Sold Our Condo in 2 Weeks!

Despite the real estate crisis, after a week and a half on the market, our condo went under contract.  We had 4 offers, and wrote up our contract for $4K over asking price.  Of course, we went into the process knowing we'd have to take a loss, but even still we breathed a "Phew" of relief once we were under contract.  I’m not saying this to rub it in anyone’s face, but only to say that things might not be as bad as everyone says.  Pending home sales jumped 8.2% in February, so things are looking up!! 

First, our agents are amazing.  I would HIGHLY recommend Ed Jelinek and Susan Amory to anyone selling in Chicago.  They responded immediately to all my emails, and answered all my dumb questions.  We did pretty much everything they asked us to do:  priced it lower than we wanted; put half our crap in storage; nothing on the floors of the closets; moved big furniture around; nothing on the counter tops; etc.  It was no small feat, but 2 weeks after our first meeting with them, our place was up on MLS and the rest of the sites. 

The showings the first week were plentiful but hectic, and I was dismayed when we didn’t receive any offers.  Keeping the condo clean with Henry traipsing around was not easy, but could’ve been much worse.  We hid out at friends’ and relatives’ homes during naps, took long walks weather permitting and ate out in the evenings. 

Our first second showing chose to buy a different place.  But on Wed after the first week of showings we got our first offer.  It was low, and we were slightly offended.  But our agent assured us that in this kind of market people offer very low initially.  We alerted our other interested buyers immediately, and the floodgates opened.  Suddenly we had 4 second showings on Wednesday and Thursday, and 4 offers by Friday.  We asked them all to come back to us with their best offers.  The eventual bid winner required a very quick closing date, giving us 4 weeks to find somewhere to live.  “Ah!  Yikes! Eek!  Gasp!” is what we are thinking – quoted from Henry’s current favorite book, “Duck and Cover,” by Jackie Urbanovic.