Selling home: List higher and budge, or list lower no budge?

[Zorba]

When I've seen the buyer ask for a lot of closing costs, typically the contract price goes up. I know a few situations that had >5K of closing costs paid by the seller, where the final contract price was >4K higher than list.

 

[cabri]

As long as the assessed value will hold with the higher price, it is just changing the color of money.

 

[z1ggy]

Opinion:

Flooring for a semi finished basement (has drop ceiling, walls, but meh on the insulation). Carpet or vinyl sheet? I guess I could post up some pics later tonight or tomorrow, but it's pretty standard down there. I'm kind of leaning vinyl because it's going to be about 60% of the cost of carpet (~$1.25sqft vs ~$.80sqft). I think the carpet will give it a warmer more inviting feel to it... But because I am selling, I really won't get any use out of it, and I'm not sure the extra few hundred bucks will be worth it. I'm guessing installation of carpet would cost more too, because of the extra time it'll take to put the padding down.

 

[cabri]

Takes very little time to put down padding; they come in rolls just like the carpet and does not get tacked down.

A family looking to purchase will appreciate the carpet for the kids to play on vs a vinyl floor.

Get cheap carpet without padding if you want to spruce it up on the cheap.

You are not going to increase the value enough either way in getting your $$ back; but having carpet will increase the "curb appeal" for a potential buy with kids that are below teen.

 

[MixMasterTang]

If it's a decent looking room that someone will want to utilize then carpet for sure. If it's something that someone would probably rather use as a workshop or something of that sort then vinyl would be fine.

 

[cbrsurfr]

Is renting it out a possibility?

IMO you aren't in the right place to be able to sell it and break even.

I was in a somewhat similar situation except I had invested a ton into fixing a house that was now worth half of what I had in it. I bought it for 146 (market peak) and put at least another 54 into it. It was then worth about 100 after the market crashed. I tried to sell it for 120 as that was my break-even point after all fees and what I owed but I only got offers in the 80's. I had no choice but to rent it out. I'm still stuck with it, but at least the rent is covering P/I/T + about 150 bucks/month profit.

 

[z1ggy]

Is renting it out a possibility?

IMO you aren't in the right place to be able to sell it and break even.

I was in a somewhat similar situation except I had invested a ton into fixing a house that was now worth half of what I had in it. I bought it for 146 (market peak) and put at least another 54 into it. It was then worth about 100 after the market crashed. I tried to sell it for 120 as that was my break-even point after all fees and what I owed but I only got offers in the 80's. I had no choice but to rent it out. I'm still stuck with it, but at least the rent is covering P/I/T + about 150 bucks/month profit.

The problem with renting, is that I view it as unlimited risk vs. limited/little reward. Here's why:

My mortgage is about ~$1300 per month. When it is not my primary residence, home owners insurance will go up. I'm not sure how much, but I'll assume that it makes my mortgage payment ~$1350 per month.

In this area, a 2 bed 1 bath @~1000sqft, rents for about $1300. Maaaaaybe I could get $1400 for it because it has a lot of storage space compared to a condo/apartment of the same size. Best case, I make $50 a month.

Now I also assume that the tenant WILL mess shit up. Depending how bad they fuck me, it might be covered by security deposit.... Or it will cost much more and I'll be on the hook unless I sue. Also, random things breaking will still be my responsibility, which I'm sure will end up costing me more than $50x12 bucks per year.

TLDR; renting just doesn't sound appealing.


However, if I can't get good offers, I may not have a choice.

 

[zardthebuilder]

don't forget about property taxes in your calculation. and unless you find a cheap way to find a tenant, agents around here charge 1 month of rent.

from a breakeven perspective, you can take out the Principle portion of your mortgage, which is basically you putting equity into the house.

 

[z1ggy]

I did; my mortgage payment includes principal payment, home owners insurance, and property tax.

Well, since I'm not doing any upgrades to the house, my equity is really earned by just owning the home for a longer period of time. But if the value of my home drops... that ends up not making a difference.

 

[z1ggy]

So talked with realtor last night. I think we are going to come in at $164,999. She strongly suggested I find a company that does commercial cleaning to clean my basement cement floors (due to cat smell that's seeped in) and put some flooring down.

