When I was 15 I saw a motor home and thought I would really like to live in that and travel. That dream never went away. Grew up, got married, raised kids. Now it is time. After 3 years of looking for our perfect motor home, we bought it! Purchased a 42 foot 2008 Monaco. I LOVE it... despite the post purchase being a nightmare that Poulsbo RV won't soon forget. We had a wax done on the coach and they ruined the paint, we have to have it professionally repaired (down time will be 1+ weeks). Cost to us -0-; cost to Poulsbo $6,000 to $30,000.00! Had the slide fixed 3 times, Poulsbo screwed that up too! Insurance still pending on that one. Anyway, not to be detoured we had our first yard sale, going to just give the rest away. All finances are in place, but I am still working - pending the sale of the home. As soon as the house sells, we are gone, gone and gone. But it has to be soon, as fall is upon us and we are surrounded by passes! It will be escape from the Pacific Northwest! We have dropped the price by $30,000.00 and still nothing! Does anybody rent the home instead of sell? Seems like that would be a pain, but if we must, we must!
SnowGypsy said
09:21 PM Sep 22, 2013
I've seen this question asked many times in many different forums. We rented a house once when we couldn't get it to sell and we had an agency handle it and we would never, ever do it again but some people have a good experience doing it. Do you know of an agency that would be reliable in your area to handle renting it out? You could do it yourself but that can be difficult and you realize that if the water heater or something goes out that you'll have to arrange and pay for the repairs/replacement and it was our luck that those kind of things happened during the weekend which cost more. Also, not everyone pays their rent so you wouldn't want to be dependent on the rental payment coming in. Once someone was renting our house, the realtor told us that it was difficult to get people in the house that wanted to see it and they felt sure it would have sold if they could have gotten in for a showing. Many renters are not keen on the home they are living in being sold. Have a strict no pet policy but still, many don't abide by what is agreed upon. I love pets but mine are housebroken and not destructive which appears to be rare among people that rent or that is what I have seen. If you find someone to handle your home as a rental that is good, I am sure it could work out.
Cindy T said
10:02 PM Sep 22, 2013
People do rent out their homes & go on the road, but then you're still tied to the house & what is happening with it.
Is your house listed with a realtor? Have you de-personalized/decluttered the house so prospective buyers can imagine themselves there? Has it been professionally staged? Are the appliances new? There are lots of things that you can do to make a house more appealing to buyers, besides lowering the price. Hopefully your realtor has been helping you with these things.
lindy said
10:12 PM Sep 22, 2013
We still have a couple of years till we start our full timing journey. Our plan right now is to close up the house and winterize it. Then after spending a year on the road we'll reevaluate as to sell the house or not. Right now we're leaning tword selling the house after the 1st year. We just want to make sure that full timing will work out for us.
NWescapee said
11:23 PM Sep 22, 2013
BMiller - first of all, sorry for your experience with Poulsbo RV, we bought a trailer from them once several years ago, never again. Enough said.
Where in the Pacific NW are you? Are you working with a realtor? If you need a good realtor, I'd be happy to reccomend Terry Aman, he sold our house in Auburn WA this past spring. 5 days on the market, 5 offers, sold at 5% above selling price, he did a fantastic job marketing our house with 2 open house days on Memorial Day weekend.
BMiller said
12:21 AM Sep 23, 2013
We are in Puyallup in a very nice development. Our realtor states it is our price point. She has stated that houses in the $200,000 range are selling, upper three's and four's are not. What company does your realtor represent?
We even had an open house - the home is staged, everybody loves it, just no buyers!
NWescapee said
12:44 AM Sep 23, 2013
Terry Aman is with John L Scott out of the Kent office and I know he's listed houses in the Puyallup area. It's currently a seller's market in the Puget Sound so if you are not getting a good reaction it might be time to consult another realtor. If you want to PM me, I can get you Terry's email and phone number. He's a great guy, 30 years of marketing experience before becoming a realtor so he's pretty aggressive with his marketing approach. In fact we have a realtor in our neighborhood who I didn't use, she stopped by during the open house and with the "traffic jam" on our street / driveway told Terry, "I'm not sure what you are doing but you are doing something right".
BMiller said
12:46 AM Sep 23, 2013
Our realtor is also with John L. Scott....
NWescapee said
01:20 AM Sep 23, 2013
Just sent you a PM, all I can say is not all Realtors are created equal.
Best of luck and if you do get headed in the southerly direction let us know. We're in Northern CA right now, will be wintering in AZ, always fun to meet other Pacific NW refugees
WestWardHo said
03:24 PM Sep 23, 2013
Having recently sold our house we agree completely with Dale & Ruth, a good realtor with a very aggressive marketing plan and good communication with you is crucial! Get the plan in writing.
