Selling a house

[Lathum]

Is there any more of a frustrating process?

We decided last year to move from Portland back to NJ to be closer to family. My wife got her employer to let her work from home, and got them to pay for the move (she is a rock star VP of sales for a Warren Buffet company). We decided to move after the school year for obvious reasons.

Listed house begining of April. Beautiful house, great area (west linn), second best school district in the state. Figured we would have no troubles.

Well, 4 months went by and we got very little interest. By all accounts the market slowed down quite a bit. We dropped the price several times to the tune of almost 100K worth of drops. We moved to NJ in July where we have been living with my in laws. Once we moved we paid to have the house staged, over 600/ month. We also continued to pay the utlities, landscaper, insurance, etc...plus storage for our stuff at over 1K/ month. At this point costing us more to not live there than to live there.

The summer was super stressful for me, because we had decided we didn't want to buy anything here without selling in Oregon first, so we had no idea where our kids would go to school. We finally had to decide and used the school closest to my in laws house. The school has been awesome and the kids love it, but now we need to find a house in that schools boundaries.

Finally a coupe looked at the house and loved it, and they have been the biggest pains in the asses. We are handling all this through corporate relocation, so there are very specific IRS regulations that have to be followed. This couple questioned it every step of the way. We finally went under contract and did the inspection Their list of demands was absurd. We had already agreed to give them 10K at closing to stain the back deck and paint the outside of this house. They had a list of several other items, including stating the sidewalk out front is uneven and they want it fixed, for a cost of over 3K. We told them to pound sand on that one and agreed to every thing else, to the tune of 2K.

Finally last night they accepted and we are totally good.

What a pain t=in the rear process this has been. I have sold homes before, and while it is a pain, never like this.

Now we just need to buy one here, which is going to be difficult because there isn't much inventory during school year.

Anyway, sorry for the rant.

[bhlloy]

I’d second that - by far the most stressful situation of my adult life I would say.
Makes you realize how irrational people are as well, or how they get attached to certain things. The buyers of our 100 year old craftsman home in Southern California didn’t give a shit about bad plumbing or any of the code violations that turned up but would not budge on us paying to have the chimney repaired to the cost of 10k so they could light fires in a place where it almost never gets below 70 degrees.

Glad to hear yours finally got sorted out.

[Flasch186]

one of my most irrational clients ever decided to get her Real Estate license afterwards....now sh'es always looking at me apologetically basically saying, "I'm sorry I put you through all of that."

[spleen1015]

Put my house on the market last Thursday. Wife is already stressed out all to hell.

It sounded so easy. Every house similar to ours in the area has sold in under 10 days over the last 18 months. We've had 2 people look with no dice.

I have had 5 neighbors sell their houses over the last couple of years and it happened pretty quickly.

I don't feel like we'll have the same luck.

We'll see. We don't have to sell so there's always that.

[Butter]

We sold a house last year.

First guy basically offered asking, we agreed. And about 5 days before closing we find out that the guy was retired military who didn't meet income requirements needed to buy the home. Apparently was not pre-approved. Which was great. We wasted about 3 weeks on that, including having the house treated for termites when there clearly hadn't been an active infestation in 10+ years. Basically when we bought it originally. We also had the driveway re-paved.

Second couple was buying the house for their daughter. She really wanted it, but they played hardball. We agreed to a couple of concessions, but the last straw was their electrician came through and said the house was not up to code and demanded $4k+ in fixes. Despite the fact that my electrician father-in-law had basically re-wired the whole place in the previous 6 months and it was far safer than it ever had been when we lived there, including eliminating all double-wired outlets and low hanging wiring in the basement.

We said "no" to that last demand and thought we were going back on the market a 3rd time when they came back and asked for something like $1000 in allowance for repairs. We agreed just to get it overwith. We're talking about a sub-$100k house here, so there wasn't a lot of wiggle room.

We lost money overall with everything we did to the house to get it ready to sell with the market we were in, but it was worth it to not have to pay the $900/mo in mortgage/escrow per month for a house that was sitting empty. That's like $11k per year... every month it was on the market, it was killing me.

I feel your pain.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I sold my house earlier this year.

It went on the market on a Tuesday. I received two offers on Thursday. Had the best and final offer on Saturday, which was $57k over the asking price, and that was pretty much that. Despite being 102 years old, the inspection turned up nothing that needed to be addressed, and I ended up closing about six weeks later.

That being said, I do feel like I may have listed the house a bit below value, but it was based on my realtor's pretty in depth assessment of the property. It was a pretty fantastic house. Very unique in a lot of ways for the location, which, around here, is ideal.

[Izulde]

The first place I offered on, my gut told me to pull out, so I did. This was one that I was initially going to bid on, but they had an accepted offer. So I'm #2. In the time since me, they've had more offers be accepted and go through, even after cutting the price $11k. They're currently on something like contingent offer #5. No doubt a frustrating process for them.

Place I have now, I made an offer at list price and it was accepted. Home inspection turned up some issues, so we asked for $10k in repairs credit based on findings. They countered with $5k and weren't going to budge. I took it.

