How to sell primary residence during the high?

Anonymous · ‎03-09-2019

So, I'm trying to puzzle this out. Spouse and I don't have much money experience, we've only finally started clearing 60k annually with both of us working full time and sometimes overtime. We managed to buy our home at the low, we are in the rather exciting and volatile Orlando/Daytona market which is pretty overvalued right now. We only paid 80k for our house, right now we owe about 70k. We did just go through chapter 7, but, Florida has a huge homestead exemption. Right now comps are selling for around 180k to 200k. Our house isn't ideal as it's a 2 bed 2 bath instead of the typical 3 bed 2 bath which is a lot more popular around here. Zillow estimates our house is worth $175k now and 193k next year. It has a nice layout, we didn't remodel the kitchen or one of the bathrooms, but, there's new flooring, new roof, new AC and one remodeled bathroom. So, it's a strong contender in this market where most homes will need a roof in a couple years (Everyone around here pretty much got a new roof in 2004 after that hurricane season. We replaced our roof already, but, most have a roof that needs replacement soon.)

So, how the heck do we pull this off? I want to move back to northern Michigan. Where I'm shopping now is currently overvalued by about 100k over what prices were just a few years ago. Obviously, we've got another housing market crash coming. Do we sell and then rent until the bubble bursts? Rentals are a bit light because of the market, so it's looking like even a pretty basic rental is going to end up being $1500 a month. Other complications include kid, pets, and mediocre income.

My goal is to use the proceeds from this house as a huge down payment on another house and then have double the house for our current monthly mortgage payment.

Though, I suppose everyone is trying to do that.

Revelate · ‎03-09-2019

Not sure if the right question is how (find a realtor, list the property, and go), but whether to.

I could live cheaper than I am now, currently I pay ~2800 in housing expenses between mortgage, HOA, taxes, and insurance.. and I have approximately 100k in capital gains before real estate fees on my condo having purchased it mid 2015; also, like you I think coastal real estate has peaked for a bit, although there's a law in California (Prop 13) that distorts the real estate market somewhat, namely reducing supply... and then all the NIMBY problems that creating affordable housing has.

That said, moving is a pain in the ass even for someone like me who around once every two years or so reduces the amount of crap that I own and doesn't buy a lot of new stuff coming in. I don't have buckets of time like I did when I only had one job, and any time spent moving is probably time lost billing currently... that's an edge case though.

More generally, I sorta happen to like where I live: it's a gentrifying urban area, good restaurants continue to move in, employers are coming in too so the long term health seems to be in fine shape, and it's affordable compared to many places in Los Angeles. Not tied to LA, but my life is here, moving impacts my life negatively, even if it might be the financially smart thing to do now. Dating legitimately sucks here but right or wrong that's not high on my list of priorities right now.

Ultimately it is absolutely a comparison vs. rent, but I do look at real estate as a long term investment: namely I currently paid 1250 in principal this month (and that number keeps getting better over time as my loan continues to amortize) and that's just moving money from one side of my balance sheet to the other. As a result, my home ownership really is only costing me $1550/month and that's less than what it would cost for me to rent my own place, about in line with a bunch of 1B apartments, and also to be fair my place is zoned for commercial and residental so it's zero problem running a business out of my place from an addressing standpoint, which has some marginal value as the second bedroom is absolutely an office.

So while yeah, I could take that capital gain now, and buy again in call it 3 years, meh.

If you can swing your life in such a direction and the rent is obviously cheaper, then absolutely take the money and run, but I have trouble getting my mind around that and I have nobody but me, myself, and I to worry about... no impact on stuffing kids into a new environment and new school for example.

Ultimately while I think not buying right now is probably smart for call it 60% of the areas in America currently, I'm not sold on the strategy of trying to time the real estate market any more than trying to time the stock market.

Do your own math on it and see if it makes sense, I don't think it does for me, but it might for you if rents vs. owning are even more out of whack than where I am.

Anonymous · ‎03-10-2019

Speaking as the husband of a midsized real estate brokerage firm owner, now is propably one of the best times to sell but NOT buy for the next 5 years. That being said buyers want move in ready neutral colors; quality finishes. The buyers pay most attention to the kitchen and bathrooms. Make sure those are current and quality. Have your agent run a valuation. Many of the homes are way over priced. Used the SOLD comps to determine a listing price. If you get multiple offers don't yank the chain. simple call for highest and best is all that's needed.

