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We are planning to sell our townhouse this spring. It is only a few months old and in a new community where they are currently building more of the same model. My question is, should we price our nearly new townhouse the same as what the brand-new ones are selling for? Or should we ask for slightly less than new since the house has been lived in?
We are planning to sell our townhouse this spring. It is only a few months old and in a new community where they are currently building more of the same model. My question is, should we price our nearly new townhouse the same as what the brand-new ones are selling for? Or should we ask for slightly less than new since the house has been lived in?
Look at the full landscape.
Is the builder offering sales incentives to buyers and/or agents that may make your competition look more appealing for reasons other than the gross listing price?
These might be:
Free HOA dues for a year.
Free appliances.
Paid closing costs with builder's lender or title agent.
Willingness to customize.
"First $15,000 in upgrade choices for Free."
Buyers Agents may be offered:
High builder commissions. The highest I ever saw was 8%.
Sales bonuses.
Escalating sales bonuses for repeat sales.
Cruises, or "points" toward cruises for repeat sales.
Can you get buyers to closing faster than the builder can?
I.e., does the builder have "move-in ready" units, or will their buyers wait 5-7 months for a home to be delivered?
Will you let a appliances, window blinds and treatments, or personal property convey?
Have you done attractive custom paint, or wild paint, or just kept the builder's paint?
This is all stuff that can affect traffic and/or desirability of your home, and should be explored before arriving at a list price.
We are planning to sell our townhouse this spring. It is only a few months old and in a new community where they are currently building more of the same model. My question is, should we price our nearly new townhouse the same as what the brand-new ones are selling for? Or should we ask for slightly less than new since the house has been lived in?
Why are you selling so soon? You might have a hard time selling it since you have the same model house still going up at the same price...especially when people can build a customized house. Either lower the price or just rent it out if you can for a few years.
I can tell you as a buyer, to me, new and nearly new aren't the same thing. And that's even taking into account the extra money the buyer puts into a new build for things like window treatments, landscaping, decent light fixtures, and so on. (I bought new construction 4 years ago, and still not done with some of the projects yet!)
It's certainly true that someone who needs move in ready and a quicker close will have different priorities, so I'm not saying your place won't sell. But it's not new and it's not going to get the new construction premium that people are willing to pay. So the price has to be worth it to attract people who want that community but will be willing to make the trade off from something brand new with their design choices in it, to something nearly new but a better value.
What is the actual net selling price of the new ones vs that asking price?
How many other used units are on the market and at what price are they selling?
I do not see how it make any significant difference if yours is only 5 months old and some other condo is a year old or 18 months or even 36 months. Ist sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself of what you want to be true (i.e. our Condo is still worth as much as a new one rather than a used one).
You should price it with other used condos in your complex. A few months of use vs a few years is not going to make much of a difference to most buyers. If you price equally, your condo may sell a bit sooner because it is less used, but probably not. It will depend more on what you have done with it and what others have done with theirs. You also need to look at location within the complex. If your condo is on the corner of the complex and has street noise form two sides, do not compare it to one that is in the middle of the complex.
I'd be wary of why you're selling so soon. You may have a very good and valid reason but selling just months after buying is a huge red flag to me, especially with new construction.
I'd be wary of why you're selling so soon. You may have a very good and valid reason but selling just months after buying is a huge red flag to me, especially with new construction.
Well, the red flags often have very logical answers.
I don't give it a second thought any more.
Going to show one today or tomorrow that the sellers have been in less than a year.
Possible logical and innocuous reasons:
Lost job.
Great job offer out of town.
Now have to work from home, and the space just really won't work.
Dad had a stroke, and going home to help with his care.
Mom is moving in, and the floor plan just won't work.
Inherited money.
Just decided it is time to buy that hobby farm.
Diagnosed with a health issue, and just cannot do the stairs anymore.
But, competing with the builder will probably be painful.
I'd be wary of why you're selling so soon. You may have a very good and valid reason but selling just months after buying is a huge red flag to me, especially with new construction.
I agree with Mike's response. There could be a plethora of reasons. We're in a similar situation, having to sell new construction we just bought. If you think about it, it's just as much or more likely to be a red flag in an older resale than a new construction home because a new construction home is under all original warranties still and is usually not something wrong with the house itself but something out of the original buyer's control. In our case, my husband took a job transfer in one city so we bought a new home up there before listing our existing home because we have cats and it would just be too difficult trying to shuffle them around for showings. Things were not going well in the market of our existing home and we figured we'd have a better chance of selling the new, more expensive home and pull the old home off the market and move back and just commute since the cats weren't adapting as well to the new space and it wasn't like we no longer liked the old home, it's just that it was an 80 mile commute that was driving the original new construction purchase and it didn't end up working out as planned for selling our other home.
Might also depend on the nature of the new construction. IMO, anyone who has previously bought a brand new home will realize the value of working the kinks out, landscaping, window treatments, paint and other upgrades.
OTOH, 5-months might suggest the buyer found more issues than expected or worthwhile to repair/replace. Is the 5-month old home still under builder 'warranty' and will the builder take care of builder issues/problems for a second buyer inside the first year?
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