First Rehab Project And Getting Anxious
Hi, we have just recent finished our first rehab project and it has been up for sale for about a month (two weeks by owner and two weeks with a realtor). This is my first house to start and I am getting kind of anxious, worried and not sure what to do or how long to wait. Just wondering if I could get some tips from people out there on what they went through on their first project. I am not sure if I should continue to keep it up for sale or when I should decide that trying to sell it is taking too long and should rent it out. I just don't know what are good decisions and what are bad. I am so new at this and don't know which way to turn. Am I getting too overally anxious when it has only been about a month that it has been for sale and only a couple people have looked at it. Any advice is very helpful to me. Thanks. :-D
The average DOM in my area is 60 days til an offer and 90 days for a closing. Your realtor should tell you this info.
My first rehab went horribly in that it didn't sell for what I needed it to and it was on the market for several long months.
If you bought it right, don't worry--it will sell. Give it another month. It seems that properties tend to sell either within a week or around two months. I'm not sure why my area is like that.
Hang in there and in the meantime look for the next deal!
have an exit strategy. If it doesn't sell in x months I will rent it to help dervice the debt. Perhaps hold, perhaps sell as occupied.
If I decided to rent until it sold, are there people out there that would actually rent from me if they know it is up for sale which means they may have to move within two months? I was thinking about doing that but didn't know if anyone would actually want to rent knowing they would have to move shortely.
So would you wait about five months before deciding to rent?
IF you bought it right and the cashflow is good you could rent it out and then market it to other investors. Just a thought. Thats what I do where I am at. Maybe you can offer to pay closing costs to make it more attractive. IF you have a renter in there for a years lease, then that might also make it more attractive to other investors looking for rental units?
Just a thought
Don't panic. Sometimes these things take time. One of the worst thing investors do (and not only newbies) is change course too often. Review your price. Review your market plan. Ask your broker about incentives etc. to attract attention.
You could put on your for sale sign "owner financing available" This will get you more responses. You will have to contact me off line to find out more. Basically this type of financing is for credit challenged buyers. This is almost 75% of the market. Plus they are not too picky with your price. If you can get them financing they will buy. contact me at "k10whosun" on the yahoo web domain for more info.
Ric
Consider a "Five Day Sale" and know you may have to pay your listing broker.[ Edited by candohome on Date 06/07/2004 ]
What is a "five day sale"?
Yes you may want to sell on contract or sell via lease with the option to buy. You'll collect some up front money and then the rent should cover your debt service. This may not be a good thing to do if you can't break even with the debt service.
During this time you should have your tenant/buyers pay all taxes, utilities, and upkeep.
Have you had an appraisal? Try advertising as no money down. As long as it will appraise, you have the asking price set to where you get your money and the seller gets some closing costs paid. Of course the no money down is contingent on the buyer's credit. But it is a good marketing technique.
why not refi, take your cash and then rent it out? You can also consider HELOCs.
Just relax. It takes awhile to sell. In my area it can take 60-90 days to sell in good areas and 90-180 days or more to sell in some bad areas. Selling price is a big factor. How does your price compare with the current competition? I always offer to go no money down (Ameridream, Nehemiah, etc) with seller paid closing costs
Stick to your plan and hopefully you factored in this time when you ran the numbers. Your realtor should be giving you good time frames to work with.
Don't panic. I just completed my first two deals. The first one was lease optioned in 3 weeks. That was pure luck. The second one took almost two months to sell. We put a flyer tube on the sign, posted bandit signs, posted flyers in the area and ads in the local Green Sheet. We were determined not to list with a realtor and our hard work and patience paid off. It will work for you too.
Just have to tell you all THANKS for all the encouragement. It really helps out!!!
Hey, Renee.
I noticed your original post was dated June 1.
What's the current status of the sale, one month later. Any progress?
As for renting while listing the property, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a renter to move into a situation where the house is up for sale, unless the price is right, of course.
Take care.
[addsig]