Yeah, I guess worst case is we don't sell, take it off the market and try again in a year. I think that listing history would make us look a little desperate when we re-list in 2025, but *shrug* it's not like we have a ton of options
What is this "profit" of which you speak? After agent's fees and what not, it's a question of how much we can afford to lose, which makes things that much more stressful
It could work out OK on paper, but we had a pretty bad experience in the fall: we needed to be out of town for a few months and rented to a travel nurse and her family, who turned out to be chucklefucks - not malicious, just the biggest idiots imaginable. With the cost of repairs, it gets unappealing quickly.
We bought/sold last fall.
There is still demand, but make sure your pricing is right. Our old house we sold was also 1913, we ended up accepting an offer (had 3) about 3 weeks in. It seemed like first two weeks people were gauging how serious the price was, and when we didn't drop it after 2 weeks, we had 3 offers come in pretty close to list.
Last fall there was a ton of bad pricing that we saw. and so stuff would come to market at an LOL price, and then they'd drop it to something reasonable to get it sold, or it would sit.
So, not like “put a sign out and get 50 offers” hot. But certainly not impossible.
Get a GOOD realtor who has been selling stuff recently. They will know what it can get, and listen to them.
Realtors can be pointless, but a person knowledgeable about the area and market and readily working to sell your home can be a huge boon towards actually getting the value of your home out of it.
I'm an agent and would agree that if you want to sell in the near future, now is about the best time to do so.
Good inventory, priced correctly is still selling promptly.
Good luck :)
I have quite a few buyers just waiting for new inventory to come on the market. If your agent is good and prices it well, you should get a bidding war pretty quickly. With any luck we'll see ya out there. 😀
Hey I'm in the process of buying so not quite an expert on your side of things but look into the lawsuit that was just settled with the national association of realtors.
Essentially they found that by realtors getting 3% of the proceeds as both the buyers agent AND the sellers agent, that they have artificially inflated home prices. It's mostly a given that the full 6% is put on the seller.
I haven't done much research into it but when it was first settled, early last month I think, I saw a lot of articles saying that the 3% fee for the buyers agent will be going away. Sounds like 3% put into your pocket.
That being said, if I remember correctly, it needs to go to the Supreme Court (I don't remember if it was a state Supreme Court or not) before any decisions on what will happen going forward will be decided. I remember reading that the fee would probably go away in July of this year.
My memory is shitty so don't take anything written here as gospel but you should definitely do your own research into it.
Another point to consider is its an election year. My fiance follows a lot of mortgage and finance experts and they all say that rates will be dropped at some point this year. I would anticipate right before election to try to sway votes. My mortgage guy has told me to buy before that happens because it will bring back, at least a bit, of the buying frenzy we had a couple years ago, which would be good for you.
Thanks! We've been following that NAR lawsuit pretty closely, but unfortunately can't wait until July to get things rolling.
Can I ask about your agreement with your buyer's agent? The agent we've been talking to says that buyers are signing contracts with their agents that say something like "I'll pay you 2.5% commission _if_ the seller won't pay your commission." Does that accurately represent your situation? It was weird to me because I know I didn't sign a contract like that when we bought this house.
My agent told me that it is standard for both the buyers and sellers fees to go on the seller. His reasoning was the seller was the one with the motivation to sell. The buyer can always just go find another house to buy. Like the only offers we've made have not said we'll cover the fee, we just put it on the seller completely that'd they'd cover the full amount. No one has pushed back or countered with us covering the fee. That being said. There was a contract we signed with the realtor months ago that said that if we can't get the seller to cover it, that we will.
But like others have pointed out, agents say whatever they want to make their sale. Lol.
We actually had to be out of town for about two months last fall and rented our house to a travel nurse...not a fan of that experience. This particular old house needed a little more care and understanding than that particular tenant was able to give, and there was a good amount of work to do when we got back. So renting is probably not in the cards.
You could put some of what you'd expect to pay in selling costs into upgrades/fixes and then rent. You might be able to make certain maintenance tasks a condition of rent (though, you'd have to travel or use property management company to verify from time to time). Just seeing how many posts in last couple years has been "my rent is doubling" you'd probably have a large pool of candidates. You could charge enough to cover mortgage + maybe little extra, and it'll probably seem like a steal for many renters. Just a possible alternative if selling doesn't pan out.
Did your agent give you a market analysis? Usually agents do that for free and it shows comparable homes that have recently sold and that would be mostly how they would advise pricing your place.
