So. I apologize now, super friends, but I suspect you're going to be seeing a lot of 'selling my house' types of posts. I'm slightly obsessed but no big deal. We've been going back and forth, my husband and I, about when the best time to list our house would be. Now or later? We were somewhat convinced that later would be better, due to springy, warmer weather and more people wanting to go out looking at houses. But lacking any true empirical data or worldly experience in real estate we decided to ask our realtor, who has been selling houses in this area for over 12 years.
She informed us, somewhat to our surprise, that selling now, as soon as we can list, would actually be better, because there's very little competition in our price range, particularly now, early in the season. She stated that even now, with Christmas going on, the real estate market was picking up speed and more listings would be going up the longer we waited, which means more competition for us and the more likely a delay in terms of a sale. So in the end we decided to go ahead and heed her advice.
If, obviously, she turns out to be wrong and there is no interest in our house in January, then we'll remove and re-list in a couple months. I decided to pull a few cards on the topic and got Growth, Wisdom and Woman of the World. The first two are self explanatory and the final card is something of a major arcana card in this deck (there are a few). I don't have the booklet with me, but the description of this woman is like a cross between the World, the Empress and maybe a dash of Emperor. Sort of like a bad-ass, accomplished woman who knows what she's doing.
Anyway. That's pretty much all I wanted to say. I actually was relieved when she effectively took the decision out of my hands. All the indecision and wringing of hands trying to decide the best time to do this or that was making me nuts. And through all that neither of us were sure what the right thing to do was. So having a real estate expert explain the situation, using the actual data from what was happening in the local market right now, was a kind of Christmas gift. She told us today, on Christmas, so even though I'm nervous about selling, I'm glad that we made a decision.
Merry Solstice/Hanukkah/Saturnalia/Christmas and a Happy New Year,
MM
So glad you have one less thing to worry about: when to list. Though of course listing the house will mean worries about whether you're getting viewings, what you need to do to it, leaving the house for people to look around, keeping it tidy etc. Ah well, fingers crossed it will be a quick and fairly painless process!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Cx
Hi Chloë,
ReplyDeleteSo true! I agree with you. Having to constantly keep the house spotless and then leave the house at a moment's notice (with a child who very stubbornly refuses to leave the house except after hours of begging) is not my idea of fun, but she actually has been asking about moving to a house where dogs don't bark at her (hah!) so maybe I can convince her to leave when showings come up.
Thanks, Chloë, for the well-wishes! You know nothing really makes this process perfect, that's for sure. Moving is always a pain, but I guess I will hope that it won't be as BIG of a pain and that it'll be worth it in the end. :D
House-sellin' HUGS,
MM