30 days ago, we put our house on the market. In the Detroit area.
This, people said, was going to try my wife, two boys and myself to the very core. Selling a home in the Detroit market is as challenging as well, say, throwing a rock down Wall Street and not hitting a millionaire. But that is a completely different entry in Fascinating Capitalism.
Oh, don't believe me?
Well, the first week was busy. We had people coming and going, sometimes two or three sets of people a day. Exciting, but have you ever tried to clean a house in 20 minutes when buyers and their real estate agent are breathing down your neck? And, your two boys are napping? And, you have to take the dog with you and disappear for an hour at a time?
If there's one thing I've learned it is this. The best stimulus package for America would be to have everyone list their home for sale. Doing so forces you to spend time you'd other wise be spending at home in either a) a coffee shop b) a restaurant with a play area or c) a mall with a play area. Ever go to a), b), or c) and not drop at least $20.00? Yeah, didn't think so.
Well that first week proved to be quite unique, apparently, in the Detroit home market...we received an offer the middle of the second week on the market. We were STUNNED. We picked ourselves up off the floor and realized something. Our house "sold" in the first week. And through skilled negotiations were able to settle on a price which was deemed acceptable to all parties invovled. Whaaaaaaaaaaat?
Lucky? Skilled? Chumps? All three are viable possibilities...but still, we had to pass the Appraisal. If you know anything about selling a house (and who doesn't?) you now know that appraisals are nothing like they used to be. Three years ago. Before the bubble exploded. You listed your house, you got your price and the appraisers pretty much got you there.
Today, with banks scrutinizing every loan (!!), it's much more nerve racking. If your house doesn't appraise to the sale price the buyer and seller then enter a second series of negotiations to get to an agreed upon price. The buyer beings some cash...the sellers make some concessions...it's a good time.
So, nerves were at all time high when the real estate agent met the appraiser at the front door. Keeping with the America Stimulus program, I was into my second Big Mac and the boys were tangled in the playplace at some nearby McDonald's. But all for naught! The house "appraised" in line with the agreed upon price.
Have I mentioned we've started to look at house and been able to find nothing that's not a short sale or foreclosure? Did I forget that part? Right.
For the past three years, all residents of the SE Michigan area have heard is that "it's a buyers market". And "there's a glut of houses". And "now's a great time to buy". I guess that true if you're interested in the tired, poor and hungry houses left on the market from 2008. The minute, literally, a decent house comes on the market...GONE. It's like a shark on a baby seal out there. Even in French.
The inspection is next. We have a great house. Had, sorry. The inspector comes in and we go out. The whole lot of us. Two adults, two kids and a dog. For three hours. I think during this time I bought a MacBook Pro, an iPad, two bean bag chairs and a generator which, once we left the mall, we set up in the parking structure for the other two hours we had to kill.
The house passes inspection. We're sold. Closing date looms on the horizon. AND STILL NO NOTHING ON THE MARKET! Our real estate agent puts up a brave face. She's working to find us a house, but her job's almost harder than ours. But, remember, SHE HAS A HOUSE! We do not..."yet", she says. "Your house will come on the market any day now".
So we wait. And receive and review daily feeds from our realtor and Realtor.com to see what's new on the market. A price change here...a new short sale here, or a foreclosure there. Short sale? Foreclosure...these aren't for the faint of heart, or most people, really. the complexity and complications are astounding to these two processes.
Well, it's almost tomorrow now and a new day, filled with hope and anxiety looms. We'll look at our emails, and hope for the best, and maybe our house will be there, and we'll be the ones forcing some other family to go to a) coffee show, b) restaurant with a playplace or c) mall with a play place and do their part for the America Stimulus plan.