Then near close, they say they don't have the $5k in repairs to offer, but will do $5k lower on the selling price instead. I still get the $5k *and* slightly lower monthly payment plus significantly lower total interest? Sure, sign me up!

So despite some snares along the way (the mortgage final approval process was a bitch), the actual sale itself went smoothly. My realtor told me afterwards the listing agent and the sellers were both very happy about how the process went. We both had reasonable give and take.

[Lathum]

The process continues to be annoying. We have addressed all the repair issues except the sidewalk which they agreed to not do. They are now freaking because they signed the inspection agreement but it hasn’t been signed by us. Reason being is we technically don’t sign it. The relo company buys it from us and sells it to them, and they weren’t there on the weekend. The overall communication has been dreadful. Not sure if the breakdown is with our agent or theirs, or if they are just assholes, but I am over it. I just need to keep reminding myself there aren’t people lining up to buy 700K houses so I gotta deal with it.

[tarcone]

There is a saint of selling houses.

You bury it upside down in your back yard and your house sells fast. I did it once when we sold a house. 2 weeks after burying it, we got an offer and sold it.

Just sayin'

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by tarcone

There is a saint of selling houses.

You bury it upside down in your back yard and your house sells fast. I did it once when we sold a house. 2 weeks after burying it, we got an offer and sold it.

Just sayin'

People had actually mentioned that and had we still been living there I would have done it.

[RainMaker]

Is there anything worse than people coming to look at your house while you are home? After the first few times I'd just go for a walk when the realtor would arrive.

I felt constant stress to have the place looking it's best at all times.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Is there anything worse than people coming to look at your house while you are home? After the first few times I'd just go for a walk when the realtor would arrive.

I felt constant stress to have the place looking it's best at all times.

Try doing it with kids.

[INDalltheway]

Originally Posted by tarcone

There is a saint of selling houses.

You bury it upside down in your back yard and your house sells fast. I did it once when we sold a house. 2 weeks after burying it, we got an offer and sold it.

Just sayin'

We did this. Had an accepted offer within 30 days when the average time on the market was closer to 100 days in our neighborhood in Ohio. We were relocating for work and it couldn't have gone any smoother. We were incredibly lucky as we had bought the house less than 2 years before selling (damn work plans). With our moving package and a little appreciation we actually made a little money on the sale.

[Edward64]

But was it a good offer?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

But was it a good offer?

Mine?

It was asking price and we are giving them 10K at closing. About 100K more than we paid for it 3 years ago so we are happy with it.

[INDalltheway]

Originally Posted by Edward64

But was it a good offer?

If asking me yes. $5k less than list on a $250k house. We were fortunate that there were 2 houses in the neighborhood that were listed way above their value. So our house came in under their price and offered a better option for most. It was a nice neighborhood in a somewhat rougher surrounding area. Lots of people owned their homes in this neighborhood for decades and their houses aren't worth what they were 20 years ago.

[Lathum]

Figured I would update this, if for no other reason then to look back and wonder how I kept my sanity.

5 1/2 months after this post, and almost 9 months later, we still have not found a house and are still living with my in laws.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would take as long as it has. Once school started there have been very few houses that meet our needs in the school area for our kids. We have promised them we will not move schools, and are sticking to it.

Every house we look at has some sort of non negotiable issue. We almost went with one that would need about 150K of work, but they were asking for a price comparable to the comps, and their house was in terrible condition. Everything else is either too small, weird layout, busy street, etc...There are 2 we are looking at this weekend, and I am really hoping one works.

I am close to the end of my rope here. My In Laws are great, I love them. That being said, you hit a point where you need your own space. The worst thing, and I really mean this, is they constantly have on Fox News. They only turn it off at night to watch shows. They also watch the 6 o'clock news, and they don't care if the kids are in the room. Several times I have had to intervene during a story about rape, murder, bodies discovered, etc...My father in law is retired, and everything has to be done immediately. Leave a dish in the sink, he washes it. Recycling is full and I leave it on the counter, he takes it out. Leave clothes in the dryer, he takes them out. It is just how he is wired, but there are times after being with the kids all day I really don't want to empty the dishwasher.

My wife also travels a ton for work, so I have basically become a hermit, hiding in my room most days.

We need a house.

[NobodyHere]

I'm starting to look into housing myself. Nothing fancy mind you, just a place to call my own and start my plans of world domination.

[Lathum]

Its over!

We put in an offer and it was accepted.

Nice house in an awesome neighborhood. Need to redo the bathrooms and upstairs carpet, but no biggie, the price leaves us tons of room.

Otherwise checks all the boxes. Great street, a cul de sac, pool, big yard, plenty of room. So excited!

[rjolley]

Congrats Lathum

[stevew]

I pray that nothing is seriously fucked up so that you guys can get in there without any headaches. You've already had more than enough stress

[Thomkal]

yay!