For flooring, I'm strongly leaning toward the sheet vinyl I was linked to by Dr. Pizza in another thread I created. Carpet may look "cozier", but I think ultimately the vinyl is more durable, easier cleaned, and will probably look better, for longer. If the buyer wants, they could put carpet over the vinyl later on.

I have to find new homes for my cats before I list, too :'(

 

[Zorba]

Just MHO, I'd rather have a concrete floor than a sheet of vinyl. If the concrete was in bad shape, the vinyl might be nicer.

Don't list at 164,999, it fools no one and then anyone searching for 165 and up will not find your house. It also means all the people that listed at 165,000 will be listed before your house when people sort higher to lower, no reason to purposely put your house lower on the list.

 

[z1ggy]

Just MHO, I'd rather have a concrete floor than a sheet of vinyl. If the concrete was in bad shape, the vinyl might be nicer.

Don't list at 164,999, it fools no one and then anyone searching for 165 and up will not find your house. It also means all the people that listed at 165,000 will be listed before your house when people sort higher to lower, no reason to purposely put your house lower on the list.

I feel like people don't really put in a minimum price... That seems odd to me. More likely, they'd just put in a max price, and filter homes by location/size and maybe sort the list by year built, or # of bedrooms. At least that's what I do/did. So.. Should I list for $165,001

But yeah the concrete looks like shit. I keep forgetting to take pictures because I've had hockey games every night this week, but I will definitely take a few tonight. There used to be what looks like tile down there, because you can see all the outlines where they were in some spots. Also, my cats pissed all over one corner of it, so some of it is all stained and smelly. I have to clean the hell out of it this weekend.

Additionally, a contractor quoted me $3800 to put vinyl flooring down. Whaaaaaat. I have no clue what materials he was looking at, or what his labor rate is, but that shit is crazy. I found at Lowe's and HD, 12ft wide floating vinyl sheet for $.78 and $.87 a sqft respectively. I assume all I would need after that is some bonding agent for the seems, which can't be very expensive. He must have been thinking of bonded vinyl? I don't know, people here recommended me floating vinyl sheet for something cheap and easy....Is floating not very good?

 

[edro]

Lowes and Home Depot install vinyl for pretty cheap and they usually run sales for $99 install.

 

[cbrsurfr]

If you want to spruce it up on the cheap clean it good with a concrete acid and paint it with an epoxy based paint.

 

[cbrsurfr]

The problem with renting, is that I view it as unlimited risk vs. limited/little reward. Here's why:

My mortgage is about ~$1300 per month. When it is not my primary residence, home owners insurance will go up. I'm not sure how much, but I'll assume that it makes my mortgage payment ~$1350 per month.

In this area, a 2 bed 1 bath @~1000sqft, rents for about $1300. Maaaaaybe I could get $1400 for it because it has a lot of storage space compared to a condo/apartment of the same size. Best case, I make $50 a month.

Now I also assume that the tenant WILL mess shit up. Depending how bad they fuck me, it might be covered by security deposit.... Or it will cost much more and I'll be on the hook unless I sue. Also, random things breaking will still be my responsibility, which I'm sure will end up costing me more than $50x12 bucks per year.

TLDR; renting just doesn't sound appealing.


However, if I can't get good offers, I may not have a choice.

Yeah that's pretty tight. My insurance actually went down from 625 to 572 (although it just went up today 20 bucks for no reason).

 

[z1ggy]

If you want to spruce it up on the cheap clean it good with a concrete acid and paint it with an epoxy based paint.

The floor has residual gunk on it that's solidified, which I assume is the bonding agent from old tile. I would need to sand it off first... But it's something to look into. I still think flooring would look nicer, but if that route was much cheaper, it's worth considering.

Yeah that's pretty tight. My insurance actually went down from 625 to 572 (although it just went up today 20 bucks for no reason).

That's odd. I heard it goes up, mainly because insurance assumes the property will be cared for less by a person who doesn't actually own it.

