Selling a condo/home

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I am extremely close to finishing remodeling of the condo I bought at the end of 2011. Unfortunately, I can barely afford living in it now and my work situation is iffy (hours will be cut severely any week now.)

What are the steps to selling? I have only owned one home before & got screwed on the sale by the realtor I contacted. My old house never even hit the market. I had contacted the realtor that was listing the house next door, who told me his mother was looking for a place. She bought it & flipped it for $20k more a year later. I'm looking to not get screwed this time.

[Blackadar]

Oh, what fun.

There are so many variables to consider...whether or not to sell it yourself or get an agent, your market, the condition of the property, the neighborhood, whether or not you're upside down or not in your loan, etc. I don't think anyone can provide much more than some general tips unless you provide some real specifics. So here are some general guidelines....

The first decision is to sell it yourself or get an agent. If you're selling it yourself, there are websites and such that can help you. I have little respect for most real estate agents. Too many of them are bored homemakers who have little business accumen and don't understand the value or importance of a contract. At the same time, a good agent can get you more money and move the property much faster. But they're going to cost you about 6% of the sale price.

Don't be greedy and do the math. Assuming you pay $1,000/mo, you may be paying $900 of that in interest. If you can move your condo much sooner with an agent than if you sold it on your own (and/or got just a couple of thousand more), then the agent really paid for themselves. If not...then you were better off selling it yourself. With most markets still weak, you will probably need an agent to move it in a timely fashion.

If you're getting an agent, recommendations are good. But let's just say that your friends recommend Susie @ REMAX. Call that REMAX office and ask for their most aggressive agent. If they don't patch you through to Susie, then you have a problem. You need someone who can tell you the truth, price it to move the condo and won't bullshit you. That's the agent you want. Too many agents just tell you what you want to hear. Oh, and avoid Prudential. I've never had a good experience with a Prudential realtor. They fucking suck.

At the same time, do your own investigation as to comps and what the real price of your condo should be, taking care to not think yours is special becuase you spent a week tiling the front foyer or that your shower curtain is cuter. Gotta price it right to move it.

Finally, I know you have to live in it, but stage the fucker and stage it well. If you have to, rent a storage place and move half your shit into storage while you sell the property. Clutter kills when selling a property. You want it looking open, new and clean. That means not just getting everything off the countertops in the kitchen, but means getting half the shit out of your closet (and everything off the closet floors). Throw stuff under the bed if you have to, but get it out of the closets and drawers and get it off the floor. You need your property to be "show ready" within 10 minutes of getting a call, so understand what that means and keep it ready to show.

[DanGarion]

I know nothing about your market, but you might even want to look into keeping the property and renting it out...

[finketr]

My wife and I went to an open house out here in the Inland Empire.

The dude showing the house even admitted that it was overpriced for the area and condition.

[DanGarion]

My wife and I went to an open house out here in the Inland Empire.

The dude showing the house even admitted that it was overpriced for the area and condition.

But see that is all subject, it's only overpriced till someone is willing to pay the amount, and then it's correctly priced.

[finketr]

But see that is all subject, it's only overpriced till someone is willing to pay the amount, and then it's correctly priced.

probably.. but it was overpriced. There was some work that had to be done on the exterior (gate falling off, dead/no grass in back yard, house needed paint or stucco..)

[M GO BLUE!!!]

It's in Detroit. About a mile from downtown. Gated complex with a pool. Well maintained. Wood burning fireplace, pool outside, 2-br, 1400sq ft with vaulted ceilings. 6 years ago before the market crashed it sold for $148k. I paid $35k from HUD after it had been foreclosed upon & not winterized. The plumbing completely blew out. I had to redo nearly everything. It's now fucking beautiful. :)

[DanGarion]

I highly suggest looking into making it a rental property. I mean I know nothing about what you owe or specifics on your area, but just a quick look at 2 bedroom rentals near downtown show me they range anywhere from $800-$1500. And at the price you got it for I would assume that is well above your mortgage.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I will never rent out a single property, managing it myself. I went that route with the previous home that I owned and it was a nightmare.