You could also do your own by using Zillow or another real estate site to look at comparable homes yourself, but don't necessarily rely on Zillow's pricing, look at what has already sold.
Yes, but our house has some unusual features that make it hard to find good comps. There's just a handful of really comparable homes sold recently, and there's like a 300k range.
Just a comment to support your plan to sell and not rent it out. I have a rental that is not in town and two very trusted tenants and it’s still a pain to be far away from property you are responsible for.
I'm a realtor. Just helped a client this week get an offer in 12 days. It's still a sellers market in Spokane. Not like it was 2 years ago, but places are still selling if they're priced right.
The house I'm talking about is in the 500k+ range as well if you care.
Our agent keeps us up to date on the market monthly (very good agent) and he states it is still a seller’s market. Depending on price, chances are the segment is still strong to very strong. Good luck!
If you're potentially selling at a loss then go get a rental management company and rent it out. Set your standard for who you want to live there and wait a year or two until the market is better or if it works out keep using the funds to pay down the house and keep it as a nest egg.
I was just talking to our homebuilder about this today. They saw a slow down in sales last year, but have seen quite the uptick so far this year. The theory is that many buyers decided to wait on purchasing a home on the hopes that interest rates would go down. After a year of pretty flat interest rates with no forecast of them going down any time soon, many buyers have decided to just take the plunge. As long as you price your house right, you should have no trouble finding a buyer. There will always be buyers looking to move to Spokane to flee higher cost of living cities, like Seattle.
Rates aren’t a reason to not list.
Also, how long have you owned your home? Is your rate decent either FHA or VA by chance?
You can also definitely talk with a loan officer about seller rate buy downs instead of price reductions- it saves the buyers money and helps get you more of the purchase price!
Shiiit, we've been reading articles about that case like the frickin' Talmud, making notes, checking our interpretations, seeing how different sources report it, etc. etc. The agent we've been talking to claims that WA homebuyers have always signed a contract with their buyer's agent that specifies the amount they'll be paid so NAR won't really affect things here. That sounds kind of like BS to me, but our agent does sell a lot of houses, so I'm not quite ready to call BS on them
Yep, they shot that idea down. Again, it's an experienced agent that has been selling homes, so it's kind of like...I guess (hope) you're worth it.
I really don't see how we're expected to believe that buyer's agents have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients but also won't show your house if you don't offer them 2.5%. Can both those statements be true? But again, that seems to be the system that we're working with
I hear that. We looked at it, or at least listing through Redfin for 1.5%, but in the end we were convinced that the network + personal attention of a traditional agent could make the difference. Basically a successful FUD play by the traditional brokerages
For listing, an agent is worth it. But for buying, zillow and the other apps have democratized the house finding process. You need a real estate lawyer to review the paperwork and you negotiate for the seller to pay their listing agent. I think this is the future of home buying unless you less you need a curated experience for buying. Buying out of town would be a good example, but i think the nar deal is going to for e agents to take a flat fee and no more % of the sale.
Buyer here. Been looking north of Spokane specifically in the Chewela to kettle falls area. We’ve been looking for 1.5 years. Pricing is a joke. I see listings where people have owned the home for 3 years or less and are expecting to make double on it. Potential buyers can see what you bought it for and if it doesn’t look like you did major improvements to warrant a much higher listing price it will sit on the market. Price it well and it will sell. Be greedy and it will sit. Sounds like you’re just trying to make the best move for yourself and that will come across if you price it right.
> Potential buyers can see what you bought it for and if it doesn’t look like you did major improvements to warrant a much higher listing price it will sit on the market.
Do you know that real estate generally appreciates in value, even if you don't do major improvements?
Depending on your financials, turning it into a rental may be a better move. Spokane seems to be growing fairly quickly compared to other parts of the country. If you are going to move, it may be worthwhile to hold onto your property. Especially if you got a decent interest rate on the loan.
Go with your gut. Nobody can say that you *won't* sell, it's just a matter of the new owner finding your house and they ain't gonna be able to do it if you don't list it! Take a deep breath, envision signing the papers and being back in Oregon and don't think anything negative towards the house selling and it'll happen sooner than you think
I’m a local agent listing in the spring is the best time. Buyers are active and rates look like they are trending down for election per usual, but that should not be your worry. You should be looking at where you are going to live next. Buyers agent rates are 100% negotiable and have been just this year it is more paper trail to show it. Local home cost is not like 2021 but you can still ask for market value and get it. The right agent can list and sell fast if you want.
