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Again, try to be patient, at least thru September.
I don't know the answer about market activity outside the agent providing it because Texas is a non-disclosure state and only an agent has access to the full data. I think in CA, all that is online.
If you're going to be in a different state hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away, you need an actual property manager. I would not trust someone who primarily works resale to know all the ins and outs of property management and do it well. It's very specialized for good ones with all the connections to make things run smoothly. Maybe your wife didn't actually sign anything about leasing it, and in that case, you can get a property manager. If she already signed something, you're going to need to have a conversation with the agent or her broker about how you need an actual manager, not an agent to handle that side.
However, you can have the agent list it for lease, get your tenant (run a background check) and then put a property manager in place. You don't need the PM before leasing it. They do tend to have different lease contracts, but they'll work with the basic one your agent has access to.
A few deep breaths will go a long way, and if you're still not seeing activity once October gets here, then you have something to worry about. Sept is just a hard month.
You keep talking about your "thin margins." I'm betting you've based the sale price of your house on covering the remaining mortgage and the realtor fee rather than the price it will take to get this house gone.
Nobody (read: buyers) cares about your thin margins or the amount of your current mortgage. No showings nearly always means the price is too high. Want the house gone? Lower the price by at least 10%. I'll bet that produces some showings.
Don't even think about renting this unless you want the current stress and nightmare to continue into the future. Take the loss and move on with your life. (and yes, I've been there, done that, and it hurts. But it feels much better to be moving on.)
Well for starters -- update MLS to show we have an open house this weekend.
Do the same on Zillow and Realtor.com. Maybe this could be done without us requesting it and finding out today -- still no update.
Second, get a sign in our front yard. Again, didn't have a sign out there for 10 days.
I finally told my wife to go buy a For Sale and put the realtor's phone number on it and stick it in the yard but Home Depot only had FSBO signs so when my wife told her that, she then was out there pretty darn quick to put her sign in the yard. She told my wife her signs are "on order" and her boyfriend had to help "make" this sign.
She also told my wife there was no point in putting out Open House signs on a busy intersection, where ALL the Open House signs go every weekend, because it was "too far away." Which isn't true. It's not that far and you have to have people directed to an Open House. Then she insisted on a Saturday Open House when it was 105 degrees and my wife had kids and pets for hours and of course -- no one showed except one person. I think Open Houses should be on Sundays.
Thirdly -- in 2 weeks, have a showing. Instead -- we've had zero.
A price reduction? We didn't expect to get relocated. We've owned our house less than a year. Right now, all of it is going to commission and we are losing our downpayment. If I had been there I would've considered a discount broker since her job -- a realtor's job -- is to market the home properly and get people in the door. If they can't do that -- why bother???
That said, I was open to it but she told me not necessary and I need to "wait and see."
As you can tell, we are running out of time.
I don't know if a $4,000-$5,000 price drop will make a difference.
My wife asked her to advertise the Open House Sunday and update MLS last week. Still hasn't been done.
To me, this seems like basic stuff. I'm going to give her a chance today to see if she updates stuff or what is going on. Maybe she's busy or gone or something. Then, I'm going to have to take action. Our family is living in different states and it's very stressful.
You keep talking about your "thin margins." I'm betting you've based the sale price of your house on covering the remaining mortgage and the realtor fee rather than the price it will take to get this house gone.
Nobody (read: buyers) cares about your thin margins or the amount of your current mortgage. No showings nearly always means the price is too high. Want the house gone? Lower the price by at least 10%. I'll bet that produces some showings.
Don't even think about renting this unless you want the current stress and nightmare to continue into the future. Take the loss and move on with your life. (and yes, I've been there, done that, and it hurts. But it feels much better to be moving on.)
Our square footage (and less) within a one mile radius is $750,000 - $900,000. We are $200,000 less than that.
Okay but what if we don't have the cash to bring to closing? I mean 10% means we'd have to bring $40,000-$50,000 to closing. I don't have it.
Can we get a loan on that? I'd rather roll the dice with renting.
I am regretting my decision to sign a listing agreement. At least with a discount broker, I could drop the price in hopes of *just* losing our down payment and not owing. We'd still pay a buyer's broker but it would save quite a bit on listing commission. Short sale isn't an option because I don't want my credit ruined and I am financially sound. I just need to get this sold!
I just found out we are no longer on Zillow! The Agent had it mistakenly listed as "new construction" and my wife contacted them because they had it as a Builder as Owner and not listed. They took it off and said the Agent needs to fix it. ! Can't get a hold of her. Wow.
Last edited by mnnysocalmn; 09-21-2016 at 03:16 PM..
Our square footage (and less) within a one mile radius is $750,000 - $900,000. We are $200,000 less than that.
Okay but what if we don't have the cash to bring to closing? I mean 10% means we'd have to bring $40,000-$50,000 to closing. I don't have it.
Can we get a loan on that? I'd rather roll the dice with renting.
I am regretting my decision to sign a listing agreement. At least with a discount broker, I could drop the price in hopes of *just* losing our down payment and not owing. We'd still pay a buyer's broker but it would save quite a bit on listing commission. Short sale isn't an option because I don't want my credit ruined and I am financially sound. I just need to get this sold!
I just found out we are no longer on Zillow! The Agent had it mistakenly listed as "new construction" and my wife contacted them because they had it as a Builder as Owner and not listed. They took it off and said the Agent needs to fix it. ! Can't get a hold of her. Wow.
Call the managing broker for the company and ask for another agent to be assigned. You sound like you have a rookie agent on your hands.
I called the Broker and was nice and he said that Sept is really slow and should pick up in Oct. Made promises to have everything fixed. Still not fixed as of today. We now have an Open House with 2 days of advertising but whatever. He said to me, it's not like you're offering a fire sale at like $530,000 where people are racing in the door." And I'm thinking: I SHOULD-- I should do that and if I paid a flat fee MLS listing I could do that and possibly break even or get my down payment back, depending on whether or not I had to pay the buyer's broker's fee.
But... then I have to qualify the buyers and hire an attorney etc. etc. which seems complicated
so I am going to give it a chance.
My wife said she's very nice. Who knows, maybe it is just slow.
I'm just skeptical but we'll see.
Has your realtor provided you with a list of sold comps in your area. Not in areas a mile away, but on your street or the next street over?
My biggest concern would be the lack of showings. is it the price? Is it poorly marketed? Even though September is a slower time of year, not getting any showings seems like a red flag to me. And I might ask your realtor if you wanted your house to go under contract in the next two weeks what sort of price would you need to list it at?
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