The Question

We put the house price at $515 and someone asked if we would take $430. I think Bryan summed it up well with “are they mental?”.

The Price

So our plans are all kind of fizzling out now. There's no interest in the house and with 7 other houses in the estate for sale and countless others in the area, there just doesn't seem much chance of selling it.

So we stuck a price on the house of $515,000 to see if anyone is interested then but in all honesty there are at least 30 other similar houses around here at far less - some even $420K.

I guess we need to have a plan B now, that involves staying in this house.

Maybe we will get a chance to use all 8 dining chairs now.

The Waiting Game

I hate this waiting. No-one has expressed any serious interest. Mostly the answers are that they have seen 12 other houses as well. There is so much for sale in our area it's insane and makes it so much harder for us. Yet another house in our estate has gone up for sale which makes the total 7 inc ours and there's only 2 streets. It was off to such a good start with that first early offer and now it's turned into a bit of a fizzer. We're keeping the house pretty tidy which is nice but i do miss having the dogs inside during the evening and they seem to miss coming in.

The Second Open Home

We were out today helping the cousins move when the second open home occurred. Only three groups through this time but one was a couple from last week who this time brought their parents through. Hopefully this means they really like it! There is an inspection booked for tomorrow also at 10.30am. I'm looking forward to accepting an offer so we don't have to keep the house soooo clean!

The Withdrawal

We received confirmation today that the potential buyers had withdrawn their offer. There is another house in our estate that has just gone on the market and it certainly seemed to be what they were after, more so than our own. Now, we just have to hope for another offer.

The First Offer

You brace yourself for it. You know it's going to be low but you secretly hope that it will be more than you want it to be - that the offer will exceed your dreams. Does it ever? It certainly didn't for us. In fact it was one big flop. Not even within $30k of what we would take. Counter-offering seemed a waste of time given the vast price difference. But that's what you do. If they come back with something else we will probably wait it out til after this weekend's open home, hopefully there will be more interest after that. As Bryan says "it's only been 4 days - be patient".

The First Open Home

Seven groups came through but no-one bought it. The people that seem to like it only have $450K to spend. Of course they'd like it for 450. Who wouldn't like it for 450?? Maybe we will have better luck at the next open home. It would be good to at least get an offer, something that says someone wants it. I just want it to sell so we can start organising the next step.

The Listing

The house is now officially advertised for sale - see the listing here:

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=106070719&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=79514274&s=qld&snf=rbs&tm=1255649284

The Photos

The photos are back from the professionals. Makes you wonder why we are selling it! Let's hope people see them and want to come to the open home - this saturday.

The Landscaping Finished

It's done! Thanks to some wonderful helpers - it's done. And the inside is clean! The professionals are coming tomorrow to take photos - let's hope it scrubs up well.

The For Sale Sign

The sign is up. It was there when we came home today. A big sign. You can't miss it.

Our house is officially for sale.

The Landscaping II

We did allow ourselves till Xmas to finish the landscaping but Bryan worked so hard on the weekend and I pottered along and helped where I could. We finished the side of the house and mulched 3 of the 4 garden beds. We did it all ourselves and still found time to party Saturday night! Thankfully we will have help next weekend to finish it off. The change is really amazing.

Photos of before and after:

The Appraisal

So, we thought we'd get an appraisal, see if we've done enough landscaping and if it changed the value of the house. The idea was to get a few agents around and hear what they have to say. I wanted to meet with Toni McHugh from Century 21 as I had spoken to her previously and thought she would be what we were looking for in an agent. Turns out she was because she came over last night and we ended up signing a contract with her to exclusively list our house. Pic of Toni attached and here's the link to her agency http://www.century21.com.au/westside/

Everything seems to be moving so fast, I'm not sure how we got from "getting some ideas" to "exclusive listing" and admittedly I cried when signing the contract. I've never felt at home in the house until we returned from a trip away in August - that's only 2 months of liking it and the more work we do the more I feel at home. Anyway we have to finish the last part of the landscaping, then let her know and she will list the house and start open homes. I've also got to do some paintings for the bare walls in the house, move furniture around, borrow an outdoor setting yada yada yada...

At some point I'm going to stop and think "what the hell are we doing....."