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 INFYMUS .COM
© 2006-2008
Michael S. Hoenie
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"HOENIE HOME - SELLING"
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HOENIE HOME - SELLING
Total Articles:
24
Our old house after we moved out - and our stories of trying to sell it.
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Weekly I check on the old house. I hadn't checked on the house on Monday, well because it was Christmas Eve and Tuesday was Christmas. Yesterday I was so sick with a cold, I didn't make it either.
Today I made it up there and lo and behold, the induction motor on the furnace had died. Looks like it had been out for about four days.
The house was 38 degrees.
I shut off the water to the house, turned off the water heater and opened the pipes to bleed. I just hope the water inlet on in the basement doesn't freeze shut as I don't have any heat tape. Drat it all.
Tomorrow it will be replaced and I'm sure it won't be pretty. Last time the blower went out (bottom blower) it was $400 bucks on a Sunday.
At least I caught it before the pipes burst and destroyed the basement.
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The issue with the house was a dead circuit board. Two of the capacitors on the board were fried - you could see the burn marks. Because of that, no electricity was getting to the fan system and thus it was dead.
The cost was $490 to get a new board and have it installed.
I have now paid more in parts over the last THREE years than the furnace up there cost me originally.
When the burners ignited tonight and the heater came on, the house was 34F degrees.
Our hands working the furnace were so cold, it was tough. I spent four hours up there waiting for the guy to come, find the reason, having to go back to the shop for parts and coming back.
What a pain in the ass.
Right now the house is now at an extremely warm 75 degrees, until midnight tonight. I set it that way to warm up the walls, the floors, the pipes and all. Then it will go back to 60F and I'll back tomorrow morning to make sure it is still all well.
Meanwhile, I filled hole after hole after hole with putty in the old house until I was so frozen, I had to go back and sit in my warm car. There will be a lot of sanding to do. Every nail hole, every little tiny scabbard on the wall I filled. There is more to do in the basement, but I was so darned tired and so cold, I gave up completely until the heater came on, and by that time, it was 6pm.
Gah. Having the 4th cold in two months also does not help. It is, once again, kicking my ass.
Oh dear god let the warmth come back. There is shit in the backyard of the old house that is buried under at least 17 inches of snow.
/Major F'n Sigh.
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| | Getting The Old House Ready To Go
Posted: Jan 17, 2008, at 05:00 AM
Stored Under Topic: HOENIE HOME - SELLING -GUID-
Posted By: Infymus |  | |
This Saturday we are going to be heading up to the old house to do some serious cleaning. We will be getting everything that is left in the house - out, and scrubbing down the house to get it ready to be painted. Next month we will be having one of the basement rooms re-finished and carpeted so we can claim a full five houses.
We have a lot of work to do and both Kim and I are very concerned with the housing prices. We see that the houses in the neighborhood that have been for sale the last five months - are still for sale and haven't sold.
It doesn't help that a wind storm came through and blew down almost the entire back fence. With two feet of snow back there, it will be impossible to repair it right now.
We may end up having to drop the price on the house from where we wanted - $390, down to $350. We will still be OK with that and we'll have a small $40k house payment for about 10 years after we re-finance our current loans later this summer.
Even so, Saturday we will be off to begin our arduous journey of preparing the house to sell.
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Today we spent almost five hours at the old house cleaning up what we had left behind. I am amazed at how much stuff is still left up there. We could fit a small U-Haul truck with everything that is left over - and we still haven't even looked at the back yard or the shed yet.
The for-sale sign is now buried in the front yard and Monday morning the house goes up on the Utah MLS. We are shooting for $369,900 to start. Houses are starting to sell again in the neighborhood, so if we get $330k or more, we will be in great shape.
SOON! I hope this damn thing sells so we can get on with our lives.
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Today I spent several hours with my Broker listing our old house on 4241 Marquis Way.
And so begins the process.
The website will be at 4241 Marquis Way.com
As I said, so it begins.
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Today we spent about eight hours at our old house. We cleaned everything, the kitchen, bathrooms, basement, all of the rooms.
I am so tired, and drunk - now.
We came home and have drank Lime Twisted Gin and ate Dinner Bar.
What a fitting end.
I finished up the flyers for the house and it is all in order.
I hope we get some offers soon.
Soon.