There is a very good chance that if/when I sell I will be moving back to NYC. I have more job contacts there and there are a ton more jobs in the field my experience is in (radio.)

Being an absentee landlord is a bad idea all around.

[sooner333]

Dan--What are your thoughts on renting a house through a rental agency, even at a slight loss compared to the mortgage? I bought a year ago, now I got a fantastic job offer out of town. It's good enough to swallow the fact that I'll potentially (likely?) be losing on the sale. But, maybe for tax purposes it might be best to hold onto the property and rent it out. Wasn't sure if you were merely suggesting renting off the cuff, or if its something you've done and have more in-depth advice.

[CU Tiger]

Not enough knowledge of the aea to offer much insight here except for this. I've flipped ~20 houses at this point. If image 20k in a year, NET...I'd be pissed. For a 20k flip I want it closed within 120days after closing.

Just something to give your perspective, never regret a dollar you never had. I guess what I am saying, I am not sure you got screwed on the last deal.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

So it's time for a nice little update.

My place went on the market. Within a few days there had been 3 people that had come to see it. 2 of them made offers. Then a third did a few days later. 2 of the offers were at the list price.

Then it was found the condo complex had lost FHA approval. The two that were at list dropped, as they had been FHA. I made a counter offer on the third, when ping-ponged a couple timed til we agreed. Yay. $10k less than the list.

A week ago was the appraisal by the bank. Found out today what the appraisal came in at. My realtor told me the appraiser had told her the agreed sale price was "a stretch." Well, this fucking bastard motherfucking pig fucking prick appraised the condo nearly 30% less than the agreed sale amount. He appraised it for just a couple thousand more than a neighbor paid for her very basic unit that is 400 sq ft smaller. Mine has upgrade after upgrade. Nothing I spent any extra on made a damn bit of difference.

Of course they immediately amended their offer to the appraised value. I rejected it. My ass hurts.

[PilotMan]

I know it's frustrating and I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs, but I think here couldn't the next appraisal come in differently? I mean, if you wait through this til the next offer, which seems like should come quicker, that the next bank could see things more along the line of the way it's been priced?

[Flasch186]

Most people in the american housing world (which is basically about everyone) dont realize how much power these appraisers wield and just how random the results are. Condos and townhomes should be the easiest things in the world to appraise and yet Ive had swings like you wouldnt believe between different appraisers on the same unit.

[Lathum]

My real estate agent warned up about them. We bought a new construction an they were very worried about the appraisal since there wasn't really anything to compare it to. Had it appraised below the sale price we could have potentially not gotten the loan and lost our deposit. Luckily it appraised a few gran higher. Those were a few tense days and the agent and builder both said a lot of them are real dicks with power trips. Wouldn't be surprise if they get money slid under the table all the time.

[DanGarion]

I learned a lot when our house was appraised for way less than it should have been when we got refinanced. Upgrades don't mean shit. You have to understand that appraisers rarely know anything about the areas they appraise and they can't magically see inside a place that sold a couple months ago to see the differences between it and your place.

Square Footage, Number of Rooms, and Lot Size (if it's a house) seem to be the biggest factors.

[Logan]

You want to see shady things on appraisals? Take a look at commercial properties. The amount of assumptions that make their way into the capitalization rate are insane, and move a couple of those up or down a few basis points based on the appraiser's "expert judgment" and you get wild swings in the value of the property.

[Bobble]

I got boned similarly when I sold my house a few years ago here in the D. Several offers, some over asking price, appraisal comes in below asking price. I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs but the buyers were FHA and that low appraisal applied to all FHA offers for a year or 6 months, I forget which. It was more or less a starter home so likely many offers would be FHA. I could either wait it out (having already purchased another house) or lube up. I know yours isn't the same type of situation, M, but I feel for ya.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just echoing how little upgrades & such seem to matter for appraisal value. All those things you do thinking they'll help with the price usually just end up mattering to the buyer (if you hit their aesthetics, needs, wants, etc).
The appraiser give less than a rat's ass about 95% of it.