Yeah, there it is.
Having met with our Realtor* last Friday, we're thinking that we'll put our house on the market in March 2013. Jeff gave us a ton of advice about the current market and what we'll need to do to maximize our profits. Based on where the market is going, we should be able to sell for a number that doesn't make me want to vomit.
The ideal scenario is that we do a bunch of improvements to the house and have moved out and staged the place for sale. Unfortunately I just don't think that's a realistic goal for us - I can't imagine paying rent somewhere and our mortgage for an indeterminate period of time. What I think we'll likely end up doing are the improvements we had planned to do based on staying here, and de-cluttering the house as much as possible so that when potential buyers come through they can picture themselves living here. Living in a house while trying to sell it obviously isn't the ideal, but we did it with the loft so it can work.
Between now and the end of the year we want to do the following:
- get the deck rebuilt
- landscape the backyard
- paint the basement
- purge our junk!
- make sure our tax records indicate we have a three bedroom (there's some debate over whether this place is a 2+ or 3 bedroom)
At some point we'll also have to start getting rid of furniture and setting the house up in a way that will be more conducive to a different, more traditional lifestyle. As you know a couple of years ago we flipped the living room/dining room so that we had a fireplace by our couch. We're also using our two extra bedrooms as offices, so our house is now operating as a 1 bedroom, 2 office abode.
It feels like we have a ton of time between now and the Spring, but with our two weeks in Tofino in December, that takes a huge chunk of time out of our calendar. I think this move will also impact our planned May 2013 two-week trip to England. I just can't see us closing escrow and then hopping on a plane to another continent. That makes me sad but we'll get there.
*Jeff was Alan's high school track coach, and the Realtor that we bought/sold our loft with, and bought this place.
What???
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the big decision, and selfishly am looking forward to following along with you on your journey.
With last weekend's attempted robbery two blocks from our house, and the continued rise in crime in our neighborhood - paired with the Oakland police department's inability to crack down on said crime - we're looking to move to a safer neighborhood. We have no idea the specifics of this beyond areas we'd like to target.
ReplyDeleteAck, how stressful, but I'm glad you're moving to safer territory! I hope you find another big ol' Craftsman (or otherwise awesome old house, because I'm selfish and in desperate need of inspiration and entertainment).
ReplyDeleteWe probably won't end up in a SFH given how much rents are in our desired area. Hopefully though we can find ourselves in a lovely apartment.
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