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Should we sell or not?

April 4th, 2011 at 04:13 pm

Ack, what to do?? Ok, some back history. We tried selling our house for 2 years and had no offers. We took the house off the market for 6 months to take a break. We started asking for $349k and ended up our last listing price at $299k... Granted, we did start too high on the price for the market that we were in but settled on a price that is very fair -- but still no offers, so we pulled it off the market. Now that it is Spring, we are thinking about putting it on again.

Our past realtors were without a better term popping into my head right now, sucky. They just listed the house and didn't do much of anything else. We found another realtor that has come highly recommended... we met with him last week and he did a market analysis (CMA) on our house. If you've been following my blog, you know that we just installed granite in our kitchen... so, with that improvement, we really think we have an edge over the competition in our price range. DH and I thought we would stay at the $299k price as our listing price. After the CMA, the new realtor suggested listing it at $289k.... BUT in all honesty, the houses he compared to ours are nowhere near what ours has to offer. There just aren't too many sold houses he can compare ours to. So, he's comfortable in putting it on at $299k if that is what we still want to do. The bottom line that we are willing to sell for is $290k.

So, should we or shouldn't we try to sell the house again? DH and I just don't like it --- there is no other reason to sell. We both have stable jobs and we don't need to move anywhere. We've just HATEd our house since the day we moved in 5 years ago. If we end up at our bottom of $290k, we'd make zippo, and actually lose money really. We bought the house for $288k in 2006 (brand new) and put in $20k in improvements (granite and driveway/retaining wall work), so we've got $308k in the house. However, DH and I don't really consider the $20k we put into the house as additional cost for the house because those things were done to make the house more "liveable" for us. We wouldn't have to come to the table with any cash as our mortgage balance is low enough to where we will still have a bit of cash from the sale after the mortgage is paid.

So, what would you do? Would you go with the financially correct decision and just stay put? Or, would you do what would make you and the family happy and take a slight loss on the house?

5 Responses to “Should we sell or not?”

  1. MonkeyMama Says:
    1301931229

    Personally, I'd just sell the house. Real estate is not always a winning game and I wouldn't stay in a house just because I "lost money."

    Likewise, no matter how fair you feel the price is, if it isn't selling, it's priced too high. Plain and simple. I would take the advice and list it $289k. Listing on the high side is a losing game. Imagine if you just listed it for $299k 2 years ago. Would it have sold by now? Is it worth risking another 2 years on the market or just lowering the price a few thousand below your comfort level and getting it sold?

  2. LaramiK Says:
    1301934253

    I would go with the more financially sound decision and stay in the house until you can make back your investment. Moving stinks and life's ups and downs follow us where ever we live. Add to this the stress of knowing that you would be working against your goal of financial prosperity and I think selling sounds like a mistake.

    Good luck!

  3. Petunia 100 Says:
    1301940926

    What are your plans if the house sells? Will you move out of the area, stay in the same area, buy another house, rent a house?

    Why do you hate the house?

    I suggest you take a look at other listings in your area in the same price range. How does your home compare?

    I agree that if your home was on the market for 2 years, then it wasn't priced right. A home that is priced right will sell.

  4. creditcardfree Says:
    1301961702

    I'd take the realtor's advice. If it is priced right it will sell. Declutter and make it pristine, or if needed hire a interior designer to stage the home.

    There might be a few situations where I would sell at a loss...very bad neighbors would probably be high on my list. It really depends on the situation and my other options for housing.

  5. Jerry Says:
    1302294690

    The most important thing, assuming financial stability, is that you find a place that you are happy. If you don't like the house, and you don't have to stay in it because money problems lead to that necessity, then yeah, I'd move. It's always nice to have some insurance that you like the place that you live.
    (But, one question... why did you buy the place if you hated it?)
    Jerry

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