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"Fair market value" for the house or for the neighborhood? Because they're two different things.
Wrong. They are both the same thing. The most important factors in placing value on a home are, Location, Location, and the last is Location. The house is never worth more than the value the location allows to be the fair market value.
If you update as you have been told to, you will not recover all the costs you would have, to put it into a **** and span brand now look.
The best thing is to get in an appraiser to give you a true 90 day sell time value for the property. Then place it on the market. An appraiser will give you advice that is much more applicable than a listing agent will. The agent in situations like this, are hesitant to tell the owner the true value, afraid they will lose getting a listing. The home is going to have to have a mortgage on it to be able to sell it is an almost sure thing, and if it is sold for more than the appraiser, the appraisal will kill the sale, or force the price to be reduced to the appraisal price. This way emotions are taken out of it, and you will not be wanting to list with the Realtor giving you the highest selling price. Don't spend a lot of money on a house like this, as you will not get your money back.
Find a better lot you can afford and contract with a house moving company and actually jack up the house from the foundation and relocate it to a better location. Spending the money to move it would then get your 4X selling value! Otherwise auction it off and be done with it.
Sorry, but this is nuts.
The cost to move a house is $50,000 - $100,000.
Dump the dump and run without looking back.
BTW, I've been in real estate for 40 years. The old saw, "Location, location, location" is still very true, and perhaps now more than ever. People are more safety conscious than ever before.
Your Mom's old neighborhood is circling the drain. Get out now, before that neighborhood is on the news, with once-fine old houses selling for $5, and no takers.
OP has circumstances that are driving down the value of his home. It's not his job to hold onto an empty home and pay taxes/utilities on it because you may think it's a disservice to his neighbors. He's doing his due diligence by contacting the town and weighing options.
I'm not telling the OP to hold on to the house, just don't undersell it. Sure, they could list it for $25k, and have it sold within a week. But, if other houses in the neighborhood are still selling for about the same price as a new build elsewhere, (see post #12) then the OP could be leaving $100k+ on the table. (not to mention the caliber of people who would probably move in)
Anyway, I agree with oldtrader that getting an appraisal is the best way to find out what the house is worth, and don't put money into the house by adding landscaping or redoing floors. But I do think it would help to take out the ratty old carpeting, and clean.
If it were in any other neighborhood, we'd be making a sweet bundle on it. However, next door now are Mexicans peeing in the yard, holding all-night fiestas, stuffing blankets into the broken out windows (the owner/landlord owns several Mexican restaurants and lives in an upscale gated community himself; this is the "flop house" for illegal alien workers and family he ships in)...
If only I could find a hermit or agoraphobic who wouldn't care what was going on outside the very nice house...
It can't be at nice if it's got disgusting old carpet and filthy windows.
What is it going to sell for? If it's going to be $400,000 it's definitely worth your while to spend $1000 fixing the neighbour's windows, rip up the carpet and clean the other neighbour's yard. If it's going to be $100,000, then you still want to clean it up for the quickest sale you can get. You're not going to be losing money, after all.
I wouldn't sink a penny into it. Sucks that the neighborhood went downhill so fast. You might try suing the vacant neighbors property. If you can get a judgement when the owners don't show up and the court starts giving you their things, they may come running.
Otherwise just remember that the neighborhood is part of the value unless you can move the house.
When you see "sprawl" because buyers can buy a brand new house for the same price as an old house, you're seeing old houses that are priced WAY too high. New houses are in better condition (at least generally), and they can be custom built on an individually chosen lot which makes them more attractive to buyers. I bought used because I wanted to get a better deal, but I was still buying from the first owner and the property was only about 7 years old. As you might imagine, is in great shape.
When you see young people moving to "historic areas" it is often so they can walk everywhere and avoid a car, in part because many cities have done a terrible job of having enough parking so young people are opting to walk from a close home rather than pay for the car, the insurance, and a parking spot. If you ever see parking rates in Chicago, it'll make you want to vandalize the parking garage.
You might be in a better situation than you think. Yes, having problem houses on each side will negatively affect the market value of your house, but these problem houses aren't the only thing that affects your market value. I understand your frustration in keeping a house you don't want, (I currently have an unwanted house of my own, ha!) but don't undersell your house, either. Not only would you stand to lose money, but it will be a disservice to the neighbors who are still making an effort to maintain their property. The "neighborhood that's going downhill" is a self-fulfilling prophecy that requires participants to make come true.
