Or as one of my nieces observed when selling her last house, I felt very
"exposed."
Selling a house in 2014 is much different than it was the previous eight
times I sold a house. The internet is good for home sellers in that
potential buyers can see what the interior of your house looks like
through virtual tours, before actually coming inside:
Professional photo of our open-concept living area
(Graphic Dimensions, Inc.)
The downside is that . . . the whole world can see
online what the interior of
your home looks like, and can find a lot more personal information about
you on the internet.
So why am I putting all these photos of our house in this four-page
series?? May as well. They're already out there in cyber-land and they
help to illustrate my points.
LISTING THE HOUSE FOR SALE
Our original tentative date to list the house was in mid-April.
However, we waited until the last week of April to start the listing
because spring was late in the Roanoke Valley this year. We wanted some
leaves to be out and the azaleas, dogwoods, and other spring flowers to
be in bloom when the professional photos would be taken.
Photo I took one spring of the
pink dogwood in our front yard (old roof shown in picture)
Not only would the property show nicer then in the exterior photos
potential buyers would see online, it also gave
us an extra week to finish up all of our projects.
SOME CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING OUR SELLING AGENT
Jim and I have each been through selling a house enough times before to
know that it's no picnic.
First, we had to chose the "right" agent, which can be an arduous process.
Jim and I didn't even consider going the FSBO route. Although I once
sold a house with land in north Georgia without an agent, all the other
sales transactions we've each been through (endured!) utilized
professional real estate agents. To us, a good real estate agent is well worth his or her commission.
We researched criteria of successful agents and decided mutually on our priorities. It
was important that we felt comfortable with the person we hired and that
we felt (s)he had a successful marketing plan for our particular property.
It can be more difficult to sell country property with land than a
suburban or urban house with a small yard. There are fewer buyers who
want land or to be farther out from town. For several reasons we chose an
experienced agent familiar with property near the lake rather than one from in town.
A spectacular sunset from our
back yard; our agent incorporated some of my outdoor pictures
from different seasons into the online slideshow (I take better scenic than interior photos).
Since most buyers do their initial shopping for a new residence
online now, it was extremely important to us that the agent we chose
would put professional pictures of our house on a wide variety of websites
-- not just industry giants like Zillow and Trulia, but also more
regional and more specialized ones featuring homes on land.
We wanted to reach as many of our targeted buyers as possible.
The first impression is the
only impression people would get of our house. If they weren't
impressed with the photos they saw online, they'd immediately dismiss
our house as a contender.
Some agents think the photos they take of their listings are
good enough. It obviously saves them money. In most cases, we don't
think agents' interior photos look as good as what the pros do. Nor do
mine. You can see in this four-page series that the professional interior photos marked as
taken by GDI are a thousand times better than the ones I took.
Here's an example:
My photo of the family room =
crummy-looking even after tweaking it in PhotoShop
(4-21-14)
Professional photo taken by GDI a
few days later = much, much better!
The agent we chose used a professional service (Graphic Dimensions, Inc.,
or GDI) whose photos and slideshows -- virtual tours -- we
really liked on our agent's and other agents' websites.
We highly recommend this company.
Their online home tour literally sold our house.
GDI also provided floor plans with the photos online, which is a
handy feature. Buyers can see the layout and sizes of the rooms of
houses and decide if they want to see them in person. We didn't have a
floor plan of our house to show buyers after the previous owners added
the great room, deck, and screened porch so this feature was
extra-important to help sell our house.
It was fun to watch the GDI photographer use his electronic gizmo to
quickly but accurately scan the rooms in our house. This is his
rendering of the main floor. There was also a floor plan for the lower
level:
Our buyers told us they were impressed with the photos of our house
and that's why they called an agent to see it. Many buyers reject houses they
might like simply because the photos don't do it justice, so we were
very glad we went with our gut feeling about professional photos.
PRICING DILEMMA
We narrowed down the original list of seven agents to three and
re-interviewed them.
