Remember in October when Barry and I shared with you that we were 100% debt free? I told you that we’d keep you posted on our plans and how things were going. Since then we’ve been saving, still with the same fervency that we used to get out of debt. And now, we’re going to sell our townhouse. On Saturday, we put it on the market and we are so excited! We’re ready to move up to something a bit bigger for our family, with a nice basement, and a yard for Annie to play in.
We decided that at first, we would attempt to sell our house on our own. I know that even Dave Ramsey doesn’t recommend that, but here’s something you might not know about Barry and I…..we’re cheap and hard headed. When we figured out how much money we’d have to spend when using a realtor (fees, etc), that was a big shocker. So, to try to avoid that and keep our hands on more cash, we’re going to try to do it ourselves.
I pared down most of what we own (more on that in an upcoming post) and we staged the house while my awesome Mama kept Annie for four days. We moved furniture, we cleaned, we painted (“we” painted meaning Barry) and now things look ready to go. I don’t even recognize it as my own house….and I like the lack of “stuff” hanging around (again, more on that soon).
We’re advertising everywhere we can think of for free. We might choose a few venues that cost, but we’ll do that sparingly if possible.
*Disclaimer: Barry and I both admit we’re not professionals……we’re just learning as we go. And we humbly admit that we might possibly bomb. If we do, then we’ll get a Realtor. We’ve set a deadline of March and if we’re still not doing well, then we’ll hire a high octane Realtor who kicks tail.
So, here’s a bit about our house: our townhouse was built in 2004. We are the original owners – we bought it before it was built and got to choose the flooring, etc. inside. It is a great, quiet neighborhood and we have the most awesome neighbor of all time – Miss Jane. She keeps my plants alive and gets my packages in out of the rain. She’s a huge reason this house should sell quickly. She rocks – I’m considering taking her with me. The house is only 5 minutes from King College. It would make a great starter home or a great investment for a parent with a child attending King. We have two LARGE bedrooms and 2 ½ bathrooms. The laundry room is on the main floor. The master bedroom has his/her closets and also its own bathroom. Barry has added floored attic space to our unit, which isn’t available in any other townhouse in this community. In the basement is a space for a woodshop or a crafting area. There is also a drive-in garage for one car. These appliances will stay with the home: microwave, oven, stove, refrigerator, washer, and dryer. We’re asking $79,500.
To anyone who helps us sell our home quickly and lets me know about it, I’ll invite you to dinner in our new home, send you home with two loaves of Honey Oat Bread, and Barry will give you 6 hours of free financial counseling. So…..help us? 😀 We need your help!
And now, what you’ve all be wondering: Are Stacy and Barry going back into debt?????? ABSOLUTELY NOT! And make sure to stay tuned for our journey as well tell you how we buy a home completely debt free.
*Click on pictures to enlarge.
*This post is linked at Weekend Whatever on Your Thriving Family and at Finer Things Friday on Amy’s Finer Things.
So, how is it going? Do you have a sale? I have been watching for a post on facebook but don’t see your posts everyday.
🙂 No sale, but we have an interested party. You can be sure when we sale you’ll see a rejoicing post! 🙂 Thanks so much for checking in!!!
So proud of you guys! I will pray for you as you sell and hope it goes without a realtor! Where on earth did you hide all of Annie’s toys?
We kept out one tote full. The rest went up. And when we show, I”ll be hiding the tote downstairs. 🙂
Hi Stacy,You don’t know me but I am Mindy’s mom. I am pretty much computer illiterate but sometimes I get on Mindy’s site and somehow get to your site. I’m still not sure how I get there though.lol. Anyway I’ve told her how much I love your sight and you remind me so much of myself. I have always been EXTREMELY frugal. My husband and I have sold 4 houses and bought 2 houses without a realtor. I highly recommend saving the realtor fees. I don’t know the market down there but March doesn’t seem like a long enough goal. The hardest thing for me was spending the money on advertising and signs to post. We have bought 2 houses in the past 3 years, fixed them up and flipped them. Signs on the corner leading people to the house is how we sold each house. (And faith and prayer) I will admit it seemed like an eternity at the time we were trying to sell each house, but from the day we put the signs in the yard to closing it was only about 5 months and for our depressed area that is like a miracle. I truly believe you will sell your house by owner. Be patient. And I can also tell you that you might get your hopes up several times just to be let down, but do not let that discourage you. There is a buyer out there. I watched your debt free video the other day and I have decided to become debt free in 2012. So thank you for the encouragement.
