How do I sell this house? we are paying 2 mtgs at 4000 a piece. We are on the verge of bankruptcy.?

Question

This a great house. I dont understand why it wont sell.
http://www.visualtour.com/applets/flashviewer/viewer.asp?t=933220&sk=30

I have already lowered the price to 875,000. This is what I owe the bank. I will have to pay commissions out of pocket. House has been on mkt 2 years now with 2 diff agents.

Have tried to rent it even though we could only get around$1000 per month not enough to cover mtg. But I am concerned about damage to property or property not being "show ready" when someone wants to look at it. The only thing we havent tried is staging which we cant afford. We also suggested a short sale to the bank and they refused stating it wasnt their policy. Any suggestions as to where we should advertise. I have it listed on craigs list for Roanoke, Land and Farm, Loop net, vivium. I had it on ebay for 2 mos but it cost 200.00 per mos to list. we also have it on the lexington, charlottsville and lynchburg mls.

The bank had the house appraised 2 wks ago and it appraised at 875,000 which is why we lowerd the price to 875. the county assessed value is 869,000.oo its also classified as agricultural so the taxes are much lower I think around 1700.00 for 43 acres

Answer 1

God, $8,000 payments per month. I would advise to lower the price to a point that makes sense. If you have had it on the market for a while without any buyers, or offers, you have priced it too high and are scaring people off from making a bid. I perosnally think it will just get worse, so lower the price, take the lumps and move on.

Answer 2

Pricing is almost always the reason a property doesn’t sell. Whatever objection a buyer might have, price accommodations can overcome.

That’s a beautiful piece of land, but that presentation was confusing. It took several pictures for me to see that there was even an existing house. I saw floor plans (which were too tiny to see details) followed by those great views. I thought I was looking at uncompleted new construction. If your agent has loaded those photos in the same order on the MLS, I’m concerned that buyers aren’t sitting around long enough to even see the house. How many photos are there anyway? When I was shopping for homes recently, I was shocked to see more than 20. I got at least half way there before I even saw the house.

Answer 3

The housing market is slow now and most sellers are having to drop their prices in order to make a sale.

Maybe you should consider -

1. Dropping the price or

2. Including something special with the sale like throwing in the furniture or a car...desperate times call for desperate measures or

3. Rent the home with an option. This may not be your favorite option but at least it will get you some cash initially and you can have someone else making the payments for you for say 6-12 months when they are ready to purchase.

I'm no expert but I hope this helps!

Answer 4

You're right. It's a lovely property. And it appears to be a higher priced one, at that. Always remember that, the higher the selling price for a property, the smaller is the pool of buyers who can afford it. Right now, there are tons of properties just as lovely as yours on the market, and buyers have a veritable smorgasbord from which to choose.

You might try lowering the asking price somewhat, if you can afford to do so. If not, you're going to have to wait out the market, just like thousands of others are doing right now.

Answer 5

I agree with Stacy. I think the photos need to highlight the best of the house first instead of having to go through a multitude of photos that don't really put the best foot forward.

I also noted that on your agent's personal website, he has your home listed twice: one at $1.2 million. He should remove that.

Answer 6

walk away.