Anonymous
05/19/2026 17:13
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
Anonymous wrote:OP do you have other investments? I think if you sell at a loss, you can use that loss to offset capital gains from stocks, etc.
No. Losses on a personal residence can’t be used to offset capital gains.
Anonymous
05/19/2026 17:13
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
Anonymous wrote:Yes, you need to put it up for rent and try to sell in two years. You should have accepted that first offer, you should have known that was going to be it, but hindsight is 20/20.
It happens. It is hard to predict the price at which your house will clear especially in the DMV area where hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs. I turned down an offer received within the first 48 hours of listing that my realtor and I thought was too low and ended up having to cut its price later to sell it. And more recently, we went under contract with our home within 72 hours of listing, taking the best of several early offers that had come in not wanting to lose a good opportunity, but now feel like we perhaps could have gotten a higher price if we waited longer.
So, don't beat yourself up OP. Analyze your finances, and either cut the price of the house or relist it as a long-term rental.
Anonymous
05/19/2026 17:12
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
Anonymous wrote:^^Oh, forgot to mention that a rental company will take their cut (maybe 2% of total rent each month for administration of account, depends on agency).
Where on earth do you find a property management company for 2% of monthly rent? Standard is 8-10%
Anonymous
05/19/2026 17:07
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
Your house is worth what someone is willing to pay.
Anonymous
05/19/2026 17:05
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
Yikes. OP you made some brash decisions but it also sounds like you either aren’t getting good advice from your realtor or are not listening. Why didn’t you do a contingent offer? Particularly in a cooling market they likely would have taken it. You also should not have put a cent into the new home yet.
Did you counter your first offer in your home? If not that was a huge mistake. Your first offer is almost always your best.
At this point your listing is stale and you’ll have to drop it to move it. If you rent it, how short will you be each month for the new loan? And I guess you’d have to refinance and get rid of the bridge loan. Alternatively, what about renting the new house for a few years?
Did you counter your first offer in your home? If not that was a huge mistake. Your first offer is almost always your best.
At this point your listing is stale and you’ll have to drop it to move it. If you rent it, how short will you be each month for the new loan? And I guess you’d have to refinance and get rid of the bridge loan. Alternatively, what about renting the new house for a few years?
Anonymous
05/19/2026 17:00
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
^^Oh, forgot to mention that a rental company will take their cut (maybe 2% of total rent each month for administration of account, depends on agency).
Anonymous
05/19/2026 16:58
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
We had to relocate to another state for my spouse's job during the Great Recession. The worst housing market in ages. We were suddenly paying two mortgages with a new house, small kids, and I was a SAHM, the GR ate my career, my field disappeared overnight. We couldn't sell our house (well, I take that back, we could sell it, it's just that buyers were offering to buy it for a quarter of its value). We contacted a rental management agency and rented out our home for probably seven years. We requested only working professionals and couples with kids as potential tenants (in other words, no young partiers or wild people). I was the contact person for anything needed. Over seven years, we had 2-3 renters total. We would get a monthly check for the rent with any small deductions some months (the faucet was dripping, plumber was called, but they let me know in advance) and monthly landscaping. It wasn't ideal, but it floated us through a very tough financial time. Many real estate companies offer a rental service side that can bridge into the sales side if you want to use their services to sell the house later. Just tuck that behind your left ear. Renting out your home as an income stream for a few years is always an option. I would use a rental management agency to be the middleman. That way, you never, ever have to speak directly to the renter.
Anonymous
05/19/2026 16:55
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
Yes, you need to put it up for rent and try to sell in two years. You should have accepted that first offer, you should have known that was going to be it, but hindsight is 20/20.
Anonymous
05/19/2026 16:54
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
OP do you have other investments? I think if you sell at a loss, you can use that loss to offset capital gains from stocks, etc.
Anonymous
05/19/2026 16:52
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
Anonymous wrote:Your greed caused you to have a stale house on the market.
No need to be nasty to the OP. Not everyone is willing to accept a price well below list after only 3 days on market. It didn't work out for the OP unfortunately on that particular choice, but if she can't afford two mortgages, she will lower the price again, eventually the market will clear and the house will sell and she'll have lost some money, but the world will hopefully not end.
Not everyone makes tons of money off of real estate investments. Plenty of people buy at the top of a market that then cools (and the DMV area has undoubtedly cool) or put money into renovations that turn out to be unprofitable. That's life.
Anonymous
05/19/2026 16:48
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
Anonymous wrote:I guess I just want to rant at my own stupidity. I'm young (30) and dumb and I'm just feeling really down about this whole situation lately and it's stressing me out. I'll first state that we live out west, not in DC anymore.
