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Old 10-17-2014, 03:58 PM
 
Location: North Idaho
32,539 posts, read 47,631,897 times
Reputation: 77949

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiddlehead View Post
........ in a very nice western resort town. ......
I've never run into anyone that considers Ashland to be a resort town. Bend is the resort town in Oregon. Ashland is a popular retirement town for equity immigrants from California. So maybe your marketing needs to be refocused.

The place is in serious need of landscaping. It looks uncared for and unloved. Personally, I think it is cute, but I buy unloved houses and doll them up. I never pay anything near full price for them.

Nice tidy landscaping goes a very long ways towards getting people to come inside and look. houses that need fixing have fewer buyers, but the buyers are out there. But you must lure them inside. Uncared for landscaping screams "drive on by".

The inside isn't that bad. It is cute enough to make some one see how it can be dolled up.

I don't know that area, but I suspect you are over-priced. I look at the photos and the price and my immediate feeling is that I would sure hope I could do better than that for that amount of money.
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Old 10-17-2014, 04:19 PM
 
Location: Pluto's Home Town
9,982 posts, read 13,720,885 times
Reputation: 5689
Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke View Post
I've never run into anyone that considers Ashland to be a resort town. Bend is the resort town in Oregon. Ashland is a popular retirement town for equity immigrants from California. So maybe your marketing needs to be refocused.

The place is in serious need of landscaping. It looks uncared for and unloved. Personally, I think it is cute, but I buy unloved houses and doll them up. I never pay anything near full price for them.

Nice tidy landscaping goes a very long ways towards getting people to come inside and look. houses that need fixing have fewer buyers, but the buyers are out there. But you must lure them inside. Uncared for landscaping screams "drive on by".

The inside isn't that bad. It is cute enough to make some one see how it can be dolled up.

I don't know that area, but I suspect you are over-priced. I look at the photos and the price and my immediate feeling is that I would sure hope I could do better than that for that amount of money.

Thanks wood smoke. With regard to the bolded, I can say the answer is no (at least in Ashland). It took me a year to find the house in that price range (all comparables were far worse or out of my range), so I was happy to find a cottage with some character in a great neighborhood, etc. Most of the traffic in Ashland is apparently in the $350-$500k range these days. Bay Area prices...

Great comments all, and appreciated.
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Old 10-17-2014, 05:18 PM
 
Location: San Francisco
2,279 posts, read 4,731,020 times
Reputation: 4026
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiddlehead View Post
Most of the traffic in Ashland is apparently in the $350-$500k range these days. Bay Area prices...

Great comments all, and appreciated.
I wish Bay Area prices were that low!!!

Fiddlehead, I know you've received a lot of feedback that probably wasn't pleasant to hear. Thanks for hearing us out graciously, and good luck! Please keep us posted.
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Old 10-17-2014, 05:47 PM
 
Location: Pluto's Home Town
9,982 posts, read 13,720,885 times
Reputation: 5689
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wry_Martini View Post
I wish Bay Area prices were that low!!!

Fiddlehead, I know you've received a lot of feedback that probably wasn't pleasant to hear. Thanks for hearing us out graciously, and good luck! Please keep us posted.
No problem. It has been good to hear, even if a bit tart. Such is reality.

I do suspect that $350-500 is low for the Bay Area, but when you factor in the difference in wages in Ashland/S. Oregon, I suspect it is even less affordable. The prices are driven by equity migrants almost exclusively.
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Old 10-17-2014, 07:22 PM
HDL
 
Location: Seek Jesus while He can still be found!
3,216 posts, read 6,773,765 times
Reputation: 8667
I was somewhat surprised by all the honesty and the fact that you've taken the comments so well. I have to agree with the posters. I am also looking to buy and I would not have even considered your home with how it looked (online pics).

I would definitely cut my losses and take the lowball offer that you mentioned below. Now if the buyer does an inspection and your loss is more than $20K, then I would get someone to clean up the outside and do some work on the inside and take professional pics before relisting the home.

