Home advice needed...

[butterfly 17]

Well,I looked online today in the afternoon about 2 pm and I saw my house listed, but there was no picture and then I got a call from the agent about 2:30 pm. asking if I could show the house today and on Saturday.

so, of course I said yes!!! So, I had my first showing today at 6 pm and I was very nervous. I had a good feeling as I really felt like the people liked my house and they kept saying how nice and clean it was. They were also happy that I had a garage because they said that was important to the husband.
When they left, they hung out outside in the front for about 10 minutes and were talking, so I ran up to my bedroom and listened!!

The husband was saying that they liked the landscaping and it was good because at least you could you tell where the properties where divided with my neighbors. Then I heard the agent asking if they liked the house and they said yes, it was very nice and then I couldn''t hear parts of their conversation. But it did seem like they liked it.

I am happy that the first show is over as I was sort of dreading it, but now that it''s done, it wasn''t too bad. I would have felt bad if they told the agent that they didn''t like the house and I overheard it.
when my neighbor was showing their house, I listened in to a conversation from a coujple who had just looked at it and they said they didn''t like it and it was not the kind of house they were looking for and at least they didn''t say that about my house.

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 9/21/2006 5:25:20 PM
Author: mrssalvo
really $1200 bucks for MLS. we had our house up for sale last spring. since we didn''t have to move we priced high. we didn''t get any offers and took it off the market for the summer. it was listed in the MLS a couple days after we signed the papers with our agent. who pays the $1200 b/c we sure didn''t

Actually mrssalvo, you do pay that $1200 because that comes from the commission they charge you!

 

[Mara]

i think she is asking who pays it since they didn''t sell their house since they took it off the market for the summer. so does the real estate agent pay the $1200 up front and expect to recoup it when the house sells. so if the house does not sell they may be SOL?

yikes!

 

[mrssalvo]

Date: 9/21/2006 9:59:47 PM
Author: Mara
i think she is asking who pays it since they didn''t sell their house since they took it off the market for the summer. so does the real estate agent pay the $1200 up front and expect to recoup it when the house sells. so if the house does not sell they may be SOL?


yikes!

yep, that''s what I meant.


so glad you had a good first showing butterfly.

 

[butterfly 17]

OH, I thought you meant you listed it yourself in the summer and then stopped, and you just relisted it again now with an agent and you didn''t have to pay him that fee. I didn''t realize you meant when you listed your house with an agent in the summer!

Yes, I guess in that case, the agent lost the money. I think that is why a lot of RE companies make you sign a contract for 3 months or longer, because they do invest some money in advertising, etc and they want to try to make that money back by selling your house.

I am having the new house inspected tomorrow and then I am having a showing on my house right after. I hope the inspection goes well.

 

[Candi]

Hi Butterfly:

My fiance and I were in a similar situation a year ago (although we are in a location of the country where the real estate prices are not so high and the market has slowed a bit).

Just like you we found a great deal on a home (the sellers had to sell), needed to sell my home (but I didn''t want to make it contingent on the sale of my home), and my Dad was willing to do a short term loan so we could close on the new house without having my house sold.

It was a very stressful process, but we are so thrilled we did it. I sold my home by myself (because I am so frugal) and we had four months of double mortgage payments (we prepared for six). Part of our problem was I was trying to sell my house in December of last year (over the holiday season) which can be tough. But, I had an offer in mid-Februay, closed early April. I didn''t even list mine on the MLS (again because I am cheap...I figured that what it would cost in real estate commission, we could afford double mortgage payments for over a year). I just did ads in the paper and was listed on owners.com ($14.95). The For Sale By Owner (FSBO) website can even be pricey...$700-$900 depending on the package. Every real estate market is different. I finally found my buyer by putting flyers on peoples'' cars attending other open houses in my neighborhood.

Yes, once in the new house it may take a while to get accustomed to the new bills, mortgage, etc. and may require cutting down on some luxury items.

Another thing to consider while there may be more expenses with this house it may very well be that your new house over the next 15-20-30 years may appreciate more than your old house. So, by the time your kids go to college you may have more equity to access if you need to for college tuition (or travel or retirement, etc.). Sometimes a larger mortgage can serve as nice forced savings plan.

I''m so thrilled for you. Good luck selling your house and with the move. It is a stressful process, but well worth it!