When hiring a realtor you will probably do best to find a strong agent that works your area and avoid teams. Don't use part time agents or Aunt Janes son cousin's Lester because he is a relative. Last year my DW sold over 100 homes her self not counting her agent's that is what you need to be looking for.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2019

Revelate:

Yes, my question was more how to pull off the logistics. It's so stinkin complicated with a kid and pets. Such a shame though cause I would love to cash in on it now. We're in a really volatile market- we only paid 80k and nothing is selling under 140k in our area with comps selling over 200k+ a couple streets over. I know some people manage to pull it off, just, not sure at all how the heck they do it.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2019

@Anonymous wrote:
Speaking as the husband of a midsized real estate brokerage firm owner, now is propably one of the best times to sell but NOT buy for the next 5 years. That being said buyers want move in ready neutral colors; quality finishes. The buyers pay most attention to the kitchen and bathrooms. Make sure those are current and quality. Have your agent run a valuation. Many of the homes are way over priced. Used the SOLD comps to determine a listing price. If you get multiple offers don't yank the chain. simple call for highest and best is all that's needed.
When hiring a realtor you will probably do best to find a strong agent that works your area and avoid teams. Don't use part time agents or Aunt Janes son cousin's Lester because he is a relative. Last year my DW sold over 100 homes her self not counting her agent's that is what you need to be looking for.

I've got a great potential agent, she was our agent when we bought the home and she sells a ton of houses. When I say we're in a hot market, I mean a ridiculous market. A coworker of mine just paid $145k for a house that had no flooring, nonworking AC, plumbing issues and so on. Our house isn't fashionable, but, it has new central air, new roof, new carpet, one remodeled bath with jacuzzi tub and the rest is functional but original. I think it would be under contract in under a week as pretty much anything financeable is under contract about that fast where we're at.

The problem is finding another place to live while waiting for the bottom to fall out again. Can't figure out how in the world to do that with pets. I'd love to talk to someone who managed to pull that off, particularly during the last bubble.

Anonymous · ‎03-12-2019

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Speaking as the husband of a midsized real estate brokerage firm owner, now is propably one of the best times to sell but NOT buy for the next 5 years. That being said buyers want move in ready neutral colors; quality finishes. The buyers pay most attention to the kitchen and bathrooms. Make sure those are current and quality. Have your agent run a valuation. Many of the homes are way over priced. Used the SOLD comps to determine a listing price. If you get multiple offers don't yank the chain. simple call for highest and best is all that's needed.
When hiring a realtor you will probably do best to find a strong agent that works your area and avoid teams. Don't use part time agents or Aunt Janes son cousin's Lester because he is a relative. Last year my DW sold over 100 homes her self not counting her agent's that is what you need to be looking for.
I've got a great potential agent, she was our agent when we bought the home and she sells a ton of houses. When I say we're in a hot market, I mean a ridiculous market. A coworker of mine just paid $145k for a house that had no flooring, nonworking AC, plumbing issues and so on. Our house isn't fashionable, but, it has new central air, new roof, new carpet, one remodeled bath with jacuzzi tub and the rest is functional but original. I think it would be under contract in under a week as pretty much anything financeable is under contract about that fast where we're at.

The problem is finding another place to live while waiting for the bottom to fall out again. Can't figure out how in the world to do that with pets. I'd love to talk to someone who managed to pull that off, particularly during the last bubble.

Selling with pets Get rid of all pet stain, odor and evidence . of pet. BOARD PETS In a hot market the easiest way is to board pets for weekend and have a large well advertised open house. actually two open house bck to back one for agents and another for buyers. Anything my DW thinks is going to have a lot of interest due to price/location she a large open house. This is far easier than 10 to 20 showings over the weekend. Some areas do better than others with open houses.

Getting the replacement house while owning another house. This is the hard part. Two ways to work and depends on your situation . 1) submit offers on new home subject to selling old Not easy to get sellers to take your offer 2) See if you can get a bridge loan to buy the 2nd home while you try to sell the second. Bridge loans can run for 90 days to 1 year while waiting to sell the first home