What kind of a sacrifice, in terms of percentage, is it taking to sell a home now?

Thanks for the kind wishes. I am hopeful of a position at an academically respectable institution. Several are looking pretty promising, but, unfortunately, each entails a move.

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"Puddleglum" by Weatherwax (one of the Muddlings).

Jeeves to the Rescue

Each market area is going to be different regarding home value increase/decrease, so you really need to think locally in this regard. For example, a friend of mine relocated recently to the Midwest and the house sat on the market for 6 months. She initially listed the home for $645K. They paid $600K for the home in 2004 so they weren't really asking for an unrealistic amount for their home, just enough to pay off their mortgage, the real estate commission and maybe have some extra cash to help with their move. After 6 months on the market and few interested buyers, they finally sold the home and closed in October.... final sale price was $525K. That is taking a beating! Some forecasters are predicting that 2009 may be better than 2008, but then there are the doomsayers who say 2009 will be worse. It's hard to predict what will happen so you just need to continue to live your life anyway, fix up the house and put it on the market and hope for the best. It also helps to have good karma, which you already have

If you want to see what homes are for sale in your area, check out the Zillow website. This will show you the homes in your area that are for sale, the sale price, and also shows you what the current owner paid for the home, which can be an approximate indicator of current market valuation in your area (the previous sale information for specific homes can be found under the "Charts & Data" information). Unfortunately in this economy, market valuation and pricing is being determined by what buyers will pay for a home, NOT what you think it is worth. This is unfortunate for all of us homeowners, especially those that must sell right now or in 2009.

Here's the website link:

ZILLOW

Thanks.

Yes, I anticipate a tough market. We do plan to contact an agent soon after the new year, and we've been chipping away at making the place as presentable as possible.

I've personally worked on this house for eleven years and it has lots of unusually nice features, but it looks like the same old story: we'll get it just the way we've always wanted it right when we are ready to leave.

We completely renovated/restored a Victorian home years ago and lived in the midst of a construction zone for six years. I pulled it all together at the end so that a realtor who came in said, "This place shines." We wound up selling it FSBO in three weeks.

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"Puddleglum" by Weatherwax (one of the Muddlings).

Jeeves to the Rescue

With your experience in "shining" houses, you don't need an agent.

Consider their motive for making improvements and the eventual 7%.

If you have time to do it yourself, do it!

I'm not knocking "agents," they are needed in some cases. But if there is no financing, they aren't going to finance it!

I too plan on putting my house up for sale sometime in 2009....I realize I'm probably not going to make a lot of money on the sell but I'm looking to downsize and do hope I can just sell the darn thing! The wife and I are putting a lot of money into remodeling and updating the house tyring to make it competitive but you are right, Nitpickers...lots of foreclosures out there....last I checked there were 54 in PTC alone. That's gotta be a record.

My parents are considering having a raffle on their house. They're setting it up with an agent (my cousin), to sell 1000 tickets for $250 each. If, by chance, more tickets are sold - the amount over $250K would go to charity. It's a 1/1000 chance to win a house for $250. They have an old house (1908) in Hampton. 5 bedrooms, 5 fireplaces (4 of which were coal burning and unusable but look real pretty), 2 acres, 4000 sq. feet, heart of pine flooring, high ceilings, new roof, new plumbing, 2 massive AC units, etc. What a steal for someone to take a $250 chance. Even better, the ghosts don't bother 'em much either.

In these hard times, many are coming up with more creative ways to sell their house.

OCGA section 16-12-20(4) provides the following definition:

"Lottery" means any scheme or procedure whereby one or more prizes are distributed by chance among persons who have paid or promised consideration for a chance to win such prize, whether such scheme or procedure is called a pool, lottery, raffle, gift, gift enterprise, sale, policy game, or by some other name.

OCGA section 16-12-22(a):

A person commits the offense of commercial gambling when he intentionally does any of the following acts:

(6) Sets up or promotes any lottery, sells or offers to sell, or knowingly possesses for transfer or transfers any card, stub, ticket, check, or other device designed to serve as evidence of participation in any lottery.

OCGA section 16-12-22(b):

A person who commits the offense of commercial gambling shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years or by a fine not to exceed $20,000 or both.

(It helps to remember Fayette voters like electing judges who are tough on crime.)

See also OCGA section 16-2-20 on aiding and abetting.

It’s lawful for governments to gamble with a lottery, but you can go to prison for it. Our electors should go to jail too for their double standards.

I don't think you quite get it yet.

The government doesn't allow gambling not controlled by them due to crooks taking people for suckers! At least the government, while tsking us for suckers, spends some of the money for good causes!

You need not tell the "agent" anything. He is probably smart enough to know better already if he is a profesional "agent."

Dreaming of a windfall is like something that is too good to be true--- it always is!

So you subscribe to the theory that the government knows best for everything. A nice socialistic position.

Thanks for the info, I'll pass it along to mom and dad and to their agent. I'm wondering why she didn't know this already.

It might take $ away from the state lottery and that's not allowed.

Nevertheless, a house that unique may sell because it is one of a kind. Others who have tract houses to sell - of which thousands have been built next to each other in almost every county will have a much tougher time for at least the next year.

It is a great time to buy - especially if you are an investor. There's a foreclosure in Rocksrpay that can be bought for $150,000 and rented out for enough to have a positive cash flow of $500 per month. It might be worth $200,000 in 2 or 3 years and if sold then that would be better than any other investment - certainly better than the stock market. Trouble is you usually have to tie up a lot of cash since banks won't loan on investment property. But maybe the bank selling the foreclosed property can see the wisdom of providing a loan to a solvent investor (meaning you have the loan amount and more deposited in their bank). Has to be a local bank, the Wachovia's of the world won't play that game - they just dump it at any cost. In fact if you see Wachovia's name on a foreclosure you should offer even less. Thy are panicky and may take it.

I regret to say that this isn't going to work!

There are not a thousand people who will contribute $250.00!

It has been tried.

A ticket for a dollar (one) will sell a lot more, but you won't find 250,000 people for that either.

Hope the agent isn't being paid in advance!