Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-01-2007, 07:37 PM   #21
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
lazygood4nothinbum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,895
i agree with not worrying about days on market today. in our market there will be very few houses that will not be listed at least a year. can't find it now but i recently read somewhere that 400 to 450 days is the new average.

those of us trying to sell in florida are hoping against odds that the electorate will vote for portability of our "save our homes" values whereby a seller of one house can bring their homesteaded tax savings to their new purchase. chances are not great because state constitutional amendments here require at least a 60% majority vote. if it passes the legislature could enact by november 2008 and i believe the transference will have a two-year window from the sale of the original homestead.

this would at least free up current residents from feeling trapped in their existing houses and add them to the buyer pool. also we are hoping that while the value of properties and the dollar decrease that overseas investing will look better here as florida has always been a good magnet for that.

it is a shame that our elected officials did not make better provision for 2nd home buyers and owners of commercial properties and especially a shame that our so-called representatives are so comfortable in the pockets of the insurance companies because taxes and insurance continue to drag housing prices.
__________________
"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin

"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
lazygood4nothinbum is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 12-02-2007, 11:18 AM   #22
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
lazygood4nothinbum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,895
correction: seems there is some protection for 2nd home owners & commercial properties...

Property tax portability rewards longtime residents -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Quote:
and cap taxes for businesses and second-home owners.
which i now recall but i'm not sure i recall the cap as being significant.

portability sure would be good to me. i could sell here, buy myself a 2/2 condo, pay zero taxes and get a cute but quiet roommate to cover maintenance & insurance, bringing my housing costs here down to about nothing. guess it could just be a place to park some cash, the car, to park some future homesteaded value if i ever want it and then take off for thailand. sweet.
__________________
"off with their heads"~~dr. joseph-ignace guillotin

"life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages."~~mark twain - letter to edward kimmitt 1901
lazygood4nothinbum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-03-2007, 03:57 AM   #23
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 5,072
Quote:
Originally Posted by cj View Post
We are ready to drop the price, not afraid to do that. Should we drop it now, or wait until after the New Year? Or both? Financially we are not desperate or anything, and we can afford to let it ride for a while, but for convenience, we'd just like to move it. We just don't know if dropping the price now would do much good, since we assume that there are not a lot of lookers with the holidays coming up.
...
I am not an expert. But I think there may be a bit more at work than just the housing market. There is some fear of recession. People tend to tighten the belt when uncertainty hits. I also agree with the comment about the time of year... Winter is probably a bad time of year to try to sell.

Hopefully you are close by the old homestead so you can keep an eye on it.
chinaco is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-03-2007, 11:18 PM   #24
Moderator Emeritus
SteveR's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,811
Winter house markets tend to be smaller both from the seller and buyer perspective. Those buyers tend to be less "lookie lookies" since they are cash poor this time of year and have better things to do than trot from house to house with a realtor. There tends to be fewer houses on the market because prospective sellers are waiting for Spring...along with many many other prospective sellers which then jacks up the Spring inventory of homes and deflates values due to excess inventory.

Winter buyers tend to be more serious about looking and buying. Many are transferees rather than the usual "trade up" buyer. Most relocation packages force a home sale in 90 days so the buyer is in a hurry to get a new house in the new location.

So, I believe Winter to be a good time to market a home...less competition and buyers willing to buy. The downside is January which tends to be a very slow month.

We are getting our house ready for sale and plan to put it on the market in February. We want to get past the January lag period and get an early start on the Spring buyers. Our house tends to show better in Spring due to the yard features so waiting for the February thaw seems prudent to us. Besides, it gives us more time to declutter the place.

We sold our cabin this past April after having it listed all winter. We had folks going through it despite several feet of snow and near zero temperatures. We had little competition and I believe that helped sell it..for full asking price. It was a 2/2 on 5 acres in the mountains. Cedar exterior and metal roof.

