Who is the audience when selling a duplex? (tenants, duplexes, agents)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We have a friend selling one and they think they have the same audience as a single family. We disagree and we know an investor would be a category of potential buyers. They were also told their price is likely way too high.
The price they are asking is 50% higher than the tax assessed value. Yes that is tax assessed which can vary from the asking/eventual sale price but......
Assessed value has nothing to do with market value. Only current comparable sales matter in trying to find a value for a home. He should be looking at recent closed sales of other similar duplexes.
What is your friend selling? Is he selling a two unit building ? That is one building that is one single taxable entity with with two occupancy units.
Or is he selling half a duplex or one side only of a two unit building ? There are such things.
I would see the audience as marginal single family buyers who would benefit from rent income, extended family buyers who would appreciate a degree of separation while still combining family life, and of course, investors.
I would price the property at market for a single family and advertise investor inquiries welcome IF I was willing to discount for the investor, keeping in mind my target market is value conscious. Otherwise, I would market for the family and hope I get a dumb or impatient investor that will pay close to market.
It is two unit. Their parent offered it for sale a couple years ago through conversation and the price was $8K higher than the assessed. Now they are asking $47K higher than the assessed through an agent.
We do not think an investor would pay their price and of course the agents suggested opening price is not likely what they may be offered or be willing to accept. This did install new wood floors in one unit. The other unit was vacated back in November.
It is two unit. Their parent offered it for sale a couple years ago through conversation and the price was $8K higher than the assessed. Now they are asking $47K higher than the assessed through an agent.
Assessed amount means nothing. It's only used for the town setting your tax rate. It has nothing to do with selling real estate.
The price of the home should be based on comps. Comps are similar houses in the same area that recently sold for XXXX amount.
Ask the realtor to run recent comps to see if the house is priced comprable to other houses in the area that sold, or are currently for sale.
The audience? As long as its listed in MLS, anyone is the audience.
I'm assuming by "audience" you really mean "market." The market for a duplex is mostly someone who wants this at least partially as an investment. It may be a professional landlord/real estate investor who plans to rent out both units, or it may be someone who plans to live in one unit and rent out the other. It might be someone who wants to live in one unit and have some family member live in the adjoining unit (typically a parent or a child), which is still an investment, since the unit will be available for renting if/when that tenant doesn't need it anymore, and it saves the owner the money of paying rent elsewhere for the person.
Occasionally, you'll get a buyer who is interested in using the duplex as a SFH and plans to extensively remodel to meld the two units into one.
The only truly relevant comps are other duplexes in the same geographic area.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,346 posts, read 80,679,251 times
Reputation: 57356
One of my employees bought a 3-plex as a first home. He and his wife live in one unit, the rental income from the other two covers the mortgage, taxes and insurance. With such a hot rental market, when these leases expire he can almost double the rent and start making money, but he likes the tenants and is only going for minor increases.
One of my employees bought a 3-plex as a first home. He and his wife live in one unit, the rental income from the other two covers the mortgage, taxes and insurance. With such a hot rental market, when these leases expire he can almost double the rent and start making money, but he likes the tenants and is only going for minor increases.
It would be nice if that worked on this double unit. The rent being paid by one tenant in $550. The taxes and insurance are about $200 a month. Based on a purchase price 32% lower than the asking price, the mortgage payment would be about $1000. So the one tenant is far short of covering the mortgage and that assumes that the seller will lower their price by 32%. Even if the seller came down 32% the new owner would have a $550 tenant and have to pay the other $450 themselves. We think the duplex is over priced. A nearby (2 houses down) 3 bedroom home sold for $30K less than the duplex is listed for.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.