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April 21, 2017

Sale Pending!

By Steve W



At the end of the last post, our estate sale was still going on. Late on Sunday afternoon, April 2, we went back to the house to see what was sold and what was left. As we expected, some last minute shoppers came by to try to get a bargain on the items still remaining. Since our philosophy was that anything not sold would be donated, given away or thrown out, some lucky buyers got some great deals.

At one point, two young women came by to view the sale but also asked if the house was going to be sold. When told it was, they asked to look inside the house and we agreed, giving them a brief tour. They then left and the estate sale was over.

Over the next couple of days, we went through what was not sold and made some decisions about what we thought could be donated or what would go into a dumpster. Once we began to see vacant walls that we had not seen since we moved in 17 years ago, we decided that it would be more attractive to buyers if the house was painted. Painting was to start on Monday, April 10 and would take seven to eight days. Since our original date to list the house was supposed to be April 17th, we called our agent to let him know about the painting and moved the listing date to April 24.

So on April 10, the painting started. However, that afternoon we received a call from our agent that a potential buyer wanted to see the house that night, even though it had not yet been listed. We agreed and met our agent and the potential buyers at the house at 7 PM that night. As it turned out, the potential buyers were the people to whom we had given the tour at the estate sale. Our agent showed them around the property and we were there to answer any questions they had. After the viewing, they were still talking to our agent as we drove away.

To our great surprise, we had an email the next morning with an offer at full purchase price! We had suspected that our house would attract buyers quickly once listed but this was unexpected. Even though we thought that there might be a bidding war to drive up the price, we also took into account that, if we accepted their offer, escrow could close by the end of May. This meant that we would not have to find another place to live after our Airbnb ended May 31, not pay rent for another apartment or hotel, and not make another mortgage payment for June. In addition, the buyers had signed an agreement that our agent would also represent them, which would save us a full point on his commission.

Given all of these savings, we decided to accept the offer so that we could avoid uncertainty, save time, and not have to incur extra costs.

So as this is written, we are in escrow to close by the end of May. The sale is still contingent on their home inspection, and they will probably find minor things that need fixing. But once this contingency is lifted and a termite inspection and any repairs are completed, we expect the deal to go through.

Once the payment hits our bank account, the journey officially begins!


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