It started in Feb when I was browsing Zillow and found a house I really wanted. It had exactly what I wanted and even though we weren't in the market to move, we decided to put in an offer and it was accepted. This house is only about 5 miles from where we currently live. This happened super fast - we got a bridge loan because we didn't even have our current house on the market nor was it in ready condition. We closed on the new house in only 2.5 weeks. I hated the flooring in this house so used some savings to put in new flooring on the bottom level before we started moving our stuff in. Also got some new appliances. I fully admit that this whole thing was a rash decision! I do love our new house, but in hindsight, I should've cooled my jets.
Now, I (wrongly) assumed the house would sell fast. A friend of mine sold her house, which is similar to our old house, within 2 days on the market. Our realtor said that ours should go soon, but my friend's house might have been an anomaly, as he told us the market is starting to cool down. Our asking price was $475 which I feel is within comps! I purchased the home in 2022 by myself (I wasn't married at the time) for $375 and have done some renovations to 2 of the bathrooms.
Within 3 days on the market, we got an offer, but IMO (at the time!!!), it was insulting. They offered 25K below asking. I said no. I did talk it over with my parents and they told me to accept it but I was stubborn. My husband also wanted to accept it.
Now here we are 60(!) days later, with NO other offers, hardly any interest. A handful of showings and a bunch of looky-loos at an open house we had last weekend. My realtor suggested a price cut a month ago and I reluctantly did it. Reduced by 15K but that was a month ago. I asked my realtor if he could get those people who made the offer back but he told me that they have already bought and closed on a different house. If I keep having to lower the price, I might not make any money on this house or worse yet, lose money.
I hear constant stuff on the local news here how the housing market is stalling out, with the exception of really high end (1.5Mil+) homes.
I'm now paying 2 mortgages, so much of my savings is gone due to remodeling & buying new appliances for the new house. I am freaking out. This is my first time selling a house and I guess I'm learning a hard life lesson. My husband OTOH doesn't have a care in the world, but I'm the main bread winner in our house.
How screwed am I?
Do you always bulldoze over your husband, parents and professionals to get your way? You need to do some serious introspection on why this is so. That's not a hard life lesson. You lower the price until it sells. Now you own a house you love. Stop resisting good advice.
Anonymous
05/19/2026 16:42
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
"I asked my realtor if he could get those people who made the offer back but he told me that they have already bought and closed on a different house."
Wow 😳
Wow 😳
Anonymous
05/19/2026 16:40
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
Your greed caused you to have a stale house on the market.
Anonymous
05/19/2026 16:15
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
Anonymous wrote:I guess I just want to rant at my own stupidity. I'm young (30) and dumb and I'm just feeling really down about this whole situation lately and it's stressing me out. I'll first state that we live out west, not in DC anymore.
It started in Feb when I was browsing Zillow and found a house I really wanted. It had exactly what I wanted and even though we weren't in the market to move, we decided to put in an offer and it was accepted. This house is only about 5 miles from where we currently live. This happened super fast - we got a bridge loan because we didn't even have our current house on the market nor was it in ready condition. We closed on the new house in only 2.5 weeks. I hated the flooring in this house so used some savings to put in new flooring on the bottom level before we started moving our stuff in. Also got some new appliances. I fully admit that this whole thing was a rash decision! I do love our new house, but in hindsight, I should've cooled my jets.
Now, I (wrongly) assumed the house would sell fast. A friend of mine sold her house, which is similar to our old house, within 2 days on the market. Our realtor said that ours should go soon, but my friend's house might have been an anomaly, as he told us the market is starting to cool down. Our asking price was $475 which I feel is within comps! I purchased the home in 2022 by myself (I wasn't married at the time) for $375 and have done some renovations to 2 of the bathrooms.
Within 3 days on the market, we got an offer, but IMO (at the time!!!), it was insulting. They offered 25K below asking. I said no. I did talk it over with my parents and they told me to accept it but I was stubborn. My husband also wanted to accept it.
Now here we are 60(!) days later, with NO other offers, hardly any interest. A handful of showings and a bunch of looky-loos at an open house we had last weekend. My realtor suggested a price cut a month ago and I reluctantly did it. Reduced by 15K but that was a month ago. I asked my realtor if he could get those people who made the offer back but he told me that they have already bought and closed on a different house. If I keep having to lower the price, I might not make any money on this house or worse yet, lose money.
I hear constant stuff on the local news here how the housing market is stalling out, with the exception of really high end (1.5Mil+) homes.