All it takes is one buyer...you just have to find them.
__________________
Work? I don't have time to work....I'm retired.
SteveR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-05-2007, 02:29 PM   #25
Full time employment: Posting here.
TargaDave's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 588
After 13 years in one spot we're putting our place on the market around Feb as well (one year ahead of the plan). Guess our FIRE related move just didn't quite coinside with the RE market cycle but I suppose it all sort of balances out in the end. Be interesting to see how everyone makes out though. Good luck cj

Looking forward to training a 9 and 17 yr old in keeping their rooms (and bathroom) showable for more than 2 hours at a time
TargaDave is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-06-2007, 06:35 AM   #26
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,322
Several of my neighbors in Northern Virginia are hoping to put their homes on the market in the next year. They've held back waiting for housing to pick up, and I think this is indicative of the pressure building up with sellers waiting to sell and buyers waiting to buy. There may be a flurry of sales when the majority of buyers and sellers decide the bottom has arrived and mortgages ease up a bit. I expect a flurry of sales at pretty low prices, then a bounce back though not at the bubble prices we'd seen.
FinallyRetired is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-06-2007, 11:54 AM   #27
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 197
Bad time of year for selling, but when we sold our house a couple of years ago (beginning of the downturn) our realtor told us that the people out there looking for houses were usually the serious buyers. Middle of winter on the East Coast isn't the greatest time of year to sell, though. If you hope to get interested buyers in the spring it might be better to take it off the market for now and relist it at a slightly lower price then. That might be better than dropping the price now.

Are you doing all the good stuff with having the home staged and making sure it looks squeaky clean the photos? Is it listed on Realtor.com along with photos too?
Cantuar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-06-2007, 01:54 PM   #28
Full time employment: Posting here.
cj's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 517
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cantuar View Post

Are you doing all the good stuff with having the home staged and making sure it looks squeaky clean the photos? Is it listed on Realtor.com along with photos too?
Yes to all of those things.
cj is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-06-2007, 03:06 PM   #29
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 197
Well, then, if it's competitively priced it should sell, especially when things pick up in the spring. The market in the DC-Baltimore area isn't great at the moment - our long-term realtor is seriously talking about retiring - but it's better than in some places.

Good luck!
Cantuar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-06-2007, 04:00 PM   #30
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 944
The property that I had in San Diego sold this summer, it was on the market for 8 + months. I lowered the price 2X, the 2nd cut was a biggie. I was afraid that fire season would slow/stop sales activity and lower prices further - also, I factored in having that money invested (most in MM/CDs) as opposed to waiting for my price to be met. It will take less than 9 months to break even with interest income and not paying taxes. Let alone all the upkeep and hassle.

I got lucky with this stragegy, the fires were brutal early this year and sales have slowed considerbly and prices are being cut.

You gotta look at the big picture - sure it would be nice to get your asking price - but having close to the asking price invested and working for you is VERY nice.
__________________
Freed at 49. You only live once - live it
Donzo is offline   Reply With Quote
Log Home On Four Acres
Old 12-07-2007, 07:44 PM   #31
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 322
Log Home On Four Acres

Two things. You need lots of pictures. Good pictures, of your house. If you can't take them hire someone who can. Use a website like Craigslist. Don't just leave it to the realtor. Also, pump up the "Log Home on four acres" description.

I got no response on a house I own until I changed the description to "1940's Garden Home". Phone suddenly started to ring. Some people like period homes.

Second thing. Instead of cutting the price, tell your realtor that you will pay them 8 percent instead of 6 percent if they can sell it in three months.

Guess which house will move to the top of her attention right quick.

boont
boont is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-07-2007, 08:35 PM   #32
Dryer sheet wannabe
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by boont View Post
Two things. You need lots of pictures. Good pictures, of your house. If you can't take them hire someone who can. Use a website like Craigslist. Don't just leave it to the realtor. Also, pump up the "Log Home on four acres" description.

I got no response on a house I own until I changed the description to "1940's Garden Home". Phone suddenly started to ring. Some people like period homes.

Second thing. Instead of cutting the price, tell your realtor that you will pay them 8 percent instead of 6 percent if they can sell it in three months.

Guess which house will move to the top of her attention right quick.

boont
I offered an incentive to my realtor when I sold my last home...it definitely WORKS!
Also I've been watching 'Designed to Sell' on HGTV....there are really great ideas that anyone trying to sell their home can use.
Number one thing is to De-clutter! No one wants to see personal things of the owners all over the place and full closets!
Someone looking at homes will look favorably on yours if you follow some of the advice on this show. It only takes ONE BUYER out there...and if your house shows the best of all the others in your market.. which one would they pick?

Good Luck!
Babeebloos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-08-2007, 10:38 PM   #33
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Willamette Valley, Oregon
Posts: 1,979
Don't know about your area, but around here there are "professional stagers" who will declutter, arrange, stage your home for viewing by potentail buyers. Article I read about them it sounded like it was afforable service, and several realtors sang their praises as to effectiveness. You might look/ask around if there are such folks in your area, especially if you don't have time or inclination to DIY the staging.
__________________
Dreams Worth Dreaming are Dreams Worth Planning For. I Spent a Career Planning for Early Retirement.
RetireeRobert is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2007, 12:47 PM   #34
Full time employment: Posting here.
cj's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 517
Thanks to everyone for all of your input!

