Dream House

One of my favorite hobbies is reading the classifieds, real estate magazines, and viewing properties via the web. It has always been my dream to own a small parcel w/ home and a place for a horse. Although I presently own a small home about 1 mile from a stable, I must first complete my education before buying a horse.

I've thought of boarding and may initually do that, but thought having house, barn, horse and animals on one parcel would not only be cost effective, but also allow me to see my horse everyday -- hands on!

Anywho, as I carouse the ads, I will occassionally call the listing agent. Yet, the agent always promises to call back or email me w/ info, yet never does. I've even left messages w/ realtors who never return the calls. I've actually seen two properties I'd love to buy (even if I must buck 2 mortgages until the other is sold), but they never return the calls. Honestly, I've never trusted realtors. A couple realtors I've put on the carpet and they try to change the subject to "Well, I thought you said . . . " and I'll politely say "No, this is what we discussed . . ."

Maybe this is God's way of saying no to me (He may have another plan or this is not the right time), maybe I'm rushing, or perhaps I'm right . . . Realtors are no better than car salesmen (persons).

Have any of ya'll had similar situations w/ realtors?

MustangGal,
I think realtors are like any other profession in that there are good ones, and bad ones. I know we have some realtors in this forum so maybe they could offer some advice?

I hear you frustration, and have only had one bad experience with a realtor and after investigating his lack of responses and time spent on selling my property for me, I found out he was building his own house and was always at this building site instead of working his territory. I fired him and got me another realtor and all was well. It is a multi-billion dollar industry so it stands to reason there will be bad ones mixed in with the good.

I think your dream is a lovely one, and I hope you won't give it up! I would just chalk it up to their loss and try again. As far as God saying "no, " I don't believe He does that. I believe He wants us to have whatever we want. But if you believe it might be a test, maybe it's a test to see HOW BADLY you want this dream? And the obstacles are a test to see if you can bypass them and keep going????? Just a thought...

Keep us posted. As I said, I love the visual you gave with your dream and can see you on your land, horse in the pasture, and your happiness. It is such a nice dream! Don't let them spoil it for you.

JJ

Mustang, I've had good luck with my realtors, but when I bought my current home, a co-worker of my realtor tried to ruin my chances for the house so she could sell it to her client. The house was a bank reposessed house and there were 5 bids on it in one weekend.

You shouldn't talk to just any realtor, but ask your friends and acquaintences about their experiences and use one with a good reputation. My realtor was a real bulldog and without her expertise and work ethic, I wouldn't have gotten my house. She was also someone I graduated from HS with.

Daisygirl

Jaw Jaw, thanks for the great philosophy:

"I believe He wants us to have whatever we want. But if you believe it might be a test, maybe it's a test to see HOW BADLY you want this dream? And the obstacles are a test to see if you can bypass them and keep going????? Just a thought..."

I never thought of it that way!

Daisygirl, I may check the repossed listings, too!

Mine needed a lot of renovation, but I figured that I'd end up changing most of the house anyway. You can get a good deal, but have to be able to make a quick decision.

Now that my house is half new...half old...I am wanting to redo the older rooms!!

My brother is going to redo our bathroom...and since he only knows how to tile the shower...we are going to have a "fancy" shower!! ( I grew up on the plastic wall inserts!!!)

I also look at houses online...to see what you can get for the same price here....to see all the nicer houses out there.....to imagine what it'd be like to live elsewhere.....

Kay I'm a House Hunter nut, watching it whenever its on on HGTV...they also have fancy baths and kitchens to die for....I also like Designed To Sell....check them out in your area.

Chatty...I too love to watch House Hunter, and Designed to sell...and now there are a couple of different Flip this House shows...where they buy a fixer upper and redo it and flip it for profit in a short amount of time...like a month...a couple of the shows were actually in Las Vegas..and I thought of you when I was watching..
My Favorite show on HGTV though is Divine Design...I think the decorator on that show is a genius!!!.

