Now is not a great time to be selling your house. I know this first hand. We’ve had the house on the market for two months and no one has even viewed it. We’ve had several open houses and the only people who showed were realtors and nosy neighbors. It’s a frustrating time for both buyer and seller. The buyer can’t buy because mortgage loans are becoming extremely more difficult to obtain, if obtainable at all. Those with poor credit might as well forget about obtaining a mortgage much less trying to even get a credit card. As for the seller, since there are so few buyers who have the means to purchase, the selling prospect further dims.
As for my family, we have determined that if we sell, that’s fine and if we don’t, that will be fine also. There is no absolute need for us to move other than we would like the kids to have their own bedroom and we would like more garage space so that my husband can comfortably work from home. However, our wants are just that and certainly not needs. In some ways, I feel content just to stay right where I’m at. There wouldn’t be any moving expenses and hassle. Our current mortgage is approximately 3 years off from being paid off completely. It would in fact make life easier in some aspects.
We have looked at another house that is for sale. It would certainly meet our needs with plenty of space for the kids and the husbands business. The price is right, given the current market, but the interior needs some serious help. The kitchen would need to be gutted, the ceilings need the popcorn texture shoveled off and skipped troweled, the wood paneling would need to come down and be replaced with drywall and the bathrooms updated. Of course, all of this is no small feat. Unfortunately, my husband is not the handy one in this family so most of the tasks would be mine. I could probably handle most of the gutting of the kitchen but the re installation would definitely be someone else’s issue. The ceilings are no problem for me. I can get the popcorn down. Putting up the mud is labor intensive and shoulder killing, but I could probably do if I had to. I have no problem taking paneling down and I could even put the drywall up myself but the seams and joints would need a master’s touch.
After all the big items are taken care of, then there are the little things such as painting, furniture, alarm system installation, window treatments and so on. Most of the little things are do-able over time. I’ve been debating whether to go with a monitored alarm system like ADT (www.adt.com) or just install a system myself that isn’t monitored such as the 54 piece X10 home security system from X10 Package Deals. Both have good points to them. It’s a subject still up for discussion with my husband.
As you can see, if you can move during this recession that we’re in, the updating and remodeling don’t lessen by project or by cost. Perhaps it may be best just to stay exactly where I’m at.
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