I can't sell my house in Michigan and have already bought another, does anyone have any recommendations?

Question

My house has been listed for 14 months. I have already:
1. Tried two different realtors, and interviewed quite a few other
2. Lowered the price $50,000 and am currently listed $19,000 below a comparable house for sale on my street.
3. Am on all the internet sites
4. Broke down and listed it for rent four months ago. Have had only one interested party and they wanted to rent irt for two years at a price almost $1,000 below what the house costs me with mtg, tax and ins. Just can't commit to that much loss over two years.
I have equity in the house that I can't just walk away from (plus don't want to wreck credit), but I can't keep making two house payments every month....I am amazed that I have pulled it off this long. The most frustrating part is that in 14 months, I have had maybe 10 showings at most, the last in October. I am negotiable if I can get someone to look. I've even tried the but my house for cash websites...but apparently no interest since I get no response.

Answer 1

List in everywhere. Make sure you haven't missed any advertising opportunities, also, go ahead and start making plans to rent it at a fair rental price, one that won't put you in the hole, it may just make you even but at least you won't be drowning. Whatever you do, don't get impatient, you'll end up owing more money than you already do. Also, talk to a bank about combining both mortgages, you'll probably squeeze into a smaller payment and it'll easier to rent.
Hope it all works out for you!

Answer 2

Sorry in advance if this sounds a little blunt.

Lets assume you were going to walk away and damage your credit. You would not have much to show other than the property would one day be behind you.

It is fiction to think that you have equity if you can not get the equity out. If you sell for just the mortgage amount you get the loan paid off and stop the negative cash flow. Every month is another month where you are spending what equity you think you have but doing so by paying interest payments you can not recover.

Renting the property is one exit but as you note that will not work well.

Selling for a lower price might get you an offer. If you can not recover what you owe then you one option is to speak with the lender about a short sale (where they agree a sale to a third party unrelated to you where the amount being paid is not enough to full pay off the loan.) The lender agrees to take less rather than go through a long draw out foreclosure exercise. MI foreclosure can be very long when you factor in the redemption period.

There might be some creative ways to approach this but I think they are more prone to blow up later than produce a clean solution. As a real estate investors for over 20 years I know there are limits to how much magic any investor can create. Some of the time a market has just fallen too low for the existing owner to get out without a hit.

Do email me if you want to review some specific numbers by email.

Ultimately the market is telling you what it is worth if people are making offers. You need a list price low enough to get buyers to make offers.

Answer 3

The housing market is soft right now. I personally believe that if a house is priced correctly, it will sell. The problem is that in a soft market, housing prices have dropped and you may not have adjusted for that. A good real estate agent will have some people who are looking and your best chance is to sell within 2-3 weeks of listing. When you list for longer, you remove the biggest incentive to sell fast.

I might give it a rest for 60 days and try another real estate agent for a short contract.

Answer 4

I am sure I don't have to tell you but realestate is never a good short term investment. Shame you are going to have to learn the hard way.

I just had a friend in a similar situation in Detroit. She ended up selling at a $15000 loss caompared to her purchase price. Her home was on the market for 2 years. She obviously lost alot more than that after you look at taxes, closing costs, and interest.

I would suggest waiting for the market to change which might take years or I would suggest doing whatever you have to inorder to get out of it as soon as possible before the situation gets worse.

Answer 5

I don't care if your listed for 80000 under the others on the street. Just because they are listed higher doesn't mean they will sell for that either. tell your agent to do another cma and be honest with the comps. Believe it or not agents sometimes also loose sight of where a price should be because they told you a high price to get the listing, and now are too embarrassed to tell you they were way off. I see it all the time.
RE agent,
Remax

Answer 6

Contact a Nationally known Real Estate Company that offers a Sellers Security Program. If you list with them (ERA does this) they will buy your house after 180 days if it doesn't sell before then. They usually only pay the appraised value or slightly less, but it could help you out of a bad situation.Lots of stipulations so read the fine print - good luck!

Answer 7

I have several listings in south east Michigan, the showings definitely came to a halt in October. This past week I have had 9 showings between 12 listings, and one offer. The market is starting to pick up, I would wait until March before you do anything drastic.

Answer 8

At this point even if you rent it for a loss it will be less money out of your pocket than you are spending now. Consider using a property management company if you are out of town. The Midwest in winter is a very tough time to move a house. Get what you can now and try again in the spring.

Answer 9

2 separate loans. Banks will think of two times approximately this. What some human beings have been doing is paying for a 2nd living house, then defaulting on the 1st, and creditors are very leary approximately this.

Answer 10

Take it off the maket till the spring if you can afford it. Spring is the hot time to sell. Im from gaylord originaly


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