My favorite is Divine Design also. She is a genius and I wish I could have her help with my house!

WOW, we watch the same exacty shows, how cool is that. I also watch Flip This House because I was involved in flippig several in the past. Never ran into the problems these poor guys seem to run into however...rats, termites, rotting floorboards, yuk! Devine Design is super too. Do you ever watch Designed To Sell They come in and spend up to $2000. dollars to fix the make the house more sellable and what they can do with that small amount of money boggles the mind. It is such fun to watch....

I watch all those shows too!!!

I wish we could have had DESIGNED TO SELL when we were selling my mom's house!!!

If my brother lived closer....we would have bought a cheaper house & had him update it all!
When he finally does our bathroom.....it will be updated....in our minds when we bought this house!
Everything but the kitchen and bathroom were updated!!! Now that we have a brand new kitchen in the remodel......the bathroom is left.....but the rest of the house now looks dated!!!!

I have to reprogram myself....pretty new towels & accesseries will make a world of difference...say that over and over.......and over........!

Designed To Sell is great!...the decorator Lisa is really creative..I have learned alot from her ideas...keep in mind though that she only gets $2000 to make the house sell quickly...but....she has that nice staff of carpenters to make it all happen ...i have some ideas, however...no nice carpenters to implement them....boo hoo....
Also...Chatty...wasn't that episode of Flip This House so scary when all of those rats started running around that amazingly huge house in NC?
I had some wild dreams or should I say "nightmares" after seeing that one..when you were involved with your house flipping, did you do it in as little time (under 3 months) as on the show? How much fun was that for you? I would love to do it sometime...Las Vegas is a really hot real estate market, how great that you got in on it...you are a very smart lady...

My sister is house flipping, now in Michigan. She and her very talented carpenter husband just love it. They work exceedingly hard , doing it all themselves, (he has years and years of experience tho'- started out as a carpenter, but then ended up building huge bridges, water treatment plants, hospitals etc. So that's kind of like cheating, huh? ). Their idea is to do this as perfect as possible but in a short amount of time also. But I know Chuck only too well, and he is a real stickler for those details, so i"m sure it will take them longer than most..... And my sister has HER figure back, Chatty - without dieting OR paying a gym!!Hmmmmm.....They both are in their sixties too. (Maybe this IS the way to go gals......)

But here's what my brother did. He figured out that if you build a house, live in it for 2 years, by the time you you build the 7th, you will have gotten it free. Of course that depends on market, location, etc. I think he's on his 5th or 6th. But geez, could ya' move every 2 years with young children and all? I might have a free house by then, but I'd be a crazy woman who didn't give a rip.....and 14 years older to boot!!!! But he and his wife have the dedication and the business sense to do it - so more power to them!!!

So where's my cool money-making idea? Am I a throw-back or somethin? Chopped Liver? Not the sharpest knife in the drawer? What's up with that? (oops, whining again....)O well, I'm SURE my idea will be coming forthwith - I'm just one of our late-bloomers, that's all!!! Ya'll just wait and see, you just wait and see!!!!

Searcher...

You are too cute! When the student is ready - the teacher will come (lol) (is that right)?

I need your address darling. Please "PM" it to me.

Danita

Yea, you could do a lot with $2,000 if you have a crew of professionals to demo, build and install! It's taken me over 2 years to remodel my house and I've done 95% of the work myself - also spent waaaaayy over $2,000! Of course I'm working a full time job also.

You could not drag me from my house to leave all my hard work behind - well, not unless you're tall dark and handsome with a large nest and nest egg. I have no desire to remodel a home alone again.

Daisygirl

Its my job to find the houses and then the money man makes the deal and we have another all around genius guy that can do most of the work with his partner. I then do the interior design and the place is put on the market and yes about 60 to 90 days is right on the money....

It is so sad how some people treat even fairly new homes allowing them to fall into such disrepair.