Visited mom yesterday, and showed her some pictures of the new farm property, because she insisted I take some for her. She knows it’s too much for us to drive out there, pick her up, drive her to the farm, give her a tour, and deliver her back to her place. Not for us, but for her. She cannot handle that long a day, needs a walker, and does not do well with stairs, so bringing here there is an exercise in futility, which she knows.
The good news is that she liked what she saw of it, when I showed her the pics on the digi-display on the back of my Nikon. We’re in such limbo that I hadn’t even downloaded them to a thumb drive, so, yeah, I had to bring the camera itself over there to show her. She liked the house, and the property. Color me shocked.
The bad news is that: 1) she was taken aback by it having a pond and a pool, about which I did not previously tell her, and, 2) she was all over me about getting the heck out of here fast, and having the hardwood floors refinished before we put it on the market. The last time she saw this place was eight years ago, so that’s what sticks in her memory bank. We have other priorities.
Mom’s gotta mom. It’s what she does. She’s always been a Debbie Downer regarding any financial decision I make w/o her approval.
Our realtor has told us that our hardwood floors throughout our entire current house, with the exception of the mudroom, kitchen, and bathrooms, is a good selling point in this market, as is the price range for this house. That’s good news. I still expect it to take several months to sell, once it’s on the market, but houses in this price range are moving (according to my realtor).
The trick is to ask more than you want for it, but not so much more that it drives away potential buyers. The old rule of thumb was ask 10% more than you want, or what it was worth, but I don’t know if that applies anymore. The previous owners of the farm settled for 17% less than their asking price. I’ll have to go with our realtor’s advice about asking price, but I do have an initial asking figure in mind, which is slightly high, but not out of the ballpark, so to speak. There’s no way I’m going to lose money on this place, but how much I pocket after closing fees might be enough to pay for a tractor plus a few attachments. Call it a trade-up. If I can do that … good deal.
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