You have a significant investment there so remember you don't have to rush out of here because of the passes, just plan carefully and be patient chalking it up for experience and adventures. INMHO one must be flexible in this lifestyle so you're getting practice in that 😊.
Really sorry about your RV purchase experience. We are still "in negotiation" with ours and the check is supposed to be "in the mail" this week from our purchase in April in Mesa, AZ.
We've read both horror and success stories with renting homes, but mostly bad I'm sorry to say. Although we recently visited friends in Sequim who are part-time RVers and they're renting a beautiful home there and keeping it perfectly. I was a renter by choice for many years and a landlord's dream. We choose to have nothing to look back on or worry about except our friends we left.
Sending you positive thoughts for a quick sale and lots of patience to get you through.
Sherry
Dcrum said
03:02 PM Sep 25, 2013
I hear you about the house not selling! We won't have much equity when it does sell, but we can't even get it shown! We do have a realtor - a top seller in our area. We have decluttered, fixed, painted, etc., but if nobody comes in, they can't buy. Feeling the approach of Maine winter, when it "for sure" won't sell, so there is a feeling of urgency. Can't buy RV until it sells, unless we finance the whole thing,which we know would be risky and foolish. So. Here we are. I try to comfort myself knowing it will likely be my last fall and winter here (and believe it or not I enjoy the winter) and enjoy it while it lasts. This too shall pass.
cejones4210 said
04:50 AM Sep 27, 2013
Dcrum wrote:
I hear you about the house not selling! We won't have much equity when it does sell, but we can't even get it shown! We do have a realtor - a top seller in our area. We have decluttered, fixed, painted, etc., but if nobody comes in, they can't buy. Feeling the approach of Maine winter, when it "for sure" won't sell, so there is a feeling of urgency. Can't buy RV until it sells, unless we finance the whole thing,which we know would be risky and foolish. So. Here we are. I try to comfort myself knowing it will likely be my last fall and winter here (and believe it or not I enjoy the winter) and enjoy it while it lasts. This too shall pass.
Donna, totally understand your frustration. We are experiencing the same thing. De cluttered, painted netural, and new carpet, did comparisons and have it priced competively. It's been on the market since the end of May. Shown and good feedback, no negatives about price and still no offers. Local realtors tell us they will list on Realtor.com, Zillow, and local paper as buyers like to look on the web and then they'll call the realtor when they find one they want to look at, otherwise no marketing plan. So why should I list with a realtor? I have it listed on FSBO and 4 other websites, local Craigslist and paper. Finding the right buyer is a waiting game, but we have already missed our September target date. Hope we can meet our April target. Would like to find an aggressive marketing realtor, but no one in our area seems to do much other than list it and wait for calls. I'm already doing that. :(
2riker2go said
05:45 AM Sep 27, 2013
cejones4210 wrote:
Donna, totally understand your frustration. We are experiencing the same thing. De cluttered, painted netural, and new carpet, did comparisons and have it priced competively. It's been on the market since the end of May. Shown and good feedback, no negatives about price and still no offers. Local realtors tell us they will list on Realtor.com, Zillow, and local paper as buyers like to look on the web and then they'll call the realtor when they find one they want to look at, otherwise no marketing plan. So why should I list with a realtor? I have it listed on FSBO and 4 other websites, local Craigslist and paper. Finding the right buyer is a waiting game, but we have already missed our September target date. Hope we can meet our April target. Would like to find an aggressive marketing realtor, but no one in our area seems to do much other than list it and wait for calls. I'm already doing that. :(
I would suggest to keep looking for a good realtor. After experiencing three of the type you mention - the list it and wait for a call type - we completely lucked out when we listed our house when I heard from someone of their great experience and we hooked up with a GREAT realtor. Yes, she listed it on the websites, but she also went above and beyond that in getting us exposure. She did an awesome virtual tour and had at least two realtor caravans come in to get our property viewed by probably 40 local realtors. She was also the absolute best in communication - kept us informed at all times and was on top of everything. After working with her, now I know the difference when you get a good realtor.
-- Edited by 2riker2go on Friday 27th of September 2013 05:45:46 AM
BMiller said
09:24 PM Sep 29, 2013
House Sold! Cash buyer - closing on the 14th of October! So excited... getting closer and closer to full timing.
BMiller said
09:28 PM Sep 29, 2013
The house did sell. It is a cash buyer so closing is in two weeks. I don't know if we will make it out before spring, but will definitely keep in touch.
