House not selling - looking for suggestions.

[folivier]

A friend told me once to figure out how much it would cost to keep the house for another year including upcoming updates/repairs. Then to drop the price that amount. Hard to do but it worked for ours.

 

[pb4uski]

A friend told me once to figure out how much it would cost to keep the house for another year including upcoming updates/repairs. Then to drop the price that amount. Hard to do but it worked for ours.

We did something similar in a backwards way. We had moved about 30 miles away and were just about to list our home when DW put an ad out on craigslist for sh!ts and giggles. A young couple responded. The second time they looked at the house with her grandparents, who were wealthy and providing their financing, grandpa made a snide comment that was in effect a low-ball offer. We rejected it with a small dose of indignation and said if they ever became serious about making us an offer to let us know.

The couple later came back with a low offer but with no contingencies other than a home inspection. This was in the fall. I calculated what we might reasonably list and sell the house for in the spring, less realtor commissions, less the costs of heating, electricity, snowplowing, etc from then until the spring and our proceeds for accepting their offer was that same as what I thought it would be if we rejected their offer, listed it and it sold in the spring. Since a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush we accepted their offer and never looked back.

 

[ivinsfan]

Yes, but heat and electric are not legit carrying costs, you have to pay that no matter where you live, even property taxes, if you are going to go buy another house that one will have taxes on it as well.Of course if you already bought another house it is double carrying costs.

It's basically guessing at next year's selling climate (which at best is an educated guess).On a FSBO you would save the fees, which could happen if the OP decides to price it as a teardown after his listing contract expires. A lot of FSBO just save their part of the fees as lots of buyers have a agent that needs to be paid.

 

[Fishingmn]

I'm a Realtor (if that matters).

My first question is to ask whether homes in your price range are selling? If not, then I would be patient. If so, then there's really 2 options -

1) Improve the property so it competes better with homes that buyers are comparing yours against. Did you have a professional home stager/decorator come through and give you advice about how to make your home as much like an HGTV home as possible? Beyond too much furniture & decorating issues things like new paint and updated flooring make huge differences.

2) Assuming those have been addressed then it's really about price. The normal guidance that agents should be giving you is that a price drop should be in the 3-5% range. The amount you do should be based on whether you are getting activity or not.

The final part of the puzzle I didn't mention has to do with your motivation. Some people want to sell for sure. Assuming homes are selling in your price range the best option is to keep reducing the price in that case. That's the fair market price.

If you aren't as motivated to sell then maybe staying put and hoping the market moves upward or the perfect buyer come along may be just fine.

Good luck!

 

[travelover]

OP here. Thanks to all of you for taking time to share your perspectives.

It really has helped me to look at things in different ways and to determine my best course of action.

Undoubtedly, the best way to sell it fast is to lower the price. A similar home / lot came up for sale nearby for 20% less and was bid up to about 15% less and sold quickly, though for less than my neighbor's tear-down.

Since I don't have to sell, I've decided to just let it ride and will either sell it for a bit less than what the realtors have said it is worth, or just enjoy living here for a while. It is a very pleasant place to live.

 

[imoldernu]

"Sell before the next crash..."
"Don't have to sell"...
$$$ involved against the cost of keeping 2 houses?

edit (oops... cross posted... Good decision)

 

[Meadbh]

Since I don't have to sell, I've decided to just let it ride and will either sell it for a bit less than what the realtors have said it is worth, or just enjoy living here for a while. It is a very pleasant place to live.

Good decision. Selling is a process that involves coming to terms with the current market value of your property, and, when sufficiently motivated, going all out to achieve realistic goals. When you decide for sure to sell, I agree with Fishingmn's recommendation to have your home staged so that it shows in its best possible light.

 

[brett]

We are potential buyers. But our market has been down, and is still down, for the past two years. We sold 3 years ago with the intention of travelling/downsizing. Got the travel part ok but much to our surprise we are still renting and love it.

18 months ago we looked at an attached bungalow/condo. It was 629 just reduced to 609. We were leaving for three months so we did not really consider it. It was furnished..the owner lived there. Well staged.

Fast forward 18 months. The place has been on and off the market, price keeps dropping. It has been empty for at least 9 months. Current asking price is 515. It has been at this price for 22 days. The owner is on his third real estate agent. The cost to carry this in taxes, condo fees, heat, etc is $800. month. Does not include the time value of money or the decrease in market prices over the past 18 months-probably 5-9 percent.