Thank you so much for the encouragement and tips, Mindy’s mom! 🙂 I think we’ll run out and get one of those signs to put at the main road. GREAT IDEA!!!! I’m glad you’re a reader….and I’m super glad you figure out how to find me. 😉
🙂
Wish you the best of luck on your house selling. I think its awesome that your debt free and planning on buying a house without going into debt. Really wish we had that type of motivation and commitment. I seen your moving to VA. What part of VA are you planning on moving to? We live in Southwest VA in a little town called Floyd. Great place to live and raise a family! Best of luck on all your upcoming adventures:)
🙂 Not too far from Floyd. I grew up in Smyth County – my sister went to VT. Thanks for the well wishes!
It’s adorable! I’m wanting to find a house up that way where I can stay when visiting family in Mountain City so I can bring my dogs and not feel like I’m intruding on anyone’s space. Too bad though, as I’m also working my way to being debt free…and two houses aren’t currently in my plan! Maybe I can convince my parents they need to buy me a house? Right.
I do see on your listing that you only have the one picture. Take lots of pictures and put them on your listing. I tend to skip looking at houses that only have an outside picture. I want to see the front, the back, the garage, the deck, all the rooms and the closets. The more, the merrier. 🙂
Ah, one picture was FREE. LOL 🙂 We’re not ready to invest a ton of money into it yet. We want to see how it goes first….but you’re right, more pictures are a big plus.
I respect a person who doesn’t let fear and common sense stand in their way! God bless your efforts, I can’t wait to see how this chapter turns out.
Me either. I’m nervous.
I hope your home sells quickly! Sounds like you have some good leads already. I think your deadline of March is a great idea, though. My husband dabbled in real estate for a while, and realized quickly that realtors are worth EVERY penny they are paid. It might seem like a lot of money, but trust me. If you break it down to the hourly pay, it’s not that much. Realtors do a LOT of work. That’s why he let his license expire, lol. It’s not really worth it. And around here, if a home isn’t listed on MLS, it doesn’t get looked at: most realtors don’t go hunting around looking for unlisted (as in not in MLS) homes when shopping for their clients. Especially in a market like this where there are tons of homes for sale that are listed; there’s just no need to go hunting down elsewhere.
We’ve talked about getting an MLS listing……we’ll see. 🙂 Thanks for the input!
Good luck!
Thanks Hallee. 🙂 We’re hopeful.
Prayers for you all! God is able to let that townhouse sell in order for you to keep those fees you would be charged through a realtor! Amen!
Thanks for the prayer! 🙂 Our God can move mountains…..and townhouses. 🙂 🙂
We sold two homes by owner, one in a week and one in a month (just a year ago). I think you have done everything right…cleaning out and making it look uncluttered, staging goes farther than people realize. I agree with some other posters on putting up flyers (and keeping them stocked). You can also list your home on Zillow in case anyone is looking there (pretty sure it is free). Good luck! I too predict it will go soon 🙂 We had no problems selling by owner both times, and was much easier than I expected.
Thanks for the information on Zillow and the encouragement! 🙂 We need it.
Shared on my personal page, wish you luck
THANK YOU!!! 🙂
We sold a house without a realtor. I agreed with most of what’s been said… fliers in front of house, staging, etc. There is one thing you will need to decide upon… what if your buyer has a realtor? Will you be willing to pay that realtor a commission for bringing you the buyer? If not, then they probably won’t show the buyer your house. We ended up selling our house to a buyer who had an agent, and we agreed to pay 1.5% to the realtor for showing them the house, handling the contract, etc. The realtor wanted more, but it’s all negotiable. Just decide up front if you’re willing to do this and how much you’re willing to give the realtor.