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We have already had two people review the house, and two agents have called our agent to talk about it. They said the price was a little high, but nonetheless, were going to bring clients through the house in the next two weeks.
Keep the hopes in check.
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We started painting the old house this weekend and after about five hours, had a nice first coat on the entire front room and hallway.
Ten more flyers were taken from our box and we put 10 more back.
Painting isn't very enjoyable, but it has to be done.
We have so much more to do to make this right. It really is a beautiful home up there and if all else fails, in 11 months we may actually end back up in it. That would suck, but if nobody buys it and we fund in 11 months, we will be back there.
11 months is a long time, who knows what will happen.
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Today we dropped the price by $20k. We had to. The houses in the area were averaging from $309k to $349k. Some were as high as $400k, and a sparse few above $350k.
I was amazed at how fast all of the listing sites had the new price.
We have finished painting the entire front room and Spencer's old bedroom.
You can see the site here: http://www.4241marquisway.com
We have a good friend - contractor - who is finishing the basement room and getting it ready for us to paint. We should have it fully painted within a couple of weeks.
Kim and I have been getting baby-sitters for the kids and spending our entire Saturdays up there painting. I think just a few more and we will be finished.
I think next to moving, it is probably one of the greatest stressors in our lives right now. All we can think about is selling that house. We have to, essentially and we only have a short period of time before balancing both houses becomes financially impossible. We have quite some time before that will happen, but if the $349k doesn't work out after two more months, we will drop it another $20k each two months until it does sell.
Goddamn this housing market. A year and a half ago, I could have sold the house for as high as $480 thousand. Each month the prices on homes here in Utah is dropping by as much as 4% to 6% per month. We have lost at least $100k in value in just twelve months - we've lost $50k in just the last 4 months and will probably loose an additional $20k to $40k over the course of the summer.
Alas. So it goes.
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After two and a half months straight without even a single person asking about the house, I decided it was time to pull the plug on the realtor. I let him go today, graciously. Thanks Rick, appreciate it.
I picked up Coldwell Banker to move the house. We took it off the market for the time being and will bring it back online Thursday, May 1st.
That will give us enough time to get the house completely finished up and the rest of the shit in it moved.
Onward.
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This weekend is the last weekend before the house goes back up on the market. We have so much left to do, but we have done so much already.
The entryway to the downstairs and kitchen need to be painted. That will be done this week and by the weekend. On Saturday I am picking up a 14 foot UHAUL truck and packing every last item in the house, garage and shed into it, leaving the property completely empty.
The house goes up on the market for $314,000 on Monday. On Monday, the carpet cleaning people are coming over and totally cleaning the whole house. After that, we should be totally ready to go, with a few minor changes.
Two more houses went up for sale in our neighborhood. Next door and next door. That doesn't help. The house to the North went up for $339k. The house on the South is going up for over $400k so that isn't too bad.
It is just worrisome for us because I can only cover two houses for so long before I have to give up on one of them. We have some time, but not much - maybe Thanksgiving this year is the last of it.
This is going to be one hell of a long week.
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We worked very hard this week and all the way through the weekend. Kim's parents and her brother showed up this last weekend, and we stuffed (literally) a 17 foot truck full of the last of the items, mowed the lawns, cleaned the yard and filled four huge garbage cans full of garbage. Kim's parents have been showing up every weekend and their help has been invaluable.
We still didn't make it.
We decided that since there was no way we would make it, I make the call that we'd postpone putting the house up for sale another week. That is far more stress as our neighbors to the North, who just put their house up for $339 - have just dropped it to $325. They have been having open houses each weekend.
On top of moving the last of the shit (and I do mean SHIT) from the house, I finished painting the laundry room and basement room - of which cost me $1000 bucks to sheetrock, mud and tape. So far I've put about $3 grand of money into the old house in paint, material and labor.
What amazes me I think the most is that the house is only 2200 square feet. And with our main bedroom, the two kids, the front and kitchen - then the basement family room, the laundry and the theatre room taking up most of the room - I have been trying to find out just exactly where all that stuff came from. I mean holy hell, we needed a 30 foot truck the first time to move the big stuff - beds, TVs, couches, dressers and the like. Then we rented a 27 foot truck, and packed it to the freaking BRIM, which of course, most ended up in our garage. Then, this weekend, we rented a 17 foot truck and once again, filled it. While our storage room was halfway to the ceiling - and the basement room (that I just re-did) was also, full, halfway to the ceiling - it doesn't account for everything.