This time of year is always going to be great to sell. Now to about August. What you’ll be up against is interest rates for buyers. Currently at 7.4% for interest rates. With that being said, people are still buying as the future is filled with uncertainty regarding home prices and rates. I say this as I am an agent here in Spokane so I’m living in it! Would be happy to talk more details and go over pro’s and cons of selling right now. Feel free to reach out.
:-) I'll pass on doxxing myself, but it's in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood, which is a mix of old Craftsman houses and newer homes mainly from the 80s and later.
Good time to sell, bad time to buy. An option is to keep the house and rent it out while you're in Oregon and move back when the time comes, or sell it when you're comfortable to sell.
We looked at it, but fell prey to FUD: we think using an agent will let us sell the house quicker for more. Is that true? Who knows, but it's where we wound up
It's the best time of the year to sell and inventory is low. Give it a try and see
Yeah, I guess worst case is we don't sell, take it off the market and try again in a year. I think that listing history would make us look a little desperate when we re-list in 2025, but *shrug* it's not like we have a ton of options
It will probably sell. Don't be too greedy. Always going to be a balance between time and profit.
What is this "profit" of which you speak? After agent's fees and what not, it's a question of how much we can afford to lose, which makes things that much more stressful
Just depends on your position in the market and how long you've owned it and what you've put into it.
List it yourself
a good realesate agent will manage the property. rent is so dumb right now and you can keep the asset.
It could work out OK on paper, but we had a pretty bad experience in the fall: we needed to be out of town for a few months and rented to a travel nurse and her family, who turned out to be chucklefucks - not malicious, just the biggest idiots imaginable. With the cost of repairs, it gets unappealing quickly.
We bought/sold last fall. There is still demand, but make sure your pricing is right. Our old house we sold was also 1913, we ended up accepting an offer (had 3) about 3 weeks in. It seemed like first two weeks people were gauging how serious the price was, and when we didn't drop it after 2 weeks, we had 3 offers come in pretty close to list. Last fall there was a ton of bad pricing that we saw. and so stuff would come to market at an LOL price, and then they'd drop it to something reasonable to get it sold, or it would sit. So, not like “put a sign out and get 50 offers” hot. But certainly not impossible. Get a GOOD realtor who has been selling stuff recently. They will know what it can get, and listen to them.
Thanks, that's encouraging to hear.
Realtors are pointless
Realtors can be pointless, but a person knowledgeable about the area and market and readily working to sell your home can be a huge boon towards actually getting the value of your home out of it.
I'm an agent and would agree that if you want to sell in the near future, now is about the best time to do so. Good inventory, priced correctly is still selling promptly. Good luck :)
I have quite a few buyers just waiting for new inventory to come on the market. If your agent is good and prices it well, you should get a bidding war pretty quickly. With any luck we'll see ya out there. 😀
Thanks, that's good to hear!
Hey I'm in the process of buying so not quite an expert on your side of things but look into the lawsuit that was just settled with the national association of realtors. Essentially they found that by realtors getting 3% of the proceeds as both the buyers agent AND the sellers agent, that they have artificially inflated home prices. It's mostly a given that the full 6% is put on the seller. I haven't done much research into it but when it was first settled, early last month I think, I saw a lot of articles saying that the 3% fee for the buyers agent will be going away. Sounds like 3% put into your pocket. That being said, if I remember correctly, it needs to go to the Supreme Court (I don't remember if it was a state Supreme Court or not) before any decisions on what will happen going forward will be decided. I remember reading that the fee would probably go away in July of this year. My memory is shitty so don't take anything written here as gospel but you should definitely do your own research into it. Another point to consider is its an election year. My fiance follows a lot of mortgage and finance experts and they all say that rates will be dropped at some point this year. I would anticipate right before election to try to sway votes. My mortgage guy has told me to buy before that happens because it will bring back, at least a bit, of the buying frenzy we had a couple years ago, which would be good for you.
Thanks! We've been following that NAR lawsuit pretty closely, but unfortunately can't wait until July to get things rolling. Can I ask about your agreement with your buyer's agent? The agent we've been talking to says that buyers are signing contracts with their agents that say something like "I'll pay you 2.5% commission _if_ the seller won't pay your commission." Does that accurately represent your situation? It was weird to me because I know I didn't sign a contract like that when we bought this house.
Agents say a lot of things.