Good luck in whatever you decide !

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiddlehead View Post
Real estate gurus,

I could use some advice and fast.

I am struggling with selling my little 2 br/1 ba 1000 sf. home in a very nice western resort town. It is up the street from a park, a safe, beautiful neighborhood with a nice school down the street. I also dumped about $20k into it, with new floors, paint, wiring, etc. before listing it. After several months on the market, I am getting a decent number of showings, but no solid offers. I am a bit flummoxed because the town is very desirable and many people would give a favorite body part to live there. We lived there 11 years, and loved living in that house that neighborhood. Idyllic. We moved for a job and bought a home elsewhere, and I am now carrying two mortgages and sinking fast. The house is listed in the low $200s, and I know houses in the $300-400k range are selling briskly. I have cut the price to very close to what I paid for it in the early 2000s, so I don't think the price is excessive, but perhaps the market has become so gentrified no one wants it. I did receive one lowball offer, which would be a $10-20k loss for me, all considered, so I am trying to figure out whether I should take that or rent it this winter and try again in the spring.

What would you do?

Any and all idea / strategies welcome!
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Old 10-19-2014, 12:24 AM
 
1,161 posts, read 2,437,998 times
Reputation: 2613
Your house is insubstantial. It was a cheaply built, unremarkable cottage for people of very modest means over fifty years ago and it's only now possibly worth the low 200s because of the relative inflation in housing prices in your area.

But it has not been updated to reflect the demands and tastes of the higher income brackets. No new kitchen, no new bathroom, no extensions. It looks to have all the original heating systems, wiring and pipes, which are probably approaching the end of their life span because they wouldn't have been the best quality ones to begin with.

It's a tiny, cramped house on an unremarkable lot on an unremarkable street, and of all the houses on the street it's possibly the smallest and least well kept. You obviously don't have pride in your house judging for the exterior appearances, let alone the interior photographs. Look at the neighboring houses and compare them with yours. See how they've kept the lawns tidy? Notice the pruned shrubberies? See how most don't have ugly chain link fences? I suspect you may be one of those people who genuinely does not see the differences in curb appeal that most people immediately do. For you, your house is probably just a place to live and not a "home," as evidenced by your comment about forgoing improvements until the time came to sell.

You have talked about trying to tap into the market of downsizing retirees, but when people downsize they still generally expect something approaching the same quality of their previous residences, just on a smaller scale. It'd be tough for a downsizing couple used to not only larger spaces but a more substantial structure with higher quality finishes to contemplate living in this house. Given that for only slightly more money you can get a larger, more substantial house with nicer kitchens and bathrooms and better curb appeal, why would a downsizing couple or retiree consider this house, unless there's something truly special about the location?

Your targeted buyer should be a young person buying his first home, who has more romance than sense and is so desperate to get onto the property ladder that he/she ignores all the obvious structural flaws of your house, just as you did. But unfortunately, unlike 10 years ago, the pool of young first time homeowners in your price range has drastically shrunk because of the changing fundamentals in the economy. It's harder to get mortgages, jobs are more insecure, especially on the lower end, people are more scared to take on debt after witnessing the foreclosure crisis unfold, there's less confidence in the long term future, more and more 20somethings are mobile and less committed to staying in one location for a long time and don't want to be burdened with owning a house.

It probably explains why houses in the 300-400k range in your town are selling briskly. The economy has rebounded nicely for this demographics, a mixture of upwardly mobile young couples, professionals in their 30s who've established their careers and downsizing retirees, all chasing after the same houses. But the people who can only afford your price range may be facing a very different economic story and your house suffers badly in comparison with other houses in the same price range.

You should have accepted the lowball offer just to get rid of the house. If you can afford to sit and wait you will probably eventually sell the house for your asking price, but if you can't afford to hold on this house, you need to cut loose and sell it immediately by drastically cutting the price, even it means swallowing a loss.
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Old 10-19-2014, 08:29 AM
 
Location: Philaburbia
41,790 posts, read 74,837,182 times
Reputation: 66728
I don't think the house is that bad. It has potential.

