Real Estate Information

So there we were.  After 24 days ( I looked it up ) we reduced our price by $10,000.  Again we had a couple of couples come and look at the house shortly after we reduced the price.  Then it got quiet again.  Now you start to get depressed.  We waited about another month and then reduced the price of the home a second time.  Again by another $10,000.  Now we were cooking.  A couple came and looked at the home.  Talked to half of the neighbors and seemed to be really excited.  Sure enough a couple of days later we received an offer on our home.  Oh boy!  It took 3 days to work out all the details, but finally we had fully come to an agreement and everything was all signed off.

The next morning their agent called to say that they had gotten into a big fight about whether it was the right home, whether or not they wanted to leave San Francisco, who should be choosing the house and who knows what else.  At any rate they had changed their mind and had decided not to buy the home.  At this point I just hoped they would change their mind back, but they didn't.  Then I thought well I would like to keep their earnest money since they simply wanted to back out.  But we couldn't even do that.  The contract allowed them to have a neighborhood review, and an inspection.  Realistically there was no way to keep their earnest money.  Something I already knew was almost impossible in any circumstance.  So we returned the earnest money and left the home on the market.  Maybe I should have gone to the doctor for some of that depression medicine.  So I decided to hold an open house at my own home.  A young couple came through that lived only a mile away.  They seemed interested, but they were working with some other agent who had not shown them the home.  That didn't seem real positive, but they did come back with their agent and look again.  Then they came by on their own a second time.  Now they wrote an offer.  That was on June 20th  and they did close on July 28, 2011.

I guess what should be taken from this is.  Keep adjusting the price until you find your buyer.  The market is still falling and only a few of the available homes are going to sell.  The rest will be worth less next year.  Nothing is final until the final papers are signed and the check is delivered to you. And selling your home in this market is pretty much guaranteed not to be any fun what so ever.  Good luck to all of you.

My wife and I decided to sell our home in the Seattle area and move to Arizona in 2011.  I want to tell you our story, not because it is unique, but rather because it is so common.  It is most likely what you can expect in selling your home today.

In January we decided to list our home.  We waited until the end of the month so people would not still be thinking about the holidays, and possibly the weather would be a little bit better.  While we waited we boxed many things up and cleaned and prepared the house for showing.  Then we listed the home at what appeared to be a very aggressive price.  Less money than was being asked for homes of similar size anywhere in the area, let alone our neighborhood.

Well, in the first couple of weeks we had 3 couples come and look at the home.  Some interest, but one had to sell her home first.  Others we don't know about.  Then things got quiet and we didn't see anyone new in several weeks.  So we waited and we waited................

I'm often asked if this is a good time to buy a home. Some clients are concerned that home prices may fall further than they have already. They are assuming that the best course of action is to wait for the bottom in the market and then buy. The problem with this approach is that you don't know where the bottom is until you see it in the rear view mirror, meaning until you've missed it!

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability. Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows. Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates go up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life. It's important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial "comfort zone." To that end, it may be more important to lock in today's relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today's market.