 

[zardthebuilder]

That's odd. I heard it goes up, mainly because insurance assumes the property will be cared for less by a person who doesn't actually own it.

i was told there are two main dynamics. 1) "Pride of Ownership", as you pointed out. 2) Personal Property Protection, which might drop to $5,000 (or maybe even no coverage) if you rent out your house.

 

[cabri]

Renting out the house (or intending to rent it) prior to sellingn will allow you to write off repairs, insurance, utilities and other expenses using the Schedule E on your taxes

Rent will need to be declared as income.

Optionally, you can then also claim depreciation on the property until you sell it. You will have to recover the depreciation at sale.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Where I live now in Colorado the housing market has really heated up again over the past year or two. Many houses at the lower end of the market (<$275k) are going for $10k to $20k above asking price.

But I was just browsing residential listings in and around the small town where I grew up in Pennsylvania. Some homes have been on the market for years. Most of the listings are over six months old. The site I was on allows you to view the listing history of each home. There was one place that was listed in 2011 for $214k and gradually and steadily lowered. Today it's listed at $99,900!!

 

[Zorba]

I feel like people don't really put in a minimum price... That seems odd to me. More likely, they'd just put in a max price, and filter homes by location/size and maybe sort the list by year built, or # of bedrooms. At least that's what I do/did. So.. Should I list for $165,001

I know when I search I always give a minimum, because I don't want a ton of irrelevant results, especially because I usually search in map view.

But also when realtors setup automatic searches and e-mail alerts for people, they will always put a minimum price on it so people don't get e-mails for hundreds of houses below their price range.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I know when I search I always give a minimum, because I don't want a ton of irrelevant results, especially because I usually search in map view.

But you (and I would guess nearly everyone else) would set that low end search price a decent margin below where your actually targeting. If you were looking for something on the order of a $200k home, you might set it at $175k or even $150k on the chance that something at the lower end might look interesting. It still filters out a huge amount of irrelevant cruft below that. I can't see setting a price like $164,900 or $164,999 as hurting anyone in searches.

 

[z1ggy]

Small update: Getting carpet put in the basement. Guy is coming Sat to measure and give me a sqft estimate. I'm guessing it's about 500sqft, so they will quote me for ~550ft for scraps, etc.

The carpet I selected is $.78/sqft and I think the padding is about .48/sqft. Install is $100 and raw material is about $700 if my guess is correct. Overall cost is then $800.

I have to work on getting the cat smell out of the concrete. I'll dumping a solution of hydrogen peroxide and water on the floors first to see if that works at all. If it doesn't, I'll have to go the hardcore route and use some TSP and a product that's been recommended to me called OdorXit.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Have you done any google searches about removing the cat urine smell from the concrete? A few quick searches suggest hydrogen peroxide works well, and also sealing/painting the floor.

 

[Zorba]

Small update: Getting carpet put in the basement. Guy is coming Sat to measure and give me a sqft estimate. I'm guessing it's about 500sqft, so they will quote me for ~550ft for scraps, etc.

The carpet I selected is $.78/sqft and I think the padding is about .48/sqft. Install is $100 and raw material is about $700 if my guess is correct. Overall cost is then $800.

I have to work on getting the cat smell out of the concrete. I'll dumping a solution of hydrogen peroxide and water on the floors first to see if that works at all. If it doesn't, I'll have to go the hardcore route and use some TSP and a product that's been recommended to me called OdorXit.

I think the carpet will have more general appeal than the vinyl. The nice thing is, even really cheap new carpet looks nice.

I've heard sealing the concrete can get rid of the odor, but never had to mess with it myself.

 

[z1ggy]

Have you done any google searches about removing the cat urine smell from the concrete? A few quick searches suggest hydrogen peroxide works well, and also sealing/painting the floor.

I think the carpet will have more general appeal than the vinyl. The nice thing is, even really cheap new carpet looks nice.

I've heard sealing the concrete can get rid of the odor, but never had to mess with it myself.

I put down the solution last night, scrubbed it into the floor with a brush. This morning, the washed areas had a white film on top.. I'm guessing from the baking soda. I will probably end up painting the surface with Kilz oil based sealer, just to make sure any remaining smell is gone. I'm kind of nose blind to the smell I think, so it's hard to tell if it's gone yet. I may do another round or two of the wash just to make sure.