Curious to learn how you would handle pricing for sale one of the smallest houses in a neighborhood of much larger and more expensive houses & they just keep getting bigger? Though house will not go to market until new house completed next year, we have someone interested in viewing to learn if they might be interested. Perhaps they will be seeking some sort of price range & we have no idea based upon there being little comparison to the larger homes sold in the past as many are brow lots while we own an interior lot. In addition, we have a large unfinished room upstairs with bathroom plumbing available (including tub/shower combo not installed) and there is a room in one half the basement unfinished. In other words, 2 people were always working with no time or need to finish so we never completed these areas.
I have been trying to spiffy up in order to obtain an appraisal from a local company but may not have all completed before showing house to this prospective buyer. And then there is no guarantee this appraisal will provide an accurate dollar figure or are such appraisals generally accurate? Should I obtain appraisal from another company?
I do realize the house will bring what the market will support. I simply do not want to make a mistake in pricing too low. Might you wait & go thru the realtor interviewing process or depend upon appraisal via a company & then proceed with prospective buyer?
Note: Neighborhood is a very desirable place to live with plenty of privacy & security, close to interstate & town, water & golfing. Public schools are not an option as is located in an adjoining county where distance would be too far to commute daily.
p.s. I searched for similar thread, so this may be the first or perhaps I failed to include the right words??? If you feel this in inappropriate for Breaktime; just ignore this thread. But appreciate your sharing your experiences if any available!
Replies
After you have done the remaining work how will your house compare to the others in the neighborhood? Is it just smaller but otherwise comparable in age, design, amenities and quality? Or, is it much older, etc?
If the location is really great have you considered just selling it 'as is'? What is the chance that your improvements will make make up the expense in doing them?
What do you plan to with the money from the sale? Do you need it to pay for the home you are building now? Is it an investment flip or are you just completing repairs/renovations you never got around to finishing so you can sell it?
We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.
After you have done the remaining work how will your house compare to the others in the neighborhood? Is it just smaller but otherwise comparable in age, design, amenities and quality? Or, is it much older, etc?
Hubby does not plan on completing; is busy subbing out new home & running cattle farm at same time. House is smaller than others (2300 completed with 1100 unfinished), 25 yrs old one owner, traditional 1.5 story, lacks the embellishments of homes costs $700 & on up.
If the location is really great have you considered just selling it 'as is'? What is the chance that your improvements will make make up the expense in doing them? Hope to sell as is with my clean-up & bit more landscaping.
What do you plan to with the money from the sale? Do you need it to pay for the home you are building now? Is it an investment flip or are you just completing repairs/renovations you never got around to finishing so you can sell it?
What we plan to do with money has little to do with how to obtain an accurate sell price.
Hope this answered your questions. Many thanks!
Have you gotten any feed back from Realtors or appraisers in your area as to what the adjustment would be on a square foot basis for the smaller square foot house?
How does your home compare per square foot in tax appraisal value with others in the area?
Reason for the question on what you intend to do with the money is to try to determine your situation clearly enough to provide some comment for your assistence.
If you were intending to flip the house for investment purposes your next step might be very different than if you were just trying to get the most out of it that you could in an 'as is' condition.We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.
Have you gotten any feed back from Realtors or appraisers in your area as to what the adjustment would be on a square foot basis for the smaller square foot house? Have not yet pursued.
How does your home compare per square foot in tax appraisal value with others in the area? Have no idea - good thought though.
Reason for the question on what you intend to do with the money is to try to determine your situation clearly enough to provide some comment for your assistence.
If you were intending to flip the house for investment purposes your next step might be very different than if you were just trying to get the most out of it that you could in an 'as is' condition.
If flipping for investment purposes, then you would recommend spending additional monies to upgrade and complete unfinished areas, etc? So we spend $1.00 to make $1.25 but this will not happen as time being spent constructing a new home and basically hubby just does not wish to use his money in that way. Whereas if our intent is to get most out of it in "as is" condition, then we spend no more money? Our plan has been to sell in "as is" condition, investing no more money than we have to and hopefully sell for a fair price (whatever that may be?).
What we plan to do with money has little to do with how to obtain an accurate sell price.
I strongly disagree.
If you own the house free and clear, and plan on putting the money in a CD bearing 2%, you are in a much different position than if you owe 90% of the selling price and need to cash it out just to break even.
Terms can make your house more valuable, or less valuable.
blue
I did fail to recall that terms do make a big difference. This will not be a "fire sale" to cash out; no rush to take first offer; just wish to ensure fairly priced in order that we do not under-price. And if over-priced, house would most likely be in a no sell position!
As to what will we do with money - just moves from one asset account to another
"And then there is no guarantee this appraisal will provide an accurate dollar figure or are such appraisals generally accurate? Should I obtain appraisal from another company?"
The quality of appraisals can very alot.
In general the more uniform the house and area is the better the appraisal.
But where I live, with in one block and all in the same developement, there are houses that range from 90k to 600k and maybe a little more and vary from brand new to 75 years old.
A few years ago I got a refi and the appraiser did a very good job of finding comps and making adjustments for the differences as none of the comps where really very similar.
On the other hand I was envolved in the sale of a church. The appriaser that we used hand material facts wrong, missed comps are where closer (in both time, distance, and like size), and in the end just said that he could not figure a comp and made a guessitmate which we later found was about 2/3's of the appraiser that one potential buyer had.
I would talk with a couple of realestate agents that are active in the area and get a sales estimate. They will be more familar with the specifics of what buyers in that area want.
Also they can make suggests of what fixes/improvements that would help the sale.
Often they will do this for free hoping that you will use them when you are ready to sell.
Edited 9/20/2005 3:10 pm ET by BillHartmann
Thanks - you just confirmed my thoughts; appraisals can vary greatly. Will watch for this & also pay for an additional appraisal; then interview the realtors (ugh!...dread the realtor bid as they can be too nosey!