The second time they came out to the house we showed them what we'd
done since they were there six to eight weeks earlier. We asked if they
had any additional recommendations, listened to
their detailed marketing plans, and reviewed the most recent comps they
provided. All three agents were in the same listing price range.
One of three types of peonies in
the perennial bed along the driveway; they bloom in May.
We had an easier time choosing an agent than choosing a list price.
Rural or unusual property is always more difficult to compare than
similar houses in a subdivision or city neighborhood. Every time we've
gotten comps the last six years, the numbers recommended for our
property have been all over the board. At our price point that's not
only frustrating, it seems
ridiculous -- but there are valid reasons for the variances.
This time wasn't much different. There are just too many variables (size
and age of the houses, types and amounts of acreage, distance from town, etc.) and
because of the housing crash and time of year, there are not very many
comps in the last three to six months.
List prices are more of a moving target than usual at this time and
in this rural market.
We weren't there long enough this summer, either,
for the peaches to get this big.
I took this picture in 2008, the only time in ten
years we spent the entire summer at the house.
We chose a listing price at the low end of the range recommended by the three agents we
last interviewed, not because we wanted to spark a bidding war but
because we wanted as quick of a sale as possible.
We hoped we wouldn't have to go much lower. It's
still more of a buyers' than sellers' market in our area so we assumed buyers would
want a "deal" and maybe some closing costs. Jim and I never
did have to figure out a rock-bottom offer that we would accept --
we didn't need to.
Fortunately, we got an acceptable offer in only ten days, faster than we
thought possible. We didn't make a
killing but we didn't feel like we gave the place away, either.
It was a win-win for both the buyers and us.
LIFE IS AN OPEN BOOK WHEN YOU'RE SELLING A HOUSE
There aren't many secrets left in this day and age. Buyers and other
curious people can find out an amazing amount of personal information
from the internet when you list a house to sell.
I grew up in a family that didn't discuss prices of houses, vehicles,
and other big-ticket items except with our spouse. I've never known what my
parents or siblings or cousins -- let alone neighbors and friends
-- paid for a house or sold it for. It wasn't my business.
We just didn't talk about those things.
Neither did Jim's family, in most cases.
We still don't, but it's pretty easy to find out the information
online now! Want to know what someone paid for their house? how much
they sold it for? what their property taxes are? what it looks like
inside, if they listed or sold it recently?
Just plug in their address on Zillow or other similar websites.
Those numbers, pictures, and other information pop up in a matter of seconds.
(If the information on your own house isn't accurate, good luck
correcting it!)
The Roanoke River flows for
several miles through Explore Park. (5-27-14)
Sellers are exposed in a different way when potential buyers come to
see their houses.
Even though most buyers now do their home searches online, they
still usually want to tour the houses in person that interest them.
Whether you sell a house yourself (FSBO) or with an agent, you've got to
keep the place clean and looking its best at a moment's notice. That
includes things in closets and cupboards, because potential buyers
will look into them.
We don't have kids to mess up the house but we were living in it with
two dogs while it was on the market so keeping it clean and orderly 24/7 before we had a
contract was very stressful. We had our "last-minute" routine prepping
the place for a showing down to about 15 minutes.
We thought it was best to make ourselves -- and the dogs
-- scarce when the house was being shown by an agent. In this and previous
sales the thought always occurred to me,
"I wonder if they're looking in our dresser drawers??" Before
listing it's best to remove most personal items like family photos or
religious/political objects but if you're still occupying the house, you
can't remove all of your personal items.
Selling a house has been stressful to me in almost all of my
previous transactions. For various reasons this was one of the worst for us.
It seemed like all the work and the various decisions we
had to make just never ended. We also worry about more things the older
we get.
MORE PATIENCE REQUIRED
We were excited when the listing information, photos, and virtual
tour hit the internet on a Friday. We just knew someone would want to
come see our house that weekend.
Not. We feared déja vu all over
again, like only three showings in two months last summer. Fortunately,
we got an offer just ten days after the listing was made public.
Our first -- and only -- showing was the day before
that, a Saturday. We left with the dogs before they arrived. A couple,
her parents, and their agent were at the house for two hours, which made
us very hopeful we'd get an offer. They went out to walk through the
woods twice while they were there.
