Since I still owe money on my house, an equal trade will not work. Thus, I am looking for someone who is wanting to move to Florida but finds it difficult to sell their West Toledo / SE Michigan area house or bar business in this current difficult market. A trade deal can work for us... allowing we can find each other. So please share this ad with someone you know who might fit this description better than you. (thanks)
See my house website at: < www.owners.com/DAM6235 > You can even print the ad.
I have been in business most of my life. Buying and selling RE and businesses is something I know how to do. My motto is: The definition of a good deal is a deal that is good for both parties!
Hope to hear from you. Now that I have made up my mind to do this, I have already started the monumental task of packing and throwing things away, so that I can be ready to move. Since I now live alone, I am down-sizing and lightening my load. So, put on your creative thinking cap and let's talk.
Note: This house is not listed with a realtor, so there is no sign in front. We both end up saving substantial money by not having realtors involved in our housing transactions. I will not trade based on asking price if you have your home listed with a realtor, only on appraised value. I do not want to hear from realtors who want to list my home, nor do I want to hear from real estate speculators. This is an opportunity for someone who has a home and can afford to buy mine, but with the poor market can't be sure of selling their own house for a reasonable price in a reasonable time frame. This is, in fact, a better transaction than the normal "trade-up". It will not benefit someone who is trying to pick up a bargain, only someone who wants a fair exchange.
To make it absolutely clear: I am buying your house, you are buying mine. But we are not buying at the higher prices and paying real estate commissions, we are simply exchanging at the real value of our homes. The terms are similar to trading in your car, except you're trading your house in on mine and we are doing it at a "value for value" trade, rather than you trading your car at wholesale to buy one at retail. That means you have to pay your house off and then pay me the difference between our two home values. I then pay my house off. I would suggest that we each obtain official appraisals, throw out the low and high ones, and settle on the median. Regardless of the appraisals, we would still have to agree to the difference, so it wouldn't be binding. If your house is WORTH 100K for instance, the difference would be around $180,000 if my house is WORTH $280,000. So you would need a mortgage that would pay off your current one and give me the $180,000 (or whatever the difference is). Your payment for my house would simply include the deed to your house. The advantage in all this is that neither of us will suffer from the fall in home prices, because we're going to live in the houses, rather than re-sell them. Appraisals, unless they are done by realtors, tend to be lower than we think, but since we are talking about the DIFFERENCE between our properties,lower is better. My house was recently appraised at $279,000 for purposes of loan value, so I am pretty sure of its actual market value, but if I put it on the market with a realtor I would list it for $319,000 (because I would have to pay a realtor commission of $22,000, and you would not offer me more than $300,000 anyway), and in fact, a nearly identical house five doors away and built by the same builder, with the same floor plan, sold for $356,000 in 2004. I listed mine with a realtor in 2005 for $339,000. But I know that I can't get anywhere near a fair price for my home right now, and neither can you. Worse still, there are no buyers for homes in your price range, and very few in mine. If, however, I can trade for a smaller home that suits my circumstances, the drop in home prices won't affect me that much. In your case, it is an advantage, because you don't have to pay the expense of selling your home, obtain bridge financing, etc., in order to> move up to a bigger house. With realtors involved, even at 5% commission, we would be paying out at least an extra $22K that neither of us receives in the transaction. Hopefully you can see why this is a good situation for both of us because it nullifies the loss of value in our homes. You sell cheaper, but you buy cheaper also. There is no trick or magic in this idea. You aren't going to get a house that you couldn't afford otherwise. But you will get a bigger house in a prestigious neighborhood for less than it would cost you to sell your house and buy mine through a normal transaction even when home prices are much higher, plus you don't have all the trauma of wondering if you can sell your home in the necessary time frame. Furthermore, your percentage of equity in your new house will be higher than it would have been in a better market. It is, at bottom, equity that matters.
As for Ottawa Hills, I can't recommend it highly enough for families with children. The schools and extra curricular activities, the extra police and fire protection, and the unique nature of the Village are unavailable elsewhere. As a pilot I have traveled to nearly every city in the U.S. and Canada, and I have never seen any place like it except Malibu. It's not cheap to live there, taxes are high. But if you have children in school, you save the cost of tuition to private schools, which is much higher than your taxes. You also save on your house insurance. I raised three daughters and sent them to private school, but when I moved to Ottawa Hills, my step-son went to Ottawa Hills and I couldn't believe the high quality of education he received. He had previously attended the best private school in Toronto, Saint Michaels Choir School for Boys, but we saw a tremendous improvement in his performance and behavior at OH. Some things are hard to put a price on.
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If I haven't frightened you off, you can call me at 419-340-5358 to discuss it further. I am also attaching a couple of pictures of the outside of the house and a view of the yard. I don't have many on my laptop computer, but if you are still interested, the best thing to do is arrange a visit.
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I do want to say that I am not a distressed seller, so there is no urgency on my part. This is not a financial issue with me, but simply a case of wanting to be in a smaller home. I love my house, but it is impractical for someone who lives by himself to own such a large house. I bought it in 2001 because I was getting married (I thought) and we wanted to be in the best location for raising kids. The utilities are surprisingly low, due mostly to the low heating and cooling costs. This is a very well built house, and the many trees on the property protect it from wind, sun, and cold. My highest gas bill last year was $187. My highest electric bill this past summer was $83.