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[jackthebear]

BTDT

clean out all the stuff

put in on the market

our agent said your first offer is the best, and believe me this was true

take your first offer and be done, and put it behind you and move on with your life.  Don't keep hoping for the "next deal"  

[blackhole99]

After my MIL died and left a mess for my husband and his brother to deal with, it was a year before they could sell the house. The house needed a new roof ,new plumbing and wiring, an updated kitchen, etc. We held a public sale and it sold that day, we knew we were not going to get a fortune for the house in the shape it was in. I don't know if public sales are popular in your area.

[Sooner]

The people here have in many cases walked in your shoes and given you some excellent advice and things to think about.  Do your research in your market and that will help you.

Some real estate agents will try to get you to sell the house too cheap to get a quick sale, some will shoot you an unrealistically high price to get you to sign a year contract and then start working you to dastically lower the price.

Ask for references and talk to several agents from companies that sell a lot and advertise well on traditional AND social media.  Look at their ads, are the photos appealing and put the house in a good light?  Is the information thorough?

Some offices will make you an offer to buy the property if it doesn't sell in a certain time frame.  Might check that out. 

Don't take comments personally.  People are telling you what they like or don't like about the house, which helps you measure it against others for sale in the area and the asking price for those. 

[nomar]

Been in this situation also. Mother was in a nursing home for 5 years and I kept thinking maybe she could come home someday. Of course that was not going to happen. But, somehow the insurance company found out it was empty. I did not know that was something they frowned on and would cancel you. We had been paying the insurance and my husband was having to keep a mower in her garage, go across town all the time to mow and shovel snow. Then the mower got stolen. Crooks soon find out a house is empty. The final straw was some homeless people moved in. We caught them after they had been there a few days. Scary. That house got listed fast and sold pretty fast at a very low price, but it was causing a lot of grief. It was like the world off our shoulders finally. I was hanging on to it for sentimental reasons and when it was gone I was relieved.

[GinzTonic]

My mom just went thru the same thing . Finally sold a lovely home in a great neighborhood, but many of the comments were; outdated & overpriced. Very discouraging , she even painted to update etc... 

[Sooner]

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@GinzTonic wrote:

My mom just went thru the same thing . Finally sold a lovely home in a great neighborhood, but many of the comments were; outdated & overpriced. Very discouraging , she even painted to update etc... 

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@GinzTonic  That breaks my heart.  Not so bad if the kids have to do it.  Terrible if mom has to go through it. 

[Eileen in Virginia]

Don’t let the negative comments get you down. They’re probably trying to get you to sell the the house for a song. Some of those buyers make offers that they know are ridiculous on the hope that you’ll accept it or counter at a much lower price than your asking price. Others may not really be able to afford the house unless you sell it at a serious reduction. Regardless, your realtor should have helped you set your price based on the recent sales of comparable houses in the area. 

We sold my MIL’s “snow bird” house on a golf course in Florida after she died. No one in the family was interested in keeping it to snow bird, nor did we want to be absentee landlords. It was a lovely single level house in very good shape, but hadn’t been updated since they bought it about 15 years before her death. Even so, we listed it as-is with a realtor who looked after it when she wasn’t there because we didn’t want to invest in upgrades that might not be to someone else’s taste. Our biggest challenge was a new housing development across the golf course with options for all the bells and whistles that were trends at that time. We received 3 offers fairly quickly, 1 of which was a downright insult. We sold it a month or so later to the 4th offeror, who made a very fair offer and saw the value of solid hardwood floors, original crown molding, built-in book cases, etc. They were more interested in getting a solidly built and well-maintained house than a mini HGTV house of the year. They lived in Florida and only wanted some of the furniture, so we had an estate sale company sell the rest. We did have to replace the roof after an inspection showed that it was nearing the end of its life, but that was the only upgrade we made. Our family was really glad that we didn’t cave in after some of the initial offers (especially the 3rd one, which our realtor said he had to submit even though he knew we wouldn’t accept it). Our realtor never pressured us to accept an offer.   Keep your chin up and don’t let those negative people get you down. Good luck! 

[PamfromCT]

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@Mominohio wrote:

I'll add that if this is indeed a very upscale community, someone is going to jump on a much cheaper home (because of the needed updating) just to get in the area, then put money in and do it their way. There are a lot of people that will see this as a great opportunity to buy into an area they might not otherwise be able to afford.

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Absolutely!  When we were looking to move from our first home, we got a great deal on our present home because "it did not show well."  The house was relatively new, but jam packed -really- with furniture.  I had never seen so many bureaus everywhere.  But we had no problems visualizing the rooms without all the stuff.  Some people have no imagination, I guess.  We made an offer, which was accepted.  Just repainting walls, and we were set.

When our DS and DIL bought their home, it had been owned by an elderly woman and needed updating.  They painted the kitchen cabinets, and put in a new kitchen counter.  Looks just fine.  Repainted rooms and outside of home.  Looks just fine to me.  

Ideal way way to get a home in an area you could otherwise not afford.

[jeanlake]

Sooner's right - set your sentimentality aside and take care of business. This is tough for adult children to walk through. Hope its over for you soon.

[Q4u]

We just sold our home after almost a year on the market!!

Upscale area in the country, 5/3, walk out basement. 5 acres,  Big barn with 3 roll up doors, one door being 14ft high!  Professionally landscaped!  Community has its own roads and the Community is well known in the area    Built in 2011, all amenities and our first offer was 100K below asking price from a known flpper!!  Weigh your offers, taking the first offer isn't always the answer....