'Moeville Castle' Sold

After a year and a half on the market our house in rural Ellsworth, Wis., (actually on the outskirts of a hamlet called Moeville) has been sold -- for thousands of dollars less than what we thought we would get for it. The house is the one pictured on this blog. Early in 2007, when we had Realtors look at it, a woman from Prescott, Wis., told us she'd list it at $339,000. We thought that was on the high side so when our son developed a "for sale by owner" website, the house and its 10 acres were offered for $288,000. After a few months we decided to list with Red Wing Coldwell Banker for $299,000. There were no offers during the six-month listing. We eventually accepted an offer of $233,000 from some people who had first looked at the house when it was for sale by owner. Their offer was not contingent on the sale of their house, as a previous offer for many more thousands was. Those people's house did not sell.