Selling a House in Huntsville - Give it too me straight. (Carolina: days on market, for sale) - Huntsville-Madison-Decatur area - Alabama (AL) - City-Data Forum

leavin_florida · 06-25-2010, 09:57 PM

Looks like I'll need to sell my house - and head to South Carolina where the DH is being transfered. There are 3 houses for sale in my neighboorhood for all around 215,000. Like every one else, I want my house sold yesterday - To get any bites in this market, how much lower than market value do I have to go to get out? My house is just over 2K sq Ft, 2 bathroom, 6 years old - on 7/10 of an acre.

hindsight2020 · 06-26-2010, 09:33 AM

The following assumes you've lived in the house less than 10 years, that you can't afford to pay for housing in two locations and that you are dead set on owning a home in your destination.

With that in mind I'd say take your mortgage balance, add the amount of downpayment you don't wish to lose, then divide that subtotal by a percent (prob between .95-.90) you'd see after realtor's fee. If that number doesn't get your house sold, repeat the exercise but with no concern for your downpayment. If the result of that second number still doesn't get your house sold, you're up the river. You can;t afford to sell. Consider renting it out or foreclose. Good luck.

dee 42 · 06-26-2010, 09:50 AM

Advice on foreclosing? Already?
Ive sold 2 homes in 4 years in this area with no difficulty whatsoever. It really has to do with location, location, which is how I buy. You dont mention where the house is located.... Also Ive sold 4 houses in my marriage FSBO, in Alabama. I am always willing to work with a realtor who brings me a client for 3%, but thats it. I have done extremely well, so enter in to this with a positive attitude and see what happens. You'll know within 90 days if youre not going to have a buyer, in my opinion. In this market, it is imperative to "stage" your home, have it free of all clutter, and have it fresh, very clean, and in the best condition possible. You say it is only 6 years old, so it will probably show very well. Set the price realistically, and dont be greedy. Best of luck to you !
My DH won't let me look at open houses anymore, it was a hobby of mine and of course every time I fell in love again, he had to move, lol. We're staying put in this one for a good long time

Elizabeth_G · 06-26-2010, 10:04 AM

leavin_florida: I could ramble on and on here, but will try to keep it short. You need to be "best in show", which includes best condition (clean as a whistle!), inside and out. Buyers first impressions are very important.

Next, and most importantly, price it right immediately. Statistically the longer a home sits on the market, the more price reductions, the less it will bring. It gets that "what is wrong with it" mindset from buyers and also has them thinking they can steal it. I know when I see high days on market and several price reductions, I get that impression myself. Right or wrong, it's a mind thing.

It is VERY important to know what the absorption rates are in your area, price range and neighborhood. If there is an 18 month supply, that is how long it will take the market to absorb the inventory. Supply and demand. That determines buyer and seller markets. We do still have a few buyers markets here, depending on the price and area, but the vast majority are sellers markets. Our market in most price ranges has not appreciated, nor depreciated. It has been flat, overall. Upper end is a different story.

You can't change your location, but you can change condition and price...focus on those. If you'd like to DM me your neighborhood, I'll be happy to figure the abosorption rates for you. That will give you a good idea of where to start! Hang in there and best of luck to you!

Seth Parker · 06-26-2010, 10:12 AM

Selling a house really always comes down to 2 things....whether you use a realtor or not. 1. The House 2. The Price. Really philosophical, right? Compare your home to the others in your neighborhood. What things make yours better? Where are you at a disadvantage? How are you in relation to price per sqft with the others?

Don't shoot yourself in the foot by automatically assuming that you have to be way under market to get it sold. You can run the risk of someone wondering "what's wrong with this house...why is it priced so low compared to the others?". As a matter of fact, I just had that happen a couple of weeks ago with some buyers of mine. You'll also need to leave (at least some) negotiating room because no one feels like they should pay list price these days and almost everyone asks for at least some closing costs to be paid by the seller. If you can be under market, go for it....just don't drop too far too fast. It's easier to lower the price than it is to go the other way.

The main deterrent right now is the amount of competition. Analyze those guys....and beat them...whether it's price, incentives, or whatever. You'll get some bites, so don't worry about that. In my recent experience, buyers are looking at more homes than they used to around here because there is just so much to choose from and they want to make the right choice.

To finalize...listen to what dee said. CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN, and REMOVE CLUTTER. It'll make the sale much easier. Good luck!

Seth Parker · 06-26-2010, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elizabeth_G

leavin_florida: I could ramble on and on here, but will try to keep it short. You need to be "best in show", which includes best condition (clean as a whistle!), inside and out. Buyers first impressions are very important.

Next, and most importantly, price it right immediately. Statistically the longer a home sits on the market, the more price reductions, the less it will bring. It gets that "what is wrong with it" mindset from buyers and also has them thinking they can steal it. I know when I see high days on market and several price reductions, I get that impression myself. Right or wrong, it's a mind thing.

It is VERY important to know what the absorption rates are in your area, price range and neighborhood. If there is an 18 month supply, that is how long it will take the market to absorb the inventory. Supply and demand. That determines buyer and seller markets. We do still have a few buyers markets here, depending on the price and area, but the vast majority are sellers markets. Our market in most price ranges has not appreciated, nor depreciated. It has been flat, overall. Upper end is a different story.

You can't change your location, but you can change condition and price...focus on those. If you'd like to DM me your neighborhood, I'll be happy to figure the abosorption rates for you. That will give you a good idea of where to start! Hang in there and best of luck to you!

AH! You finished writing too fast! I was 8 minutes too slow. I shouldn't have ate that sandwich! Now I'm plagiarizing.

Elizabeth_G · 06-26-2010, 10:22 AM

Seth, We must have been writing at the same time, lol. Good minds think alike

harry chickpea · 06-26-2010, 10:44 AM

What sold our house in Florida at the end of the real estate bubble was a physical take-away. Those who came to the house got a flier of photos taken over our years in the house, showing it to best advantage, along with the information that most buyers want to know, laid out and easy. This was the very end of the bubble and almost no houses were selling. Within 30 days we had three bonafide offers from buyers.

leavin_florida · 06-26-2010, 04:18 PM

We sold our house in Florida in Feb of 08. We didn't expect to have to leave Huntsville so soon but the mission to the moon is being squashed and Boeing needs people on SC. It took having our property perfrect and dropping the house 30K from the initial appraisal to get a buyer. I had a home stagger and a great price. It was hard to come up with a 20% down payment for our Huntsville house but at least we weren't upside down.

Since I have a job in Huntsville and no Job in SC - it looks like we'll have a long distance Marriage until the house here sells. He can rent over in SC, so we can take our time finding the right are in Charleson. We are with Boeing, so we have relocation bennies - so yes we'll have a realtor.

I'm going to have my decorator come by to put the finnishing touches on the house when it goes on the market. Since we bought the house, we've added 15K in landscaping in the front yard and put in a Brazilian cherry wood floor in the living room. I know we won't get that money back -I just hope it speeds up the sale - I like my husband

and don't want to stay too long.

FAL50 · 06-26-2010, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dee 42

In this market, it is imperative to "stage" your home, ...............

Maybe it's the ex european in me, but I never understood the staging of a house for sale.
When I'm looking for a house, I prefer to see all the rooms EMPTY.
I realy don't care what kind of furniture and decoration there is in a house.
I prefer to see the spaces clear and open and have the exact dimentions, and then I can see where my furnture will fit.
In my past experiences, I've had realtors who could not give me any dimentions of a room, did not allow me to take dimentions myself or were not willing to move any of the furniture to let me take dimentions.