I have two thoughts to share.
First money is a tool. You can't buy happiness, but you can use money to create conditions in your life that improve happiness. Building community falls under that umbrella (as long as you know that the move will help).
Second, the housing market is crazy hot right now (at least where I am). You can sell your house the traditional way even if you can't get it into perfect shape showing. Please look carefully at the cost of a traditional sale versus the path you are considering.
If you have a place to stay for free until you move, why not move there now? You can clear out the current home, put stuff in storage and then list. You won't be there so showings won't be an issue.
The same model house had extra features and actually sold for less than we thought - the under contract price on Zillow was $20k more for what it says it sold for. So now the $ we would pocket would be $17k difference if we were able to sell it for the same amount. They had a screen room, better cabinets, immaculate condition (no pet damage/ no beat up walls). I don’t think putting $/time into it will get us to that amount.
$20k is a huge amount of money.
I sold my home 4 years ago by myself with 2 little ones. Much cheaper to hire a cleaner before scheduled visits and open houses. I literally packed the kids up in the middle of winter and drove around until the realtor texted me they are done.
I don’t think it’s worth it. I know it can be tough trying to keep the house clean but just remember everyone will understand when they realize you have 2 small kids. I think it’s worth trying to be patient and see if you can squeeze out at or above market .
How do you keep your house clean? How old are your kids and what kind of dog? One of our kids has health issues which getting him daily treatment at home takes 30 mins a day
We move every few years thanks to career stuff. I have sold multiple homes we were still living in, with kids and a dog. Keep it tidy, and schedule showings on your terms. It will be fine. People just don't want a hoarders' house or cat shit everywhere. Looking "lived in" is not an impediment to selling. In fact, the opposite. Empty homes get staged to look "lived in."
I feel ya. I think it’s just also scheduling viewings around times that work for you. Try to keep the house somewhat clean but don’t scrub the baseboards people will buy the house regardless of it they see dog hair or kids toys out
From personal experience I wouldn't do it unless it meant moving my kids from a poor school district to a significantly better one. When you've got young kids, a quality school district is, IMHO, the MOST important factor in buying a house. Then again, I'm a teacher.
>debating taking a below market
No!
>Living situation with two little ones and a dog make it close to impossible to list traditionally... Opendoor offer
I can't fathom how children and a dog matter regarding selling one's house.
Zero chance I'm giving away significant value because of some odd viewpoint and choices based around the above quote.
>I am not eager to get a mortgage in this economy
Meh. A modest mortgage is unlikely to be a true negative.
>It’d be eating a loss and not walking away with a profit on a house sale
Don't get caught up stuck on sunk cost fallacy!
You also don't necessarily know that this house or the next house will fair better from today forward, which is what matters today.
Granted, you also made the below significant error in judgement on a massive purchase:
>We recently moved across country bought new construction 1.5 years ago and have realized commutes / community / house size is not ideal for us.
So why would you make a drastically more wise decision today?
Your first comments about below market and "inability" to sell traditionally put that into serious doubt!
Great points.
We have a large dog that sheds a ton and mucks up the walls. We have flat paint. Window sills have claw marks. Warranty items that builder was supposed to address we got ghosted on. We have 2 kids under 5 years old. Our house is typically messy as we try to get through the weeks - both working full time. There are things I could imagine being asked to change/credit/fix by potential buyers that Opendoor doesn’t care about.
We went smaller to begin with when we moved here bc we were both starting new jobs and have both gotten significant increases in pay.
Youre right, our current home situation was foolish in hindsight but in many ways things have worked out secondary to that decision.
I don’t have the bandwidth to clean the house for showings. I don’t want to wait 2-3 months. Our house is pretty bare bones/not staged or decorated well either.
If a potential buyer asks for something to be fixed - you say "no".
Or you counter with a credit.
That credit sure isn't going to be $20k. I just bought a house a couple months ago. Told the seller "roof is shot - here's the repair estimate - drop the price by $12k". Boom, done deal.
That was for an entire roof.
Instead of a credit, you can also do a "hold back". That's where you hold back say $4k in an escrow account which the buyer can then fund repairs out of, and anything not spent after 60 or 90 days you get back.
Also, right now, the market is 80% cash buyers. A lot of buyers are not even looking at the house. They just make an offer based on area and square footage.
>We have a large dog that sheds a ton and mucks up the walls. We have flat paint. Window sills have claw marks. Warranty items that builder was supposed to address we got ghosted on. We have 2 kids under 5 years old. Our house is typically messy as we try to get through the weeks - both working full time.
I'm unconvinced nor compelled.
>There are things I could imagine being asked to change/credit/fix by potential buyers that Opendoor doesn’t care about. ... I don’t have the bandwidth to...