Our garage is now so full; only two cars can fit in a four car garage. The piles on each side of the cars is literally 5 feet high and ten feet wide - and there are TWO of them. I have a pile of yard stuff sitting in the back yard now that is embarrassing, but there was no more room in the garage for it.
Where in the hell did all of this shit come from? How could we have hidden all of that material in such a small house? How could my significant other have collected so much shit in the 15 years of our marriage?
I wish that I could rent a garbage bin (literally I'd need TWO of them) and just start tossing everything into it. But as soon as I even started to throw one thing away, I'd be in an argument with my wife regarding whether such items should be kept or not. When I become upset with four dozen picture frames, boxes upon boxes of old magazines, fifteen different kinds of ceramic bowls for Halloween alone - and the rest of the collection - I am the one who gets yelled at. I am the one who gets in trouble for it. And so I clamp down and shut up and internalize it - because what can I do? I can do nothing but stare at the endless piles of books, tapes, nick-nacks, stuffed animals, boxes, papers, holiday crap, crafts, and another fifty or so-odd boxes of shit that came from Deseret Industries or yardsales.
My god, I love this woman, but on Saturday, yes Saturday, when we were trying to clean the last of the crap out of the house - she comes home from the next door neighbor - with a goddamn steamer trunk she'd bought. And I just stared at her dumbfounded.
And so the endless cycle of incoming without outgoing continues, and I end up parking our cars in the driveway instead of the four car garage where they belong.
Ok enough, I'm already in enough trouble for finally airing my feelings.
Well, this week Kim is going to head back up to the house after I get home from work to finish the painting. Only the kitchen is left to paint and should only take a couple of hours. After that, it is cleaning time. On Wednesday we will have the carpet cleaners out to steam clean the whole house - and the weekend will be spent doing the rest of the cleaning and yard work.
And me? I'm freaking numb. Numb. Just numb.
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The house went back up on the market today. I'm waiting to find out what the MLS number is so I can update the website.
Tomorrow we go back up to finish cleaning and do a little bit of touch up paint. I ordered a brand new gas stove and that will be installed tomorrow. Next week, new carpeting comes in for the bedroom, hall, front room and newly finished basement room.
We have 48 homes in the area that are the same kind of home, size, acreage and what not. So we have 48 homes to compete with - and over 20 of them are below the price of ours.
Here we go again - but this time, with a much bigger company.
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Since the house went up on the market last Thursday, we will have had three showings in the first week. Two couples today, a couple on Saturday, and an open house on Sunday.
The new carpets come in on Friday and that will definately help show the house better.
We're keeping our fingers crossed.
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Today we had another showing. Two yesterday, one today, and there are now two scheduled for Saturday with an open house on Sunday.
One couple yesterday said the house was too small. That's better than it's shit or costs too much.
Hopefully soon we'll get an offer.
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This weekend we had one showing on Saturday and six on Sunday. The feedback has been extremely positive.
Still no offers yet.
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Today I went up to our house and trimmed and mowed the lawns. I swept the walks, the deck and the driveway. And in the early morning sun coming up over the Wasatch Mountains, my heart ached.
The Japanese bamboo growing in the back yard is beautiful and green. Because we have had the first normal spring in over 10 years, not a single leaf of the bamboo has been destroyed by frost or heat. In the front, the bamboo is six feet tall. In the back, four feet, and beautifully green.
In the front, the Iris that was given to me by my neighbor - long since passed away - is blooming. The Easter Lily - bought by myself and my wife over a decade ago as well - is starting to show the first steps of what will become a beautiful white bloom.
And so I sat. I listened to the birds sing, the gentle wind blow, and I smelled the familiar smells of over two decades of living.
I often think now that I have made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. Moving. A bigger house and a bigger yard mean absolutely - nothing.
There is solace in familiarity.
There is peace in what you have spent dozens of years cultivating.
I drove to our new house in depression. So what if a jewel dazzles and is brilliant if it cannot bring you joy.