The other item is the MLS. You can now post your own add for $500, if you decide to go that route.
Good luck!
We’ve looked into MLS, but haven’t decided on it yet. But, we are willing to pay a realtor fee if they bring us a buyer. 🙂 Great comment, thanks!
Where is your condo located? It looks lovely.
Bristol, Tennessee. 🙂
So exciting! Best of luck. My husband and I are on baby step two with a goal to be debt free by July 1st of this year. Then like you guys, we will be saving with intensity. We plan to buy land and build our house. Our goal is to buy the land cash outright, but we most likely will be getting a mortgage to build the home. Neither of us are super comfortable with this (the mortgage part) and considering what paying cash for both the land and house might look like for us. Looking forward to watching y’alls journey of buying a house debt free. I’m sure it will bring us great hope and encouragement.
Thanks for the encouragement Janise! 🙂 I hope it all goes well for you too!!!
If you must use a realtor, please look into Marsha Stowell with A-Team realty. She’s an excellent realtor. She’ll do everything to get your house sold! You’ve got a good price on the property though, so you might not have a problem selling!
I hope you’re right Terri! Thank you. 🙂
What is the square footage? Is there a townhouse/condo association fee?
There is NO association fee. 🙂 Here’s my ad at owner.com http://www.owners.com/tn/bristol/52-tulip-grove-cir-apt-6/ptp4106?sch=z%2b37620%253bn%2b75000&fp=3
Square footage 1216, not including the basement.
would you mind giving the address so if someone wants to do a “drive by” view they can?
🙂 I’ll give you the listing. I want to avoid spam, so that’s why I didn’t post it. Here is our owner.com ad: http://www.owners.com/tn/bristol/52-tulip-grove-cir-apt-6/ptp4106?sch=z%2b37620%253bn%2b75000&fp=3
When we wanted to sell our last house, we too decided to try selling it ourselves first. We did pay an appraiser to give us an appraisal based upon selling a house, not buying a house. We then advised all of our neighbors we were going to put the house on the market. If they would like to pick their new neighbor, they should spread the word. Believe it or not, one of our neighbors had a friend who wanted to move into a neighborhood like ours and sent him up to look at it. He brought his wife back a few days later and the house was sold. Just like that. We had in our head what we would take, rock bottom, as a selling price, which was $5,000 less than what we were asking, if we could sell it ourselves. If we couldn’t get that, then we would begin advertising and, eventually move to a realtor. The buyer offered us $2,500 less than we were asking so that settled that. We then paid our attorney to draw up a sales contract. The buyers took it to their attorney who made a few changes, which we accepted. And that was that again. The only potential snag in this is that the buyer has to have enough of a down payment to overcome what the bank will do. In my opinion, the banks are in bed w/the realtors and will come in w/a very low appraisal for people trying to sell by themselves. As such, the buyer has to have more than the minimum down payment or else the bank will not lend them the amount they need for a mortgage.
Since we knew this, we actually covered that in the sales agreement that, if the bank appraised the house for less than the agreed upon selling price, the sellers would NOT reduce the selling price to that amount. Either the buyer wanted the house for the agreed upon price or not.
Good luck.
Thanks for the advice Sandi! It seems like what you did is what we’re going to attempt to do……I hope ours is as easy as yours!
I just sent a text to my friend who recently went through a divorce to see if she was interested or knew of anyone interested. She said maybe yes to both… Hopefully you will sell it soon!!!!!
Sherri, I hope you’re local to come over to dinner!!!!!!!! 🙂
lol…I’m local…I keep asking where you shop, etc. I won’t hold you to the dinner thing although I would love to meet you and your husband in person. When I sent my friend the text she asked me if I knew the seller. I told her kinda/sorta, not really…hahaha. I am so imspire by you and your daily blogs. We have started out the year on a budget and will a gazelle intent!! Hoping to kill some debt this year. YAY!!!
