Selling woes

We've been having trouble selling our house due to location. It's pretty updated but the gas station behind us isn't aesthetically pleasing. We are talking with our lawyer about moving there storage unit which technically is on our property to solve the issue. Meanwhile, I was looking on mlsli website and the recent sold comps make me sick. For a 4 bed 1.5 bath colonial in my town we are looking at 310k to $325k. We bought this place as a dump for 305k! We were going into this thinking we'd lose some money but my goodness, we put 50k into this place for nothing. I hate keeping this place spotless with a young toddler, working nights and making appts in my sleep. I'm starting to feel like this house was a $50k mistake :( I love the house and location, it's close to the l.i.e. For commuting and lots of shopping. We want to move oos but I don't know if I can justify losing so much money. Not sure what I should do. We definitely need to lower the asking but maybe we should just wait a bit and take it off the market? Moving to nc, houses are much cheaper. So DH says that justifies us "losing" money. Not sure I agree.

Message edited 6/9/2014 3:55:51 PM.

Selling woes

Location is something you can't change and unfortunately it will cause people to not want your home. My parents had that issue. IT took 3x as long to sell their house but eventually someone will come along

Selling woes

I really don't consider money that you put into a house to make it livable while you are there part of the "losing" money in this market. If you can cover what you paid then I think that is great. We have a condo that we bought for $280,000 and we put about $20,000 into it. They comps now are at $210,000 tops. If we sold we'd be losing $70,000 just to cover the mortgage. That to me is losing money. As far as location, there is a house for everyone so it might take a little longer but I'm sure someone will love it! : ).

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Join the club. I am in a flood zone in south shore Nassau. We were remapped after Irene so when DH bought it (for over $300K), we didn't have flood insurance. Now after 2 floods, we have to carry it.

It doest help that we got an independent appraisal which valued our starter house at a full $ 80K LESS than what DH paid for the home 10 years ago. DH stands to lose at least $90K if he sells for the price listed on the appraisal. Whether we like it or not, DH is taking at least a $50K hit due to location. We havent had any interested buyers and have had the listing active on Zillow for a while now. The market stinks, especially in south shore/flood zone areas.

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There is a buyer for every house, but it really depends on price. The buyer for your house may only want to spend a good amount less than what you listed it for. I would probably drop the price and see what interest you get. If you get an offer you aren't happy with, you don't have to sell.

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What town are you in? That price sounds so cheap for a 4 bedroom updated home.

Message edited 6/9/2014 7:14:48 PM.

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I can't even tell you what we lost on our home, it makes me sick. Buying in 2007 and being a Sandy damaged home, we lost our asses. We needed to move on with our lives so we just let it go and sold the house, and couldn't be happier. Nothing you can do to change the past, the money is already gone ;)

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I live in Holbrook. We've had a lot of interest and several second shows but no offers. The same things are mentioned on feedback. All things we cant change but we can lower the price. Our agent even said if it wasn't for the visible storage unit we would have sold. We signed to lower asking price and if course are following up with the lawyer.

Message edited 6/9/2014 9:13:21 PM.

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Since everyone else is whipping out their stories, I bought in 2004, starter house for 330K, put around 50-60K into it in cash and my free time for 5 years doing the kitchen, bathroom and other interior renovations. Sold for 340K in 2009, so net loss 50K plus many many many hours of sweat equity.

it sucks. that is basically it. you make bad decisions, and have to live with the loss. if I could do it over again and rent for that time period I definitely would, I also wouldn't have bought the bigger house right before my wife lost her job, and never was able to get it back...

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Hang in there. My house was on the market for over 2 years and we just sold it. As a PP said, there is a buyer for every house. I had a unique set up in my house so it required a certain buyer. It took 3 agents and 4 failed deals to finally get the job done. It was awful. We took a hit on the house as well. It totally sucks. DH bought the house in 2004 and we took a huge loss. Now it seems we are going to be buying as the market is heating up and there is no inventory. We just can NOT win in real estate. I can totally empathize with you.

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Thanks everyone for sharing stories. I also said I wish I rented this whole time. But we didn't expect to be moving, we thought we would be here a long time. DH is so much more hopeful than I am.

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It sucks.

We were affected by Sandy.

Since I can't imagine selling anytime soon, we decided to make the best of it and are going all out with updates.

It is what it is.

Many of my neighbors, also are reacting similarly.

I also know that leaving the area is not necessarily a fix either.

Especially because I work in a low paying field already and DH is self employed and all of his connections are here.

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Can you do something to lessen the visual impact of the storage unit ? Plant some big bushes (not necessarily tall that is $$$) or a trellis with climbing vines ?

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We did plant trees which helped a lot.

Selling woes

we are stuck in a house too, but we have at least 10 years to get out. (due to school district- elementary not bad)

i dont even count what we put in (new kitchen, floors, repairs, etc etc) and it's probably a $100K loss right now.

we are going to spend the next couple years fixing up the little things and hopefully watching the market rise :)

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I feel your pain we paid $485K in 2007 and put small things in like sprinklers and an additional zone of heat but I will run with my money if anyone gives me over 400K right now. We lost about 70-85K too but I keep thinking that I will make it up in the upgraded house we buy. :

Re: Selling woes

Posted by mommy2Alex

I feel your pain we paid $485K in 2007 and put small things in like sprinklers and an additional zone of heat but I will run with my money if anyone gives me over 400K right now. We lost about 70-85K too but I keep thinking that I will make it up in the upgraded house we buy. :

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I feel your pain, we are selling as well, everyone that comes to look at it doesn't have a problem with the price or location. I think the issue is it's a cape and has 2 bedrooms upstairs and the master suite downstairs. We have redone the kitchen, main bathroom, and just repainted and refinished the floors.

If anyone is looking for a house in Ronkonkoma, Lake Hills District, Connetquot SD let me know!!

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Update:
We lowered the asking price by $10K and then the next day got an offer from a couple who had seen and loved the house. Our agent said when they saw the price drop the jumped on it. We countered 5K above their offer, they accepted and completed the inspection already. Tomorrow we should be in full contract. Still losing money on the deal but we are moving OOS and hopefully will be living an easier life!

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Great update. Hope you have a smooth process here on out. Congratulations.

Selling woes

Great update! Congrats! Hope everything goes smoothly for you

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What a great update!

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Congratulations!

9 times out of 10, if a house isn't selling, it's a price issue! I am glad a modest price adjustment brought in the buyer you were waiting for.

Good luck with the sale!