Bottom line is that real estate is only worth what someone is willing to pay.

 

[Fermion]

A friend told me once to figure out how much it would cost to keep the house for another year including upcoming updates/repairs. Then to drop the price that amount. Hard to do but it worked for ours.

Exactly what we did. Figured out what our time was worth, what it would cost to pay the property tax and utilities for a year while the house was on the market. We then figured out what an agent would charge to sell the house.

Subtracted all of this from the house values in the neighborhood, put the house on craigslist, and sold it in one day. Comparable houses to ours were taking 6 months to a year to sell in our area.

 

[W2R]

Last summer I sold my house in four days at a price well supported by reasonable, sound comps. Guess this was blind luck. Good thing it worked out that way. When the reality of how much it costs to own two homes really hit me in the face, I was aghast. Getting it under contract so fast helped to mitigate any portfolio damage due to the extra expenses.

 

[Bestwifeever]

If not selling your house doesn't keep you from leading the life you want to have right now, why not take it off the market for a few months? But if you're looking forward to that future life in another place, you might consider that you're losing a few months of it by waiting.

We live in the only house we ever bought so have never sold a home and might leave that to the kids one day, but I have plenty of friends who have sold several times. The most successful were the ones who were ready to sell. They did not worry that they might have gotten a higher price. Others put their house on the market either to just see what it might bring or were married to a certain price. Their houses never sold.

 

[kcowan]

Travelover
It is tough to add any value since everything has been mentioned already about selling.

Let me take a different tack. How badly do you want to move to OR? Will it be easier or harder in five years? I have sold two homes recently. One was a tear down. We had a realtor open house and invited bids 3 days later. 3 bids and the realtor went back to the low ones saying they were low and would they like to improve them? They declined and the high bidder was selected. The winning bid was 5% over asking.

The other was old and in need of renovating. The realtor said to leave it alone. We sold it as is for 10% below what new construction was going for in a week.

I don't think there is any one formula. One that has not been mentioned is sale and lease back. You sell the property to them and agree to lease the house for X years while they save up for the tear down/new build. This keeps their costs down so they can save.

(If you are concerned about being out of the market, buy a REIT that has properties in OR.)

 

[nwsteve]

I am in the camp that if your realtor has the great reputation for moving property, I would "test" him with the challenge, "please tell me what we must do to move this property in the next X days"? The shorter the time, probably the lower the price but at least you can get some idea of the time/money trade-off.
I would probably also check out the other listings he has in his book and see to what degree you are getting your fair share of his time and effort.
Nwsteve

 

[pb4uski]

Yes, but heat and electric are not legit carrying costs, you have to pay that no matter where you live, even property taxes, if you are going to go buy another house that one will have taxes on it as well.Of course if you already bought another house it is double carrying costs.....

If you re-read my post you will see that we had already moved to another home so heat and electric (and property taxes) were legit carrying costs in our situation since by selling early we avoided those costs.... but you make a valid point that they may not be to the OP.

 

[travelover]

I am in the camp that if your realtor has the great reputation for moving property, I would "test" him with the challenge, "please tell me what we must do to move this property in the next X days"? The shorter the time, probably the lower the price but at least you can get some idea of the time/money trade-off.
I would probably also check out the other listings he has in his book and see to what degree you are getting your fair share of his time and effort.
Nwsteve

I have no doubt that I could sell it in a week if I dropped the price dramatically. When I asked this realtor why he charged the full 6% commission on a much more expensive property, he said he would deliver more net cash than a lesser agent. This is his opportunity to prove it or make nothing.

 

[Sunset]

...When I asked this realtor why he charged the full 6% commission on a much more expensive property, he said he would deliver more net cash than a lesser agent. This is his opportunity to prove it or make nothing.

Ouch......, and I feel I was overcharged when I paid 5% , as I later easily found regular big company full time agents (not discount) that would do it for 4% and one sounded really good, knowing the market.

My contract also had a clause that said after the 90 days, if I went with a cheaper one, I had to pay the original one the difference up to the 5%. Later I realized how stupid it was for me to accept that clause.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

45 days? Move it here. Houses here sell in about 45 minutes.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[travelover]

45 days? Move it here. Houses here sell in about 45 minutes.

Can I borrow your magic wand for a day? I have a few other issues to deal with, as well.