 

[butterfly 17]

Hi Candi, thanks so much for the advice and well wishes. I had another showing today and the people also seemed to like my house as well.
I did get an offer from a family member for $450k, but they don''t want to pay closing costs and I don''t want to have to pay for that out of my pocket, since I would already be taking a deep cut in the price if I do sell it to them for the $450k and I would still be responsible to pay for transfer and city taxes too.

I told them I would see about it.

The inspection on the house I want to buy went really well. Everything went smoothly and the inspector said that I am getting the house for a great price as well. He could not find anything wrong with the house, no signs of leaks or water damage or termites and he made a lot of helpful suggestions that I will use in the future.

So, with the inspection now out of the way, I am ready to move forward with the contract on Wednesday.

I also have an open house tomorrow, so I am hoping for a few people to show up!

There is still no photo on my MLS listing and I don''t know when they are supposed to do that. I hope soon so at least people will see the picture and hopefully want to see the house.

 

[Small]

butterfly...just checking in to see how the house is showing???

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 9/29/2006 12:42:55 AM
Author: Small
butterfly...just checking in to see how the house is showing???

Well, it's now been listed for a week on MLS and I had only two appointment showings!!! We did have an open house and five different people showed up, but I really don't believe they were serious buyers, they said they just saw the open house sign and decided to drop by.

One lady was interested and wanted to make an offer, but she said she could only afford something in the low 400's and I can't sell the house for that low.

I am having another open house tomorrow, so we will see how that goes. I am crossing my fingers that it will go well.

I guess if it's meant to be, then it will happen. It's only been a week anyway and the MLS listing still doesn't even have a picture of my house up.

ETA: One of the problems in my particular area is that if you type in my zip code and my price range (450 to 500K), about 50 to 60 houses pop up, so there are a lot on the market and a lot of competition for me.

 

[butterfly 17]

Just an update!

I still don''t have any good offers on my house and it has now been listed on MLS for 3 weeks.

The market has been very slow and unfortunately, a lot of people don''t want to buy or want to buy for a lot less than what I am asking.

I have had about 7 appointment showings and two open houses with about 10 buyers ( 5 each).

Of those, I had one couple come back three times and then change their mind and decide to buy new construction and another couple come back twice, but no offer.

I signed the contracts on my new house, but the sellers don''t want to make it contigent on the sell of my house, so they have not signed the contract and have now put the house back on the market. They did make it clear to me that if another offer comes up they will let me know first so I can decide what I want to do.

I did find out from my attorney that they are going into forclosure on the house, so that is why they can''t afford to wait for me to sell. And they must be in contract by November, so they will take any offer that comes along that sounds good to them.

I know my house will sell, but I don''t think that there are enough people looking at my house. I listed my house on for sale by owner.com in hopes that this will attract even more attention to my house.

I am not really sure what to do. We do have enough finances to cover both mortgages for at least 10 months, but my husband is dead set against owing two mortgage payments simultaneously. And I am not too thrilled about having to use up our savings either.

I told him what if they accept an offer from another buyer and then next week our house sells.

I even told him why not just keep our current house, refinance for the amount we need and then rent it out. Then we will have two properties and when the house is worth a lot more, then we can sell.

I am so stressed about this whole thing and starting to get depressed. They say that selling a house is one of the most stressful things that can occur to someone, but boy, I didn''t realize it was true.

I still go with my husband to open houses each weekend to see if there is another house I might like more, but even though some are bigger or fancier, there is something about this house that I love.

Anyway, now I am just rambling. What should I do?

 

[Dee*Jay]

First of all let me say that I'm sorry your house hasn't sold yet. It is certainly very frustrating for you and I wish that you weren't under this strees.

Now, I am not saying this because I am a real estate agent, but because this is what I would do in your situation. You need to get your house listed with an agent who is prominent in the local community and who will aggressively market and promote your property. The fact that we are going into the slow season does not help your situation, so you need someone to get out there and beat down doors to get people in YOUR door to look at the house. Don't use an agent that your friends with or that you "like," use the agent that you feel will best get your home SOLD.

ETA: I just noticed that you said you listed your home on buyowner.com. Do you mean that you did that IN ADDITION to it being listed with an agent? Maybe I misunderstood what you meant.

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 10/13/2006 3:02:39 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
First of all let me say that I''m sorry your house hasn''t sold yet. It is certainly very frustrating for you and I wish that you weren''t under this strees.

