We are wanting to sell our property, our oneacrewoods, the two conjoined houses that we, my parents, my children, and numerous friends and family have lived in for the last 24 years. It’s seen some very good years of our lives and we have “feelings” for it. It is lovely, it is home, and it’s going on the market.
A is for Asking price (as distinct from “getting” price.)
I have just read that most homeowners ask too much for their house when they set out to sell. It’s out of love, of course. We don’t want to do that because we would LOVE a quick sale. We know that the prospective buye may or may not love our house and is certainly not interested in paying as much as possible to live in it. So, we have the matter of determining an asking price. It should be one that is reasonable for the market, taking into consideration the age of the house, the neighborhood and numerous other factors. And it should probably be one that we are willing to lower. I don’t like that selling a house is kind of like bargaining at a flea market.
We had a realtor look at our house. He wanted to help us find a good asking price. The place most realtors start is to look for what they call “comparables” – houses as much like yours as possible in the same area. Since most residential properties are not two full houses on one parcel of land, there really aren’t any comparables in our neighborhood. Our way of thinking is to take the price of one nearby sale and double it, right? I guess that’s not the way it works though. We had a hard time accepting the price this realtor suggested.
After waiting, downcast, for several months, we met another realtor who was a little more encouraging. We have what is becoming more common these days, a multi-generational property. I didn’t realize it, but more and more people are living with a couple generations together in the same house or an attached apartment of some kind. Our houses are much more than a mother-in-law room over the garage, and the acre of yard full of huge live oaks in the quiet, central part of a block is something everyone admires. Everyone who comes to our house wants to live here.
Our realtor is with Better Homes and Gardens Realty. I’m thinking that if BH&G thinks they can sell our house for what we’d like to sell it for, we’re going to let them try. I’ve seen their magazine and they seem to know a lot about houses, just sayin’ …
I am in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge. If you found this by clicking the link in the A list, then you know I made a mistake in my link. Here is the correct one to my site. So sorry! https://shirleyjdietz.com/2018/04/01/a-to-z-selling-our-house/
I Just Have to Say... 
Finally getting some blog reading/visiting in. And yes there are more multi-generational homes these days. We happen to have a home next door to my in-laws and have lived here for 29 years. My father-in-law passed in 2013 and ‘mom’ tossed around the idea of selling and moving to an apartment, but decided to stay. I think it’s good for her as she hangs out at our home everyday. She gets her independance and we get the benefit of knowing she’s ok. If one needed a selling ploy, that is definitely one to throw out there.
That sounds so lovely, and healthy since it eases a lot of worries. We want to head toward that arrangement with my mom up north. Thanks for the encouragement. Enjoy the A to Z!
Multi-generational homes are such a great idea and is a win-win for everybody. Good luck with working this out and getting the place sold.
Best wishes,
Rowena
[…] This is a series of posts for the April A to Z Blogging Challenge. Check out my A post here A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter A) […]
Hi Shirley,
I admire you for taking on the challenge in this busy time, and I am grateful to you for doing so. I’m not ready to sell yet, but I can see that day on the horizon. I too have a special property (yours sounds wonderful!) and I know it will be a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me to sell it and move on. It’s wise of you to keep track and good of you to share your keeping track with the rest of us.
I’m glad you’re holding out for the price you want your home listed at. You won’t get a second chance at that and would, perhaps, always wonder if you could have/should have set your asking price as you wished.
Great start to the challenge, Shirley. Looking forward to reading tomorrow’s post.
I’m guessing there are a lot of us with the need to move to smaller, more manageable places as time goes on. Thank you for reading and giving encouragement. It might be what keeps me going this month.
I’m really looking forward to following this series Shirley. I’m finding the whole idea of just thinking about selling my home overwhelming. I like the idea that multi-generational properties exist in great enough number to have a defined category – somehow I find that very inspiring. Your property sounds wonderful and I hope every aspect of selling it is easy and grace-filled.
Thank you for the encouragement. I am going to need it and am counting on people like you to help me keep a sense of humor!
I hadn’t known Better Homes and Gardens had a real estate branch. Knowing now that they do, I have to agree with your logic — their knowledge about houses (and gardens) should give them some insight into what people want in a home, with or without a garden.
My brother-in-law owns a residential construction company. When my dad passed away and it fell to me to handle selling his home, my brother-in-law’s advice was to find a real estate agent who lived and worked in my dad’s neighborhood for many years. It was excellent advice.
Sue, thanks for your advice. This whole process is overwhelming if I do anything other than look at one thing at a time. It is keeping me so busy there has been almost no time for writing. I don’t know if I can meet the challenge this month. But there are things I want to remember about this time since I will probably never go through this again.