Looking for input re: Is this a fair price or ridiculous?

[rk911]

if everything left in the house has gotta go no matter what then suggest you do as we did with MIL's house...1-800-GOTJUNK. 2 guys, 1 truck, we pointed, they took. the boss told us that most of what they take is given/sold to other outfits for re-sale or recycled. only a small portion is junked. true or not the house was empty. 3-bedroom ranch formerly occupued by a horder!. bill was about $400 +/-.

then hire out a local landscaper to rehab the lawn, a couple of college kids on craig's list to paint, etc. you'll spend but nowhere near $3500. and i'd dump the realtor fir not being forthcoming with you. that's a serious ethical lapse. what else aren't you being told? once trust is broken like this it's very hard to re-establish.

good luck

 

[calmloki]

Rather than just assume that everyone is taking advantage of you, you could simply ask how they arrived at the estimated amount. I am betting that you are overlooking a lot of what the contractor had estimated on doing. You could also find out why the realtor stated that the geothermal system was a negative on the asking price. Once you have that information you can make a more informed decision.

Yup. Seems likely.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Rather than just assume that everyone is taking advantage of you, you could simply ask how they arrived at the estimated amount. I am betting that you are overlooking a lot of what the contractor had estimated on doing. You could also find out why the realtor stated that the geothermal system was a negative on the asking price. Once you have that information you can make a more informed decision.

But either way they should get at least a couple more estimates, and then they should have a better idea of whether they need more information...and that is assuming that the self-dealing isn't a deal-breaker for them, which to me is a huge assumption.

 

[JoeWras]

It costs me less than $500 a year to heat my home for an entire winter on the Canadian prairies with natural gas. Geothermal doesn't pay around here and almost no one has it.

I was surprised there wasn't more pushback like this against the "geothermal must increase the value" trend. The Realtor may be right about it being a demerit.

Geothermal is still pretty rare here in NC, even though the climate is perfect for it. My boss had it. Intentionally installed it.

Fifteen years later, she had it taken out.

The primary complaint was difficulty in maintenance. It is still a specialty here. Few can handle it, and those that do make you pay. The nail in the coffin was when the ground loop sprung a leak. Maybe it was installed wrong, or maybe some sharp rocks migrated (happens a lot around here). In any case, the cost of finding and fixing the leak became prohibitive. So, she dumped geothermal and went conventional electric heat pump.

 

[ohyes]

Actually, what OP said was

We probably need to know just what "scrub down and spruce up the lawn" means. The terms in themselves are too vague to even begin to estimate costs. I wouldn't be at all surprised if OP could get bids from other service providers to get the job done for less. Or, maybe they'd, in aggregate, charge about the same. But until we know the specifics of what will be done, ya really can't say beyond assuming and speculating.

This is why we emailed agent to say we would make decision after itemized list of work to be done is received. That has yet to be received. Work was to begin Monday.

As Joe W stated, the fact that geothermal is not common around our area is a reason for a demerit. The realtor asked me to explain it to her when she toured the house. The house was built in 1989 and had original unit until January 2019. It worked great....until it finally got too tired. Maintenance costs were same as what we had in years past with other systems.

But, yes, the fear of the unknown can be a big negative. We can provide copies of utility bills which might make potential buyers feel better- plus the new unit came with a very good warranty.

 

[frank]

as far as cleaning out the debris, I would hire a dumpster and load everything in there. they usually charge a flat rate for the dumpster and hauling plus dump fee. the fee is usually by the ton so I wouldn't think it would be that much.

 

[Teacher Terry]

That’s interesting that it’s Friday with no itemized bill. I think they were hoping you were naive.

 

[ls99]

#1 rule with real estate agents. Don't hire friends or family.

^ Ever!

 

[calmloki]

That’s interesting that it’s Friday with no itemized bill. I think they were hoping you were naive.

I'm too used to dealing with rentals left with piles of tenant debris. The volume of those piles are kind of like home renovation cost and time estimates - multiply by two. or more. Also familiar with finding contractors - this is a fat time for them (though winter slows things down) and they will take the easiest quickest jobs that pay the most. My guess is that they made their offer and OP is plenty welcome to try and round someone else up for less money. Oh - and starting post hasty because OP wants to move the house.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We have done it ourselves or went and got 2 day laborers and paid them 15/hour. Within a day everything is gone. Many ways to do this cheaper.