I like the kitchen. I'd prefer an original 1950s kitchen to a granite-countered modern monstrosity.

The yard, though, is a mess. Clean it up, plant some flowers, put out some flowerpots front and back.

Good luck to you!
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Old 10-19-2014, 08:50 AM
 
Location: Pluto's Home Town
9,982 posts, read 13,720,885 times
Reputation: 5689
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallybalt View Post
Your house is insubstantial. It was a cheaply built, unremarkable cottage for people of very modest means over fifty years ago and it's only now possibly worth the low 200s because of the relative inflation in housing prices in your area.

But it has not been updated to reflect the demands and tastes of the higher income brackets. No new kitchen, no new bathroom, no extensions. It looks to have all the original heating systems, wiring and pipes, which are probably approaching the end of their life span because they wouldn't have been the best quality ones to begin with.

It's a tiny, cramped house on an unremarkable lot on an unremarkable street, and of all the houses on the street it's possibly the smallest and least well kept. You obviously don't have pride in your house judging for the exterior appearances, let alone the interior photographs. Look at the neighboring houses and compare them with yours. See how they've kept the lawns tidy? Notice the pruned shrubberies? See how most don't have ugly chain link fences? I suspect you may be one of those people who genuinely does not see the differences in curb appeal that most people immediately do. For you, your house is probably just a place to live and not a "home," as evidenced by your comment about forgoing improvements until the time came to sell.

You have talked about trying to tap into the market of downsizing retirees, but when people downsize they still generally expect something approaching the same quality of their previous residences, just on a smaller scale. It'd be tough for a downsizing couple used to not only larger spaces but a more substantial structure with higher quality finishes to contemplate living in this house. Given that for only slightly more money you can get a larger, more substantial house with nicer kitchens and bathrooms and better curb appeal, why would a downsizing couple or retiree consider this house, unless there's something truly special about the location?

Your targeted buyer should be a young person buying his first home, who has more romance than sense and is so desperate to get onto the property ladder that he/she ignores all the obvious structural flaws of your house, just as you did. But unfortunately, unlike 10 years ago, the pool of young first time homeowners in your price range has drastically shrunk because of the changing fundamentals in the economy. It's harder to get mortgages, jobs are more insecure, especially on the lower end, people are more scared to take on debt after witnessing the foreclosure crisis unfold, there's less confidence in the long term future, more and more 20somethings are mobile and less committed to staying in one location for a long time and don't want to be burdened with owning a house.

It probably explains why houses in the 300-400k range in your town are selling briskly. The economy has rebounded nicely for this demographics, a mixture of upwardly mobile young couples, professionals in their 30s who've established their careers and downsizing retirees, all chasing after the same houses. But the people who can only afford your price range may be facing a very different economic story and your house suffers badly in comparison with other houses in the same price range.

You should have accepted the lowball offer just to get rid of the house. If you can afford to sit and wait you will probably eventually sell the house for your asking price, but if you can't afford to hold on this house, you need to cut loose and sell it immediately by drastically cutting the price, even it means swallowing a loss.
I like your demographic analysis. I think there is some truth to it. The first rung of the housing ladder has not recovered from the bust and financial crisis. That would explain why established people, who are buying nicer homes, are buying a lot, but folks starting out are in shorter supply. I did not realize how this would affect the sale of our home so strongly, but it certainly has.

I think in a larger sense, there is a demographic decoupling in our country, to a degree we have not seen in my lifetime, at least. People who were well established before the bubble/bust are doing well. Those starting out are doing far worse, for a comparable age, than their parents. Challenging times.

