Sold my house in 7 days...

[NoMoMoney]

1. Maybe his house is in a different location than the Graduate School and that is why he had to sell. Taking care of an out-of-town rental property while doing graduate studies could keep one pretty busy.

Nope, grad school is Boston. I have other reasons. I don't want to be a landlord and have to worry about it.

2. Sometimes it is better to leave some money on the in exchange for a quick sale.
Yes, This was a major reason why we took one of the first round of offers.

3. Not a done deal till it closes.
Correct! I'll know for sure Saturday after the inspection. Well, he could walk away at any point after that, but if he just decides to get up and go after the P&S is signed I get his deposit of 20K and then get to sell the house during the summer. There are other clauses that will allow him to walk away without losing the deposit, like if he can't get a mortgage, but he seemed like a solid candidate and had 20% down.

 

[NoMoMoney]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
if he has nasty monthly payment on house, he basically cannot afford it anymore. Grad school=livin' like bum

I think I got everyone's comments down! My monthly payment is actually very low, I'll be paying more in rent. But I won't have to worry about all the fun things that come along with owning a house!

As for the mortgage write off, paying 50K for school each year is a nice write off and will more then offset the 12K interest I lose from the mortgage. For those of you set to argue something on this, in reality I would of probably gotten hit with the AMT if I stayed in my house, meaning that mortgage deductions are not allowed (until they change that, I believe). You don't own a house for the write off, that's a bad reason. It's a nice perk, but a bad reason to own.

 

[UDT89]

Originally posted by: CPA

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: NoMoMoney

Originally posted by: smack Down
It is a violation of the realtor's ethical rules to not show all the houses. But when have you ever meet an ethical salesperson.

I interviewed 4 Realtors... I'd say 3 of them were probably borderline unethical. Not showing the house I don't think they would do if a client pointed it out, but not telling their client about the house is probably a gray area for them. Well, it was a little too big (or stove was electric instead of gas). They would find an excuse not to point it out!

I wouldn't plan on the Realtors ever enforcing the rules because if they did it would mean an end to their commission scheme which is a major ripe off. By having the seller pay the buyers agent it means the buyer has no reason not to use an agent.

The commission scheme is a ripoff. Hell, when I was buying, I found most of the homes I wanted to view. My realtor rarely came up with a house. Of course, he made several thousand when we finally decided on a house.

when i bought my co-op i did all the legwork. i tried working with a realtor but they would show me things that were opposite to what i told them i wanted. so i got fed up and just went MLS

 

[geckojohn]

congratulations

 

[RaiderJ]

The couple I purchased my truck from sold their house on craigslist and didn't pay a buyer's agent commission. They said it was a little tough to convince the buyer they should pay for their realtor, but the price they said was worth it.

 

[skrilla]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: NoMoMoney
I'm amazed. I had to sell my house to go to grad school this fall. I talked to several Realtors (4) and was unimpressed with them all. 2 were owners of their offices for big name franchises.

I decided to list myself paying someone to put me on MLS. I took the 12K that I was saving by not paying commission to a listing agent and dropped my price by it. Had 2 written offers and a third verbal one the first week. Accepted one on Friday and have the inspection this week.

I still had to pay the buyer's agent 2% and about 1K in listing and legal fees from my side of things. 7 days, not bad, probably means I could of asked for more $! Oh well, quick sale and a closing day that I wanted.

I'm in Boston area, so the market is doing OK. Not good, but I don't think bad. Average house is on the market for 60 days or so.

If you dropped the price by the amount you would have paid a listing agent then what was the point? You did all the work and saved no money. Congrats! Oh, and you probably sold your house for less than it was worth. Congrats again.

OP wanted a quick sale. Not the average 60-day on the market sale. He was able to put his house up for 12K less than comparable houses on the market - which can be huge if you are trying to sell quickly.