Can't sell my condo

[thisisjeopardy]

Not sure what to do. Listed it in March, then COVID hit. We're paying mortgage on it ever since. seems to be a total buyers market with condos like mine for sale everywhere. near me. We've reduced the price.

I looked into renting it out, that would take about 45 days for the property management company to screen tenants, list it, show it, sign a lease. I'm out of state, closing on a house. Want the equity to rebuild savings and probably install solar on the new house. Renting it out would expose us to risk and probably wouldn't make much each month, just getting off a payment and have someone give us equity.

It seems to be picking up with more viewings but every feedback we get is clear people have lots of options - everyone comments how lovely the place is but wants more light here, doesn't like the common area, etc. Our realtor let the listing expire by mistake and we got a ton of calls from agents, one of them claims to have sold a bunch of places recently, says he has documentation showing all the properties he took over that were on the market already for weeks/months and sold them in a much shorter time, not gonna lie, it sounds believable.

We can continue to pay this mortgage for quite some time. But not sure what direction I should go in. I was thinking about sticking it out through July if nothing, asking my realtor to delist it and going with someone else (Delisting I believe would expire the agreement w/ my current realtor). To make things worse, she's a friend.

Any thoughts?

[SailingOnASmallSailboat]

I guess I'd think about how much it was costing each month it's unsold and what you need to clear. Then reduce the price to make it really stand out, if you can swing it $$wise.

Good luck. We're trying to sell our house here, though have not yet signed with a realtor. That's likely coming in the next week. Difference here is that it's a seller's market.

[AlanStache]

You have a small set of options

1) reduce price
2) upgrade / remodel
3) rent
4) wait and hope
5) some mixture of 1-4

I got lucky and closed to sell a place of mine just before it all sent south.  I started knowingly with the price a bit high then lowered it a few times till I got an offer.  But I did not have any real comparisons to base price on.  Is your price objectively appropriate?

You may want to look at into zillow/etc to see if sales have started picking back up or not in your area. 

[Tyler durden]

If a place isn’t selling it’s the price.

Reduce it

[theoverlook]

Any realtor that "accidentally" lets a listing expire needs replaced. I had that happen with one of my houses. It sat and sat for months and the listing expired without my realtor letting me know and upon listing with a different agent it was sold within 60 days. I have no idea if the new agent made the difference but the first one sure wasn't pulling his weight.

[LightStache]

I guess it depends on the absolute value of money we're talking about. If you can reduce it $20K and get a quick sale, I'd do that. If we're talking about a $50K reduction, I'd opt to rent it until the market recovers. Even if you took a $250/mo loss for two years while markets rebound, that's only $6K.

If you continue to list, I'd definitely change your listing agent. That's why I don't like to mix my friends in business -- it's a bit awkward when you have to fire them. But s/he got a fair shot and failed you, so it's only fair that you switch to someone else.

[evme]

where is the condo located? is it an area especially hard hit by COVID-19?

[Dicey]

Bunch o' questions:

When did you buy it? Why did you choose this unit over all others?

Once you owned it, was there anything you didn't like that made you regret the purchase? Anything unexpectedly wonderful about the property?

Where are you going next and why?

You must have had a 90 day listing, which I'm guessing the agent let lapse (bad, bad sign). Have you re-upped with them and if so, for how long?

I'm game to help troubleshoot, but I gotta know more...

[FINate]

Difficult to say without more info, but...

It seems to be picking up with more viewings but every feedback we get is clear people have lots of options - everyone comments how lovely the place is but wants more light here, doesn't like the common area, etc.

People can generally look past such things if the price is right. You may have reduced the price already, but a lot has changed since March. Your local market for condos may have softened since then, which may mean you need to cut the price much more aggressively to stand out. Price it a little lower than the comps and you'll start getting bites.

Other things to consider: Are the photos professionally done? Nothing kills traffic to a house more than craptastic photos, usually snapped with a phone, with terrible lighting and awkward angles. Also, is the place staged? Most places look terrible empty. Rooms look smaller (even in person), and all the imperfections on the walls and flooring stand out like a sore thumb. Seriously, it's worth the $1-2k to stage.

You should seriously consider going with another agent.

[thisisjeopardy]

Hi everyone thanks for the replies.

To me the photos look great. It is an empty unit but furniture is staged in, lighting looks good, etc. The property/building itself looks beautiful in person and in the photos. We're getting some traffic, just no takers. In this part of the city (Chicago) there's a lot of similar condos on the market so buyers can be super picky right now. Although we reduced it, may have to reduce the price even more. We've looked at recent comps and the first price reduction was because similar units nearby went that had a parking spot for the same price/slightly higher (we don't).

I agree, likely need to just lower the price even more.

I did reup for 90 days.

[SimpleCycle]

I sold a condo in Chicago last August.  The condo market is pretty soft, even pre-COVID.

I'd fire your realtor like yesterday.  PM me if you're looking for a recommendation, we have a great guy.  He was super honest with us about how to price to sell, what needed to be done for staging the place, etc.  We sold in a weekend.

You should get a staging consult (our realtor set one up for us for "free" as part of his fee) and get a company to bring in furniture.  This market is too competitive to show empty.  People are seriously unimaginative and will prefer a staged property over an unstaged property, all other things being equal.

No parking cuts like $25k off a condo price, so it sounds like you are overpriced still.