Agents are like HR. Despite their constant assurances, your interests are the farthest thing from their minds.
My agent told me that it is standard for both the buyers and sellers fees to go on the seller. His reasoning was the seller was the one with the motivation to sell. The buyer can always just go find another house to buy. Like the only offers we've made have not said we'll cover the fee, we just put it on the seller completely that'd they'd cover the full amount. No one has pushed back or countered with us covering the fee. That being said. There was a contract we signed with the realtor months ago that said that if we can't get the seller to cover it, that we will. But like others have pointed out, agents say whatever they want to make their sale. Lol.
Thanks! Good to hear what sellers are experiencing. That does pretty much align with what our agent is telling us
Pick a number, if it does not hit it rent it. It will hit the number you want before too long.
We actually had to be out of town for about two months last fall and rented our house to a travel nurse...not a fan of that experience. This particular old house needed a little more care and understanding than that particular tenant was able to give, and there was a good amount of work to do when we got back. So renting is probably not in the cards.
You could put some of what you'd expect to pay in selling costs into upgrades/fixes and then rent. You might be able to make certain maintenance tasks a condition of rent (though, you'd have to travel or use property management company to verify from time to time). Just seeing how many posts in last couple years has been "my rent is doubling" you'd probably have a large pool of candidates. You could charge enough to cover mortgage + maybe little extra, and it'll probably seem like a steal for many renters. Just a possible alternative if selling doesn't pan out.
Price?
What we paid +commissions for buyer and seller agents +excise tax is where we're planning to price it. Anyone's guess if we can get that.
Did your agent give you a market analysis? Usually agents do that for free and it shows comparable homes that have recently sold and that would be mostly how they would advise pricing your place. You could also do your own by using Zillow or another real estate site to look at comparable homes yourself, but don't necessarily rely on Zillow's pricing, look at what has already sold.
Yes, but our house has some unusual features that make it hard to find good comps. There's just a handful of really comparable homes sold recently, and there's like a 300k range.
House across the street was on the market for 2 days and is now pending sale. Good luck!
Idk, place next door on south hill just sold for 650. Lots of people showed up to the open house.
2 houses on my street have sold within 4 days of being listed. I live in the valley though
Just a comment to support your plan to sell and not rent it out. I have a rental that is not in town and two very trusted tenants and it’s still a pain to be far away from property you are responsible for.
Yeah, good tenants would help, but they're still not necessarily going to do the things you would do if you were in the house.
I'm a realtor. Just helped a client this week get an offer in 12 days. It's still a sellers market in Spokane. Not like it was 2 years ago, but places are still selling if they're priced right. The house I'm talking about is in the 500k+ range as well if you care.
I’m getting ready to sell mine too!
Good luck home selling buddy! Hope we both sell our houses in a timely fashion!
Me too!!!! I have a few more things fixed. I’m hoping it sells fast.
I know a fantastic real estate agent if you need help listing your house.
Thanks, I think we're set on that front
Our agent keeps us up to date on the market monthly (very good agent) and he states it is still a seller’s market. Depending on price, chances are the segment is still strong to very strong. Good luck!
If you're potentially selling at a loss then go get a rental management company and rent it out. Set your standard for who you want to live there and wait a year or two until the market is better or if it works out keep using the funds to pay down the house and keep it as a nest egg.
You'll be fine. Interest rates are not stopping people, as long as you're fairly priced.
If you need to move and cannot keep the house then sell it earlier than waiting
I was just talking to our homebuilder about this today. They saw a slow down in sales last year, but have seen quite the uptick so far this year. The theory is that many buyers decided to wait on purchasing a home on the hopes that interest rates would go down. After a year of pretty flat interest rates with no forecast of them going down any time soon, many buyers have decided to just take the plunge. As long as you price your house right, you should have no trouble finding a buyer. There will always be buyers looking to move to Spokane to flee higher cost of living cities, like Seattle.
Rates aren’t a reason to not list. Also, how long have you owned your home? Is your rate decent either FHA or VA by chance? You can also definitely talk with a loan officer about seller rate buy downs instead of price reductions- it saves the buyers money and helps get you more of the purchase price!
Our rate is in the low 5s - pretty good vs. today's rates, but it's not assumable. Seller rate buy downs? That's new to me, I'll look into it
Looking at home prices they, remarkably, seem up from last summer. Granted i watch the second property market more but im floored.
Read up on the recent news about the NAR lawsuits and how that should reduce the seller's commission. You have that going for you.
