Discharged, not yet Closed, Wanting to Sell House

[Barbisi]

Really stressful situation!
We are trying to empty the house as much as possible before the pre-inspection (paid for by the realtors) and also co-ordinate carpet quotes and figure out where to stay while the house is for sale and after it is under contract and beyond (it is becoming clear my husband will not be able to find another job for some time (maybe years where we want to live) and we will have to rent here where I pathologically hate it. LOL
Renting in Colorado, however, is preferable to remaining in this house, with the stairs and the many things currently needing updates or repairs, thanks to five years of total deferred home maintenance, courtesy of BK13. Inflation is causing even simple home repairs to be astronomically expensive, while the shortage of available home listings is helping to increase unprecedented demand and absurdly high prices.
And also, the sellers' market could quickly self-correct, causing us to lose considerable money with buyers much more demanding about the condition of the home as interest rates soar and more houses become available, giving prospective homeowners many more choices and allowing them to be much more selective.
Though we will have to paint the entire house and refloor part of the carpet (at a minimum), fix drywall damage, replace vanities etc. we will still be able to sell at a higher price before the coming housing boom crash. (If there is a recession, housing prices cannot remain as overpriced as they presently are.)
We have got to get out from under this albatross and live in a rental where it will be easier to relocate from.
Even if I can't leave Colorado for years to come, I would rather be dead than have to own another house here.

[justbroke]

I had a bunch of deferred maintenance too. Luckily, the HOA didn't want to deal with me either... and really let some things slide.

[Barbisi]

Well, justbroke, this isn't an HOA home or townhouse -but if we sell "as is" or to an investor , we'll get rooked again (like when we bought the "investor home" which led directly to BK13!)
I suppose it's a logical conclusion: we bought and sold a fixer upper which caused us to end up in BK13, now we're trying to sell a second house coming out of BK13, so we're supposed to get ripped off again by selling it for less than it's worth.
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride! We just aren't supposed to win ever!!!!

[flashoflight]

Barbisi I wouldn't want to be looking for an apartment with pets and the ch13 in this market. I have a niece with a medium sized dog, and it's very hard to rent an apartment. For the pets, I'd stay in the house and fix anything that would disqualify the home from being financed by the buyer like peeling paint on an older house. You'll lose a lot of money selling if it is not in move-in condition because only cash buyers like ibuyers will be able to purchase. Move-in condition does not mean pretty, renovated bathroom, or new carpets. Just fix the health and safety stuff and make sure all appliances and HVAC work. When he finds a job somewhere else, start the process to sell.

[Barbisi]

Thanks flashoflight for your thoughtful reply!
The plan is to move to a small house near his job and my best chiropractor, the one I often struggle to get to, because she is so far away from my current location. She is the only one who has really helped me through these frequent ankle/ back/shoulder setbacks. The stairs are a constant threat to my mobility, and I need to be on ground level: all the doctors have agreed on that.
The mortgage is going up $100 starting in May, and with the panels on the roof that will amount to nearly $2500 and if my fears about a recession come true next year, we could be underwater, meaning we could never sell for any profit at all. We are also paying over $200 + per month for a very large storage unit and we do not want to move our belongings and furniture back into this house.
If we are able to sell the house this year, we can clear around $200K (if not more) and with my husband's current salary, it shouldn't be a problem to rent something decent for a couple of years, if that long.
The pre-inspection will tell us there if there is anything seriously wrong. The paint isn't peeling; just faded and dull. The carpet was scratched by the cats when they were kittens. So, it's pretty damaged upstairs in spots and on the bottom stair. The cabinets while old just need re- staining. The appliances don't cost that much new. We replaced the fridge (SS), one vanity, the W/D and all four toilets when we moved in. The swamp cooler had been rebuilt over three BK13 summers; the furnace is the only real problem: it's thirty years old and isn't really working that well. We did manage to complete our plan even with different HVAC people recommending a complete replacement (around 5k). Right now, we still have most of the 401K loan still available to make these repairs. (We are already in a 401K repayment plan, so we are paying out about the same as if we were still in the BK13 plan with the storage rental and the rising mortgage.)
Even if we had to sell to Redfin or Opendoor (two companies who make cash offers) we could still clear enough to pay off both 401K loans and pay our own way if he can't get any relo package whenever he does find another job in another state.
So, I think we really don't have a choice -we need to sell while the market is still hot!

