(Caution: Brag ahead)
I just finished a hurried month of getting my house ready to sell and listing it myself. I did my market research, asked some trusted advisors/friends for advice, and worked in earnest for 4 weeks (painting, repairing, cleaning, moving stuff to storage, and staging) in order to get myself ready to put my house on the market. Last week, I put the house on Zillow as a "Make me move" and added pictures. On Monday, new counter-tops were installed. I hooked up the kitchen plumbing on Tuesday. I paid a flat $99 fee to get my house listed in MLS. On Tuesday, I called back all the folks who had shown interest and let them know I was showing the house now. The MLS listing went live at 11am Wed. I had showings at 11:30, 2:30, and 6:30. I got an offer Wed evening. I countered. It was accepted. I am under contract close to list price with much less commission (3% to Buyer's agent)than the going 6%, no closing costs and closing date of my choosing. Less than 12 hours after the MLS listing went out.
Today I had a 'Back-up offer'.
I feel like a rock star, and I'm so happy to get to this point as I'm about to leave for vacation for 5 weeks.
The best part:
I went through a divorce 3 years ago and stayed in the house while we listed it for sale. My ex had to pay me half of the difference between her house payment and mine until the house sold. The market was soft, and we listed in late summer in the midwest with a pool. Ex wasn't willing to help fix up the place or do anything in order to make the sale. After paying me for 6 months and reducing the price, she finally accepted my offer to buy out her interest in the property.
She got 27K net in settlement 2 years ago for her share of the equity.
I'll close next month and clear 70K after all is said and done (commission, pay-off, cost of repairs and improvements) This means that by investing in time and a little effort, I increased my equity by 43K.
Over those 30 months I paid 38K for PITI before income tax breaks...
So now, I kinda feel that by standing by my convictions, I can say the last 30months were 'rent free' and I 'found' an additional 5k, or that my 30month investment in myself made 260% ROI.
Either way, I'm happy to downsize and pocket the extra cash in my investment account.
-Grimey (occasional real estate maven)