Now, I am not saying this because I am a real estate agent, but because this is what I would do in your situation. You need to get your house listed with an agent who is prominent in the local community and who will aggressively market and promote your property. The fact that we are going into the slow season does not help your situation, so you need someone to get out there and beat down doors to get people in YOUR door to look at the house. Don''t use an agent that your friends with or that you ''like,'' use the agent that you feel will best get your home SOLD.

ETA: I just noticed that you said you listed your home on buyowner.com. Do you mean that you did that IN ADDITION to it being listed with an agent? Maybe I misunderstood what you meant.

Hi Dee,
Yes, I have my house listed with an agent and also on my own. My agreement with my agent is that if I sell the house on my own, I don''t pay him any commission fees and I can also cancel our contract at any time as long as I don''t have an acceptance yet.

I listed with the agent who is selling me the other house, so they have a vested interested in selling my house because they will make commissions on both homes with the sale of mine.

I know that the market is kind of slow now, but I didn''t realize how slow. I told my husband not to worry because it''s only been on the market for 3 weeks, and things like this take time, but he is not buying that. I told him that if he remembers, when we bought this house, it had been on the market 2 months already with no offers and we found this house in November, so we have to give it a little more time.

I thought about dropping the price, but my price is $12K less than the cheapest house on my block and it hasn''t been out there even a month yet.

If worse comes to worse, I will switch agents, but for now, I do believe that the agent I have will try very hard to sell my house.

 

[Mara]

i agree with DJ that you need to choose the right agent. for example i know a bunch of agents personally, and some who are okay, but there is probably only one i''d probably use to sell our house, she is super aggressive with her marketing, she''s cute, outgoing, and she also helps sponsor community events, her husband''s family owns a big winery in our area so they are always out doing things for the winery as well, where she also networks for her RE business. she does very well, she knows her business. in a market where things are stagnant that is the most important person to have.

other than that i like your idea about keeping the house, renting it out. if your rental market is strong. that could be a PITA too. but it''s a consideration and it may be worth it to hold onto this house if you feel like you could cover the mortgage, and property taxes with the rent. then sell when the market heats up a bit more again and get what you really want for $$.

what does your agent suggest, or does he have any suggestions??

 

[Dee*Jay]

Oh, that makes more sense Butterfly. For some reason I thought you ONLY had it listed yourself and not with an agent. (My bad for just responding to your last post and not reading the whole thread from the top!)

This is a slow time of year, however, so you may have to sit tight for a while...

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 10/13/2006 6:19:49 PM
Author: Mara
i agree with DJ that you need to choose the right agent. for example i know a bunch of agents personally, and some who are okay, but there is probably only one i''d probably use to sell our house, she is super aggressive with her marketing, she''s cute, outgoing, and she also helps sponsor community events, her husband''s family owns a big winery in our area so they are always out doing things for the winery as well, where she also networks for her RE business. she does very well, she knows her business. in a market where things are stagnant that is the most important person to have.

other than that i like your idea about keeping the house, renting it out. if your rental market is strong. that could be a PITA too. but it''s a consideration and it may be worth it to hold onto this house if you feel like you could cover the mortgage, and property taxes with the rent. then sell when the market heats up a bit more again and get what you really want for $$.

what does your agent suggest, or does he have any suggestions??

I think I might just give my agent a few more weeks and see how it goes. Actually, the agent that I listed with is also the owner of the real estate company. But the person who has been doing the open houses is one of his agents.

We are scheduled for another open house tomorrow, so I will see what happens.


The funny thing about the couple that came back three times ( with family and friends, too) is that they were the first couple that we ever showed the house to. They were my first show, the ones I said I had a good feeling about.

They even came to one of my open houses, so I know they were definitely interested in my house. Too bad!!!

I mentioned the rent thing to my agent but he said that he didn''t think it was a good idea. What if the people don''t want to pay rent? Or what if they destroy my house? Here in NY, it could take 6 months or more to evict a tenant, so I could be stuck in the middle.

My husband''s argument is that if we do rent the house, how will we get the people to move if we have a buyer. OR they might purposely mess things up so that the house looks bad when we have to show it.

I don''t know what to do.

 

[butterfly 17]

I just wanted to update everyone about what is going on with the houses.

So far I still have not had any serious interest on my house. I have had offers, but none of the buyers were serious with their offers.