[PilotMan]

That's awesome. I guess I'll be crashing at your house from now on and I can dump my crash pad by the airport.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

That's awesome. I guess I'll be crashing at your house from now on and I can dump my crash pad by the airport.

ha!

Only about an hour drive south with no traffic

[Cap Ologist]

Congrats! When is the FOFC housewarming party?

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

ha!

Only about an hour drive south with no traffic

That's totally doable. lol

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Cap Ologist

Congrats! When is the FOFC housewarming party?

For sure before we replace the carpets.

[Lathum]

Can not wait to get in to the neighborhood. My kids were already invited for a playdate Saturday by a new neighbor. The kids are in girl scouts together.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Lathum

For sure before we replace the carpets.

FOFC is going to come over and wreck your carpet.

[NobodyHere]

I just put in an offer myself. Nothing too fancy, just a Bachelor pad for myself that will maybe turn into a rental property.

[Lathum]

Ready to bang my head against a wall.

The house we are purchasing has, of all things, a toilet installed along the side of the house. We assume it it connected to the sewer line, but can not be 100% sure until it is pulled up.

We want the toilet removed, for obvious reasons. Originally we were going to address it directly with the seller, likely through a credit. We figured since we are doing renovations anyway we can have the contractor remove it.

Fast forward to today, and it turns out our attorney pulled all the permits for the history of the house. There is no permit for the toilet, and our agent informs us it is most definitely illegal. In addition to no permit, it could potentially be an environmental hazard, opening us up to huge issues should we complete the sale prior to resolution.

Our agent wrote theirs, and said we need to have it removed by a licensed plumber, who also needs to snake a camera down and confirm the line is connected to the sewer line. Their agent pushed back, claiming we knew the toilet was there all along. This logic makes no sense to me. If there was a hole in one of the walls, we would be aware of that, doesn't mean we wouldn't want it fixed prior to closing.

Our agent then basically said she isn't risking her license, or a potentially huge liability on us, because of this, and I don't blame her. This is all happening without the attorney knowing yet. I'm sure once he knows there can't be any compromise. The seller also lied on the disclosure, stating there have been no alterations made to the property, and marking the section about permits as N/A.

I can't imagine them being unwilling to agree to the demand, if not they lose the sale, and likely run in to the same issue with the next buyer, but people are morons, so I suspect they will play hardball.

So stressed about this right now.

[MrBug708]

When was the toilet installed? Maybe they did not know it was illegal if was before? So proving they liked is going to be a hard thing to do.

They could also say sorry, not doing it, and you have a decision to make?

We just upgraded to a bigger house last December and learned to pull permits really early, otherwise it just makes things more complicated. We real into an issue where the county approved the addition on the house but not the patio outside. But it's there and the addition was signed off. The other patio cover is also not permitted. We will have to tear it down if we do any further remodel and need to pull permits, which will suck. But we bought the house knowing it was as is.

And why is there a toilet outside of your house?

[Lathum]

They are the original owners, so no chance they didn't know.

Why there is a toilet outside is the big mystery,

Apparently they expected it, because my agent already got back to me, they are having a plumber come do it all next week.

[spleen1015]

This is an enclosed toilet like on the side of the house?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

This is an enclosed toilet like on the side of the house?

Side of the house. Not enclosed

[Butter]

The real question, and explain like I'm a dumb guy, is why anyone's license would be on the line over this, or how this would be a "huge liability".

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Side of the house. Not enclosed

WTF? So just a place for a crap in nature?

[Grammaticus]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Side of the house. Not enclosed

Are you sure you want to buy the house? No telling what he did inside.

[stevew]

Pics plz k thx. Seriously this dude liked to go shit outside in the summer breeze?

[stevew]

They ha a random illegal room at one point that they later removed maybe?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by stevew

Pics plz k thx. Seriously this dude liked to go shit outside in the summer breeze?

I want to but don't know how?!?!

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Butter

The real question, and explain like I'm a dumb guy, is why anyone's license would be on the line over this, or how this would be a "huge liability".

The huge liability part comes from the fact it is possible the toilet isn't tied in to the sewer line, and instead is just a pit or something.

My assumption regarding the license, is our agent would be knowingly brokering a deal on our behalf with the knowledge there was unpermitted work on the house, with potential environmental impacts. Also she knows the seller lied on the disclosure.

[NobodyHere]

Note to self: have home inspector check for outdoor toilets

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I want to but don't know how?!?!

How to post pictures?

That's pretty easy.

Upload photo to photobucket.

Copy IMG address from photo page on photobucket.

Reply to FOFC post

Click the button that looks like a mountain(insert image)

Paste IMG address

Submit reply

[spleen1015]

[Lathum]

[Lathum]

That is it

[JPhillips]

At least there's a little privacy.

[digamma]

Wow! I honestly thought you meant it was somehow a bathroom attached to the house that you entered from the outside. But no, just a toilet outside. That's crazy. Glad you're getting it solved.

[cuervo72]

I mean, when you're having an outdoor party and the cops show up, you need a way to get rid of something quick, you're gonna want that outdoor toilet.