 

[rk911]

Mr

I'm too used to dealing with rentals left with piles of tenant debris. The volume of those piles are kind of like home renovation cost and time estimates - multiply by two. or more. Also familiar with finding contractors - this is a fat time for them (though winter slows things down) and they will take the easiest quickest jobs that pay the most. My guess is that they made their offer and OP is plenty welcome to try and round someone else up for less money. Oh - and starting post hasty because OP wants to move the house.

our neighbor had his place rented out and the deadbeats (it took him months to get them evicted) left all sorts of trash behind. but there's a happy ending. he found their new house, loaded up a trailer and dumped the contents on their front lawn! woulda loved to have been there.

 

[pb4uski]

It costs me less than $500 a year to heat my home for an entire winter on the Canadian prairies with natural gas. Geothermal doesn't pay around here and almost no one has it.

That post would be a lot more useful if the OP lived on the Canadian prairies... but alas he is far south of the Canadian prairies.

 

[pb4uski]

our neighbor had his place rented out and the deadbeats (it took him months to get them evicted) left all sorts of trash behind. but there's a happy ending. he found their new house, loaded up a trailer and dumped the contents on their front lawn! woulda loved to have been there.

I like your neighbor. I hope he dumped the pile right behind their car so they had to move it before they could get out of their driveway.[emoji3]

 

[Music Lover]

That post would be a lot more useful if the OP lived on the Canadian prairies... but alas he is far south of the Canadian prairies.

Then it should cost even less...

 

[ohyes]

You folks have me interested in adding up our heating/cooling costs for 2019..... but not tonight.


I sent the agent an email early this afternoon, cutting her loose. First sentence stated we had not received the itemized invoice. No response yet. So, as it turns out, we would have bowed out anyway - without that itemization at the end of the day today. The broker has been cc:d on all emails, so I find it strange neither has responded this week (not counting NYE or NYD). Perhaps they weren't excited to list our "as is" house anyway. Rude.



I hear you. Never using a former colleague for a real estate agent (no matter how nice a person) again. Too bad I "tried it/learned better" on our (hopefully) last home purchase.


Expect an update when the house sells.

 

[427Vette]

Is this a smaller real estate company? I am assuming it is since the owner also does some construction, clean up and yard work. Do you think that their lack of response may be because they were incredibly tied up with some end and of the year paperwork, possibly some closings on other properties, maybe catching some other clients for showings while they were still in town for the holidays? Or maybe their own personal lives were very busy with two mid week holidays two weeks in a row. I certainly don’t know how all of the conversations went but it seems like you may have jumped to a conclusion abruptly. You may waste a lot of time before you find another realtor that you feel comfortable with. I wish you the best of luck going forward.

 

[travelover]

Is this a smaller real estate company? I am assuming it is since the owner also does some construction, clean up and yard work. Do you think that their lack of response may be because they were incredibly tied up with some end and of the year paperwork, possibly some closings on other properties, maybe catching some other clients for showings while they were still in town for the holidays? Or maybe their own personal lives were very busy with two mid week holidays two weeks in a row. I certainly don’t know how all of the conversations went but it seems like you may have jumped to a conclusion abruptly. You may waste a lot of time before you find another realtor that you feel comfortable with. I wish you the best of luck going forward.

Lots of people get busy, but the smart ones communicate with those they have made commitments to, if it looks like they won't be able to honor those commitments. Losers just go silent.

 

[frank]

That post would be a lot more useful if the OP lived on the Canadian prairies... but alas he is far south of the Canadian prairies.

At 500 a year, how can you say it doesn't pay?

 

[Teacher Terry]

You certainly don’t want a shady realtor that doesn’t communicate. Things would have only gotten worse.

 

[OldShooter]

... You may [-]waste[/-] invest a lot of time before you find another realtor that you feel comfortable with. ...

FTFY

 

[CRLLS]

You folks have me interested in adding up our heating/cooling costs for 2019..... but not tonight.