AS far as the other house, I finally found out some info on the owner, although it could all be heresay as well. I found out that the owner is going to jail and that is why she needs to sell quickly.

My RE agent called me on Monday and told me there was very little time left for the seller to be in contract and then asked me if I got the house for a lower price, would I be able to purchase it from the seller without any contigencies and I said most likely, but it would have to be a few thousand lower. He asked me how much I would be will to pay for the house with no contigencies and I told him $700K ( our original agreed upon purchase price was $740K).

Then on Wed. he told me that there was a problem because the bank had their own buyer and they were offering a much higher amount than what I had offered. They wanted the house for $750K.

He then asked if I could go a little higher than the $700k and I told him the best I could do was $707k. I told him I could not do more than that especially since I still don''t have a buyer for my house.

He asked me if I could go up to $725K and I said no, because at least if I got the house for $707k, even if I did have to pay two mortgages, I would not feel so bad because I know I am getting the house for a decent price. I told him if I lost the house, I would be very upset, but at this point I could not go higher than that.

Well, guess what??? The owners have agreed to sell it to me for the $707K. So, I am basically getting the house for $33k less than what we originally agreed on and they also said we could close the end of January, so it gives me more time to sell my house.

They agreed to this because according to them the bank will charge higher fees etc and also because for some reason, the woman wants to sell me the house.

My husband of course is not completely thrilled with the idea of double mortgages, if it does come to that point, but I told him that there is no way we could get this house for this price so we just have to do it.

All in all, I am getting this house for $102K less than the original asking price, so I think I am making out well. Also, they only built these four houses last year and I doubt the opportunity will come along to purchase one of the other three for a very long time (since those people just moved in as well) and by the time they do sell, it will be much more expensive anyway, so this is a great opportunity to get this house at a below market value price.

Now, if only my house would sell!!!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Butterfly - well the house certainly sounds like a deal at $707. Sending out my strongest *sell this house now!!!* vibes for you!

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 11/11/2006 1:12:08 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
Butterfly - well the house certainly sounds like a deal at $707. Sending out my strongest *sell this house now!!!* vibes for you!

Thanks Dee*Jay!

How is the real estate market doing in your neck of the woods?

I am so afraid but I also don''t want to lose this house, so I figure I have to do what I have to do!

 

[Dee*Jay]

I think things in general are slower for most agents than they were last year. Fortunatly I''ve had as many client this year as I did in 2005, but the dollars that I''ve transacted are smaller. Absolutely no complaints though!

What I''m seeing a lot right now is that people are holding out for whatever price they have in their head, but that it''s taking longer to get it. I don''t think it''s necessarily a bag thing to have a slightly slower market becuase it gives people time to make more reasoned decisions. For a while there people were walking into showings with their chekbooks and making snap decisions. It frankly scared the hell out of me, LOL.

I hope that your home goes quickly!

 

[Mara]

sorry to hear your house is taking a while to sell butterfly!! that is such a pain...and tough position to be in.

our market here for resale on standalone houses is kind of hit or miss right now. there are a few in our zip that i have been watching that took months to sell and one or two that is still for sale. on the flip side, some that are priced in the 700's or low 800's have sold very quickly. but high 800's-900's seem to be taking way longer.

interestingly enough, our own townhouse complex has had 4 end units sell in the last 2 months after having about an average of 1 end unit per 9 months for the last 3 years up for sale. i was afraid it would kind of saturate the end unit market but so far they three have sold for asking and there is only one left and they are asking 5k than the last most expensive so it will be interesting to see how long this one takes to sell. it kind of makes me feel like we should sell soon because we know we could get what we want for our end unit and most likely sell within a month based on the last 6 months end unit sales in our small complex (96 units total and 2 end units on each building). there is this house i have been eyeing for MONTHS now. it has dropped 100k from their initial asking price (which was too high to begin with...and now it's priced VERY well for what it is). it's beautiful inside and outside, and the only downer is that it's on the corner of a busy street and a small side street. that is the only reason i can think that it is taking so long to sell, but i'm really surprised. it's been totally remodeled and is the same size as our townhouse sq ftage but it's all one level with a fairly large lot for this area and in a very good neighborhood area. the only downer is the busy street. anyway, it has been up for a while and we walk by it on our walks all the time and my friend said i should just go take a look at it, during a busy driving time, to see what i think of the noise in the house. i almost feel like i am SUPPOSED to go look at it. because it keeps kind of calling to me. BUT we are not planning to move right now and a move would kind of be an inconvenience...as we decided to wait to decide on our next plan of action next spring. so on one hand i don't want to go see it because i don't want to like it any more than i do now. but greg said i should just go look at it if i really want to. so i may. on the plus side at the price it is at now, we could probably get them to knock another 15k or something off it, sell our place within a month, and that's that....if that did happen and we got our asking, then we'd only be paying about another 50k to get the house, which seems like a steal since it's so lovely. the house is already empty and has been for months. i kind of feel bad for the owners because you can tell from the photos and video tour that they have done a lot of work to the house and it was treated very lovingly....and here they are stuck with it and not able to sell for what it is actually worth. such is the nature of the RE market i guess...not always fair.

