Thanks for asking!

We had only 2 showings (4 calls; 2 of them said, "is the second bedroom the sunroom?"; answer is yes; they said, "i'll have to talk to my wife").

Both parties are veteran apartment hunters in our neighborhood, and both looked at our downstairs neighbor's apartment last month when it was available.

I don't know if this is discouraging, or not. We're not on MLS, bcs we don't really want to pay a broker, and the NYTimes is really pretty much a bible.

There were no other truly comparable apts, so it doesn't look like we have lots of competition--lots of 2BRs listed, at a lower price than ours, but no mention of their bathrooms, which leads me to think they have 1 (we have 2).

But on the up side, both of these are serious buyers, not tire kickers. One set really, really wants to buy in to our development. They like the kitchen a lot, like our wood-veneer doors, etc.

Both currently own an apt., which means they'd probably have enough equity to make the large downpayment required by our co-op. But they would also have to buy & sell on the same day, which means we'd have to float our sellers until then, at $750/month. (cannot do a bridge loan--way too expensive, and not possible w/ co-ops).

Still cheaper than a broker's fee.

I don't know if we'd have more lookers w/a broker, or not. The folks across the way sold in 3 days with one.

The ad's running another week, so we'll see.

ON topic, I am really enjoying all the space, all the decluttering. Picking up at the end of the day is SO fast.

On the downside, you can now see all the dust under the edges of the piano, etc.

There are lots of little cosmetic thing we need to keep up w/; I hope they didn't turn any of these people off, given that they've seen several apartments like ours.

And I am encouraged, too, bcs I can see how lovely our apartment's "bones" are. Nice room sizes, good layout, etc.

However, no bids, for all of their apparent seriousness about being in the market.

Honestly, your decluttering and unearthing of good bones inspires me. I'm trying here, and we moved in a year and a half ago. Thought I had edited most of the distractions, unnecessaries, and extras then. Not so.

Keep up the good work.

we had a drop-in, w/ 30min. notice while I was at work yesterday. I don't know how well DH did in terms of tidying up. There wasn't much, but I haven't been as anal during the week (still have kid laundry to fold; the hamper was sitting the DR).

I hope these people aren't as fussy and rigid and easily offended or put off as the folks on the "Buying and Selling Homes" forum imply that all buyers are!

Talley, DH and I have joked that you have to have two flops before you have your "real" buyer! We have had actual offers that have simply fallen off the face of the earth and of course the one that took the cake was the gal last summer (when we were selling the in-laws house) who was trying to buy two houses at once from different lenders thinking they wouldn't find out! (Duh?! Welcome to the computer age dear!) Of course they did find out and she blew both sales. This wasted three weeks of our time "thinking it was sold". But anyway, it seems for us our third offer is always gold. Anyway, the point of this is don't get discouraged. You get all kinds when selling your home. The serious, pre-qualifieds we all love, the "I want to buy a home but I'm not smart enough to pre-qualify or even know what I can afford, so in the meantime I'll annoy you and waste your time," and of course the infamous "I was out garage selling and saw your house and thought I'd take a peek!" We soon realized that very few lookers were really serious candidates, but had to keep reminding ourselves "It only takes one." Your buyer will come. Don't get discouraged. It really is worth having it take a few weeks to sell over paying the huge brokerage fees.

Brenda

It really is worth having it take a few weeks to sell over paying the huge brokerage fees.

I have to keep reminding myself of this.

Bcs the folks across the way took only 3 days, w/a broker and the MLS.

We may need to decide about MLS--I mentioned it to DH.

My big complaint right now is that we made an offer before selling our place, on the advice of our lawyer, and I could NOT get DH to budge. So now our seller is getting antsy bcs it's taking so long for us to sell. (of course, he could have rushed faster, too, but...and we're saving him lots of money in terms of trips to show the place, and he didn't want to pay the broker an even HUGER fee; plus we're pretty much a shoo-in in terms of co-op board approval.)

But still...I wish we had been further along the "selling" road.

Talley, I think lots of the comments on the Buying/Selling board really speak for only a tiny percentage of lookers. It's location. And if someone is looking for a co-op in your area, then you'll sell just fine.

The house we bought was filthy. Even the home inspector made a comment and you know there's isn't much he hasn't seen. But the homeowner did have the clutter cleaned out and I could see the bones, so I could image what we could do immediately. Another couple looked at the same time and couldn't wait to get out of the door. We put in our offer that night because it was the location and the bones.

I do hope you can get the sale without the broker. After we closed on our sale, I took part of the money we saved and went out and replaced my van, which was on it's last leg. So nice to be driving a different vehicle and know that I didn't have to do any payments because I stuck out the FSBO.

Gloria

I'm afraid that we'll run into a problem if we have to move. We have already found the neighborhood where we want to live. It's a development with semi-custom homes. Most of the lots are sold already. There are about ten house plans to choose from. The developer will not put identical plan directly across the street from each other or side-by-side. So, in order to get the plan we want, we will need to sign fairly soon. It will take a minimum of six months for the house to be built. I hope DH's boss will make a final decision soon & let us know soon. The company newsletter went out yesterday & it announced the project that DH is supposed to head, but didn't mention any names. I'm sitting here on pins & needles!