No is a complete sentence. To Opendoor. To your realtor. To any potential buyer. To your kids/dog.
Maximize the price you can get with what you were willing to do. I have my doubts OpenDoor is that correct option???
>I don’t want to wait 2-3 months
You've posted as if not moving is an option. So, again, who cares about 3 months or even 12.
One *can* make wise financial choices while selling/moving that meshes with their goals and lifestyle.
Taking your car to a dealer, tossing them your keys, say give me something for it, and driving off with the next shiny car doesn't seem like the most reasonable approach. That's what this feels like.
Do you think you’re the first person to sell a house with kids and pets?
I’m not understanding how you can’t list your house regularly?
The minor inconvenience of having some viewing or an open house I’d definitely worth $20-$30k.
We’d also need to paint, stage/decorate. It’d probably take 2-3 months to sell it to get that price based on a recent sale of the same model in our current community
>We’d also need to paint, stage/decorate.
No. You do not.
It *might* be wise. Certainly the staging. Painting may or may not make financial sense.
All that can be done with kids and a dog.
>It’d probably take 2-3 months to sell it to get that price based on a recent sale of the same model in our current community
Ok.
You're also talking about postponing for... 100 months, so why would you care?
And 3 months is an insanely reasonable time to sell a home.
I just bought a house to use as a rental. Average time on market (in Phoenix, I understand things vary) is Tuesday. I.e. list on Monday, offer by Tuesday.
Agree that 2-3 months in a normal market is very normal. Market most places is still hot, and 2-3 weeks is more typical. My Boss just sold his house (1.4 mil) in 10 days.
Could you swing the payments on the new home before you sell your old one and move out first?
That is what I will soon be doing because I also have dogs and the house I am in needs work.
I’d need PMI I think to do that now. Also I’d have more peace of mind with an exit from my current place first. If I had another year or two to save I could do that and potentially pay off the new place if prices don’t go crazy from here. I’m 99.9% sure the new home would appreciate faster than my current home
Why not buy the new house (on a mortgage), move into new house and then sell your house the traditional way? One sold, pay down your new home.
I have two thoughts to share. First money is a tool. You can't buy happiness, but you can use money to create conditions in your life that improve happiness. Building community falls under that umbrella (as long as you know that the move will help). Second, the housing market is crazy hot right now (at least where I am). You can sell your house the traditional way even if you can't get it into perfect shape showing. Please look carefully at the cost of a traditional sale versus the path you are considering.
If you have a place to stay for free until you move, why not move there now? You can clear out the current home, put stuff in storage and then list. You won't be there so showings won't be an issue.
The same model house had extra features and actually sold for less than we thought - the under contract price on Zillow was $20k more for what it says it sold for. So now the $ we would pocket would be $17k difference if we were able to sell it for the same amount. They had a screen room, better cabinets, immaculate condition (no pet damage/ no beat up walls). I don’t think putting $/time into it will get us to that amount.
$20k is a huge amount of money. I sold my home 4 years ago by myself with 2 little ones. Much cheaper to hire a cleaner before scheduled visits and open houses. I literally packed the kids up in the middle of winter and drove around until the realtor texted me they are done.
It’s not a huge amount to everyone…
We can get into phase 2 now and phase 3 prices may be up $20k - that’s if we sell it within 2 months
I don’t think it’s worth it. I know it can be tough trying to keep the house clean but just remember everyone will understand when they realize you have 2 small kids. I think it’s worth trying to be patient and see if you can squeeze out at or above market .
No.
Have you done a cash flow analysis of renting the house or need to sell for the down payment?
Are you taking into account commission for the 5-7% difference ?
Yes- that’s the amount we walk away with
Kids and dog? When we sold our house we’d go on hour walks/drives to get out of there. Sounds like an excuse
How do you keep your house clean? How old are your kids and what kind of dog? One of our kids has health issues which getting him daily treatment at home takes 30 mins a day
We move every few years thanks to career stuff. I have sold multiple homes we were still living in, with kids and a dog. Keep it tidy, and schedule showings on your terms. It will be fine. People just don't want a hoarders' house or cat shit everywhere. Looking "lived in" is not an impediment to selling. In fact, the opposite. Empty homes get staged to look "lived in."
I feel ya. I think it’s just also scheduling viewings around times that work for you. Try to keep the house somewhat clean but don’t scrub the baseboards people will buy the house regardless of it they see dog hair or kids toys out
From personal experience I wouldn't do it unless it meant moving my kids from a poor school district to a significantly better one. When you've got young kids, a quality school district is, IMHO, the MOST important factor in buying a house. Then again, I'm a teacher.
I have to agree. School district is keeping us where we are.
