When to List a House Under Construction

[Jason Merchey]

When would you suggest listing a house that I am doing a major remodel on? It's at the stage now where the shingles are on, the doors and windows are in, but many other elements such as electrical and such are not complete. I was thinking of advertising it to Realtors around town in the "white box" stage of completion, meaning it is drywalled/mudded/taped/sanded but there is no paint on the interior, no flooring, no appliances, no countertops, no moulding, no hardware. Beyond that it would probably be an additional $40,000 and 30-40 days to complete it.

One point of view is, since the downtown Charleston market is going to probably get hot again in February after a Nov-Jan cool-down, it might sell well in January or February to a buyer who is particular about what kind of finish out they want to see (it will ultimtely sell for $240 per foot x 1,600' for about $375,000). This might be a little more complicated, but worth considering. On the other hand, some say that since the wife usually makes the final purchase decision, she is only going to be emotionally engaged if it is staged well, or at least, is COMPLETE. The disadvantage here though is that there is some population of buyers out there who want Thermador, not Kenmore, or bamboo not walnut, or three strips of moulding not two, or a computer system for the whole house, etc.

Thoughts on this?