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I wonder if anyone else here has experienced huge differences in the speed in which their own house has sold, assuming the asking price is not far off the "market" value.
My slowest was one year. Owned the house for five years and "asked" about what I paid for it. Then bought another home and moved. Took a year to sell the old home, for pretty much what I was asking. Slow market.
My fastest was a few hours, from the time my agent planted the sign in my front yard to having a ratified contract. And she did not do anything other than plant the sign. Friend of my mine from church stopped by, saw the sign, made a full-price offer, and we were ratified about an hour later. Fast market. My friend flipped it a few months later for $150k profit. I didn't mind, as he paid me three times what I had paid for it.
Sometimes it is just the overall market ( economy ), and sometimes it is just having the right or wrong property for that particular market or zip code. Recently I sold my home for more than twice what I paid, took a week. In the same timeframe, my former wife's home has been on the market for six months with no nibbles. And her house is more reasonably priced than mine was, but more expensive and in a different zip code.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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When we sold our first house it took 3 offers accepted but the first two failed. Another factor is unpermitted work. Some people have no problem with it, but most don't. The problem for us was that when the buyer is borderline qualified and the lender requires them to have PMI, the insurer will look for red flags. That house had the garage converted to a room without permits, and we could have easily changed it back but the buyers wanted it that way, so deal off. The next was a buyer that couldn't get the loan. In all it was still only about 3 months.
Our second house took 7 months to sell. That was during a small recession in California (early 1990s) and home prices were dropping like flies. We initially had it on the market for $270,000 and ended up selling it for just $190,000.
When we bough this current house, it was not for sale, our realtor knocked on the door, we signed papers 2 days later and moved in about a month after that.
When we sold our first house it took 3 offers accepted but the first two failed. Another factor is unpermitted work. Some people have no problem with it, but most don't. The problem for us was that when the buyer is borderline qualified and the lender requires them to have PMI, the insurer will look for red flags. That house had the garage converted to a room without permits, and we could have easily changed it back but the buyers wanted it that way, so deal off. The next was a buyer that couldn't get the loan. In all it was still only about 3 months.
Our second house took 7 months to sell. That was during a small recession in California (early 1990s) and home prices were dropping like flies. We initially had it on the market for $270,000 and ended up selling it for just $190,000.
When we bough this current house, it was not for sale, our realtor knocked on the door, we signed papers 2 days later and moved in about a month after that.
Thanks for sharing that. I have had similar problems with past houses. I have lost money on a few, broken even a couple of times, and made huge profits twice. Those two more than made up for the losses.
For most of my life I had the comfort of owning my own home, seven of them over many years ( 1969-2023 ), and now I have the "special" comfort of renting something nice but modest, having a ton of money in the bank, and not having to worry any more about real estate. Except helping my kids as needed as they deal with these issues.
Worst case for me as a seller was my dad converted the large carport into a two bedroom apartment, without permits. When it came time to sell, we had to pay someone to re-do the whole thing, with permits.
Worst case for me as a buyer was having a contract to buy and then discovering substantial undisclosed mold and water damage. It was a great property at a fair price, and the seller offered to pay for remediation, but I walked away.
The quickest sale of one of my houses was 20 minutes after the listing went live. Actually, quicker than that. The first person who came to see it decided to buy it as they walked through the door, but they completed the walk through before offering more than asking price. The asking price was appropriate according to comps, but the local market was blazing hot and there was little available. She was afraid she'd end up in a bidding war or lose it. There were two other showings scheduled after hers. One postponed to watch the Super Bowl. Too late!
The longest time one of my houses stayed on the market was 16 months. The house itself was priced well and in better condition than the comps. It was in a tiny, remote location with hardly anyone moving in or out most years. Few if any buyers. Someone in the neighborhood finally bought it instead of pouring more money into the decaying heap they already owned. They paid full price.
Last edited by Parnassia; 02-06-2024 at 04:52 PM..
The quickest sale of one of my houses was 20 minutes after the listing went live. Actually, quicker than that. The first person who came to see it decided to buy it when they walked through the door, but they completed the walk through before offering more than asking price. The asking price was appropriate according to comps, but the local market was blazing hot and there was little available. She was afraid she'd end up in a bidding war or lose it. There were two other showings scheduled after hers. Too late!
The longest time one of my houses stayed on the market was 16 months. The house itself was priced well and in better condition than the comps. It was in a tiny, remote location with hardly anyone moving in or out most years. Few if any buyers. Someone in the neighborhood finally bought it instead of pouring more money into the decaying heap they already owned. They paid full price.
Great stories !
I was so surprised to sell my last home so quickly and for so much. It was in a rural community with a long-declining and aging population and no one else there who could afford it. Figured it would take a while. Then a buyer showed up from another state and it was just what they wanted. So I got lucky. And so did my listing agent.
