After getting married, life became more stable, revolving around the children. As the children grew older, the topic of school district housing came up. Eventually, the decision was made to exchange my wife's pre-marriage property for a school district house. Thus began the journey of selling and buying houses.
Selling House#
In the second half of 2020, we planned to buy a school district house. We listed the house on Beike, and soon there was interest from a buyer. At that time, we felt the offer was too low and did not agree to sell. Due to changes in my wife's job, the plan to sell the house was put on hold.
Fast forward to the second half of 2022, the plan to sell the house was revived, aiming to sell by the end of 2023, and finally closed the deal in January 2024. There were multiple offers from buyers during this time, all below our expected price, and with a long time until our deadline. None of the offers were accepted. The offers kept getting lower, and we became more unwilling to accept them.
Unexpectedly, in October 2023, there was a stampede in the neighborhood, and the final selling price dropped by nearly 40% compared to 2020. A speck of dust in the era, falling on an individual, feels like a mountain. Fortunately, since the house was purchased early, there was minimal loss of principal, let's not even mention the interest.
The entire process of selling the house felt like gambling, filled with unwillingness and helplessness. It was similar to playing the stock market, eventually cutting losses and exiting.
Buying House#
Fortunately, we were exchanging properties, and the school district house we bought had a drop of over 30% from its peak.
Based on the information about elementary and middle school pairing, we selected a few neighborhoods, and ultimately only 2 met our requirements. One had a history of over 20 years without an elevator, and the other was close to 20 years old as well. Considering the duration of residence after purchase, we focused on inspecting the newer neighborhood.
In 2023, we visited all the available units in the neighborhood we were interested in, and after receiving the final payment, we completed all the buying procedures in April.
During the buying process, we were very worried about further price drops and prepared for the possibility of not being able to sell the house later. School district pairing really had us in a tight grip, completely unable to break free, feeling helpless.