I sent the agent an email early this afternoon, cutting her loose. First sentence stated we had not received the itemized invoice. No response yet. So, as it turns out, we would have bowed out anyway - without that itemization at the end of the day today. The broker has been cc:d on all emails, so I find it strange neither has responded this week (not counting NYE or NYD). Perhaps they weren't excited to list our "as is" house anyway. Rude.



I hear you. Never using a former colleague for a real estate agent (no matter how nice a person) again. Too bad I "tried it/learned better" on our (hopefully) last home purchase.


Expect an update when the house sells.

FWIW, I added up our last 12 months' bills and subtracted the August bill *12 as a base usage for hot water, clothes dryer and cooking. I got $298 annually for heating alone. We're in a 2150 sq ft home, with cathedral ceilings in the Chicago burbs. I don't think geothermal would have a positive payback for us.

When we were thinking of selling our last home 15 yrs ago, we had an acquaintance give us her proposal and got proposals from 2 other realtors. The 2 others were <1% apart from each other. Our acquaintance proposed about 10% lower than the other two. Needless to say, we did not contract with her. We bumped up the listing price to a nice round number to catch people searching within certain price ranges. The house sold in 6 days at full asking price. Family, friends and acquaintances are not necessarily your best choice. Who you hire is a business decision. Treat it as such.

 

[Ablatus]

I agree! Also, if you have a gut feeling, you should know by now, do not ignore It! Shop for a different broker and don't keep it a secret. What is her fee? It is not set in stone, either. 6%? So, her boss is getting 1.5% probably. You could tell him he can take his "sprucing up" fee out of his commission.

We cleaned out my mother's house for sale last spring. DIY. Most stuff other than furniture went to Goodwill or the dump/recycling. We made about 10 trips with a full Subaru Outback to Goodwill and the trash and recycling was picked up at the curb.

At our realtor's suggestion we sold it "as is". I had someone come in to shampoo the carpets, someone else to pressure wash the outside and the gutters and another person to throughly clean the house.... in all cases someone recommended by the realtor. There were a few other things that I though we should do that the realtor talked me out of doing. Total cost was ~$800 IIRC.

What is the nature of the items that are left? I presum nothing of any significant value? Mostly Goodwill or trash? Any furniture?

If mostly trash, you might arrange to have a dumpster delivered to the house and make a trip and just put everything in the dumpster and let it go... or most in the dumpster and a trip or two to Goodwill if you can't bear to see those belongings trashed.

After the house was clean we kept the furniture for staging and in case the buyer was interested in the furniture. As it turned out the buyer had no interest in the furniture so I arranged for a local charity that accepted donated furniture to come pick it up... except there were some things that they would not take but the hauler would take to the dump for $300... so that is what we did.

While it didn't fit our timeline, in the area there are some people who do "estate sales"... they sort through everything and have a huge estate sale at the house over one weekend... whatever is remaining they handle... and they keep a significant portion of the proceeds. Might not work in your case as it sounds like most of the stuff is gone but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

The home inspection said the electrical panels should be replaced... they still worked safely but were ancient (1960s IIRC) so we conceded to do that and it cost us ~$1250.

And I would think that geothermal, particularly with a new unit, would add to the value of the home rather than detract.

I would consider a different real estate agent... or at least talk with others.

 

[HGTVFanatic]

About five years ago, our neighbor, a widower, died in his home. His son came by once or twice after the death to, we believe, see if there was anything he wanted. We didn’t even know he had a son. Son didn’t want anything to do with the house and sold “as is.” And when I say “as is,” I mean exactly that. Everything was left in the house. Nothing was moved, discarded, cleaned, repaired or painted. I thought good luck with that!
Unbelievably, it didn’t take long for the house to sell because it was priced below market value in a desirable neighborhood. It was bought by a young couple who have a lot of energy. They spent weeks just clearing it out and then months repairing and painting. We were amazed.

 

[NanaW]

Just letting you know we went through something very similar and when all was done and said we walked away with beans and “ our trusted and sweet agent “ and her buyer made out like bandits just be careful they talked us out of house saying it wasn’t sellable without paying them X amount but offered to buy it, we lost big on the deal they flipped our house and made a bundle

 

[harley]

......