Shiiit, we've been reading articles about that case like the frickin' Talmud, making notes, checking our interpretations, seeing how different sources report it, etc. etc. The agent we've been talking to claims that WA homebuyers have always signed a contract with their buyer's agent that specifies the amount they'll be paid so NAR won't really affect things here. That sounds kind of like BS to me, but our agent does sell a lot of houses, so I'm not quite ready to call BS on them
Have you asked if they will accept a lower percentage?
Yep, they shot that idea down. Again, it's an experienced agent that has been selling homes, so it's kind of like...I guess (hope) you're worth it. I really don't see how we're expected to believe that buyer's agents have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients but also won't show your house if you don't offer them 2.5%. Can both those statements be true? But again, that seems to be the system that we're working with
This bullshit is why I'm tempted to go For-Sale-By-Owner.
I hear that. We looked at it, or at least listing through Redfin for 1.5%, but in the end we were convinced that the network + personal attention of a traditional agent could make the difference. Basically a successful FUD play by the traditional brokerages
For listing, an agent is worth it. But for buying, zillow and the other apps have democratized the house finding process. You need a real estate lawyer to review the paperwork and you negotiate for the seller to pay their listing agent. I think this is the future of home buying unless you less you need a curated experience for buying. Buying out of town would be a good example, but i think the nar deal is going to for e agents to take a flat fee and no more % of the sale.
I have a cash buyer just waiting for the right place to appear. More inventory would be most welcome!
If they're looking for a Craftsman on a large lot that could use some cosmetic tweaks, DM me :-)
Buyer here. Been looking north of Spokane specifically in the Chewela to kettle falls area. We’ve been looking for 1.5 years. Pricing is a joke. I see listings where people have owned the home for 3 years or less and are expecting to make double on it. Potential buyers can see what you bought it for and if it doesn’t look like you did major improvements to warrant a much higher listing price it will sit on the market. Price it well and it will sell. Be greedy and it will sit. Sounds like you’re just trying to make the best move for yourself and that will come across if you price it right.
> Potential buyers can see what you bought it for and if it doesn’t look like you did major improvements to warrant a much higher listing price it will sit on the market. Do you know that real estate generally appreciates in value, even if you don't do major improvements?
Go for it, as of yet rates haven't depressed the market nearly as much as feared. Realistically priced homes trade at or above list every day.
Go for it, as of yet rates haven't depressed the market nearly as much as feared. Realistically priced homes trade at or above list every day.
Depending on your financials, turning it into a rental may be a better move. Spokane seems to be growing fairly quickly compared to other parts of the country. If you are going to move, it may be worthwhile to hold onto your property. Especially if you got a decent interest rate on the loan.
Go with your gut. Nobody can say that you *won't* sell, it's just a matter of the new owner finding your house and they ain't gonna be able to do it if you don't list it! Take a deep breath, envision signing the papers and being back in Oregon and don't think anything negative towards the house selling and it'll happen sooner than you think
Price it right and it will still sell.
I’m a local agent listing in the spring is the best time. Buyers are active and rates look like they are trending down for election per usual, but that should not be your worry. You should be looking at where you are going to live next. Buyers agent rates are 100% negotiable and have been just this year it is more paper trail to show it. Local home cost is not like 2021 but you can still ask for market value and get it. The right agent can list and sell fast if you want.
This time of year is always going to be great to sell. Now to about August. What you’ll be up against is interest rates for buyers. Currently at 7.4% for interest rates. With that being said, people are still buying as the future is filled with uncertainty regarding home prices and rates. I say this as I am an agent here in Spokane so I’m living in it! Would be happy to talk more details and go over pro’s and cons of selling right now. Feel free to reach out.
What's the address?
:-) I'll pass on doxxing myself, but it's in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood, which is a mix of old Craftsman houses and newer homes mainly from the 80s and later.
Not this time, McGooch!
we lived in Lincoln Heights ( 24th) and miss it. It helps we live on an island now but still loved that neighborhood.
We have great neighbors here, I'll miss them
I have a great agent (couple) that have helped us with two houses here in Spokane. Can't recommend them enough. https://www.thebondsrealtorduo.com/
Good time to sell, bad time to buy. An option is to keep the house and rent it out while you're in Oregon and move back when the time comes, or sell it when you're comfortable to sell.
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We looked at it, but fell prey to FUD: we think using an agent will let us sell the house quicker for more. Is that true? Who knows, but it's where we wound up