 % a year. Eventually you will come to the point where you have to cut your losses but do not hold out thinking the market is going to turn around because it is not to that level.

Originally Posted by JimKing

Things will be way worse in a year and in 2 years. Take a big loss now or a huge loss later. This thing is going to get very ugly.

This I still have a tough time believing and not because I am optimistic. Really only 2 things have changed from when we were booming. 1) Hurricanes 2) perception.

Everything else Crime, Taxes, Heat, Traffic, blah, blah, blah were all here during the boom and people still purchased. So I refuse to believe any of those will keep people from buying. Hell even prices I doubt will keep people away if perception changes. Prices go up and down on perception not on reality, just look at California. $425,000 for 2/1 you have to be kidding me.

If we dont get get by a hurricane the next 2 seasons perception will change and the market will stabilize. That wont help people who bought at the height of the market but those of us who have our houses a long time or bought at the start of the boom will see relief.

[BrowardResident]

Originally Posted by WOWAddict

Prices go up and down on perception not on reality, just look at California. $425,000 for 2/1 you have to be kidding me.

I agree.

It isn't about how much a house is "worth", but how much someone is willing to pay for it.