Will my house ever sale? How long did it take you to sell your home? (Forest City: for sale, real estate market) - North Carolina (NC) - City-Data Forum

eabanddjb · 12-28-2006, 06:41 AM

I live in Rutherfordton, NC. When we listed our home in October the realtor told me I should start packing because my home wouldn't last long on the market. Now 2-1/2 months later, we still haven't sold our home. In fact, only a handful of people have even looked at it. Is the marked that bad right now? I knew this was a bad time to sell a home but didn't realize it was this bad. Do you think it's like this everywhere in NC right now, or should I consider another realtor? Is 2-1/2 months not long enough to start being concerned?

My home is older, yet it's been remodeled and I have over an acre. We live in a great neighborhood outside of city limits. Since our home is listed at $109,000 the realtor seemed to think it would sell quickly because as she said "it's hard to find a home in this condition at this price."

Is the real estate market this bad in NC right now? Please let me know how long it took for you to sell your home in NC or if you have a home for sale now, how long has it been on the market.

Thanks so much

Need_affordable_home · 12-28-2006, 06:57 AM

I looked at houses in your city and theres nothing wrong with your price. Theres some cheaper ones but not by much. Did any of the lookers give reasons why they werent interested? Yes the market is bad almost everywhere. Maybe you can rent it out and make money and wait for the market to improve

eabanddjb · 12-28-2006, 07:07 AM

Hi, thanks for replying to my post

I didn't meet any of the people who have looked at my home. None gave any reason to the realtor why they weren't interested. One couple looked at the home twice and said they were coming back a third time, but haven't called since. I am assuming they found something they liked better.

My husband works in Cleveland County, which is why we want to move. It is taking him over an hour to get to work. He has to be at work by 7 am. Another reason is my Mother has crippling arthritis and has had several surgeries lately, and she also has a bone marrow disease. So we also want to move closer to her so I can help take care of her. I have to take her to her appointments and so forth. But we really can't afford to buy another home without selling ours first. That's why we didn't want to rent, we need the money from our home to help pay for another one.

I hope it sells soon. Thanks for your reply again, I really appreciate it.

Anyone else having the same problem I am?

Need_affordable_home · 12-28-2006, 07:27 AM

How expensive are homes in Cleveland County? How much can you rent yours out for and how much would it cost to rent one in Cleveland County? Maybe if the rents are the same price I see no problem

emanon · 12-28-2006, 07:33 AM

Accordong to the media, TV and newspaper, (they do know everything you know) this is now a buyers market and prospective buyers should be able to steal away houses from desperate sellers. Lots of sellers are buying into this and under pressure from some (not all) realtors, they are selling way to cheap out of desperation.
Most realtors (not all) will tell you if your house is priced right it will sell eventually. Not as quickly as most would like but it will sell.
A home in our neighborhood in NJ was on the market for nine months without an offer. Out of desperation, the owners who had relocated out of state lowered the price by 100K and a bidding war started by a couple of prospective buyers who were looking to steal the house.(In my non expert opinion the buyer saved at least 25K)

My advise if you absolutely don't have to move is hold your realistic price and wait it out.
I am sure some starving realtors are gonna tell you something else.

Good luck,

E

eabanddjb · 12-28-2006, 07:38 AM

Hi, again. We are trying to move to Forest City, not Cleveland County, as Cleveland County is much more expensive. Sorry, I didn't make it clear which city I wanted to move to in my other reply. My husband works in Cleveland County, but Forest City is less than 30 minutes from Cleveland County, which is still much better than the 1 hour drive my husband has because we live in Greenhill area, very close to Lake Lure. He works in Cleveland County but we don't want to move there, it's just so expensive and it's a little more fast pace for our taste. My parents live in Forest City, so that would be perfect for us.

We don't like the idea of renting our home because it's so hard to find a good renter, and we would still be responsible for taxes, homeowners insurance, and so forth if we were to rent our home out. My husband is totally against renting. We really don't want the responsibility of renting. We will just have to wait it out until someone buys our home.

Thanks again. Have a Great New Year!

Need_affordable_home · 12-28-2006, 07:46 AM

I also am against rent so I can understand. If you are in a hurry to sell, you could reduce the price to $99,999 this becomes a psychological price point that gets people excited because its no longer 6 figures.

I checked forest city and it appears to be even cheaper than Rutherfordton!
You are in luck because you can get a very nice house for under $100k, I saw a 5/2/2 that looked amazing! Youd be getting a bigger, nicer house than the one you have left! Dropping the price on your house will help it sell quick(I hope!) and youll just end up getting a bigger, nicer house in a better location anyway

eabanddjb · 12-28-2006, 07:53 AM

My husband and I have actually been considering just that. If it doesn't sell soon, we may have to drop the price.

Forest City is cheaper than the area I live in. Since we live close to Lake Lure, everything is a bit more expensive here. But from what everyone has told me my home is pretty inexpensive for the condition that it's in and the area we live in. With all those things considered I thought the home would have sold by now. But as you said before, the market is down so I guess that's why we haven't had much luck. If we don't sell soon we will have to consider lowering the price.

Need_affordable_home · 12-28-2006, 07:58 AM

Im sure you can get $109k for it, the question is when. Could be many months before it sells. The hour long commute each way does use up alot of gas. The market does suck, I see people dropping prices everywhere, even in my own city! I guess dropping it to $99,999 will have to do. It most likley will sell very fast once you drop to $99,999. Dont go any lower than that unless you want to pratically give it away.

If you drop to $99,999 and sell it fast, you can enjoy a nice big house in Forest city

How much are you looking to spend in that city? Theres some houses for around $50k, although they might need a little TLC

eabanddjb · 12-28-2006, 08:57 AM

emanon, I just noticed your post. It must have been posted while I was replying to another and I didn't even notice it until now. Thank you so much for your input. I think we will probably leave it at the price it's at for awhile. If we get anxious or find something we desperately think we need to buy, then we can lower the price on our home. At least we know it's an option. My realtor does keep saying it's a great price for our home. When we listed it we told them we would like to list it at a price that was reasonable, not overpriced and they came up with the figure. So hopefully when New Years is over people will get back to normal from the holidays and maybe it will sell then and we won't have to lower the price.

Thank you so much for your input, have a great New Year!