Selling my Grandmothers home after nearly 50 years! Nothing lasts forever...
After 48 years, the home my mother grew up in is finally on the market. In 1969, when my mother was only 7 she moved in to what would the family home for almost the next 50 years. There were so many good memories in the house (Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthday parties, house parties, etc.) but nothing lasts forever!
A few months before my grandma passed away we started to get her house ready to be sold. The major things we did were take out the old carpet and move out all of her stuff to the storage unit.
Her house definitely needs some TLC (tender, loving, care)! Personally I would get the floors refinished, replace the woods, add french doors to the living room and put a deck out back, update the electrical through the house, and put a vapor barrier in the crawlspace. After these repairs are made plus some updating, this house will be one of the nicest in the neighborhood!
House Information
Her house is 1800 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It sits on about half an acre located right in the middle of town! The house was built in 1956 and has a bomb shelter attached to it. The current asking price is $219,999.
Video Walkthrough
I decided to shoot a short video of the walkthrough of the house! It is only 5 minutes long! I try to cover the entire house, plus add in a little history!
Images
Front of House
Back Yard
Living Room
Typical Bathroom during the 1950's
Kitchen (Yes my grandma did her laundry in the kitchen)
During November and December things were a little slow, but there has been nonstop traffic at the house since after the New Year! I have a feeling there will be a bite soon!!
Its definitely in a hot location in the city! I see no reason why it wouldn't sell!
You are right about that! I think in the next two weeks there will be a contract in place!
There should be! The price/sq ft is right on line with the area!
Ahem.... photos of the BOMB SHELTER please!
The house looks like it is in solid condition, but renovations will be extensive none the less. New electrical and possibly new plumbing. On the bright side, it has tons of potential all over!
Good luck with the showings and the closing. (My word of advise, if you get an "all cash offer" don't accept it right away. Figure out who the buyer is and make sure they are legit. Had an experience where the "all cash buyer" got us into escrow then demanded $30k in Request for Repairs credits... we had to drop out of escrow because of her unethical games.)
Oh my goodness! That sounds horrible!! Thanks for the heads up!! There are definitely some sneaky people out there!
I will try and get some photos of it!! It has its own shower and plumbing for a toilet!
Sweet! Looking forward to it. Homes with secret chambers or bomb shelters are fascinating! Does it count towards the permitted square footage? ...is it even permitted?
It is not heated and cooled so it does not count towards the square footage!
Don't you just love it when buyers mess with your head?! And if you were through the contingency period you should have been able to keep their deposit!
This was a really scummy "whale" investor. She had just sold a few investment properties and was looking to do a 1031 exchange to deffer taxes.... apparently she pulled this same stunt on a few other people trying to strong arm them into a low-ball price. Sent all the proof of funds and our over-eager agent said to just accept the offer with no money down... he was a bit of a tool too. Have since found a better agent for future buys/sells.
Real Estate is a great way to invest, but be warned, there are tons of scummy people out there who are looking to screw over the honest homeowner.
Oh I definitely understand that, and investors are the worse! I was a Realtor for 3 years, and at one point in my career I had an "investor" tell me they were looking to make offers on multiple properties in my area, and I was going to work with them until they sent me their first two offers one was $75k on a house listed at $180k and the other was $76k on a house listed at $220k. I promptly called them and told them they needed to find another Realtor, because I was not going to ruin my reputation by making ridiculous offers on houses.
Oh man. I'm sure you could write an anthology of the craziness you experienced in those 3 years. Good times, bad times, weird times... I may have to write a post about the last home I sold that was a complete nightmare!
Oh you don't even know! I think the reason I finally ended up quitting might be top 10 craziest real estate stories all time. The short version is that I lost my biggest sale ever and $30k worth of commissions when my buyer committed suicide 2 days before closing. It made me realize I couldn't live off of a commission only job, I just couldn't handle not knowing when my next paycheck was coming in.
Are you selling it yourself? Sounds like a solid price for what you're getting though! I like the huge tree out the front window! Nice backyard for some good BBQs too looks like. Lucky future owner.
Yeah I have been tasked with selling the house along with taking care of the rest of her estate situation! It’s an amazing house with a ton of potential!
Thats awesome man sounds like a fun task ahead! Good luck with it and expecting a sold post soon!
wow I just finished reading your post, the house is beautiful and it has lots of story. Why you sell it bro?
It is beautiful! There are many reasons, but mainly it is my mom and uncle who each have 50% ownership in the house and selling it was the easiest thing!
Its really Beautiful man!!
i read the story an d have toask...isnt it hard to sell? its been in your family for long. its part off your families history.
Greetz from the netherlands