I'm at a cross road & don't know which direction to take regarding selling my house....?

Question

we've moved and have had the house listed with a major realty company for 6 months and it has not sold. The listing is about to expire so I desperately need to sell it or rent it out. I don't like the idea of renters being there while I'm trying to sell it (will it be clean and maintained properly for showing, etc?) The house is appraised at $95,000 and we've had it listed at $105,000 but the market is down and we've only had one LOW offer on it. Should I go ahead & rent it to help me out financially say for 6 months and try to sell it myself or list it with another agency?

Answer 1

You aren't going to get over the appraisal, banks aren't going to agree to finance a buyer, especially over 10%. They are going for less then appraised value in CA (you certainly are not in CA).

Go with an independent broker, the "major realty" companies are a bunch of sharks. They really are only interested in $. Experienced agents usually do NOT work for them.

If you decide to rent it remember that you are not going to be able to sell it rented. It is not in the best interest of the renter to help you sell. SO you need to pick. Also, you will likely have to refinance, residency loans do not allow for rentals generally. The other negative is depreciation, renters tend to be hard on things. Be prepared to repaint and replace the carpet after your rental episode.

Email me your MLS number, I will take a peak at how it is being marketed there and I may be able to offer you some advice. Maybe recommend someone to help you too. [e-mail] (please no one else).

Answer 2

First of all, your current agent should have explained to you that you will have a difficult time selling the home if it is listed for more that the appraisal value. Even if you did sell at $105,000, the buyers may not have been able to get a loan because the appraisal is $10,000 less. Mortgage companies do not like that. If your agent did not explain this to you, you might want another agent. If you like the company, you can find another agent within the company.

You will need to decided whether you want to deal with the renters. Make sure you find out the laws regarding renting in your community. Sometimes it is more work than you are expecting. Also, in my state, if the renters have a 6 month lease, you can sell it in 3 months, but the new owners have to honor that lease until it runs out. This can make it difficult to sell, but not impossible.

Selling the property yourself is an option, but be prepared to be there for all of the appointments for showings, open houses, paid advertising, signs, etc.

Regardless of which way you decide to go, you should drop your price to the appraisal value.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I had my house on the market for 4 months and finally sold it. I was getting ready to rent it out also. My plan was to rent it while still trying to sell it, you can always turn down bad offers. If it isn't showing well, at least it's rented.

Many financial counselors advise to never sell real estate. I chose to sell mine to take advantage of the capital gains exemption I get for having lived in it for more than 2 of the previous 5 years, and I moved a good distance away and didn't want to hassle with bad renters.

If you are priced 10K above the appraisal, that might be your problem. You may have gotten snookered by your agent into signing with him because he overpriced your house, major company or not. Shop for another agent and reduce the price.

Answer 4

SELL IT YOURSELF!

Your agent hasn't done their job and that's no surprise, because in a soft market, they focus on the big home sells that will bring in the bucks.

You would have to pony up about 6K to agents anyway. Lower the price to 98k, spruce it up a little with some curb appeal and sell it yourself. It's far easier than you might think.

Just find a local title company or mortgage comapnay that will give you a quote for service and hire them. They're the ones that will do the same thing if an agency finds a buyer for you.
Search the web. There are many sites that will guide through the process.

Answer 5

It's very difficult to sell a house for a price over the market value. I would have to wonder why your agent would list it for $10,000 more than it's worth.

Renting the house can have a negative effect on marketing the property. How do you know that the tenants will leave once it is sold. Most buyers would want you to deliver vacant possession at closing. In most jurisdictions, selling the property is not cause for giving tenant notice to vacate.

I suggest that you reduce the price to its market value and maybe ask your current agent to reduce the commission by 1% or so.

Answer 6

That's why Realtors joke about getting to be the second or even third Realtor to list a house. First Realtor only gets listing because they agree to list it at the seller's price (overpriced) even though their CMA came up with the same numbers the others did. ($95,000)

I have listed houses where the seller actually said "My last Realtor just wanted a higher commission, so he made me list it too high..." I assure them then that I won't be like that - I'll list it at what I think it should be ($95,000) and promise to allow them to bring the price down any time they feel it's needed.

Answer 7

I'm curious over why you have it listed for ten grand over appraisal during a soft market. If your realtor hasn't tried to discuss a more realistic price with you, I'd go with another agency.

Answer 8

I recommend to you the direction I took. Just visit 4thishouse.com or call them at 1-877-484-4746. They have a great program there that can help you advertise your property. Try it too.