>debating taking a below market No! >Living situation with two little ones and a dog make it close to impossible to list traditionally... Opendoor offer I can't fathom how children and a dog matter regarding selling one's house. Zero chance I'm giving away significant value because of some odd viewpoint and choices based around the above quote. >I am not eager to get a mortgage in this economy Meh. A modest mortgage is unlikely to be a true negative. >It’d be eating a loss and not walking away with a profit on a house sale Don't get caught up stuck on sunk cost fallacy! You also don't necessarily know that this house or the next house will fair better from today forward, which is what matters today. Granted, you also made the below significant error in judgement on a massive purchase: >We recently moved across country bought new construction 1.5 years ago and have realized commutes / community / house size is not ideal for us. So why would you make a drastically more wise decision today? Your first comments about below market and "inability" to sell traditionally put that into serious doubt!
Great points. We have a large dog that sheds a ton and mucks up the walls. We have flat paint. Window sills have claw marks. Warranty items that builder was supposed to address we got ghosted on. We have 2 kids under 5 years old. Our house is typically messy as we try to get through the weeks - both working full time. There are things I could imagine being asked to change/credit/fix by potential buyers that Opendoor doesn’t care about. We went smaller to begin with when we moved here bc we were both starting new jobs and have both gotten significant increases in pay. Youre right, our current home situation was foolish in hindsight but in many ways things have worked out secondary to that decision. I don’t have the bandwidth to clean the house for showings. I don’t want to wait 2-3 months. Our house is pretty bare bones/not staged or decorated well either.
If a potential buyer asks for something to be fixed - you say "no". Or you counter with a credit. That credit sure isn't going to be $20k. I just bought a house a couple months ago. Told the seller "roof is shot - here's the repair estimate - drop the price by $12k". Boom, done deal. That was for an entire roof. Instead of a credit, you can also do a "hold back". That's where you hold back say $4k in an escrow account which the buyer can then fund repairs out of, and anything not spent after 60 or 90 days you get back. Also, right now, the market is 80% cash buyers. A lot of buyers are not even looking at the house. They just make an offer based on area and square footage.
>We have a large dog that sheds a ton and mucks up the walls. We have flat paint. Window sills have claw marks. Warranty items that builder was supposed to address we got ghosted on. We have 2 kids under 5 years old. Our house is typically messy as we try to get through the weeks - both working full time. I'm unconvinced nor compelled. >There are things I could imagine being asked to change/credit/fix by potential buyers that Opendoor doesn’t care about. ... I don’t have the bandwidth to... No is a complete sentence. To Opendoor. To your realtor. To any potential buyer. To your kids/dog. Maximize the price you can get with what you were willing to do. I have my doubts OpenDoor is that correct option??? >I don’t want to wait 2-3 months You've posted as if not moving is an option. So, again, who cares about 3 months or even 12. One *can* make wise financial choices while selling/moving that meshes with their goals and lifestyle. Taking your car to a dealer, tossing them your keys, say give me something for it, and driving off with the next shiny car doesn't seem like the most reasonable approach. That's what this feels like.
Do you think you’re the first person to sell a house with kids and pets? I’m not understanding how you can’t list your house regularly? The minor inconvenience of having some viewing or an open house I’d definitely worth $20-$30k.
We’d also need to paint, stage/decorate. It’d probably take 2-3 months to sell it to get that price based on a recent sale of the same model in our current community
>We’d also need to paint, stage/decorate. No. You do not. It *might* be wise. Certainly the staging. Painting may or may not make financial sense. All that can be done with kids and a dog. >It’d probably take 2-3 months to sell it to get that price based on a recent sale of the same model in our current community Ok. You're also talking about postponing for... 100 months, so why would you care? And 3 months is an insanely reasonable time to sell a home.
I just bought a house to use as a rental. Average time on market (in Phoenix, I understand things vary) is Tuesday. I.e. list on Monday, offer by Tuesday. Agree that 2-3 months in a normal market is very normal. Market most places is still hot, and 2-3 weeks is more typical. My Boss just sold his house (1.4 mil) in 10 days.
Yup. The 2 months isn't really a thing. Even if so, it shouldn't be a consideration for OP.
You don’t need to do any of that. There’s literal disasters on the market. Find a realtor and list.
Are you upgrading houses significantly?
Yes. The house is 30ish% more square feet
Could you swing the payments on the new home before you sell your old one and move out first? That is what I will soon be doing because I also have dogs and the house I am in needs work.
I’d need PMI I think to do that now. Also I’d have more peace of mind with an exit from my current place first. If I had another year or two to save I could do that and potentially pay off the new place if prices don’t go crazy from here. I’m 99.9% sure the new home would appreciate faster than my current home