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Well, you know that, all other things being equal, the sell-it-now price is $326,000 That doesn't get you $350,000, so you have to do the repairs. Otherwise you risk that it won't sell at all given the propensity of today's buyers to want everything "new".
There is no perfect answer. You can "try" to balance repairs/upgrades/whatever with your moving schedule, but as you know, that is tricky.
And who knows that the market will be like next spring. Not to alarm you, but we will be that much closer to an election, our economic recovery with be "old" by any reasonable standard (and is already showing signals of recession), and the world may have torn itself apart by then due to any number of reasons. Factors outside your control, but nevertheless issues with which you might have to deal.
Get it repaired. Get it listed and sold while there still might be buyers around, and then figure out your next move. Maybe a delayed closing, maybe a rental, maybe bunk with a relative or friend. I don't know, but I do know you want a perfect solution and, at best, you are going to have to choose which you prefer: A mostly guaranteed sold house, and a living schedule which is a challenge; or a preferred living situation and a risk the house is not sold by your deadline.
As an aside, are we talking "must sell this house to pay for the new one" or is that not an issue, only that you don't wish to own two places simultaneously? Otherwise, some form of bridge financing might be possible while the current house sells. No matter what you do, you have to gamble (sensibly) somewhere. In this environment, I would go for liquidity (selling!) the existing house and then worry about the next step. Not blindly, of course.
Well, you know that, all other things being equal, the sell-it-now price is $326,000 That doesn't get you $350,000, so you have to do the repairs. Otherwise you risk that it won't sell at all given the propensity of today's buyers to want everything "new".
There is no perfect answer. You can "try" to balance repairs/upgrades/whatever with your moving schedule, but as you know, that is tricky.
And who knows that the market will be like next spring. Not to alarm you, but we will be that much closer to an election, our economic recovery with be "old" by any reasonable standard (and is already showing signals of recession), and the world may have torn itself apart by then due to any number of reasons. Factors outside your control, but nevertheless issues with which you might have to deal.
Get it repaired. Get it listed and sold while there still might be buyers around, and then figure out your next move. Maybe a delayed closing, maybe a rental, maybe bunk with a relative or friend. I don't know, but I do know you want a perfect solution and, at best, you are going to have to choose which you prefer: A mostly guaranteed sold house, and a living schedule which is a challenge; or a preferred living situation and a risk the house is not sold by your deadline.
As an aside, are we talking "must sell this house to pay for the new one" or is that not an issue, only that you don't wish to own two places simultaneously? Otherwise, some form of bridge financing might be possible while the current house sells. No matter what you do, you have to gamble (sensibly) somewhere. In this environment, I would go for liquidity (selling!) the existing house and then worry about the next step. Not blindly, of course.
Thanks for such a detailed response!
We are definitely a "bird in the hand" type of couple who don't like to gamble at all, so I do understand what you are saying.
The answer to the bold is that we CAN afford to have two mortgages (and our new construction financing will be for a second home and assumes that we will continue to be employed indefinitely). We have the construction plans approved, we have been pre-approved for the construction loan, and the ground breaking will be next April or May, with estimated completion being late August.* However, we want to move into the new home ASAP after completion and closing, and we intend to pay for our new home in full soon after. (We intend to pay about 40% of it with the proceeds from our existing home and pay the remainder out of our other savings. If necessary, we can also use those savings to make payments on our current home until it sells, but we don't want to leave either house empty. The new home, btw, is about 1,200 miles from our existing home, so checking on it on a regular basis would not be inexpensive, and we don't want to rent out either home.)
*And, yes, I have read that delays CAN happen, of course, but the home we are having built is NOT a McMansion, but is just an 1,800 s.f. single story home, and the builder we are using "specializes" in such homes, and both of the references we checked said they actually finished a month early! Of course, that might not happen in OUR case, but just sayin'
(The flip price was $326k, so the buyer made a heck of a profit, I think.)
I think you're overestimating what one of those We buy ugly Houses" companies would pay. I'd be surprised if they even paid you the amount that the flip house sold for.
Here is a fairly recent, extensive post on the topic.
Timing: two years ago we were building, started construction in August and it was complete the following March. We definitely needed to sell before closing on the new one. There was an apartment complex about 500 yards behind our house. Invisible in the summer with the trees, a big eyesore in the winter. We decided to bite the bullet, sold in September and rented a duplex. The hassle of moving twice was worth not having to worry about the exact timing on things. We had a three week overlap when moving to the duplex and about 10 days when we moved to the new house. YMMV.
“We Buy Ugly Houses” experience: we had friends who were moving out of state. They had lived in their house over 40 years, it needed a lot of work and the neighborhood was on the decline. I doubt they had enough cash to do much updating/repairs. They sold it to the Ugly House people. It was enough to pay off the mortgage and a little more (they had refinanced numerous times and didn’t have much equity). They were satisfied. I’m not sure I would have been, but I wouldn’t have let all the maintenance and updating go nor would I have kept refinancing and taking cash out.
I think you're overestimating what one of those We buy ugly Houses" companies would pay. I'd be surprised if they even paid you the amount that the flip house sold for.
Here is a fairly recent, extensive post on the topic.
WOW! Thanks so much. I have to leave C-D now, but I will definitely read that tomorrow!
P.S. Maybe I misunderstood, but in researching the flip house, the property showed that it was bought by a real estate firm in February 2019 for $326k after the owners dropped the listing, and then it sold in June (closed in July) for $444k, so I assumed (LOL) that the $326k was the Ugly Houses price and what the owners netted.
1. We have senior pets, including a cat who can destroy a patch of carpet in a matter of hours. (And, yes, we have tried scratching posts and scratching pads to no avail. Our stairs are his favorite place to do this.)
This would be a big problem to me. It's one thing to see old worn carpet, but pet damage is such a big negative and red flag. I understand why you didn't sell last year. You really want your home to look and smell pet free.
The last two houses I sold, I replaced some of the old carpet after I had the house for sale. You don't have to get expensive carpet, but it really brightened those rooms and the houses sold quickly after that.
Not sure where you are - but if OpenDoor, Offerpad, or one of the I buyers is available - what can it hurt to get an offer from them. In those cases you do not need to fix anything, and can set a close whenever you like.
We buy Ugly Houses offered $90,000 for our condo, when our neighbor's condos were selling for $165,000 to $170,000. We put our condo on the market for $159,000 and ended up selling our "as is" for $155,000 (or something like that) six weeks later. The new owners were delighted as they completely remodeled the entire place and didn't care that the carpets needed replacing, etc.
If we would have had new carpets or new light fixtures or new kitchen cabinets and countertops, they would have just ripped them out.
The answer to the bold is that we CAN afford to have two mortgages (and our new construction financing will be for a second home and assumes that we will continue to be employed indefinitely).
Then you have the financial flexibility for when (not if) your plans go awry.
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