Townhouse for sale!

The story of how my wife and I, tragically betrayed by the world of traditional real estate agents, decided to swim against the tide and try to sell our townhouse ourselves has been well documented in a couple of previous posts.

You can read them here and here.

We’ve made a good bit of progress so far… We have listed through an online realtor that charged us an up-front listing fee and doesn’t take a commission from the sale (though I still have to pay commission to the buyer’s agent). We also installed the new wood laminate floors, which make a BIG difference in how the place looks.

In the last two weeks since our property has been listed, we’ve had four or five people come see the house and a couple have come back for second visits. We also just yesterday reached a key milestone: our first offer. It was a monumental achievement considering that we were listed through an agent for four months beginning in July and never got a single offer, but also a bit dubious since it was also our first crappy offer.

The prospective buyer and his agent came to our house last night and told us that they would graciously offer us several thousand dollars less than our asking price provided that we move out by December 16th and pay all closing costs.

I tried to put compromises on the table, but the buyer apparently had very little wiggle-room financially. I told him that I would be willing to pay part of the closing costs if the rest could be wrapped up in the price of the house. But nothing flew and I’m sure that they are right now negotiating with another homeowner in my complex. If they can find someone to accept their terms, more power to them. Had I done so, I would have ended up paying the closing costs entirely out of my own pocket.

Like I said, we’ve only been listed for two weeks and have had more success than we did during four months with a realtor. I am not yet desperate.

So far, I’d give myself pretty high grades as a rookie real estate agent. I’ve followed up with every agent that’s come to the house, which has paid off so far. That was one of my pet peeves about my former agent; she never wanted to follow up unless an agent came for a second visit.

I’m also contemplating an email campaign to real estate agents in the area, but in order for that to be effective I think I’d have to come up with some kind of added incentive like a cash bonus above commission for the agent that sells my place or something like that.

Anyway, 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhouse/condo available near downtown Alpharetta; lots of upgrades, priced to sell. Want to see how great life would be as the next suburban creature to live in my pad?

Pretty sweet, huh?

Seriously though: buy my house.