My husband and I want to return to Southern California to
live. We both lived in or near Los
Angeles most of our lives until 1995. We
moved to Southeast Arizona, but now, we want to be close to our family again.
We put our house up for sale nearly two YEARS ago. We have a large house that is really
beautiful. I wish we could move it to
California. We are on our third real
estate agent. The first two suggested
the same listing price. In those 18
months exactly ONE person looked at our house.
Our current agent told us our house was priced way to
high. Although we’d love more money, we
want to move, so we lowered the house by $40,000! In the few months since we reduced the price
several people have looked at the house.
No offers have been made.
Early this week, an agent called and asked if she could
show our house. She was already in our
sub-division, and her clients had asked if they could see our house. The agent did NOT suggest looking at our
house; the clients asked after seeing the “for sale sign.” I asked the agent to give me five
minutes. I ran around picking up a few
things, and then I left the house. (All
the agents ask us not to be home when they show the house.)
The agent and her clients came and left. We received no offer from them. Out of curiosity, my husband called the agent
that showed our house a few days ago. He
asked her what feedback she received from her clients. She
said they loved the house, thought it was “gorgeous,” but they didn’t like the
monthly homeowners association fee.
There is NO monthly association fee!
We pay $35 PER YEAR! When my
husband told her that, the agent said, “Oops!
Sorry, but the couple already put an offer on another house.”
We have learned that there are 4000 houses for sale in
our city (40,000 population). There are
about a dozen for sale in our sub-division.
The competition is great.
We may well have had an offer if an uninformed real
estate agent had told her clients the correct HOA fee. Our own agent was upset when we notified him
about the situation.
We are very frustrated.
I was hoping to be in California to celebrate the holidays with our
family this year. We have accepted the
fact that it isn’t going to happen. We
are saving all our money for the move, and a trip out there for the holidays
would take money from our new house fund.
Well, I feel better now that I’ve written down my
frustration. I have a home to live in,
food on the table and a wonderful husband.
I am truly grateful for all that I have.
I realize that we are more fortunate than most.
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