Selling a house - to be torn down to make room for an expansion

[DrPizza]

Just got word that I'm going to be approached sometime in the near future (within the next year) to sell my house. A local college is going to be expanding & my house (the one I rent out) is in the projected area where they will be building.

Anyone have ideas for the best way to get the most value for my house? Anyone able to point me toward some good resources for more information?

 

[TheInternet1980]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Just got word that I'm going to be approached sometime in the near future (within the next year) to sell my house. A local college is going to be expanding & my house (the one I rent out) is in the projected area where they will be building.

Anyone have ideas for the best way to get the most value for my house? Anyone able to point me toward some good resources for more information?

 

[bobross419]

Might consider contacting a local real estate attorney.

 

[amdskip]

Would it help to get an actual appraisal on the property?

 

[Sluggo]

Link

Link to an article about a local college that bought a bunch of houses from locals to build an "athletic village." Might give you some sort of basis, or how the school approached the transaction.

 

[rh71]

why not full value? This is not a private buyer asking you to consider this and that. Milk em.

 

[orakle]

In cases like this, what if you don't want to sell for what the university is offering? Will your land get expropriated?

 

[DrPizza]

Thanks, Sluggo. And, of course I'll be in contact with a real estate attorney in the near future. But in the meantime, I was looking for answers to some simple questions.
1. It has been continuously occupied for 4 years. One reason is that we're renting it for under the market value. And, I've never raised the rent, despite taxes going up significantly. Will I be able to get anything for "loss of income" as a result of selling the house?
2. We were planning on quite a few renovations/repairs to the house this spring. Should I sink the money into the house? We've already sunk a bit of money into the house in the form of a new furnace & new ventless space heater (which keeps the downstairs living area very toasty warm.) Should I rip those out & replace them with an old furnace? Does the furnace affect the home's value much?

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: orakle
In cases like this, what if you don't want to sell for what the university is offering? Will your land get expropriated?

Yes, they would be able to use eminent domain. I just want to make sure that I can get every last penny that I can for the house. I don't want to blunder and cost myself 1000's of dollars. Especially since there may be tax ramifications. I certainly don't want to find myself on the losing side of the proposition. The neighborhood's characteristics change pretty frequently. As it was occasionally a pretty shitty neighborhood (thanks, landlords who rent to crack dealers, thanks an f'in lot) we got the heck out of there and now live in the country. Thanks to a small number of houses in the area, a lot of people don't want to buy houses in that neighborhood. Our neighbor's house just sold last year after being on the market for about a year, but the house next to them, (which they also own) has been on the market for a couple years & hasn't sold. Houses sell very very slowly there.