My mother in-law passed last year

[Capt. Obvious]

and we're currently trying to sell her house. The house needs work (mainly taking the old lady vibe out of it) and we're slowly going about that work.

We had a few realtors come by to give us an estimate on what we should expect to sell it for. The average was $240,000 from the group.

My sister in-law is freaking out about selling the house and getting her share. She went so far as to offer to bring a house flipper over so we can move it quicker.

Her siblings told her fine and gave her the instructions that $180,000 is the floor - do not settle with the flipper for any less.

So the flipper came and began negotiations with my sister in-law. He asked what she was looking for and she answered, "$180,000."

And the negotiations were off and running well below the floor.

I still don't understand why she did that. Needless to say we're hanging onto the house to get it to market now.

Negotiations 101: you start at much more than you want so that if you get bargained down you still get the ball park of what you would be willing to settle for.

And yes, this is posted in relation to the single payer threads. I'm angry at my sister in-law like I was angry at Dems in 2009 for starting negotiations in such a weak position. They're both water under the bridge now but there's no reason to gloss over what happened.

The ACA is an important piece of legislation but it could have been a lot better if we came to the table demanding single payer.

The house will get sold eventually. I don't really care other than that I'm sick of listening to my in-laws bicker over it. They're fighting enough over my mother in-law's knick knacks that an actual important thing like selling her house is getting lost in the infighting (some days).

[rdharma]

1. Who has been named executor of the estate? nt

[Capt. Obvious]

2. Brother in-law

[rdharma]

9. Then he'll be calling the shots.......

The best you can hope for is that the other siblings can help him make the best decision for all concerned.

An unoccupied and unmaintained house is a nightmare.

[Capt. Obvious]

11. Not his style

He was chosen for that role because mom knew sisters would be at each others throats. Didn't stop it.

He's operating by consensus.

And I agree - unoccupied and unmaintained house is a nightmare.

[Lars39]

3. I'm sorry for your loss, Capt. Obvious.

Last edited Mon Mar 24, 2014, 07:23 PM - Edit history (1)

Good analogy in a sad way. You always go to negotiations wanting a lot more so that you'll end up with what you really wanted or something even better.

On edi: sorry, misunderstand, thought you were her son. That's what I get for doing a house cleaning marathon.

[Capt. Obvious]

5. TY

My SIL, god bless her greedy soul, recently demanded that her siblings buy her out of the house since it's not moving fast enough.

1. That's not how it works.

2. She wants her "buy out" share based on the $240K figure of course.

[JoePhilly]

8. Offer to by her out at 200k, 20k above her original starting price.

She thought that was good enough, she'll take it.

She wants as much as she can get as fast as she can get it. Cut a deal, expand your own upside.

[sabrina 1]

4. Everyone knows that when you are bargaining for anything, you start with what you WANT, even when

you understand you probably won't get it. Then THEY have to start there also.

As far as the HC Bill is concerned, once we won, the message should have gone out 'we are aiming for Single Payer. We won you lost'.

We all knew that was probably impossible but everything is relative. For the Wing Nuts in Congress, they would have been fighting Single Payer, we could have bargained them down to a PO.

Starting out letting them know we had given up on BOTH, made zero sense to me.

I hope your family gets at least what you were willing to settle for. That was a big mistake for your SIL to make.

Sorry for the loss of your mother-in-law, Capt. Obvious.

[Capt. Obvious]

7. TY

The house will sell when it sells.
One option is that we buy it and rent it out - which I think is insane, but I digress.

The several threads now going about single payer and the public option and how it was unattainable is rather infuriating. Of course it was unattainable if you didn't even try.

[JoePhilly]

6. Do you think all of the single payer negotiations were on TV?

Skip that ...

Something else to consider, the DEMs are not one group. Our government has 3 parts.

As a result, Dems in the congress can disagree and stop any negotiation long before it ever gets anywhere.

In the case of your family, you were able to basically veto your sister-in-law and force a better deal.

Imagine if she had the ability to say she would not accept MORE than 180k, and without her, you could not sell the house, period.

THAT is what the situation in the congress was like during the ACA negotiations. There were members of the family, who had to agree, who would NOT.

Its not that the administration negotiated a bad deal (like your sister in law would have). Its that the administration could not force its stupidest member (your sister in law) to go along and push for the better deal.

See the difference?

[TexasBushwhacker]

10. The best thing you can do is to get a good real estate agent

A good real estate agent will let you know what work is worth doing and what work you shouldn't bother with. They will also walk through ALL the listed properties in the neighborhood to see what your competition is. As for listing it higher than what you are willing to sell it for, this was my experience. I had the good fortune of having a trusted friend who was an experienced agent. He ran the comps and knew what the houses in the area were selling per square foot. He walk through all the listed houses in the neighborhood. We had already done things like replacing a worn out stove top with a nice new five burner and replaced the aged parquet wood flooring in the family room with carpet that really brightened the room. He loaned us a pressure washer to clean the outside and the cedar fencing until it sparkled.

If you want to sell it, it's far better to price it right to sell it fairly quick. Homes, especially vacant homes, really get a loser stink to them when they've been on the market for too long. Everyone wants to know why. Keep in mind that you will be splitting the proceeds among the heirs. In our case that was 3. My friend/agent listed it at a price we were happy with. It sold for our asking price in 3 weeks. The only thing we had to do was cover $6K of the buyer's closing cost, which meant just $2K less for each of us, and it closed in 6 weeks.

Look through the listings on Zillow for the neighborhood and see which realtors have done a good job of presenting the homes. Things like plenty of well lit, in focus, straight pictures can make all the difference.

[Capt. Obvious]

12. TY

The houses in the neighborhood are listed around the $240K price ($225K was the most recent closing price). Most don't have the land her house has though.

For moving it quickly - as stated in the OP we'd (I'm not really including myself in that we) be willing it to settle for a floor of 180.

I'm all for whatever gets it out of the family altogether. But I'm just married to it.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

13. Does it need gargantuan amounts of work? nt

[Capt. Obvious]

14. I guess it depends on your definition of gargantuan

The kitchen needs a remake as it's 1980's style. Fridge, stove and dish washer are newer but they'll be replaced if we're going to redo the kitchen.

There's a large flower garden and a large selection of tomato plants and spice plants in the front yard along with curvy rock path and waterfall and such things. We've been told that all needs to go - ripped out and seeded for grass. I think that's insane as some people may like it, and fuck it - knock the price down if buyer wants it out.

Plumbing is good. Bathrooms are old though so they'll probably get a makeover.

Large unfinished basement. 2 car garage. 1.25 acres of land and I believe the rear line is a river (I haven't seen a plat so I don't know if there's a parcel between her lot and the river).

[Sarah Ibarruri]

15. Hmmm... my best friend is a realtor...

and to sell a house that requires good amounts of work is something no realtor wants to do. It's very hard. She says you look at people's faces as they walk through the house, and many walk through frowning.

[Dr. Strange]

16. I think the important issue is...

how much is NYC_SKP getting out of your house? As long as he gets his, why should I care about you?

[Capt. Obvious]

17. Whatever he gets

I'm sure he won't cuss out the president.

Other people, maybe.