[Zombie13]

Couple things:
We can entertain a bid for as-is, if for nothing other than data collection and comparison purposes.
In the current job market/covid situation, a relocation package is not guaranteed. More jobs may be remote. So, we opted to pack our own stuff to save money. We may have to pay to ship our stuff. In the past, we have had a relo package, so in at least one instance, a team packed our stuff in 2 days.
Packing takes a lot of time, as does a job search. The heavy packing is done, so now I am ramping up my job search efforts. It is challenging to say the least, to dedicate all free time to both a job search and packing simultaneously. As a note, I can do the job search during work hours to a point, since my tasking currently involves a measure of 'start, wait, terminate, evaluate... repeat'.
We do not yet have the closing.
We need to get a quote for carpet, price materials, etc.
I will be shifting from spending time packing, to spending time job searching. I cannot pack with one hand, and apply for jobs with the other, simultaneously.
If I started the job search first, and accepted a job with relo: all our stuff would be packed by others, even though it would be disorganized. Unpacking that kind of config is pure hell. We've done that before; it sucks. Without relo: we would be shorter on time, and be in more of a rush to pack our stuff, which would have a higher probability of getting broken/damaged. And we'd rake our stuff into boxes. Yeah, great idea, not.
With the approach we took, we were able to pack each box very tight, and we will get our stuff into a single storage unit.
Anyway, we are progressing towards our goals: pack, fix house, sell house, get job, relocate.
Addendum: yes, we are both so unbelievably tired of packing! I'm looking forward to doing some demolition of stuff we dont need. Barbisi - you in?

[justbroke]

The amount of things I threw away when I finally moved... was astounding. Literally a few tons of things that I really didn't need or want! I did a nearly complete reset and purchased everything new (all paid for... nothing on credit). The only thing that came over from the old house was dishes, clothes, and some miscellaneous items. Basically moved with everything in totes!

I can say one thing about my bankruptcy, I was able to do that complete reset and feel good about shedding all that excess baggage!

[Zombie13]

I hear that.
We have been donating and tossing stuff the last couple years. The stuff we have, we want to keep. Fragile items such as heirloom figurines and pictures, as an example, just take a lot of time to carefully bubble wrap; same with glass. I hate doing it! But they are memory-retainers, so to speak.
The packing is getting down, that's for sure. Next 'big thing' is getting furniture out, which requires coordination: where do put my socks if we remove that dresser? for example. We did lose a week due to the arctic blast; too cold to even do packing inside the house. I will say, we still have too much stuff. And when I say we, I mean Barbisi. LOLOLOL!!!

[Zombie13]

Yes, thank you flashoflight
I do worry about selling, then renting, with our family - our cats. They are... 'The Family' - the Cat-tino family, know what I'm sayin? We do see homes for rent that accept cats and dogs, here and in WA. Also, there is unconditionally, No Way we, as a family, will go to an apartment. If we did, it would last, One. Week. Maximum. And no deposit refund. We are very, how should I say it... expressive, with our thoughts, opinions, and feelings. So given our current scenario, yeah, a single family home is better for the whole world. We, and our neighbors, need the space.

[Barbisi]

I call my three fur babies, the Big Three (as in the WWII Alliance of Roosevelt, Churchill and UGH, Stalin)!
G. is the Gorgeous Gorging Greedy Green Eyed Glorious Glamorous Glutton, son of a bat father and a fox mother. (He is a beautiful balletic supermodel/ acrocat black Turkish Angora.)
M. is the Magyar Monster Alpha-Wegie Wonder of the World, son of a hellacious Hungarian mother, nicknamed Attila the Hog and a sweet Japanese Panda Pig father. (He is a big, brawny, burly Tuxedo Norwegian Forest.)
Princess S.-San is the Tiny Tubby Toy of all Time, daughter of a Japanese Shogun Toy father and a Parisian Showgirl Toy mother. (She is an adorable mix of a seal point Ragdoll and a white Persian.)
Their names are listed by their initials only to protect and conceal their real identities. LOL

[Carmella]

I say get out while the getting is good. Sell as soon as you get things in order and cash in on the over inflated house prices. I still can't believe what some houses are selling/have sold for in my community and neighboring communities. Then again many of those selling were also buying houses at inflated prices so I really don't know if they "made out" financially on the deal, probably are more less status quo.