Craigslist - check
Lots of pictures - check
Emphasis on the log home/4 acres - check
Declutter - check

The thing about decluttering is that it doesn't matter much if no one steps foot in the place! Since we have already bought a new place, we've moved all the junk out, so it's extremely neat and well kept. We are neat freaks, actually. When the realtors came through on the preview tour, all they could say was that it was beautiful, and no one made any critical remarks or suggestions. Anyway, we are just relaxing until after Christmas. Then we will probably look into doing the realtor bonus thing.

CJ
cj is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-11-2007, 05:22 PM   #35
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 97
I'm from the general area where the house is located. I certainly don't know of the house's details, but the price sounds reasonable for what other houses are being listed and sold for (especially when you take into account the land).

On a side note. In the general area, median home prices increased ~107% (i.e., a bit more than doubled) in the five year period between 2000 and 2005. In that time, median household income rose by ~21%. In 2000, the median home price was 2.31 times the median household income. In 2005, this increased to 4.1. Medians clearly don't show the full picture. I'm not sure how this compares with the past.
starter82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2007, 07:55 AM   #36
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
kcowan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Pacific latitude 20/49
Posts: 7,677
Send a message via Skype™ to kcowan
Quote:
Originally Posted by starter82 View Post
In 2000, the median home price was 2.31 times the median household income. In 2005, this increased to 4.1. Medians clearly don't show the full picture. I'm not sure how this compares with the past.
Now that the buying fervour is over, it will mean regression to the mean. It might take 7 years but it will happen.
__________________
For the fun of it...Keith
kcowan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2007, 12:43 PM   #37
Full time employment: Posting here.
beowulf's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 798
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cantuar View Post
Well, then, if it's competitively priced it should sell, especially when things pick up in the spring. The market in the DC-Baltimore area isn't great at the moment - our long-term realtor is seriously talking about retiring - but it's better than in some places.
Same in the DC-VA area. There have been houses in my development on the market since early Spring. One even had a Sold sign up for a while, but it must have fallen through as it's still for sale. I am hoping we recover before the area we want to retire in does. Yes, that's greedy, but life is that way.

There are a lot of blue light specials where we are looking in Phoenix. We were looking at 2600 sq ft houses with lots of amenities for about $490K. The latest listing we recived had a 3600 sq ft house with free amenities for $450K. I guess the builders have to keep building or they go out of business. Would love to buy, but it will go down in price even more and we can't float 2 mortgages.
beowulf is offline   Reply With Quote
"Regression to the mean"
Old 12-12-2007, 04:02 PM   #38
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 322
"Regression to the mean"

"Now that the buying fervor is over, it will mean regression to the mean" kcowan

I hear a lot about this regression to the mean when people talk about real estate. However, if you mention that the stock market is way too high and must inevitably suffer a "regression to the mean" a whole forest of people will come forward and say they ride out all drops and buy more stocks at every opportunity.

That is not only inconsistent it doesn't make any sense either.

boont
boont is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2007, 05:48 PM   #39
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 97
Quote:
Originally Posted by boont View Post
"Now that the buying fervor is over, it will mean regression to the mean" kcowan

I hear a lot about this regression to the mean when people talk about real estate. However, if you mention that the stock market is way too high and must inevitably suffer a "regression to the mean" a whole forest of people will come forward and say they ride out all drops and buy more stocks at every opportunity.

That is not only inconsistent it doesn't make any sense either.

boont
I'm not sure I follow. Are you saying that it's inconsistent between the two markets (real estate and stock) or are you saying that the strategy is inconsistent?
starter82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-13-2007, 07:26 AM   #40
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
tryan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,594
There will always be more people "riding out" a volitile RE market .... people have to live SOMEWHERE. Also explains why stocks are much more risky (RE poor liquidity).
__________________
FIRE'd since 2005
tryan is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
CA Real Estate Speculators REWahoo FIRE and Money 12 09-28-2008 02:36 PM
Real Estate Agent in Down Real Estate Market TromboneAl Other topics 4 06-09-2007 10:20 AM
Real Estate mangodance FIRE and Money 12 06-27-2005 08:36 AM
Real Estate Windfall Cut-Throat FIRE and Money 3 02-23-2005 03:51 PM
real estate vs. stocks Joe T FIRE and Money 26 02-06-2005 05:40 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:55 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.