The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Real Estate and Landlording => Topic started by: pinkytoe on October 21, 2015, 12:51:03 PM
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We need to sell our almost paid for house next spring so that we can retire to a different locale. Looking for creative ways find an interested buyer sans agents on either end who is amenable to our time frame, ie specified closing date. Craigslist? Zillow? Neighborhood listserve? I am trying to find someone who will buy and fix up vs selling to a developer it as a scraper (grrrr) but that's just my emotional side thinking. Asking price would be tax appraised value, ie not trying to make a killing. With some work, it would sell much higher but we don't want to mess with it at this stage in life. Thoughts?
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Selling a fixer-upper without an agent is two strikes against you, even in a hot market (and will it still be a hot market next spring?).
How important to you is the timing of the sale? If you want a quick sale, your best bet is to fix it up over the winter, stage it for sale and get an agent to put it on the market in early spring. Otherwise, be prepared in case you have to hang around waiting for a buyer.
Of course, if you make the price a real bargain, you'll probably sell regardless. So how important is price, as against doing the work to fix it up and getting an agent?
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What needs fixing up? How does this house compare to others in the neighborhood?
Is there any historical value? The only way you might be able to prevent it from being razed if it's a historical landmark. BUT there's always a risk of people buying it and deciding to tear it down.
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Asking price would be tax appraised value, ie not trying to make a killing.
Not sure about the rest of it, but tax appraised value is usually pretty disconnected from the real value. Especially in a hot market.
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Does the house have any structural issues, or is this a cosmetic / update fixer-upper?
If the foundation, walls and roof are sound, I'd start going to open houses in your neighborhood, especially the ones like your house. Find out what the asking price is and what they are actually going for. I'd find three or four houses like yours and average their asking price. Know what they're going for so you have a good place to negotiate from.
For example, when we bought our house, market-priced homes (fixers) sold in a week or less for about $25,000 over the asking price, with multiple offers on each home. As a buyer, that was invaluable information to have, but I suspect that I'd also like to have it as a seller.
Also, if you aren't willing to work with a buyer's agent, you may find your stable of potential buyers much reduced.
I think Nords wrote a great post about this over at the Early Retirement forums -- here it is: http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/10-easy-steps-to-fsbo-your-house-21501.html
Finally, in our area there are two main ways to get the word out about a house to sell/buy: MLS (you'd have to pay for a listing), and Craigslist.
Good luck!
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It is a 1950s ranch in sound condition on nearly 1/3 acre lot. Highly desirable central area of Austin Texas. Avg cost in our zip code is $298 sf but we would sell as is for less since it will need new roof and AC in a year or so. Kitchen updating needed but bathrooms were done four years ago. In my mind, not really a scraper. Just needs a spruce up and most buyers would want to add on. I would consider working with a buyer's agent but paying $26K+ on commissions and fees seems outrageous in this market. I should mention we will be using proceeds to buy retirement house in another locale and living on a fixed income so every penny counts.
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Contact a local title company about them doing a "Comparative Market Analysis" and include all information that will not necessarily be correct on your tax records. I know ours is incorrect but that's what they will use to determine what properties to compare yours with to determine a price per sqft. Then you could just subtract the cost of a new roof and a/c unit from the listing price. They will usually do the CMA for free and you can look at it to see which addresses and sales prices they use and their data for determining the $/sqft amount. You can look the comp houses up and find pictures from their listings to see how your house compares and also adjust your price accordingly. It's difficult to be subjective with your own home though.
You can do a fee-based MLS listing service that costs about $400? I forget the exact amount but if you aren't willing to give buyer's agents a commission (I think at least 2.4% is what I read, and more standard is 3%) then you will likely hear lots of crickets upon listing. We did fsbo and every single person to view had a buyer's agent. As a buyer, I'm not sure I would buy a house without the help of a "free to me" agent. Yes, I know that it's semantics on who actually pays them but I feel the buyer needs more protection in the deal than the seller.