Put it on the market via a fixed-fee listing in March of 2020 at the beginning of the COVID lockdowns. Amazing we were able to sell it, much less close.
It had been professionally cleaned, prepped, and photographed. We priced it competitively, using comps from the immediate area. Ask was $285k. It listed on MLS late Friday.
By the end of the day Saturday, we had three offers:
1.) Institutional investor looking for a rental property - $260k, cash, guaranteed close by a fixed date with financial penalties for the buyer if they missed the date, no exceptions.
2.) Private individual, offered $270k and wanted us to cover their closing costs. Nope!
3.) Private individual, VA loan, prequalified and ready to go offering list price. They also sweetened the deal with an additional spiff if the property appraised at or above the ask of $15k, bringing the potential selling price to an even $300k. It did, and we got the additional $15k. Nice!
Even better because the fixed fee listing agent told us it was worth $260k without ever looking at the pictures, and he challenged our ask. This is a great example of when doing your own due diligence works in your favor. We stuck to our ask and he backed down. Just think of the money we would have left on the table if we had listened to him!
Gave #3 a verbal acceptance on Sunday morning, and signed the offer acceptance before the end of the day Sunday. Closed 22 days later in a conference room at my work so we could all maintain appropriate distance as well as use our own writing instruments.
Sort of ironically, the buyer ended up renting the property, from what I can tell. I know the buyer does not live there, so maybe they bought it for a family member? Doesn't matter to me now, it's no longer my property.
Put it on the market via a fixed-fee listing in March of 2020 at the beginning of the COVID lockdowns. Amazing we were able to sell it, much less close.
It had been professionally cleaned, prepped, and photographed. We priced it competitively, using comps from the immediate area. Ask was $285k. It listed on MLS late Friday.
By the end of the day Saturday, we had three offers:
1.) Institutional investor looking for a rental property - $260k, cash, guaranteed close by a fixed date with financial penalties for the buyer if they missed the date, no exceptions.
2.) Private individual, offered $270k and wanted us to cover their closing costs. Nope!
3.) Private individual, VA loan, prequalified and ready to go offering list price. They also sweetened the deal with an additional spiff if the property appraised at or above the ask of $15k, bringing the potential selling price to an even $300k. It did, and we got the additional $15k. Nice!
Even better because the fixed fee listing agent told us it was worth $260k without ever looking at the pictures, and he challenged our ask. This is a great example of when doing your own due diligence works in your favor. We stuck to our ask and he backed down. Just think of the money we would have left on the table if we had listened to him!
Gave #3 a verbal acceptance on Sunday morning, and signed the offer acceptance before the end of the day Sunday. Closed 22 days later in a conference room at my work so we could all maintain appropriate distance as well as use our own writing instruments.
Sort of ironically, the buyer ended up renting the property, from what I can tell. I know the buyer does not live there, so maybe they bought it for a family member? Doesn't matter to me now, it's no longer my property.
RM
Nice to have multiple offers, and nice to be smart enough to see which one is best for you !
Our second house took 7 months to sell. That was during a small recession in California (early 1990s) and home prices were dropping like flies. We initially had it on the market for $270,000 and ended up selling it for just $190,000.
I've never sold a house (the only one we've bought, we're still living in) but this reminds me of when my parents sold our family house, also in California. It was 1997 and the house was almost 3600 square feet, in a quiet Orange County suburb.
The realtor listed the house at $500,000. I recall seeing that and being shocked. Ridiculous! WHO on earth would spend a half million dollars on a house?? No one, that's who. It was clearly way overpriced!
And it was. It sat on the market for 6 months with no interest. At that point the realtor had a discussion with my parents, who really needed to sell, and dropped the price all the way down to $360,000. Several weeks later they finally got one offer: $350,000, which they accepted. So, it took 7 months but the house was finally sold.
I've never sold a house (the only one we've bought, we're still living in) but this reminds me of when my parents sold our family house, also in California. It was 1997 and the house was almost 3600 square feet, in a quiet Orange County suburb.
The realtor listed the house at $500,000. I recall seeing that and being shocked. Ridiculous! WHO on earth would spend a half million dollars on a house?? No one, that's who. It was clearly way overpriced!
And it was. It sat on the market for 6 months with no interest. At that point the realtor had a discussion with my parents, who really needed to sell, and dropped the price all the way down to $360,000. Several weeks later they finally got one offer: $350,000, which they accepted. So, it took 7 months but the house was finally sold.
It's now valued around $1.3 million.
Nice ! I wouldn't want to have to pay taxes on that profit ( Less the $250,000 capital gains exclusion and total of improvements/selling costs ).
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