Later, I sat upon the steps of my new "beautiful" home. I looked at the carefully cultivated landscape. The precious concrete strips that border the grass from the shrubs - and I realize that I did none of this. Nothing here has been by my own hand. It saddens me. It saddens me because I have done nothing here that I can say is mine. While 20 miles away, a home sits, empty - while the landscape is full of life - life I made with my bare hands.
So far I am not as happy as I thought I'd be here. And because of having to balance two homes, I can't even afford to plant a garden this year.
Did I make a mistake?
I don't know yet.
Only time will tell.
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We have only had one couple come back through the house the last two weeks. This couple has narrowed their search down to four houses, and ours was one of them.
This last Tuesday the realtor bus came through and toured the house. This is where realtors from different companies come through a 15 minute quick tour and give their evaluations on the house. They were about 90% positive, which was nice. There are some things that we just can't change - like the flat roof, or weeding the entire yard, or fixing the back fence. We just don't have the cash on hand to do so, and so we are letting it sit as is.
The house, well, it's beautiful. And it has some flaws, as any house that is 50 years old would have.
After long consideration with our realtor, we decided to drop the price by $14k to $299,900 from $314,900. After talking with over a dozen different realtors, all agreed that the house price should be at the lower level. Our realtor said we would most likely be under contract within a week.
So it stands, the price is dropped. We are having another open house on Sunday so I certainly hope we will be under contract soon.
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We had seven showings this last weekend. We haven't heard anything yet.
The couple that had narrowed our house down to one of four finally opted out because we will not sign a contingency contract. We won't wait for anyone else's house to sell before they buy ours. We want a cash sale - NOW.
And so it goes.
There will be another showing this Saturday.
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Today a couple of well qualified buyers offered us $281k for the house and asked us to pay for closing costs.
$281k plus $3k in closing costs brings the price down to $278k, which is $21k less than we are asking for.
We of course rejected their offer. We offered $299k and offered to pay closing costs, which would bring our value down to $295k or so.
We gave them 24hrs to accept.
Playing the negotiation game is pretty normal and I've played it several times before. We will see what their next offer is. Many times buyers come in very low hoping to see the price drop in their favor. Most buyers are already set on the price asked for, but ask lower to see if the buyer is motivated to drop the price and sell.
We're motivated, but not by an additional $21k considering we have dropped the price on the house by $70k in the last six months.
Now we play the negotiation game.
We've had three more tours this week, 2 more scheduled for tomorrow, and an open house on Saturday where there will be at least six more potential buyers come through. And this time our agent has a card to play: We are in negotiations to buy. That means other buyers who come in realize that the house may not be around in a week if the buyers we are in negotiations with agree to our terms.
We shall see.
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The buyers accepted our offer of $299k with us paying the closing costs. That means $9k to the Buyer's Agent, $9k to the Selling Agent and $3k to the closing cost, leaving us with $278k left to us. Of course I have to spend all of the money on the mortgage on our new house, but imagine a 4 year old home, half an acre of land, 4000 square feet for only $120 thousand. Nice.
I can't believe we are actually under contract.
After SEVEN months of living here, we actually have a buyer.
A BUYER.
Wow.
Now we have to go through disclosures, inspections and appraisals, but we are over 80% there.
FINALLY.
OMG, we are under contract.
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| | One Step Forward, A Hundred Steps Back
Posted: Jun 10, 2008, at 05:03 AM
Stored Under Topic: HOENIE HOME - SELLING -GUID-
Posted By: Infymus | | |
Fate, is not without a sense of irony.
The buyers, while they sent in evidence of prequalification today were denied their FHA loan. That means, the lowest of the easiest loans to get was denied.
Now they have to try and get a conventional loan.
If they can't get that, the deal is off.
And so we sit and wait, but we keep the house up for sale to see if these buyers can qualify for the money.
And so it goes.
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Got a call from our agent today - the buyers couldn't qualify for their loan, and so they were looking for a co-signer somewhere in their family. That again all depends on their credit, etc. I don't understand how they could send in a contract showing that they were pre-qualified, only to be turned down by two separate banks, two separate loans.
So the house is back out for sale again at $299.9k.
And again we wait.
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Our second offer came in today from a person who toured the house earlier this week. His offer was $279k, but was willing to pay for the closing costs.
We are countering the offer at $294k, with no closing cost provided. We will see how it plays out.
We have another contract, and if all goes well, as it usually doesn't, we'll be on our way to selling.
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