Personal Narrative

Last fall, my wife and I put our home up for sale. Our motivation was simple, with the money we would get from the sale of our home we could pay off all our debt and have plenty of money left over to invest, eventually saving enough to buy a bigger home. Emboldened by the allure of liquidity I listed our home for sale and waited for the offers. Indeed the offers did come in, in fact over the next few months we were in and out of escrow three times.

In the latest issue of This Old House, check out how a neglected 1928 bungalow makes for a cozy cottage redo. Buying a first house is a personal landmark that often signals the beginning of adulthood. But at 26, Brenna Byerlotzer didn't have homeownership on her mind when she came upon the small stone house that she would claim as her own. In fact, she decided in a split second to take the major domestic step. Despite that sudden start, nothing else in her home-owning saga would move fast. Grab this issue to read this exciting story, which shows how a first-time homeowner revives a neglected house with patience, perseverance, and a little help from her skilled friends.

I’d previously had such poor service and expectations of realtors that I came into this purchase with a skeptical attitude. I’d sold my home near Austin to relocate in San Antonio and had not gotten any replies off websites or phone calls that didn’t feel greedy and uncaring if at all, until Marie.

There is a huge sense of relaxation and being fulfilled while sitting on the patio with my wife enjoying an adult beverage, the glow of fire radiating from the fire pit. The sound of laughter and the joy on your child’s face while he runs around the grassy area of your backyard. Pretending he has just hit a walk off home run in game 7 of the World Series. Over the last nine months my wife and I have been through the ups and downs of selling and purchasing a home. When we received an offer on our home last spring we experienced a time of excitement and exhilaration. We were getting out of San Tan Valley. Ten days later, the offer fell through and we felt resentment and disbelief. Six months later with a new realtor representing us we had

That night, after Paul had gone to bed, I went outside, found a shovel in the garage and dug a hole by the FOR SALE sign. I put Saint Joseph headfirst in the hole, got down on my hands and knees and pushed dirt over him. I stayed in the dirt and bowed my head, folded my hands and whispered to the plastic statue who was waiting to hear what I had to

Whaaat? You say it is crazy to think that a box of chocolates or some fancy grooming aid will help sell your house and you would be right in thinking it won’t, because, no one is going to pay $200,000 or more for candy and glamor products. But, what if your goodie bags contain things related to selling your home? Were inexpensive and tasteful

“One day, a realtor called me and found out that I was interested in a house that she did not list. She took the liberty to connect me with her competitor, which is something most realtors would never consider doing. Later on, I found out the house her competitor showed me wasn’t quite for me. Because of her kind referral, I decided to reach out to her and deal with her again. Eventually, I bought the house and she received a nice commission due to her excellent service. All she did was connect people. No wonder she was the Number 1 realtor in her city.”

First of all, finding the right house was a challenge. After going to many different homes daily with our realtor, we finally found the one that was meant to be ours. It was a peach color house with all of the paint flaking off the worn out cedar siding. It was a tall two story house with wide white windows, and a porch with missing wood pieces in some spots. My family and I entered the lopsided porch and heard creaking with every loose piece we stepped on. As we entered the home, we instantly smelled must and mold. That didn't scare us off because we saw the potential behind the old cracked plaster walls. We looked past the ancient golden wood cabinets hanging in the kitchen and the pet-stained green carpeting. In the bedrooms, there was a small closet in each room with barely enough room to fit

My family and I had just taken the four hour journey from Fayetteville, North Carolina to Fredericksburg, Virginia. I was very excited to see my new home but, my excitement had soon faltered when I finally saw it. It was a medium sized house with yellow aluminum siding, blue shutters, a two-car garage and eleven windows. The only thing that made it different from the rest of the houses that lined the street was its full porch and its color other than that it was completely identical

I spent 25 years researching, analyzing and reporting the real estate market but I often dreamt of the day when I would no longer write about neighborhoods, housing market trends, forecasting, and the mortgage industry rather begin to complete my start of several short stories mostly geared towards the younger audience. Seemingly overnight and without warning the trajectory of my beautiful life would take a sudden turn in August 2016. Unknowingly, it would be my husband of 36 years who would bestow the gift of a vile and tragic story worthy of an audience. After taking a break from writing my memoir, Night Dancer, I have rediscovered joy after tragedy having written the enclosed story about Ara and I am hopeful it’s the start of my liftoff as a committed writer. A longtime friend recently commented that my voice as a story teller is fresh, clear and

As previously highlighted, this method of selling a house is increasingly gaining momentum. For most people, this is the only choice they have. Most people lack the time and patience needed, to put a house on sale, and wait for potential buyers. The traditional method also requires you to organize an open house, as well as interviewing several potential buyers. You will also be needed to go through numerous competing offers, to be able to determine the best option. However, this requires time, and most homeowners don’t have much time on their hands. This may be due to various circumstances.

Although the peak season for home buying is over, there are still some tips you could use to ensure that your home gets on the marketplace and sells even faster. With a little effort and the right approach, it would only be a record time before you sell your home. Making a great first impression and setting the price right are both very essential when you want to attract buyers. But what else do you need to do to get those offers rolling in? Here are 10 proven tips to sell your home faster even when offseason.

Note how the person writing brought the family who is interested in the home to life. Instead of them being just "another" bidder, he let the seller get a feel for who they really are and how much they fell in love with the home.

At this point, clear up the clutter, you want your buyers to focus on your home's  fabulous features not on how messy it looks, have the pile of mail on your kitchen table disappear, and anything that distracts buyers from noticing your gorgeous home features.

In his essay “The Mansion: A Subprime Parable,” Michael Lewis reveals the truth about the