Photo from Microsoft Office

In the early 1980s when the real estate market was “challenging” to say the least, I decided to sell my own home.  The move involved getting into a certain school district and putting the house up for sale right around Christmas – not an ideal time to be selling either.  My goal was to move before the school year ended. Unfortunately, I had to sell my dream house on four acres in the country with a view of all the mountains in order to accomplish that.

An offer came three days before Christmas (in snow) from an agent who still works for the same company I do.  He had a client living in the exact neighborhood I wanted to move to and whose owners wanted to move to the country.  The offer was a “trade” on my personal residence (not a 1031 tax-deferred exchange as that is for investment property only) and both properties were unencumbered.  Although I didn’t love their house, it accomplished what I started out to do.  The offer was accepted and the trade was made.   Luckily I found someone living exactly where I wanted to live.  The likelihood of finding this, although remote, is not an impossibility.  All the odds were against me (bad real estate market, Christmas, snow) and yet it happened!

If you’re having difficulty selling, you might have your agent inquire in the area you want to move to and see if there’s anyone that would like to trade properties with you. 

Copyright © 2008. Betty Jung.  All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer: All information in this post is subject to change without notice. Subject matter: is an opinion, is not guaranteed, may be time sensitive, and may be based on information collected from several sources which may or may not be reliable at the time of sourcing.  (For more local and national real estate news, click on my monthly newsletter – JUNG’S JOURNAL – on my website www.bettyjung.com).