Friday, August 03, 2007

Anyone Need A House In Florida?

Man,

It has now been over one year and my parents still can't sell their house in St. Petersburg.
My heart just aches for them, I know that they are not enjoying this one little bit. But, at the same time, I am frustrated.
Many of the problems that have occurred during the saga stem from their trusting nature (or is it Naivety?) plus the fact that they, for some reason, decided to sell their old home by themselves. No fixing up, no improvements, no consideration of curb appeal, etc. So now the house sits looking "unlived in" without a lick of furniture inside, and nothing to help the looks of the outside either. I'll spare you the details of the debacle involving the people who they let move in, on a "promise" that they could qualify for a loan (hint: it didn't end well).
My take (and that of my siblings) is that if they are serious, they need to invest a little money and update the bathrooms and kitchen... OR just cut their price to make the place attractive to someone looking for a 'fixer-upper'. Of course, they think they should get appraised value (well, they did -- just got word that they've dropped the price some).
The good news is that this house is long since paid for, so at least there's not a payment. But taxes, the new mortgage on their new house, etc. are putting the squeeze on them. If I lived closer, I might swipe their keys and go do some work on the place. But from here, there's nothing I can do. I don't have the cash to buy the place or even pay for remodeling. If I could, I'd buy it and rent it out. But that's just a fantasy. With my prestigious, high-paying job, I can't even buy a house for myself to LIVE in, much less take on a rental property.
As much as this eats at me, I can only imagine what they are going through. They do finally have a Realtor, but I don't think he's lifted a finger to actually try to move the house (case in point: He had a lame open house on Father's Day! Who does that?).
I know they love the house and neighborhood they are in now, so that's some consolation, but this selling problem just grows slowly more painful every day.
ugh.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

new Realtor? or maybe just a realtor? (they're trying to make it a prestigious difference, but I'm not buying it).

I wish I knew the answer for you or them.