NWescapee said
09:40 PM Sep 29, 2013
Yay!!! Happy Trails to you, hope to see you on the road somewhere, sorry you were stuck in Puyallup for this weekend's rain deluge.
bjoyce said
02:37 AM Sep 30, 2013
I-5 is normally drive-able all the way to Redding, CA in fall, at which point you are home free.
When I was 15 I saw a motor home and thought I would really like to live in that and travel. That dream never went away. Grew up, got married, raised kids. Now it is time. After 3 years of looking for our perfect motor home, we bought it! Purchased a 42 foot 2008 Monaco. I LOVE it... despite the post purchase being a nightmare that Poulsbo RV won't soon forget. We had a wax done on the coach and they ruined the paint, we have to have it professionally repaired (down time will be 1+ weeks). Cost to us -0-; cost to Poulsbo $6,000 to $30,000.00! Had the slide fixed 3 times, Poulsbo screwed that up too! Insurance still pending on that one. Anyway, not to be detoured we had our first yard sale, going to just give the rest away. All finances are in place, but I am still working - pending the sale of the home. As soon as the house sells, we are gone, gone and gone. But it has to be soon, as fall is upon us and we are surrounded by passes! It will be escape from the Pacific Northwest! We have dropped the price by $30,000.00 and still nothing! Does anybody rent the home instead of sell? Seems like that would be a pain, but if we must, we must!
People do rent out their homes & go on the road, but then you're still tied to the house & what is happening with it.
Is your house listed with a realtor? Have you de-personalized/decluttered the house so prospective buyers can imagine themselves there? Has it been professionally staged? Are the appliances new? There are lots of things that you can do to make a house more appealing to buyers, besides lowering the price. Hopefully your realtor has been helping you with these things.
Where in the Pacific NW are you? Are you working with a realtor? If you need a good realtor, I'd be happy to reccomend Terry Aman, he sold our house in Auburn WA this past spring. 5 days on the market, 5 offers, sold at 5% above selling price, he did a fantastic job marketing our house with 2 open house days on Memorial Day weekend.
We are in Puyallup in a very nice development. Our realtor states it is our price point. She has stated that houses in the $200,000 range are selling, upper three's and four's are not. What company does your realtor represent?
We even had an open house - the home is staged, everybody loves it, just no buyers!
Just sent you a PM, all I can say is not all Realtors are created equal.
Best of luck and if you do get headed in the southerly direction let us know. We're in Northern CA right now, will be wintering in AZ, always fun to meet other Pacific NW refugees
You have a significant investment there so remember you don't have to rush out of here because of the passes, just plan carefully and be patient chalking it up for experience and adventures. INMHO one must be flexible in this lifestyle so you're getting practice in that 😊.
Really sorry about your RV purchase experience. We are still "in negotiation" with ours and the check is supposed to be "in the mail" this week from our purchase in April in Mesa, AZ.
We've read both horror and success stories with renting homes, but mostly bad I'm sorry to say. Although we recently visited friends in Sequim who are part-time RVers and they're renting a beautiful home there and keeping it perfectly. I was a renter by choice for many years and a landlord's dream. We choose to have nothing to look back on or worry about except our friends we left.
Sending you positive thoughts for a quick sale and lots of patience to get you through.
Sherry
Donna, totally understand your frustration. We are experiencing the same thing. De cluttered, painted netural, and new carpet, did comparisons and have it priced competively. It's been on the market since the end of May. Shown and good feedback, no negatives about price and still no offers. Local realtors tell us they will list on Realtor.com, Zillow, and local paper as buyers like to look on the web and then they'll call the realtor when they find one they want to look at, otherwise no marketing plan. So why should I list with a realtor? I have it listed on FSBO and 4 other websites, local Craigslist and paper. Finding the right buyer is a waiting game, but we have already missed our September target date. Hope we can meet our April target. Would like to find an aggressive marketing realtor, but no one in our area seems to do much other than list it and wait for calls. I'm already doing that. :(
I would suggest to keep looking for a good realtor. After experiencing three of the type you mention - the list it and wait for a call type - we completely lucked out when we listed our house when I heard from someone of their great experience and we hooked up with a GREAT realtor. Yes, she listed it on the websites, but she also went above and beyond that in getting us exposure. She did an awesome virtual tour and had at least two realtor caravans come in to get our property viewed by probably 40 local realtors. She was also the absolute best in communication - kept us informed at all times and was on top of everything. After working with her, now I know the difference when you get a good realtor.
-- Edited by 2riker2go on Friday 27th of September 2013 05:45:46 AM
House Sold! Cash buyer - closing on the 14th of October! So excited... getting closer and closer to full timing.
The house did sell. It is a cash buyer so closing is in two weeks. I don't know if we will make it out before spring, but will definitely keep in touch.
Wow - that didn't take long! congratulations!