anyway ... keep us posted and i hope it all works out and you get an offer very soon on your place!!! have you dropped it at all or are you willing to? we have seen a bunch of high 800's and low 900's resale houses drop 10-30k before selling around here as well lately. yet the 700's seem to be selling quite quickly for asking. guess 800's is kind of that area people don't want to go into? it's kind of an interesting time.

 

[butterfly 17]

OH MY!!!! I have an offer!!!! Not a high offer, but an offer nonetheless!!!

What to do, what to do???

I originally listed my house at $498K, lowered it after 4 weeks to $485K. My house has been on the market now for 6 1/2 weeks.


These buyers offered $450K. My lowest low to put 20% and have enough for closing costs is $450K.

What should I counter and how soon should I counter?

Also, they are perfect buyers, nothing to sell, preapproved and ready to close as soon as possible!!!!

DEE*JAY!!!!!!!

 

[WTNLVR]

Congrats! Sounds like the kind of buyer you don''t want to get away. I''d counter $470. They are expecting you to barter back and forth a bit. Is there anything you can add into the sale to make it sweeter? Like a washer and dryer, big screen tv, fridge? Having been through this once all I can say is take it 1 day at a time. I had 3 people "buy" my house before I finally sold it. They backed out for inspection issues, job loss, and first time buyers remorse. Not trying to burst your bubble, just be cautiously optimistic. I''d counter within 3 days of the offer, sooner if possible. Good luck!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Butterfly - Woo hoo, having AN offer is better than having NO offer!

What sense is your agent giving you of the buyer's interest level? Are they "serious" or just trying to low-ball and see if they an get it? I get these sense that they are indeed serious based on what you know about them (nothing to sell, preapproved, ready to close ASAP) because those are not the type of factors that you give out if you don't mean it.

If you know that $450 is your bottom, so you have nowhere to go here but up. That being said, this is also a tough time of year to sell and if you don't make a deal out of this you might not get another offer until after the holidays. My suggestion would be to go back at $375K and see what they say. You have already dropped your price by $13K, and I don't get the impression that your original price was outrageous to begin with, so I hope there is some bargaining room here in your favor.

As for countering, no need to wait. The sooner you go back to them the sooner the negotiating process either continues (because them might come back to you yet again) or gets over with, and that is a good thing for everyone. You don't want to cause your potential buyer any more angst than is necessary by forcing them to sit around and worry about your response, not to mention you also don't want to give them more time to go out looking at other things and possibly finding something else they want.

KEEP IN MIND I AM NOT YOUR AGENT AND I AM GIVING YOU "ADVICE" WITHOUT KNOWING MANY OF THE DETAILS THAT GO INTO THIS DEAL (but I'm using my best judgement with that I do know).

Keep us posted!!!

ETA: Butterfly, so much of a real estate transaction is really about the PEOPLE and the personalities involved that I almost feel like I'm doing you a disservice by offering advice via an internet forum and without the benefit of having a real feel for the players. PLEASE, if you have a good agent trust what they tell you more than what I tell you. And if you've reached this point with your potential buyer without agent intervention (because I know you are also advertising the house yourself) then go with YOUR gut over anything that I say.

 

[butterfly 17]

Okay, I called back my RE agent and told them I wanted to counter at $478K. The house across from me just sold on 10/19 for $500K, so I think that would be a good counteroffer.

I would like to settle at $470K if I can, but I will take lower if I have to.