I'm now paying 2 mortgages, so much of my savings is gone due to remodeling & buying new appliances for the new house. I am freaking out. This is my first time selling a house and I guess I'm learning a hard life lesson. My husband OTOH doesn't have a care in the world, but I'm the main bread winner in our house.
How screwed am I?
Pretty screwed. Make your peace with becoming a landlord maybe.
You should have taken the first offer. Or at least countered it. The first offer is usually the best offer.
Anonymous
05/19/2026 16:13
Subject: My house isnt selling and I am an idiot
I guess I just want to rant at my own stupidity. I'm young (30) and dumb and I'm just feeling really down about this whole situation lately and it's stressing me out. I'll first state that we live out west, not in DC anymore.
It started in Feb when I was browsing Zillow and found a house I really wanted. It had exactly what I wanted and even though we weren't in the market to move, we decided to put in an offer and it was accepted. This house is only about 5 miles from where we currently live. This happened super fast - we got a bridge loan because we didn't even have our current house on the market nor was it in ready condition. We closed on the new house in only 2.5 weeks. I hated the flooring in this house so used some savings to put in new flooring on the bottom level before we started moving our stuff in. Also got some new appliances. I fully admit that this whole thing was a rash decision! I do love our new house, but in hindsight, I should've cooled my jets.
Now, I (wrongly) assumed the house would sell fast. A friend of mine sold her house, which is similar to our old house, within 2 days on the market. Our realtor said that ours should go soon, but my friend's house might have been an anomaly, as he told us the market is starting to cool down. Our asking price was $475 which I feel is within comps! I purchased the home in 2022 by myself (I wasn't married at the time) for $375 and have done some renovations to 2 of the bathrooms.
Within 3 days on the market, we got an offer, but IMO (at the time!!!), it was insulting. They offered 25K below asking. I said no. I did talk it over with my parents and they told me to accept it but I was stubborn. My husband also wanted to accept it.
Now here we are 60(!) days later, with NO other offers, hardly any interest. A handful of showings and a bunch of looky-loos at an open house we had last weekend. My realtor suggested a price cut a month ago and I reluctantly did it. Reduced by 15K but that was a month ago. I asked my realtor if he could get those people who made the offer back but he told me that they have already bought and closed on a different house. If I keep having to lower the price, I might not make any money on this house or worse yet, lose money.
I hear constant stuff on the local news here how the housing market is stalling out, with the exception of really high end (1.5Mil+) homes.
I'm now paying 2 mortgages, so much of my savings is gone due to remodeling & buying new appliances for the new house. I am freaking out. This is my first time selling a house and I guess I'm learning a hard life lesson. My husband OTOH doesn't have a care in the world, but I'm the main bread winner in our house.
How screwed am I?
It started in Feb when I was browsing Zillow and found a house I really wanted. It had exactly what I wanted and even though we weren't in the market to move, we decided to put in an offer and it was accepted. This house is only about 5 miles from where we currently live. This happened super fast - we got a bridge loan because we didn't even have our current house on the market nor was it in ready condition. We closed on the new house in only 2.5 weeks. I hated the flooring in this house so used some savings to put in new flooring on the bottom level before we started moving our stuff in. Also got some new appliances. I fully admit that this whole thing was a rash decision! I do love our new house, but in hindsight, I should've cooled my jets.
Now, I (wrongly) assumed the house would sell fast. A friend of mine sold her house, which is similar to our old house, within 2 days on the market. Our realtor said that ours should go soon, but my friend's house might have been an anomaly, as he told us the market is starting to cool down. Our asking price was $475 which I feel is within comps! I purchased the home in 2022 by myself (I wasn't married at the time) for $375 and have done some renovations to 2 of the bathrooms.
Within 3 days on the market, we got an offer, but IMO (at the time!!!), it was insulting. They offered 25K below asking. I said no. I did talk it over with my parents and they told me to accept it but I was stubborn. My husband also wanted to accept it.
Now here we are 60(!) days later, with NO other offers, hardly any interest. A handful of showings and a bunch of looky-loos at an open house we had last weekend. My realtor suggested a price cut a month ago and I reluctantly did it. Reduced by 15K but that was a month ago. I asked my realtor if he could get those people who made the offer back but he told me that they have already bought and closed on a different house. If I keep having to lower the price, I might not make any money on this house or worse yet, lose money.
I hear constant stuff on the local news here how the housing market is stalling out, with the exception of really high end (1.5Mil+) homes.
I'm now paying 2 mortgages, so much of my savings is gone due to remodeling & buying new appliances for the new house. I am freaking out. This is my first time selling a house and I guess I'm learning a hard life lesson. My husband OTOH doesn't have a care in the world, but I'm the main bread winner in our house.
How screwed am I?