The couple wanted to see the house again on Sunday and asked that we
be there so they could ask us some questions. They seemed very, very
interested in the property. Later that day they made an offer. There were
two counter-offers before we all agreed on the terms. We didn't even
consider waiting for a bidding war that might never occur. We just
wanted out.
Having a solid-sounding contract didn't entirely reduce our stress
levels but it did remove the pressure of keeping the house show-ready
every day. That was a relief and allowed us to focus on other things we
needed to do.
Cody enjoys a swim in the Roanoke
River at Explore Park. (5-27-14)
Our new concerns were disposing of the remaining possessions we
didn't want to keep, storing the things we did want to keep, and
dealing with potential problems that could crop up before the closing.
We had to wait almost two months for the buyers' VA loan to be
approved. Would the property appraise at or above the sale price? What
if either the husband or wife lost their job before the loan was
approved? Would the home inspector find something expensive that the
buyers would want us to fix? Would termites or radon be discovered?
Not to worry -- but we did, of course.
The appraisal came out higher than the sales price, which was good
news. No radon or termites were found. The home inspector did find a few
things he thought needed to be brought up to code but those were
relatively inexpensive and the buyer didn't ask us to do all of them.
And thankfully the buyers did qualify for their loan. It just took
the VA forever and a day to finalize everything.
OTHER ACTIVITIES WHILE IN THE ROANOKE AREA.
We've been so busy with the house and household goods the last four
months that we haven't been as active physically as usual.
Jim did get out for some good bike rides on the Roanoke River
Greenway and other locations.
I walked the dogs several miles every day.
If I didn't have time to take them to Explore Park, Chestnut Ridge, the
Wolf Creek Greenway, or nearby mountain trails I'd at least take them on
several loops of our own woods. I also rode my cyclocross bike on the
river greenway several times.
Cody and Casey get some water in
a pretty little creek at Explore Park. (5-23-14)
We look forward to increasing our cycling and hiking miles this
summer, now that we don't have a house and yard to keep us busy any more.
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
We brought the camper back to the house about a week before closing
so we could clean it, do some maintenance, and pack it for our new
full-time travel lifestyle.
We emptied the remaining items from the house yesterday and cleaned
it thoroughly before the buyers came over to do their final walk-through.
You can see why I sometimes called our house a
"tree house." (6-25-14)
We hadn't seen the house completely empty since we bought it. The
large open living area with hardwood floors echoed with no upholstered
furniture or area rugs in them any more. Even the carpeted bedrooms echoed.
Since the house -- and refrigerator -- were completely
empty last night we ate supper and slept overnight in our camper down in
the driveway:
We joked that it was one of our better campsites because it was quiet
and private, we had a forest to walk in, we were plugged into the
house's electricity and water supply, and we had use of the indoor
potties and laundry facilities.
We had no problem leaving this morning with big smiles on our faces.
We signed our closing paperwork several days ago.
Since everything seemed to be going well regarding the buyers' closing
we didn't hang around until they signed all their papers. About noon the
closing attorney's office called to tell us the closing was over and the
deed would be recorded in about an hour.
Good thing, because by then we were almost in Washington, DC. Our proceeds will be wired
to our bank tomorrow. Yay!!!
HOME = OUR RV, WHEREVER IT'S PARKED
The FamCamp at Andrews
Air Force Base in metro Washington, DC is our first destination in
this summer's trip. Here's our campsite for the next couple of weeks:
(I'll explain the Odyssey van in
the next entry.)
But I can't call where we go a "summer trip" and a "winter trip" now,
can I? This is our lifestyle, not just a trip anymore.
For six or seven years I've been saying, "Home is where our camper
is."
Now we can add, "We aren't homeless, just house-free."
Next entry: camping at Andrews AFB, beginning to explore the
Washington, DC area, and our tentative
travel plans for the summer and fall
Happy trails,
Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil,
Cody the ultra Lab, and Casey-pup
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© 2014 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil