Selling a house is such a pain

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  • Hoosierdood

    Grandmaster
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    8   0   0
    Nov 2, 2010
    5,360
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    North of you
    We listed our house the first of August for $199k. It is a 85 year old 2 story farm house with a Michigan basement. It needs a roof soon, and the basement gets wet maybe 2x per year, but overall its a nice home that recently appraised for $235k in its current condition.

    We had an offer within the first week for full asking price. Took it off the market, went through inspections, etc. Buyer came back after inspection and offered $20k less than original offer. I told him to pound sand, and he backed out. Ok, back on the market.

    Within 2 weeks, we had another offer. This was for $195k, and we accepted it. Buyer was dragging his feet the whole time. Didn't get inspection till almost the end of the 10 day inspection period. After inspection, we reached out to the buyer to see where they were at and... crickets.
    They strung us along for another week before backing out with no reason. So, back on the market it goes.

    The problem is that July/August were great times to sell a house but 2 buyers jacked us around wasting valuable time. Now that it's getting cooler, the market is slowing down a bit, and we had to lower our price to $185k. And the rain that we have had lately is coming in the basement in places it has never come in before. We have had over 9 inches of rain since Sept 1.

    A couple dry days should clear everything up, but its hard to show the house with a wet basement, especially when everyone wants a perfect house with no issues for less than $200k. Yeah, good luck with that. Not in this area.

    Not to mention, having 4 kids, and the house has to be spotless 24/7 since showings can pop up at any time and we have to vacate the house.

    I just want this thing sold. The stress is getting to me.
     
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    HoughMade

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    Oct 24, 2012
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    I feel your pain.

    The first and only time I sold a house, which was 5 years ago, the inspection returned a bunch of non-issues, mostly with the electrical systems, that I had lived safely with for 15 years like the romex in the attic was. stapled down every other truss instead of every truss, covers on some boxes and a couple of other things. I fixed all but 1 myself and the last one, I hired a guy did a little work in the breaker box, then looked at what I had done and signed off on it.

    ....it all worked out, but what a pain.

    The house I was buying at that time was in foreclosure due to a nasty divorce and no one had money to correct the issues found on the inspection, so instead of getting repairs, I negotiated in a John Deere lawn tractor that was at the house and a bunch of new construction materials stacked in the garage.
     

    spec4

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    Jun 19, 2010
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    Your basement problem probably excludes many otherwise viable buyers from looking at your house. Have you looked into getting it resolved? I'd bite the bullet and do it. JMHO
     

    HoughMade

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    Oct 24, 2012
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    Your basement problem probably excludes many otherwise viable buyers from looking at your house. Have you looked into getting it resolved? I'd bite the bullet and do it. JMHO

    Yep...and it probably limits who would be willing to finance it.
     

    Usmccookie

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    Jan 28, 2017
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    nwi
    Having just bought a house... well we close in a couple weeks. The basement thing is a huge deterrent. I went back to the house, the first big rain recently, specifically to scope out the basement. There was some water marks/damage that weren't disclosed. I had an idea of the problem and it was exactly as expected. Permaseal will take care of it perfectly, but I used that to knock the price down since I had to deal with it.
     

    jkaetz

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    Jan 20, 2009
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    Indianapolis
    As a perspective buyer, I don't want the seller to do anything to the house. I want to have the price adjusted so I can take care of the issues to my satisfaction. Most sellers are going to have things done as cheaply as possible so they can get the deal done. Not really how you want a wet basement or roof dealt with. Your realtor should be explaining that the cost of said repairs has already been calculated into the listing price and the issue should be disclosed up front. Then your buyers can't back out citing those issues. Still not an easy sell as a lot of people don't want to come into a "new" house and have to do major work.

    Our sale wasn't horrible but the inspector did call out the roof as needing a complete tear off. While it was installed as quickly as possible by the lowest bidder and 12 years old, I had done preventative maintenance in the form of covering any exposed nails I found with roofing tar and there were no leaks whatsoever. After three different roofers claimed that it was not in immediate need of replacement the buyer's did finally accept and things went smoothly after that.
     

    HoughMade

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    Oct 24, 2012
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    As a perspective buyer, I don't want the seller to do anything to the house. I want to have the price adjusted so I can take care of the issues to my satisfaction. Most sellers are going to have things done as cheaply as possible so they can get the deal done. Not really how you want a wet basement or roof dealt with. Your realtor should be explaining that the cost of said repairs has already been calculated into the listing price and the issue should be disclosed up front. Then your buyers can't back out citing those issues. Still not an easy sell as a lot of people don't want to come into a "new" house and have to do major work.

    Our sale wasn't horrible but the inspector did call out the roof as needing a complete tear off. While it was installed as quickly as possible by the lowest bidder and 12 years old, I had done preventative maintenance in the form of covering any exposed nails I found with roofing tar and there were no leaks whatsoever. After three different roofers claimed that it was not in immediate need of replacement the buyer's did finally accept and things went smoothly after that.

    I agree with you and I think people who are skilled and/or self-sufficient people would agree...

    ...but sooooo many more buyers want something turn-key than those who would prefer to get it done themselves.
     

    Hoosierdood

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    Nov 2, 2010
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    North of you
    As a perspective buyer, I don't want the seller to do anything to the house. I want to have the price adjusted so I can take care of the issues to my satisfaction. Most sellers are going to have things done as cheaply as possible so they can get the deal done. Not really how you want a wet basement or roof dealt with. Your realtor should be explaining that the cost of said repairs has already been calculated into the listing price and the issue should be disclosed up front. Then your buyers can't back out citing those issues. Still not an easy sell as a lot of people don't want to come into a "new" house and have to do major work.

    Our sale wasn't horrible but the inspector did call out the roof as needing a complete tear off. While it was installed as quickly as possible by the lowest bidder and 12 years old, I had done preventative maintenance in the form of covering any exposed nails I found with roofing tar and there were no leaks whatsoever. After three different roofers claimed that it was not in immediate need of replacement the buyer's did finally accept and things went smoothly after that.

    This is exactly where we landed. The listing price of the house is reflective of the issues that will need to be addressed. If I had the money, I would repair it all. But the roof is a $10-15k job. And to fix the basement issue, I would need to dig around the house and lay new gravel and tile. Probably a good $5-7k job.

    We had originally tried to refinance to correct the issues, but had to go through FHA lending. FHA wouldn't approve the refinance with those existing issues, even though we were specifically refinancing to correct those issues. So we decided to sell the house, make some money to pay off all our debts, and in 6 months or so we can look at buying a new house.

    We did disclose all of the existing issues, so buyers are already aware going in to it.
     

    HoughMade

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    People who are buying new houses are often stretching just as far as their budgets allow to get money down and buy the house. Sure, there are those who don't mind dropping 25k just after they bought a house...but that severely restricts the pool of people who will be interested. You would think that all you have to do is drop the price the amount of the repairs. I'm thinking that this is not enough of a discount for the hassle.
     

    churchmouse

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    People who are buying new houses are often stretching just as far as their budgets allow to get money down and buy the house. Sure, there are those who don't mind dropping 25k just after they bought a house...but that severely restricts the pool of people who will be interested. You would think that all you have to do is drop the price the amount of the repairs. I'm thinking that this is not enough of a discount for the hassle.

    You are pretty much on point here, It will b a specific type of person to 1st.....even want to do this and 2nd...have a spouse willing to put up with the mess of doing it.
    The roof would not be a huge issue past the money. Crew comes in, does the deal, cleans up, collects a check and see you later.

    The wet basement on the other hand would suck at all levels. Huge mess during and after. And factor in the expnse.
     

    HoughMade

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    Oct 24, 2012
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    ...and don't forget the "guess what we found" factor.

    Roof- chances are a few sheets of sheathing may be the only unexpected expense.

    Basement/foundation- There is no way of telling what may crop up.
     

    Leadeye

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    Jan 19, 2009
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    Bad real estate agents were my only house selling problem. The first one really insisted on under pricing the house by a lot, knowing we weren't living there. We had already moved to the new house so the old one was being shown with minimal furniture. I would come up every week to check things out and do yard maintenance. The second one was having staff parties there, food and liquor gone and a flash drive left in my computer, complementary unflushed turds in the bathroom. The third finally sold the house.
     

    Hoosierdood

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    Nov 2, 2010
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    ...and don't forget the "guess what we found" factor.

    Roof- chances are a few sheets of sheathing may be the only unexpected expense.

    Basement/foundation- There is no way of telling what may crop up.

    As far as the foundation is concerned, we have had it inspected. No major issues other than drainage around the house.

    The water issue is only about 2x per year. It gets wet, mainly isolated to one corner, in the spring when all the snow melts, then again in the fall when we get lots of rain. It's an unfinished Michigan basement, not intended to be lived in. My kids have some furniture and their Xbox down there. We have lived with it for over 5 years and it has never been a huge issue. We aren't talking INCHES of water, but more of a puddle in the corner.
     

    HoughMade

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    Oct 24, 2012
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    As far as the foundation is concerned, we have had it inspected. No major issues other than drainage around the house.

    The water issue is only about 2x per year. It gets wet, mainly isolated to one corner, in the spring when all the snow melts, then again in the fall when we get lots of rain. It's an unfinished Michigan basement, not intended to be lived in. My kids have some furniture and their Xbox down there. We have lived with it for over 5 years and it has never been a huge issue. We aren't talking INCHES of water, but more of a puddle in the corner.

    I get it....but a lot of people are pretty soft these days.

    We just sold my parent's house where I grew up- over 100 years old, Michigan basement for the most part (it was actually in Michigan) and everything that goes with a house that age.


    For me, it would have been great, but so many people are looking for turn-key perfection. You will find the right buyer- we did, and at pretty close to the asking price with no repairs, but it took a little longer.
     

    gregkl

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    Apr 8, 2012
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    Real estate people will tell you that statistically your first offer is your best. Not sure if it's true but it was that way for me the last time I sold.

    2X water in the basement is 2X too many times for most people. I bought a house with signs of water in the basement. I ended up digging down to the footer, installing a new french drain and three levels of waterproofing to the outside. For kicks and giggles I painted UGL Drylock on the inside before I framed it out.

    Today's buyer has very little vision. They want as close to turn key as possible because all they know is what they do for a living. And what they do doesn't pay enough to start hiring contractors to do a lot of work around the house.

    People like me are dinosaurs. I have my limitations, but I can get a lot done and add a lot of value to my home. And I will do it much better than most contractors would. I can see past all the bad when looking at a home and see the potential.
     

    churchmouse

    I still care....Really
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    187   0   0
    Dec 7, 2011
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    Real estate people will tell you that statistically your first offer is your best. Not sure if it's true but it was that way for me the last time I sold.

    2X water in the basement is 2X too many times for most people. I bought a house with signs of water in the basement. I ended up digging down to the footer, installing a new french drain and three levels of waterproofing to the outside. For kicks and giggles I painted UGL Drylock on the inside before I framed it out.

    Today's buyer has very little vision. They want as close to turn key as possible because all they know is what they do for a living. And what they do doesn't pay enough to start hiring contractors to do a lot of work around the house.

    People like me are dinosaurs. I have my limitations, but I can get a lot done and add a lot of value to my home. And I will do it much better than most contractors would. I can see past all the bad when looking at a home and see the potential.

    Bingo.
     

    4651feeder

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    Oct 21, 2016
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    East of NWI
    ...We just sold my parent's house where I grew up- over 100 years old, Michigan basement for the most part (it was actually in Michigan) and everything that goes with a house that age...

    Recently drove by there on my way home from trap cause I wanted to see if there were any changes up around north side of Painter. Like to tell you it was the same as it ever was....but actually think the mosquitoes were bout twice as thick as I remembered.
     
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