As for the house, yes, it a postwar cottage. Modest. But it provided a great lifestyle. How many people have nice park, public pool, and good school at the end of their street and can walk to work or to a small university in one of the nicest towns in the western US? I used to jog down the street to the bike path and trot on to the Middle School, High School, or universitiy tracks and work out while reveling in the views, walk downtown or take wooded back trails (a 1.5-2 hour hike) to Lithia Park or a Shakespeare Festival, or hike straight from the house up to the wilderness trails leading up to the Pacific Crest Trail, and Mount Ashland (a 5,000 foot climb over about 7-8 miles). And to sit under the maples in the back yard was heavenly, or to hide easter eggs in the jungly yard. Great neighbors with little pretence and almost no crime. The place doesn't snow that much, but looks like Colorado when it does. White mountains all around. Many, many, many good memories, and very few regrets. I don't mind selling it for a fair, even excellent price, but it is hardly a dog I am trying to unload, it us truly a great place to enjoy a wonderful lifestyle.

Last edited by Fiddlehead; 10-19-2014 at 08:59 AM..
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Old 10-19-2014, 09:38 AM
 
1,334 posts, read 1,662,832 times
Reputation: 4232
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiddlehead View Post
I like your demographic analysis. I think there is some truth to it. The first rung of the housing ladder has not recovered from the bust and financial crisis. That would explain why established people, who are buying nicer homes, are buying a lot, but folks starting out are in shorter supply. I did not realize how this would affect the sale of our home so strongly, but it certainly has.

I think in a larger sense, there is a demographic decoupling in our country, to a degree we have not seen in my lifetime, at least. People who were well established before the bubble/bust are doing well. Those starting out are doing far worse, for a comparable age, than their parents. Challenging times.
IMO you've hit on the biggest snag preventing recovery of the housing market in many areas of the country, Fiddlehead. It's rough out there for young people starting families.

I disagree with Tallybait. I think the most likely purchaser for your place will be an older person (probably from CA) looking to downsize. But that individual is not going to be looking for a place that needs a lot of work, either initially or over the long term. They're going to want an easy-care yard, for example.

Only one of the other posters has mentioned what was the biggest red flag for me: when were the roof, windows, electrical, plumbing and HVAC last improved or replaced? The AC says "other" -- does this mean an old swamp cooler? Not that you really need AC in Ashland, but it could be a turnoff. Houses built in 1950 (and I have lived in a couple, so know first-hand) didn't have insulated walls and are expensive to heat and cool. Have you at least put insulation in the attic? How old are the windows, and are they double-pane?

You can fluff and puff and stage and fix the photos all you want, but a smart buyer with a good agent will be asking you all of the above questions before they make an offer. It may be why your only offer was so low.
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Old 10-19-2014, 09:39 AM
 
Location: Southern California
4,453 posts, read 6,775,303 times
Reputation: 2238
I'm glad Tallybalt added something new and saved me from typing since I'm terrible at it.

It looks like a lot of homes over 1200 sq ft have sold, is your now unusually small for the area or do the small ones never hi the market?

You can't use you the fact that you'd be taking a loss, when pricing your house to sell. Just because you spent, $20,000 doesn't mean you should get any of it back, and you are right, you should've done it long ago to enjoy it. The house is now overbuilt and over priced for a landlord as a rental unit, the tenants will destroy that floor. If it is too high for a LL it is too high for a developer. Does weather pose a problem for construction, maybe the fear of rain is keeping developers away too.

I'm actually in somewhat of a similar situation as you. If you would have spend that $20,000 on adding a new bathroom, that would have been money well spent, but looking at the size of the unit, it probably couldn't be done without adding square footage. Lets say you can built for $200 a sq ft to add 500 sq ft now making your house 1400 sq ft with 2 more bedrooms and a bad and larger kitchen, do you think it'd sell for $330,000? Is Glendale a much nicer street than yours?

Using street view it looks like you have a lot over SUV park traffic, so the demand for a larger home should be there or maybe the people are spooked living close to the cemetery. Also is train noise an issue?
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