House on the Market . . .

[High Heels]

Well the house went on the market yesterday evening! It feels like we have reached a huge milestone. We had a call for a showing with in two hours of listing going active, but they ended up not showing. Today it is on a tour for Green Homes in the area.

Please all you adventurous Spirits, send us positive "house selling energy". This has not been easy for me. As much as I am looking forward to living aboard and adventures, I love this very special, one-of-a-kind home.

Take care...

[wingNwing]

Hoping you'll soon join the ranks of the "houseless, but not homeless!"

[aegean adrift]

Am sending lots of positive "house selling energy" your way!

[Jesse]

The sale of our house closes on Nov. 10th. It's a tough market right now. It took a years time and a 25% reduction in price to get anyone to even look at it, but when they did the only two potential buyers arrived on the same day and both made offers. It seems that special one of a kind on an island shrinks the cadre of potential buyers a bit. I hope you fare much better than that. We still did quite well on the sale but three years ago was a much better market out here. Best of luck to you in both endeavors. Jesse

[High Heels]

Thanks everyone!

Jesse, sorry to hear it took a year and that you had to reduce it that much, but am glad you did sell it!

Our neighbor built ours. It is an active and passive solar house, and our avg. bill for electric a year is $70/month to operate a 2,600 sq. feet...we are hoping that now that people are a bit more energy conscious than they were 7 years ago that will help ;0)

It is one tough market though I know...so who knows what will happen.

[SkiprJohn]

Best of luck in the sale of your home!
kindest regards,

[S/V Illusion]

If it's priced right, it will sell in a reasonable time even in this market. Loans are widely available, rates very low and there are lots of people looking. We recently sold our house and had 5 offers competing within the first 6 days of it being listed and ended up selling for substantially more than we were asking so my advice - re-read the first sentence.

[gettinthere]

Good luck...we've lowered our waterfront house 40% from the top of the market and not one bite. Looks like a 50% to 55% loss is what it will take

[maxingout]

I have only owned one house, and when I purchased it, I felt like I was at the casino - placing bets and hoping for the best.

If I live to be 200 years old, I am sure that my house will go up in price and I will turn a nice profit!

Yachts are also like a trip to the casino in that I know I am going to lose money on it. The only question is how much.

On the positive side, if you give up your accountant mentality and live your dreams, lots of good things happen. How do I put a price on a circumnavigation that took eleven years with my family on board? What was that worth? A million dollars? A billion? What is it worth to see a thousand sunsets and sunrises while anchored in paradise? How do I put a price on living my dreams while I am still healthy and can enjoy them?

The accountant mentality is a curse and a dream stealer. It only looks at one side of the equation of life.

I have over 400 CDs of photographs from our circumnavigation. I watched my kids grow up on our yacht. I have a DVD of our adventures sailing up pirate alley and the Red Sea. I have enough footage for two more DVDs. I talk to my grown children every day about our adventures around the world. Where does that fit in the equation of life? What's that worth?

I will lose money when I sell my house, but what I gain will be far more. Although I won't be earning any more Freedom Chips, I will once again be living my dreams.

Every day at the hospital, I see dozens of patients stuggling to just have a good day. If I gave them a 40 foot yacht, the best they could do is put a rocking chair in the cockpit and watch the world go by.

I'll take my losses and lumps on my house with a joyful heart as long as I am healthy and get to live my dreams.

Good luck on selling your house. May all your losses be small ones as you live long and prosper on your yacht.

[VirtualVagabond]

Yeah... best of luck.

We listed 8 weeks ago here in Aus. Half a dozen tyre (foundation?) kickers but nobody with a cheque.
A few '... we've got our house on the market too, and as soon as it sells we'll be making an offer...' hollow gestures.
At least our little Aussie battler $ is looking good right now, and we do have an eye on boats on your side of the pond.
Not that we can do anything about it right now

So if you've got any of those positive vibes left over when yours has sold, send them our way

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by maxingout

What is it worth to see a thousand sunsets and sunrises while anchored in paradise? How do I put a price on living my dreams while I am still healthy and can enjoy them?

The accountant mentality is a curse and a dream stealer. It only looks at one side of the equation of life.

.

Very well stated indeed!

I don't always agree with what you have to say, Dave. But you've nailed it beautifully this time.

Thanks.
Vic

[RiverRat]

The very best of luck to you, High Heels!

Until the last few years my husband and I were probably the only people on the planet to actually LOSE money on real estate. Well,... NOW everyone is doing it!

I remember one time we accepted an offer below asking and told our agent 'we can take it now and get out or we can make the mortgage payments another few months and take it then.' We still had to bring money to closing. (Those were the day before it was socially acceptable to just walk away) That house took another 5 years to get back to what we had paid for it. By then we were 5 years into better living.

So, get what you can for it, but don't get tooooo hung up on the money. And only you can determine how much is too much.

RiverRat aka Kitty

[Charlie]

Have you used the old superstition? Take a statue of St Joseph and bury it in your yard -- here are instructions -- Instructions for St. Joseph Statues | eHow.com It has always worked for me and I have made money on every house that I have lived in. Even in this down market if I were to sell I would make money. Of course I priced all the houses right and dolled them up before hand. LOL

[RiverRat]

You can NOT under estimate the value of 'dolling' up a house before you show it. Our last house had the buyers asking for some window valances in the contract and I had to admit 'yes, you can have them, but they're cardboard covered with leftover sheets'. But, hey! they liked them...

[matauwhi]

G'day, mate. All the best with selling your house. We actually sailed off before ours sold. Remember getting the notification 12 years ago when it finally closed as we were making our way back down the West Coast of the U.S. and ""chucked" the keys in the Pacific. Houseless, but not homeless, indeed. Cheers.