Renting a place sounds like a great idea during this interim time period. I imagine an apartment would feel small, don't know what they are like in your neck of the woods. I actually really like my daughter's apartment, but it really is set up more like a condo, not a highrise. I can understand wanting the freedom of having a yard and space vs having neighbors on the other side of your walls, floor and/or ceiling! I would rent until you find the job and then find a house you really like and isn't such a money pit, as they are all money pits to some extent. A friend of mine has a beautiful 20 yr old home (what has in the past been referred to as a Mc Mansion) and the pipes are failing/cracking and she's worried sick about "what if pipes break in the walls?" Right now it's just been the basement and they have been lucky to catch it before it caused real damage. This last time it was pure luck because they were just about to go to bed and her kid took a shower all was normal then she used the restroom and went to wash her hands and the water wasn't right. They were lucky they were not asleep when the pipe broke because everything in the finished basement would have been destroyed.

Zombie13 is your job becoming more remote than in person? That seems to be the case on my daughter's job she has been looking around and remote might be her best option at least for this point in time. Maybe there's a remote job that can help you get into an in person job or maybe you can have a remote job that will work as you rent and then allow you to move where you want to be and not worry about changing jobs. When you get to your final destination then you can be employed (remotely) and look for an in person job. Just food for thought.

[Barbisi]

Thanks Carmella! You and I almost always see eye to eye on the practicalities of life!!
Others, including the realtors, seem to think these inflated prices are going on forever here because of the political divide, Covid-19 and the resulting shortages, and now the Ukrainian crisis, but I feel common sense dictates a course correction is on the way.
How long, for example, can Colorado keep up this record job and population growth when toxic smog and wildfires exist at least half a year and beyond outdoor activities, prolific legal marijuana, hi-tech companies, craft beer and dog parks, there is little to recommend living here long-term?
Surely there has to be more to life than just these self- limiting things. Many other states have cleaner air and lots of outdoor activities as well as hi-tech job opportunities, for example. And some even have culture too, LOL!
Some will say, all I want out of life is a high-tech job in the mountains where I can smoke weed day and night with plenty of beer to drink and lots of dog parks for my pet. (Some people here even think skiing while high on marijuana is smart health personified.)
Even if the prices continue to rise a little, if we get out now, then we can avoid having some deal-braking system stop working that we won't have enough money to fix and then we will be royally rooked, because our only recourse would be an investor.
Speaking of rentals, I actually found a really nice, good-sized ranch (no stairs, except to the partially finished basement) which allows cats and has updated SS appliances, would be close to my husband's current job, and is even flexible about leases - 3, 6, or 12 months. The rent is about the same as our ongoing mortgage and solar panel lease. Unfortunately, it will be gone before we would conceivably move there short term because we need all 401K loan funds to fix up this house to sell in a decent shape. But other rental homes do exist which allow cats and have main level bedrooms and full bathrooms.
Also, my husband is looking at remote jobs. We will have more than enough to move ourselves if need be and then he might have an easier time finding a better local job with great benefits since the company wouldn't have to pay relocation costs.
And yes, Carmella, you are so right about these newer Mc Mansions -they are shoddily constructed. The first ranch we rented when we first moved here 12 years ago had the floor sinking in and a leak in front of the kitchen sink. It was only about 6 years old!!! The furnace wasn't working when we moved in, and the toilet even fell off its base in the 13 months we lived there. This is the rental that was foreclosed on, forcing us to move to the rental ranch with the crazy landlord that after more than three and a half years we had to quickly vacate because it was being sold, and only then did we purchase the awful fixer-upper that caused our BK13.
We might buy much later, but never again an investor house - renting is almost always cheaper and doesn't lead directly to bankruptcy!

[Zombie13]

Hey Carmella ! Actually it's becoming more onsite, with integration tasking; I'm the guy. And that's ok; good experience. But, I can do mostly-remote as well.
And thank you so much; you are right, renting after selling will work for us. We are getting so close to making these changes; but also, so tired.
So, we gotta relax a bit and recharge. Thank You. And you are about to start *your* countdown! You Got This!