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Retired, moving to North Carolina, real estate agents, housing market saturated, home prices Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte area, home values dropping, sell house or just complain about it
First, I wish both yourself and the Parkies (Jan) the best of luck with selling your homes. Over the months you have consistently said that you will not sell your house for less than it's worth, you are busy crunching numbers and spreadsheets, etc. I'm afraid that you are not seeing the forest for the trees!
You yourself are acknowledging that the inventory is way up and sales are way down, supply and demand.....too much supply with low to no demand = what?? (lower prices, period).
Points to ponder:
1. Paulson, Bernanke, CEO's of Toll bros, Lennar, Pulte homes, are saying that housing is going to continue to go down.
2. Banks are losing BILLIONS of dollars every month, Countrywide is getting bought by BofA for 41 cents on the dollar.
3. Lack of willing buyers, investors are out of real estate for now and only looking for discounts, btw that 75 cents on the dollar deal you got was a good one, should have taken it is what I say (no you didn't ask for my opinion
4. Deals are falling through due to willing buyers unable to obtain financing due to banks tightening standards for loans due to losses incurred.
5. Psychology, when people "know" prices are going up they jump at the chance to buy before they are "priced out of the market" When prices are going down, people tend to become afraid of catching a falling knife and wait and wait and wait to buy.
6. Greed, fear and rigidity of sellers who are "not going to give the house away" or "I'll hold for MY PRICE" or "My home is special (view, location, et al)"
7. Pent up SUPPLY, NOT DEMAND in housing, what I mean is, how many boomers do you know that have their house since 1968 or 1976, etc and have the bulk of their retirement plans tied into their perceived valuation of their home? There are some 78 million boomers who are going to retire with the same plan, SELL my big ol house in "xyz" state and move to a smaller home, cheaper locale and pay cash for another home and live on the left over cash. MILLIONS of unwanted, excess homes are already on the market, with MILLIONS more to come on the market soon. Looks like falling prices to me, no??
Finally, I do wish you the best and from our previous conversations, I realize you will do what you think is best, good luck but a buyer at 75 cents on the dollar now is better than a buyer at 50 cents on the dollar later.
Tony
P.S. Asheville prices are falling and will continue to do so. Homes are selling but the pool of buyers is shrinking due to the "can't sell my home in another state" syndrome.
Will a moderator please check out the direct message I just received from a realtor (not one on this forum) indirectly soliciting my business? Will the person who sent that direct message please understand that this is not an appropriate forum for solicitation of any kind.
I moved here in 2004 from the Atlanta area. It took 14 months for my Atlanta home to sell. I paid two mortgages up here for WAY too long. It was tough (I am no high roller), but somehow, I got over the hump, and I sold the Atlanta house. I love it here and I am so thankful that things have worked out for me to get here (and stay here).
Thank you, jbird22, for your kind words and encouragement. The biggest lesson we learned from 2007 is that sometimes we don't get what we want when we want it. It may be that "If we can't have what we want, we will have to learn to want what we have"--at least temporarily. On the other hand, if your difficult experience had a happy ending, so can ours and Father John's and... well... everyone's, really--if we just hang in there with faith, keep hope alive, and keep the sleeves rolled up to fight the good fight in this tough marketplace! We will never give up!!!
Points to ponder:
.... Greed, fear and rigidity of sellers who are "not going to give the house away" or "I'll hold for MY PRICE" or "My home is special (view, location, et al)"
Like in skydiving, when your main chute fails, one has to, without the slightest thought, manually pull the reserve parachute or, if inattentive or incapacitated, rely on the safety backup Automatic Opening Device to deploy the reserve chute at the lowest possible safe altitude before it can get real ugly real fast. Obviously, Nobody wants to ride it into the ground. Or so you think....
I learned my lesson in the stockmarket bubble of 1999-2000 when I 'rode' a significant position in EMC up from $3 to $124 then back down to $20, thinking all along during the downward spiral that... the bottom is right around the corner, it will go back up, just a slight correction, etc. It kept falling and falling and I somehow convinced myself that bailing out now wasn't an option; I was a 'long term investor' and in it in the long run. Afterall, as long as the decline doesn't get close to my basis ($3), then I was still coming out ahead. Still making money.
Yeah right. I had no backup plan even though I advised others to always have contingency plans.
Found out later that psychologists said this attitude was pretty common. My my decision to ride out the stock market train wreck was based on greed and arrogance transforming into personal embarassment and denial and finally ending in failure because I was paralyzed by indecision.
Vowed never to let that happen again....and vowed to never let raw emotions drive my decisions. And it keeps your stress level to a minimum.
The problem with the suggestion to take 75 cents on the dollar is that one might assume we have to sell. We do not. If the market continues to fall, we ride it out. If it takes 10 years to get right, we have that luxury. Will it make us happy? Of course not. But will we be alright? Absolutely.
We are in the perfect position. WE are in control - watching, waiting, and wishing. Some day my wish upon a star will come true. If it is soon, I will be overjoyed. If it is later, I still have a nice home, the best wife in the world, a great church, wonderful sons near by, and enough happiness to off-set my impatience.
I appreciate all the kind words and suggestions. I will continue to push towards my goals, but I will not act in haste nor will I jump before triple checking my parachute. By staying vigilant, I will be ready when the door opens...
Will someone please tell me how to send a direct message to the moderator?
Jan, click on the little red triangle in the right hand corner of a post to report something to the mods (it is right next to where you click to give someone some reputation).
Jan, click on the little red triangle in the right hand corner of a post to report something to the mods (it is right next to where you click to give someone some reputation).
Thank you, jbird22, for your kind words and encouragement. The biggest lesson we learned from 2007 is that sometimes we don't get what we want when we want it. It may be that "If we can't have what we want, we will have to learn to want what we have"--at least temporarily. On the other hand, if your difficult experience had a happy ending, so can ours and Father John's and... well... everyone's, really--if we just hang in there with faith, keep hope alive, and keep the sleeves rolled up to fight the good fight in this tough marketplace! We will never give up!!!
As has been said (was it by Henry Ford?):
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't - either way, you are probably right.
A lot of making things happen is having faith, swallowing hard and sticking to your guns. I wish you and Fr. John all the best.
Yes, jbird - it was Henry Ford. Good line, too. Stick-to-it-iveness is a rare but valuable commodity! I shall be nothing if not persistent! I have 4 realtors looking for me. The one who does the best job gets hired.
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