Westernskies
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- May 5, 2008
- Messages
- 3,864
Unbelievable, and a little weird… (Long post, no rant .)
We put our current house on the market the first of August, in anticipation of moving into the “investment mcmansion” in October or November. Priced it just over the top end of what the comps would support- $359K (~5% higher than highest 2009 sales price for the same floor plan in the neighborhood.) To really make it shine, we spent that 5% getting it ready for sale- new paint in/out, granite, stainless appliances, etc…) We priced it high, wanted to test the market, and weren’t really in a hurry to sell it- and could always lower the price later.
The day we put it on the market, the same house 4 doors down went into foreclosure, was snapped up by an investor for $240K. He spruced it up (countertops, carpet and interior paint-probably spent about $10K) and put it back on the market for $309K… which killed our comps. We got a lot of lookers, lots of positive feedback, but everyone felt the price was too high. The other house is in escrow, we heard it went for $300K
Then out of nowhere, we received an offer on Friday for 329K, all cash, no mortgage, from an out-of-town buyer. They apparently had toured it twice (their Realtor hadn’t left a card), , said it appeared to have been meticulously maintained and updated and absolutely loved the way it was furnished… which is where this gets interesting… they wanted everything -appliances, furniture, rugs, pictures, accessories, knick-knacks…even the bedding. They thought DW must be an interior designer, and wanted the entire package. They also requested a quick closing- in two weeks or less.
We countered, accepting their cash price ( anyone getting a mortgage wouldn’t be able to get an appraisal much over 300K anyway) and told them we might throw in a few furnishings but that we were not going to sell it completely furnished at that price ( I naively suggested we let them have it all, so I wouldn’t have to move any of it, but got “the look” from DW…) .
We negotiated for a couple of days and ended up throwing in the living room furniture , dining room set, a 6-year old TV, 10-year old W/D, a 12-year old garage refrigerator and a list of ~25 specific décor items (i.e. “ the blue vase on the entertainment center, the rug in the entry hall”) We had to photograph every wall in the house before we started moving anything out so they could re-create the exact look after we were gone… Final points were- they wanted our bedding… because it matched the wall colors so well - and wanted to know where we purchased our bedroom furniture so they could buy the exact same set- and put it right back into the indentations in the carpet…
At that point it crossed the line from somewhat amusing to kinda creepy- who wants to sleep on someone else’s used bedding- especially after we celebrated the sale? To me, it would always feel like you were a guest in someone else’s home if you had to look at all their stuff everyday.…
One neighbor joked that if the new owner shaved his head and grew a white goatee it would really be just like we had never left…
Closing is scheduled for two weeks from today. Their have sold their home in the Midwest- it is in escrow- the sale closing next week is the only contingency.
We are out shopping for new furniture, helping to spend our way out of this recession...
We put our current house on the market the first of August, in anticipation of moving into the “investment mcmansion” in October or November. Priced it just over the top end of what the comps would support- $359K (~5% higher than highest 2009 sales price for the same floor plan in the neighborhood.) To really make it shine, we spent that 5% getting it ready for sale- new paint in/out, granite, stainless appliances, etc…) We priced it high, wanted to test the market, and weren’t really in a hurry to sell it- and could always lower the price later.
The day we put it on the market, the same house 4 doors down went into foreclosure, was snapped up by an investor for $240K. He spruced it up (countertops, carpet and interior paint-probably spent about $10K) and put it back on the market for $309K… which killed our comps. We got a lot of lookers, lots of positive feedback, but everyone felt the price was too high. The other house is in escrow, we heard it went for $300K
Then out of nowhere, we received an offer on Friday for 329K, all cash, no mortgage, from an out-of-town buyer. They apparently had toured it twice (their Realtor hadn’t left a card), , said it appeared to have been meticulously maintained and updated and absolutely loved the way it was furnished… which is where this gets interesting… they wanted everything -appliances, furniture, rugs, pictures, accessories, knick-knacks…even the bedding. They thought DW must be an interior designer, and wanted the entire package. They also requested a quick closing- in two weeks or less.
We countered, accepting their cash price ( anyone getting a mortgage wouldn’t be able to get an appraisal much over 300K anyway) and told them we might throw in a few furnishings but that we were not going to sell it completely furnished at that price ( I naively suggested we let them have it all, so I wouldn’t have to move any of it, but got “the look” from DW…) .
We negotiated for a couple of days and ended up throwing in the living room furniture , dining room set, a 6-year old TV, 10-year old W/D, a 12-year old garage refrigerator and a list of ~25 specific décor items (i.e. “ the blue vase on the entertainment center, the rug in the entry hall”) We had to photograph every wall in the house before we started moving anything out so they could re-create the exact look after we were gone… Final points were- they wanted our bedding… because it matched the wall colors so well - and wanted to know where we purchased our bedroom furniture so they could buy the exact same set- and put it right back into the indentations in the carpet…
At that point it crossed the line from somewhat amusing to kinda creepy- who wants to sleep on someone else’s used bedding- especially after we celebrated the sale? To me, it would always feel like you were a guest in someone else’s home if you had to look at all their stuff everyday.…
One neighbor joked that if the new owner shaved his head and grew a white goatee it would really be just like we had never left…
Closing is scheduled for two weeks from today. Their have sold their home in the Midwest- it is in escrow- the sale closing next week is the only contingency.
We are out shopping for new furniture, helping to spend our way out of this recession...