Enough is enough. I contacted a highly regarded, local realtor who spent an half hour on the phone with me giving advice without any pressure to list with him. He works for a large, national real estate company and has much greater resources available to sell our home.
I sent an email to the first realtors stating we are immediately terminating our listing agreement with them. I can't wait to see what their response will be and what kind of reaction they will have. After all, it's all about customer service, we're the customer and we're not getting anything but excuses.
It's going to get interesting. The second realtor has told me that if we list with him and the house doesn't sell by the end of October, it would be a good idea to pull it from the market and re-list it the last week of February next year. It would then appear as a new listing instead of one that's been on the market (by that time) for eight months, causing prospective buyers to pass on looking at the house thinking there is something wrong with it.
This opens up a new can of worms, I have to really lock into a part or full time job for the winter. I have applied to over a dozen different job listings in my field (Investigator), including two more today that just popped up. So far, nothing has panned out. I can't even be a french fry cook at McDonald's because they just tore down the local one as part of a road widening project. :c(
So that's the puzzle of what we're looking at, it may be another long winter here in Northern Virginia. Yep, I'll have to winterize the Journey, hopefully for the very last time.
Thanks for sticking with us on our slow progress towards our fulltime life. We appreciate all your comments that have been very encouraging. I guess it all boils down to "Rome wasn't built in a day".
Oh my, how discouraging. I truly hope things work out for both of you sooner rather than later. Try to keep your positive outlook.
ReplyDeleteGive em' hell you two! They'll say anything to get the listing and then...........and then......
ReplyDeleteI just can't figure out what good the listing does them if they don't sell the house.
STILL crossing my fingers! I hate to think of you going back to W&%K.
Hang in there...God does things for a reason, I hear :) Hopefully this new realtor will be more aggressive..
ReplyDeletewe can so relate to the firing of your realtor..we fired ours about a month ago too..for pretty much the same reasons..they were none too pleased..but the listing was going to expire anyway at the end of this month..we will try again in the new year in the hopes that we have better luck!!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear of your frustration. We have friends who sold their house, went full timing and then had to foreclose on the house and go back and fix it up again and resell it. But it did sell and they are back on the road. So it will happen for you. Just hang in there and know that we're all keeping our fingers and toes crossed for you.
ReplyDeleteOh no. I'm so sorry that this is happening. Just keep it on the market because the right people just haven't shown up yet. They'll be there but they are just a little late. Before you know it you'll be on the road.
ReplyDeleteWe're frustrated for you and hope your new realtor finally sells it SOON!!!
ReplyDeleteThis may sound strange, but I sold my folks home by listing it on Craigs list, not it the local area, but many states away. Sell to who you know, other Coast Guard families who need to locate into your area. They will trust you because of your background. Write up a good description, a few good pictures, and list in areas where they are.
ReplyDeleteWe moved into our RV a little over a year ago, still parked in the local area, but soon we will be heading out for the winter. Just a suggestion. You have nothing to lose.
Journey39n
We feel your pain... Wish I had some new idea to throw your way;o)
ReplyDeleteThis is not easy but it will be sooooo worth it!!
We came close to selling our house 3 summers ago. We were seriously considering Full Timing back then. I wrote up a detailed description of our place and area complete with photos and posted it on line with a site similar to Craig's List. The results were immediate and we did have 3 reputable couples come to look at our place. It was the late summer of 08, the economy crashed and we immediately re-thought our future and took a step back from selling our place. We are still here but the online thing worked really well for us and if we decided to sell again that is exactly how we would go about it once more.
ReplyDeleteRealtors who don't work to sell a place shoot themselves in the foot. Good to get rid of them. Hopefully a new strategy will give the desired results and you won't have to drastically change your plans for the immediate future.
ReplyDeleteI left this comment for Nancy and Bill too. I remembered that in Tampa we threw in "Free Yard and pool service for 1 year" just to draw attention to the listing.
ReplyDeleteKeep positive. It will happen.
I worked for realtors for a year and learned a lot. Your friend is absolutely correct about dropping the listing later this fall and listing again come March 1st.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with things like Thrifty Nickle/Penny Savers, CraigsList and making your own webpage (I'd be glad to help with that). If you do it during your listing, have it directed TO your realtor. If you do it while unlisted, then you get to field it all. Sometimes a good realtor will handle the offer/closing paperwork for a fee, even though it's not currently listed with them.
Good luck!!
Getting rid of the no effort realtors is a good next move. Hope the next ones can get it done by the end of Oct.
ReplyDeleteHave you considered renting the house? If market is weak then that might be an alternative which would allow you to get on the road as a full timer.
ReplyDeleteHang in there...it will happen.
ReplyDeleteWe listed ours last September, spent the winter in the motor home in Florida, got a contract in March, and closed in June.
Our Realtor never once showed our house but others in her office did. We were about ready to get another Realtor when we got a contract. Our Realtor did a good job getting it closed.
By spending the winter away from the house...it stayed nice and clean!
Now why didn't I think of that? Good idea to fire the realtor. I hope the new realtor does the job for you.
ReplyDelete