Interview 3 RE agents and have each give you a Comparative Market Analysis (value) of your current home.

Prices are depressed here too. What part of Virginia are you moving to? I live by Smith Mountain Lake. I'm leaving here and moving closer to my family in New Jersey. Like you, I'm moving to a more expensive area and am not getting a mortgage. Therefore the houses we looked at all needed work, compared to the one we're leaving. We'd rather do the work than buy something smaller (we need acreage). We also looked in areas that aren't quite as close to my family as I'd like because they were cheaper. So I'm between an hour and two hours away from various family members at the new place. But it's better than 9 hours.

We called in an agent for comps when we were figuring out the price for this (we'll use her if we can't sell it ourselves--we're in contract now but our contracts keep falling through) and we also researched the market ourselves going so far as driving to all the comps and seeing them in real life. Then we priced it on the lower side so it would sell in a timely manner. I'll include the link to our place.

Here is a link that might be useful: Smith Mountain Lake Horse Property

In these and future times what is the likelihood that your children may move for job or other reasons? What if at some point you decide you want to live somewhere warmer?
Have you considered renting?

What is the hurry to get to Virginia? We've owned two houses at the same time before, but we didn't have to take money out of savings to do it. It is still stressful. Personally, I would get the for sale Ohio house all spruced up and continue to live in it for a while. Get your comps from your realtors, price the house low enough to sell, and sell it. You may find a bargain on the other end, but no guarantees that you will love the bargain house. It is easier to make a move when you have cash in hand. If you don't have a pressing reason to leave, I'd stick around for a little while.

We will check with three Realtors as ncrealestateguy suggests. Our preferred location is Charlottesville where our daughter lives. Our son lives in Northern Virginia (Fairfax Co) which is a two hour drive.

Housing in Charlottesville is expensive so we may buy in nearby Staunton or Harrisonburg where prices are lower.

We think our children will stay within about a two hour drive from DC because of the nature of their work and the work of their spouses.

Why are we in a hurry? Well, we tried to sell and move two years ago but had the house priced too high (we will lower the price substantially this time). We would like to move and enjoy our new location while we can.

For LoveInTheHouse: You have a nice property (and website). I hope you sell soon. I show my house with pictures in the link I give below.

Here is a link that might be useful: My House in Ohio

"One possibility is that we can sell for a considerable loss."

Define "considerable loss."

From what you paid (and how long ago) or from what you want it to be worth before the market went bad.

What a lovely home & location! I have a couple of comments: maybe remove some of the "stuff", it looks a teeny bit cluttered (for example, duck above kitchen counter, and things on top of kitchen cupboards). Maybe paint the pink master bath another colour. Also, is it standard to show taxes by the half-year? If the windows were updated in the 2007 remodel, say so, as it isn't obvious. Best of luck in selling :-)

the link got into a lot of detail about minor things, but I could not find the TOTAL ACREAGE. It mentioned x acres of meadow and remainder wooded. But the total lot size should be at the top in bold.

I suggest you spend $350 or so and hire a professional appraiser to give you to suggested market price. tell them you plan to sell and the reason for appraisal is to set asking price correctly. Be there when appraiser comes and ask questions about what they see is selling in your area, etc. As you learned 2 years ago, it is very important to price correctly. too high and you sit on the market, too low and you leave money on the table.

I'd start with finding out what you can realistically get from your current property and then figure out what that will bring you in the desired new location(s).

Since you own the house outright, I think taking a hit in terms of what you paid once upon a time shouldn't even be under discussion. I mean, yes, everyone likes to walk away with more money, but the key is you want to move on with your life. Look forward rather than back.

sweet tea - it says 12.5 acres more or less,at the top.

I agree ith trilobite above ...

Nice place! But I didn't see the price. Did I miss it? When I'm house hunting, if there's no price in an ad, I don't inquire. I think it tells me that the seller is afraid to admit to the price and wants to "sell" me first and so it's probably high.

Yeah, Charolottesville and Fairfax is expensive. But you will probably like it here because it's very similar looking to what your property looks like.

I agree with LITH about the price. Back before data was easily online through MLS, I would sometimes drive around and pick up flyers on houses for sale. If there wasn't a price I would almost always delete the house from consideration. I always figured it was because the seller knew the price was unappealing and very high.

(I also have never liked MLS listings where the house address isn't shown. I cross those off my list also as I like to do a drive by of the house before deciding whether to go to a showing).

I don't think that the OP is currently selling the house, as their original post asked what it should list at.

I also like to know the price before I inquire so I don't waste my time.

The seller provided the address. Checked it on Zillow and it tells what the last sale price was. Googling the address also shows older links stating how much it was selling for before it was taken off the market.

I did this before we purchased our house this year. This information was very useful when negotiating price, etc.

Oh that makes sense Terriks. She was asking what the price should be! That's why it wasn't on there. Duh!

We bought the house in 2006 for $140,000. It was in relatively poor shape and we hired a contractor to make many improvements and add rooms and a garage. We estimate that with current selling prices we will lose about $80,000 (plus or minus $15,000).

We have had an appraisal done on the house but the appraisal may be different than the selling price because of economic conditions.

I created my website and purposely did not add the price since I did not know what to ask and I still don�t know. The idea is to show this to local people we know to see if there is any interest in selling this as a FSBO. So far there is no interest.

We also plan to show this to Realtors when we talk to them soon. These discussions plus the appraiser�s results will determine the price we put on the house. We will then be paying 6% of the selling price to real estate companies.

Putting a price on this house is difficult since there are really no good comparables. The appraiser had to look for comps many miles away that sold up to a year ago. Our house is not a particular model in a subdivision!

When we choose a Realtor he or she can use my website to get pictures for his/her company website, for realtor.com, and for the local MLS. I may also list my website (this time with a price!) on craigslist with the Realtor getting responses. Some Realtors don�t go with Craigslist so I will do it for the Realtor we choose. In addition, it is important that our house be listed on zillow.com and trulia.com

SouthEastOhio

Here is a link that might be useful: OHIO HOUSE

We have had an appraisal done on the house but the appraisal may be different than the selling price because of economic conditions.
Isn't the point of an appraisal to estimate/determine the value of a property at the given point in time? Or do you mean that the appraisal was done too long ago to be of use now?

"We bought the house in 2006 for $140,000. It was in relatively poor shape and we hired a contractor to make many improvements and add rooms and a garage."

The pics of the house and yard look great. There are two other properties nearby that don't look nearly as nice. That is a plus in your favor.

Athens isn't very far away. Your house might be of interest to faculty or those who buy investment properties to rent to students.

Hocking Hills is less than an hour away. It is a touristy area with plenty of cabin rentals. That might another market to consider.

Don't know what bottom line price your willing to consider but if it were me, I'd be willing to settle for what I paid if I needed to move soon.