Previous Owners Want To Purchase Their House Back

[Kyle Neff]

Hello BP Community!

Seeking advice on this seemingly unusual situation. My wife and I purchased a house in Cobb County, Georgia in October of 2018 from a nice retired couple who lived here for 20+ years. They moved to NH after selling to us because they are originally from that area. We have kept in touch with them because from time to time we will still get packages for them here and mainly because they are just great people.

Last week I received a message from the gentleman asking if we would entertain selling the house back to them, because his wife doesn't like the area they moved to in the NE and they miss this neighborhood and house. I spoke with my wife about it and she said we should hear him out, because (funny enough) we had actually been discussing possibly downsizing in the future because we might be going down to my income only.

A few days later he texted me again with an offer - they would buy the house back from us for what we paid ($355k), provide $50k to sweeten the deal, and pay $5k toward our moving expenses. Net net, we paid $355k for the house and he is willing to buy it back for what we paid for it and put $55k in our pockets. 

We like the area and the house but we are not stuck on staying in either. 

What would you do?

[Scott Mac]

Hi Kyle,

Easy answer, if it were me wanting to move, I'd look at

how much could a realtor get for it after commissions vs. how much are they offering.

If the realtor amount is higher than the offer, tell them so and ask for that amount.

If it's lower take their offer.

Good Luck!