I don''t know too much about the buyers except that the woman came last week and really liked the house. She came by herself and asked me if she could come back with her husband.
Later on that day, we had an open house so I told my RE agent that someone came earlier who seemed to really like the house. So, she called the buyer''s RE agent and told her that we were having an open if she was interested in coming back and also she wanted to get feedback.

I was next to her when she was on the phone, so I could hear what the buyer''s agent was saying on the other line. I heard her say she was not sure which house at first and then she said, oh, the one that looks like new construction.

The I heard her say that the woman really liked the house and wanted to come back to show it to her husband, just not that day.


Today, they came unexpectedly, they called an hour before to find out if they could see the house and luckily I had just cleaned the house for a reshow for another couple and their parents, who cancelled by the way! They also looked at the house I was attached to which is for sale too.
About an hour after they left, I got the call that they made an offer!

There was another couple that came on Thursday and Friday and another one that came yesterday that I think really liked our house as well. Hopefully they will like it enough to make an offer and that will get the ball rolling!!!

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 11/12/2006 3:27:28 PM
Author: WTNLVR
Congrats! Sounds like the kind of buyer you don''t want to get away. I''d counter $470. They are expecting you to barter back and forth a bit. Is there anything you can add into the sale to make it sweeter? Like a washer and dryer, big screen tv, fridge? Having been through this once all I can say is take it 1 day at a time. I had 3 people ''buy'' my house before I finally sold it. They backed out for inspection issues, job loss, and first time buyers remorse. Not trying to burst your bubble, just be cautiously optimistic. I''d counter within 3 days of the offer, sooner if possible. Good luck!

Hi WTNLVR,
I did add basically everything I could. I included all the appliances, all the window treatments, all the lighting fixtures, except in the dining room.

I am afraid that they might change their minds as well

, but I have a feeling that the other couples that came to the house will make an offer as well.

The funny thing is that I told my husband I think by my birthday, the 17th, we would have an acceptable serious offer. So, now we will see what will happen!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Butterfly - just bumping to see if you got a response to your counter offer yet.

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 11/13/2006 9:10:48 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
Butterfly - just bumping to see if you got a response to your counter offer yet.

Yes, they countered at $465k and my RE agent said that is the highest they want to go. I told my husband and he said he wants $470K, so I told my agent that we want $470K and to do one last counter offer for that to see if they will come up to that or meet us in between.

I figure for $5k more, they should bite, but if not and they say they really really can only buy for $465k, then I will just accept it.

 

[Mara]

i would just accept it at 465 ... but i''m lazy and a bird in the hand... you know the saying. esp since you need to get into this other house soon.

someone in our complex just posted their end unit townhouse for 10k less than the last 3 have sold. at first i was like you guys suck for bringing down our potential value BUT it sold within a week. they must have needed to move quickly. so now i am like okay hey if we needed to get out of here quickly to get something else i''d do that too.

plus another one sold for the 10k more anyway a week later so it didn''t seem to affect things long-term. hopefully!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Butterfly - you did exactly what I would have done, going back at $470. Fingers crossed for you, but at least you know you''ve got $465. Tell us as soon as you know!!!

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 11/14/2006 10:54:27 AM
Author: Mara
i would just accept it at 465 ... but i''m lazy and a bird in the hand... you know the saying. esp since you need to get into this other house soon.

someone in our complex just posted their end unit townhouse for 10k less than the last 3 have sold. at first i was like you guys suck for bringing down our potential value BUT it sold within a week. they must have needed to move quickly. so now i am like okay hey if we needed to get out of here quickly to get something else i''d do that too.

plus another one sold for the 10k more anyway a week later so it didn''t seem to affect things long-term. hopefully!

Yes, that''s what sucks!!! I know I can get more, but since the market is so iffy and I am in a desperate situation, then I really can''t afford to wait to see if I get another offer.
I would rather take the $465 and know I am getting it, than get say $475 and have to pay three months of double mortgages because then it will be the same difference anyway.

I also felt the same way about pricing my house less than everyone else. I felt like, hey, I am lowering the value of my neighborhood. But then again the house I am attached to has been on the market since May and she has had no offers and she is set to close in January on her new house after extending it from November, and she was listed at $510 and I don''t want to be in a situation where I have these two houses to pay for, plus the loan from my mom.

The end unit that was listed for 10K less, do you know the actual price they got for the house, whether they got full asking price? It would be interesting to see what they actually got, but if they just sold, it will be a while before the records are out.