Actually, I won't lose any sleep over the neighbors; as I say, the city probably sees me as a "crank complainer" because I'm the only one willing to step up and notify the authorities about all the city violations on either side of me, although they're also THEIR neighbors. In fact, some of them aren't even official violations -- like trying to slaughter a goat in the front yard (I called the police; they hog-tied the goat, threw it in the back of a pickup, and took it to a more private location for slaughter, I assume) or drying their wet laundry on the chain-link fence that abuts our property. Nothing on the books about using a clothesline! It might be time to PUT an ordinance on the books since this is apparently a "thing" now. And my sibling is busy with his own life and family (I had to singlehandedly empty the house of 50 years worth of possessions), so I'm just not feeling inclined to put much more time and energy into it.
As for "walkability," this area is a suburb, walkable only from the housing projects to the lotto/beer/cigarette/liquor outlet. True urban walkability (to restaurants, bars, library, churches, workplaces, groceries, museums, theatres, bike/ped paths, farmer's market, etc.) is in the historic downtown area where, fortunately for me, I own my OWN house.
Secondly, Mexicans are Caucasians, and it's not possible to be "racist" against your own race. Secondly, if their cultural quirks (like peeing in the yard, which is also a thing with them) make neighborhoods they inhabit undesirable to mainstream America, that's on them. They can either assimilate, as immigrants always have, or be disliked and resented. Having a million out-of-control noisy kids and living on welfare doesn't help matters.
Finally, there are two other houses for sale on the street; the abandoned one next door and one across the street (where they have to look at these two eyesores); no showings and serial listings. How a reputable realtor can even list the vacant house is beyond me.
"Ripping up carpet" is never as easy as it sounds. There are tack-strips to also pull up, nails holding the tack-strips to pull up, a bazillion staples sticking out of the wood that was holding down the padding that must be pulled up (I got carpel tunnel syndrome doing this once), and of course the carpet disposal (4' strips, duct taped or tied, no more than 50 pounds each, delivered to solid waste) and the cleaning of the floors. Buyers can just see past that the old carpet; they do it on "House Hunters" every day of the week. Also, who buys a house without immediately cleaning it before moving in? Well, maybe Mexicans, which may be our target audience here.
Good brainstorming (although I'll pass on actually moving the house; points for creativity); thanks, all!
Last edited by otterhere; 04-07-2015 at 07:44 AM..
This is my mother's house; she passed away over a year ago. We should've sold it TEN years ago, when the neighborhood started "going down," but she was blind and didn't want to leave familiar surroundings.
If it were in any other neighborhood, we'd be making a sweet bundle on it. However, next door now are Mexicans peeing in the yard, holding all-night fiestas, stuffing blankets into the broken out windows (the owner/landlord owns several Mexican restaurants and lives in an upscale gated community himself; this is the "flop house" for illegal alien workers and family he ships in)... On the other side is an abandoned place where young buyers walked away from their mortgage - and family cat - and it's falling apart, with garbage all over the yard. I complain to city code enforcement, but they can't seem to "find" the owners.
Our new realtor wants us to put a lot of work and money into the place -- pull up the carpet, redo the floors, wash all windows inside and out, add landscaping, and make it "spotless." I'm having a hard time seeing the point. Anyone willing to live next door to these two houses won't care about window dust...
There's no mortgage from which to walk away here (it's paid off). Fortunately, neither my sibling nor I are depending upon this money in order to move on with our lives; we'd be in a world of hurt if we were.
Give it away by slashing the price or give it to a property manager to rent out to heaven knows who?
The point is that if you do this stuff your realtor wants you to, it will inevitably put more money in his/hers pocket....trust me thats why they want you to do that. All of that might increase the "show status" enough to get a faster sale.
Don't rent it out. You would have to do the same work. Several times over. We have the best house on street and can't get rid of it without taking a hit. We replaced the 10 year old carpet 1 year ago, and now have to replace it because of very messy tenants. Plus new dishwasher, new AC and new roof. My once beautiful yard was ruined by a prior tenant. She pulled my beautiful gardenia bush, pulled my flowers and added trees where they shouldn't be! To the point the roots are too close to the driveway. We spent $3000 this last month to make it look good for next possible renter. And the the last renter did not pay last months rent, and they are the ones that ruined the carpet! I suggest selling it. Put work into that NEEDS to be done. Enough to show nice but don't overspend. If the carpet needs to be replaced then replace it. I would clean the windows if they are dirty. You have to clean the house. Like the above poster said, make it look attractive. I would not buy a dirty house.
Again, is someone too prissy to see past wear-and-tear in a carpet (not literally "tear") going to want to live surrounded by trash heaps? We're talking two different target customers here. I really wish the restaurant owner would just buy us out and put us out of our misery.
It would serve my cowardly neighbors right!
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