retiringby50
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2007
- Messages
- 170
No real advice, except that I think you should use an experienced realtor to get the job done and over with. I read this article in our local paper this weekend and it talks a little about similar stuff: Fast home sales require attention to pricing and promotion. Pretty quick read.
Here's my story (sorry so long): My dad recently died and left me with a home in San Francisco. I never lived in this house, but my mom had passed away w/i 6 months after they moved here, and I visited my dad almost every week for almost 14 years in this house before he passed away in his bedroom. Some, but not a lot of, sentimental value.
I didn't want to be a landlord in SF (there are about a thousand reason not to), so I had always intended to sell. By the time we got everyone living in the home to leave (caregivers who needed a little more time, tenants who were reluctant to leave, etc.), it was July 2007, and the market was starting to go south (slower for this area's homes to react to the market). I figured if I were lucky, we could put in about $15K to fix the dry rot and sell it for $750K, or we could remodel it and sell it for $850K - I could also learn something from the remodeling experience. My realtor is a friend and also friends with a contractor who is very good, so they worked on getting my house into "modern" condition. About $75K later, we had a very nice house where everything that needed to be fixed or changed was taken care of: new kitchen, new bathrooms, new division that gave it another bedroom, new appliances, new paint inside and out, new fixtures. By now, it was already November, so prices have dropped even more. We decided to price it at $829K, put it on the market for two Sundays, and got 1 offer for $795K. I took it!
I had to take the emotions out and think logically... if I waited, I might get a lower offer or none. It might take the market another 12-18 months to get back to where it was earlier in the year, and I would have lost the opportunity to earn more money. I wasn't willing to wait... and I'm happy I sold. Many many other properties in the area are still just sitting there, so pricing it right and remodeling it right make a difference. Yes, potentially I lost money (or best case scenario, I broke even) on the remodeling based on what I thought I might have been able to sell it for without the big remodeling job, but I think it helped move the property. Paid off the realtor, paid off the government, now my biggest worry is what to do with the profit... it's a nice place to be.
OK, leaving this board to decide how to invest the proceeds today before the market gets better tomorrow... wish I could fortell the future. Oh, here's a warning to everyone... I'm moving money from money market to other mutual funds... everytime I've done this, the market has tanked! So be forewarned!
Here's my story (sorry so long): My dad recently died and left me with a home in San Francisco. I never lived in this house, but my mom had passed away w/i 6 months after they moved here, and I visited my dad almost every week for almost 14 years in this house before he passed away in his bedroom. Some, but not a lot of, sentimental value.
I didn't want to be a landlord in SF (there are about a thousand reason not to), so I had always intended to sell. By the time we got everyone living in the home to leave (caregivers who needed a little more time, tenants who were reluctant to leave, etc.), it was July 2007, and the market was starting to go south (slower for this area's homes to react to the market). I figured if I were lucky, we could put in about $15K to fix the dry rot and sell it for $750K, or we could remodel it and sell it for $850K - I could also learn something from the remodeling experience. My realtor is a friend and also friends with a contractor who is very good, so they worked on getting my house into "modern" condition. About $75K later, we had a very nice house where everything that needed to be fixed or changed was taken care of: new kitchen, new bathrooms, new division that gave it another bedroom, new appliances, new paint inside and out, new fixtures. By now, it was already November, so prices have dropped even more. We decided to price it at $829K, put it on the market for two Sundays, and got 1 offer for $795K. I took it!
I had to take the emotions out and think logically... if I waited, I might get a lower offer or none. It might take the market another 12-18 months to get back to where it was earlier in the year, and I would have lost the opportunity to earn more money. I wasn't willing to wait... and I'm happy I sold. Many many other properties in the area are still just sitting there, so pricing it right and remodeling it right make a difference. Yes, potentially I lost money (or best case scenario, I broke even) on the remodeling based on what I thought I might have been able to sell it for without the big remodeling job, but I think it helped move the property. Paid off the realtor, paid off the government, now my biggest worry is what to do with the profit... it's a nice place to be.
OK, leaving this board to decide how to invest the proceeds today before the market gets better tomorrow... wish I could fortell the future. Oh, here's a warning to everyone... I'm moving money from money market to other mutual funds... everytime I've done this, the market has tanked! So be forewarned!
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