And Now We Wait

Well, after a pretty intense and backbreaking week of ripping up carpet, painting, cleaning (easily the most grueling part - freaking disgusting tenants), Magic Erasing, touch-up painting, and daily Home Depot runs, the house is at what I would like to call 99% showability (the other 1% would/will be achieved after power-washing the decks). Which is good, since the house is officially listed today, at $475,000. I've gotta say, the place looks pretty fucking good right now. There are new carpets, updated kitchen and bathrooms, new tile in one of the bathrooms, and the touch-up painting really made a huge difference actually. Lucky for me the previous owner left behind the paint they used on the walls and trimming.

There are a number of interesting financial considerations that go along with this whole process. For example:

-I purchased this house for $468,000, and thus if I were to receive my asking price, there would be a before-expenses profit of $7,000. This is about $20,000 less than I had intended to profit (after expenses) on the place when I purchased it a year ago. So goes the market...
-The key term in the above note is "before-expenses." While my realtor is charging me next to nothing on commission, if there were to be a buyer's agent, we are offering between 3-4% commission, which is standard. Um, yeah, that's roughly an $18,000 commission. So, needless to say, I'm hoping that my realtor finds the buyer himself.
-All of the above figures are, of course, assuming that I actually get $475,000. It is still a seller's market, right? Right???
-(On the other hand) If I were to sell it (at any price), I'd be saving myself between $700-$900 a month that I'm currently doling out to this money pit. Also, if (when??) I sell this for a loss, I should be able to roll the remaining money into my other mortgage, using the equity already in that house (via the appreciation I've added to it from last summer's improvements).
-And finally, I see no situation in which I'm going to pay for this in my 2008 tax return. Pretty sure this can only help me.

Most importantly, I'd have one less house on my hands, and three less tenants.

Without a doubt, this house is going to sell. At what price, I'm not sure, but it's in an outstanding neighborhood in a really trendy location that people are actively looking in. Right now there's a house about three doors down from mine that's also up for sale (has been for a month or so). It's listed at $430,000, which sucks, but they have one less bedroom, one less full bath, old and poorly put in carpet (also they used different colors for different rooms), an un-updated awkward kitchen, and none of the good karma that I am sure to have accumulated by now. So, we'll see.

Have I mentioned how much I fucking hate real estate? Not lately? Ok.