It sounds like you’re on board! And YES, you do know me! I assure you that I’m 100% the same in person and online. 🙂 Thanks for helping us get the word out. I greatly appreciate you.
We sold our first house without an agent, but used something called Comfree. Their site hosted pictures and help for buyers and sellers. Someone came and took hi def pictures and placed a sign on the lawn. Even had a lawyer you could call with questions (for anything before the actual closing). Great experience and saved us thousands!
That sounds awesome! We’re using owner.com right now….might expand if we need to. 🙂
Do you mind if we share on facebook?
Please!!! Thanks!! 🙂
Have you put a pamphlet box outside your house with all the information?
We’re going to do that this weekend! 🙂 Thanks for the reminder.
Check out Zillow if you haven’t yet. I don’t know if it costs or not though.
I’m not sure either…..we’ve been looking at houses there though. We’ve got it listed here: http://www.owners.com/tn/bristol/52-tulip-grove-cir-apt-6/ptp4106?sch=z%2b37620%253bn%2b75000&fp=3
I wish you all the best in selling your home on your own, i will tell you that it is not easy but it is possible. I was a Realtor for a few years (till the market crashed)It does seem that you have priced it well and with the amenities it seems to be a great starter home! I wish i was closer so i could help (as i love to do it)! Stay positive and print fliers to but out in front of the house to get more lookers (because remember lookers may be buyers)Advertise everywhere that people go, and by that i mean, hit the collage campus hot spots like the coffee shops, book stores etc where some student will pass by and sometimes with their parents, also see if you can advertise in the housing departments office or somewhere close.Also call to see if you can advertise for a month free in the campus newsletter and if they say that they charge tell them if you get a one month free run and if all goes well you will pay for another month (or something close to that) (most parents get that letter as well) hope you sell fast
You have given me a kick in the pants to get this done. THANKS! 🙂 I will be hard core about it, you can bet that!
Ohhhhhhh I simply cannot wait to see what God has in store for you guys!! Praying!
Same for you sister! I’m only moving up the road about 30 minutes. LOL
I hope you sell up real quick!
Thanks Deborah! 🙂
Where are you guys wanting to move to?
Just a bit up the road, across the state line to VA. 🙂
It sounds like a wonderful bargain for someone. I predict it sells quickly.
I hope you predict right, Carole!
ok that was a lot but i really like you and your family and want you to win. maybe you could move closer to me and we could be friends… i swear i’m not creepy!! that just sounded creepy. sorry.
I didn’t think that was creepy. I think it’s awesome! We can be friends without living close. 🙂
maybe raise the price a bit, too. especially if it is below the other units asking price, and especially if yours has something there’s does not. point out everything you have that the other units do not, to everyone. don’t make it a surprise that you are better. the best on the block is what sells, so have some killer instincts going on. it is a sellers market, and they can wittle you down if you aren’t tough enough to play the game. make sure your front yard and space is VERY VERY Inviting, no junk or clutter in the garage, either. re paint the front door. put a large mirror up in small rooms. people love to see lots of space even if it is a mirage.
We have about 5-6 mirrors up now, but you can’t really see them in the photos. We are priced reasonably for this neighborhood – lower than some and more than others.
put flowers on the table and on the kitchen counter. the furniture in your living room makes the room look even smaller. i would choose some larger furniture pieces just one or two to make the room seem bigger. when you use small pieces you are saying, “This is it folks, this is all you can cram in here and i hope you don’t knock anything over when you stand up cuz it’s just too tiny”, but when you use a large couch, you are saying, ” see how big this space is? you had no idea!”
get it?
We only left the couch and chair….we have to live there, so I need somewhere to sit. LOL 🙂 I think I’ll move the furniture around though, and that should help right? Move it away from the window….and I have a black thumb, so if I get flowers, I should only get them when I know someone is coming. Or else, it would just look like someone with the thumb of death lived here. HA!
It looks great!! I hope you are able to sell quickly. Can’t wait to hear about your next adventure.
Thanks Kathy! 🙂 You’re a great encouragement!
Praying you sell quickly so you can move in across the street! 😉
You better start working on that feller, then.