I have a flip that is on the market in Milwaukee and I am starting to get nervous as the Wisconsin weather begins to cool off and kids head back to school. I am open to suggestions on things to try or ways to get more interest. Here are some of the details: • purchase, rehab, holding costs, and expected realtor fees are currently at $90k all in. • holding costs look to be about $1000 per month • it has been on the market for 96 days with 2 price drops • property has been rehabbed pretty thoroughlynew floors (mostly carpet)new paint (inside and out)fully remodeled kitchenremodeled bathroom finished upper (bungalow) with master bath and sitting areanew furnace and ACno garage, but garage slab (old one was knocked down before I bought it) • new floors (mostly carpet) • new paint (inside and out) • fully remodeled kitchen • remodeled bathroom • finished upper (bungalow) with master bath and sitting area • new furnace and AC • no garage, but garage slab (old one was knocked down before I bought it) • is on 54th and a block north of North Ave, a little Northeast of Wauwatosa • new floors (mostly carpet) • new paint (inside and out) • fully remodeled kitchen • remodeled bathroom • finished upper (bungalow) with master bath and sitting area • new furnace and AC • no garage, but garage slab (old one was knocked down before I bought it) I had some interest when it first went on the market (a dozen showings), but have had no offers. typically the concerns that are shared revolve around the location. Something at this point I can't control. How do I get this property sold? Thanks BP community!

Oh and one more thing...I know this may sound silly but putting yellow flowers by the front door helps or whatever door they enter. The color yellow puts people in a good mood, its true and it does work. Its a marketing strategy many grocery stores use to entice people to buy more.

Hi Dave, I think I must've have found yours, I'm guessing it is the one that just had the old listing withdrawn and was relisted yesterday on N 54th? I haven't read all of the comments on here yet, maybe you gave the address or mls#, but without even looking at the actives I'd guess that's a high price for that area and now seeing Conrad's post just above mine and that he did look through the recent sale comps and actives and is saying the same thing, I'm sure he's right on that one. I hate to discourage anyone here and I hope that's not how you take it, as you actually went out and really did something for real, got it done, which is a lot farther than a lot of people get! You might want to chalk this one up to experience though and drop the price, I'm curious what your new realtor said about that price. I don't know her personally, but the firm she works for (and I'd obviously assume she's part of their family-not exactly a common last name!) has been around for many years, the founders and their sons were old friends of my family, all grew up in same area, went to same church, etc. as my family and they DO know what they're doing, one of the older ones was a UW-Milwaukee real estate prof for years and wrote at least one book on the RE business, a while back. So, I'll assume she knows what she's doing as well, which is why I'm curious what her assessment was, especially as we near the "Thanksgiving Drop Dead Date" for many area sales as winter approaches. I did see as I briefly skimmed some comments that some people were being hard on you about the cabinets, I'd actually disagree somewhat in saying that for that price range I think they're fine, although you can get much nicer ones for not a whole lot more money. The appliances being mismatched (black range/SS fridge/missing dishwasher-NO ONE buying a house wants to also buy a dish rack!) is an issue, but I wouldn't worry about it now, but make a note for the next one. Having a second full bath upstairs IS a definite big plus and the bathrooms look very nice for that price range, maybe even a bit over done and that's from someone who HATES plastic tub surrounds! So, other than the lack of a garage, which I'll get to, I think it looks decent or great for the bathrooms, for that price range. As mentioned, staging does sell houses and if you're going to be doing more of them, investing in some furniture and accessories OR having it staged really does help and that's something I personally learned the hard way! Same thing for the yellow flowers Nicole mentioned, or even pink flowers! What it always comes down to is location though and that whole NW area can be tricky, but not at all saying you can't sell something on that side of town, quite the contrary. The fastest flip sale I ever had was on 74th, just north of Capitol. I listed it and had a problem with the 25 pics I'd just taken with my fancy new SLR camera that I was all excited about, couldn't get them to upload right because the fancy camera was so complicated. So, being short on time I went back and snapped a single phone camera shot of the front of the place as the sun was just going down and listed it as is, intending on uploading the correct pics the next day. Had a showing the next morning and got a call right after saying she wanted it! I got the offer a couple days later as the realtor was a part timer, but still a competent guy just working a full time job as well. Your block isn't a really dangerous one, but crime is an issue, even in the eastern parts of Tosa it is, so the missing garage is also an issue, even if its detached, people love a garage in an area where it is even a question. Some neighborhoods nearby like Enderis Park and Washington Heights are fairly hot areas, Enderis Park is for sure, some people watch for those houses ahead of time. If you can, I'd also consider lowering it, but again I'm interested in hearing the realtors thoughts and plans, she's been there herself and knows that block (or I'd sure hope so!) from checking it out, as well as the comps and thus knows it better than I do, looking briefly from a distance. Don't get discouraged though, you got this one done and even if its not a big money maker, they get better with experience, although I'm still the first to admit that I'm still learning myself!

You sometimes get good information from the showings that will help you determine why it is not selling. You can either fix the deficiencies or lower the price. I currently have a property that I have been told won't rent or sell unless I install a hot tub. I didn't want to hear that but it is what it is. I hope you had other exit strategies in mind when you bought the property. How would you value the property as a rental. Retail buyers like to buy way before school season. It is getting kind of late. I have had properties that I have had to rent out until spring time when I would market again. Good Luck. Bill

@Dave Carpenter I started going through the actives and solds (last six months) in that area (more or less the area bordered by North / 55th / Center / Sherman). You should probably get another market analysis from your realtor. See what sold and for what price. Take a look at the actives too, that is what you need to be really focusing on now. I would consider this one very strong competition for you. It is in the same area, rehabbed, and priced much lower. Check out - MLS #1377921 2528 N 46th St. in Milwaukee.

You can change the MLS listing to show that it is a lease option property, but your best bet is to have a few open houses and advertise it as rent-to-own on craigslist in both the apartments sections and the real estate for sale section. I offer rehabs I am prepared to hold as rent-to-own in the apartment section and have open houses on Sundays. If nothing else, it brings more people through. The people who are buyers don't know the others may be renters. But this sounds like a pricey hold. You may want to just drop the price to $89,900 and accept that you got a $7K education.

I looked at that link to the listing. The place itself looks great on the inside, but those exterior pics are just not good. You're probably losing a lot of potential viewings right there. I'd suggest getting a little curb appeal going, some better photography, and a little staging. Get a new listing description too, that one is ... kind of awful, sorry. Especially starting with "Affordable..." yikes. And even though I'm in real estate I'm scratching my head over "3rd bedroom upstairs w/HWF &WIC" You want emphasize how completely new and totally modern and wonderful it is inside and how it oozes period charm on the outside.

@Dave Carpenter It's location, price, and condition that really matter. You can't control location anymore and you are pretty much done with the condition, so make sure you are right on that price. I pulled numbers from work and it looks like there is only 4 1/2 months of inventory for homes in Milwaukee under 100K. That still signal a strong market (generally under 6 months signals a seller's market). Think hard about that price so you don't run into winter's carrying costs and end up reducing anyway in the future!

On the dishwasher point, consider that a basic stainless dishwasher as part of an appliance suite is maybe $300. And it is 24" wide. Put in terms people sometimes price cabinets in, that is $150 a linear foot. How much per linear foot were those cabinets? I'm guessing maybe $75? Maybe $100 at most. But that means putting in a dishwasher instead of some of the base cabinets would be an extra $150 or so over the cost of the cabinets. I absolutely promise you that is worth it.

@Dave Carpenter I can tell you updated the kitchen but the problem is you used the cheapest stuff you could find and it's clearly rental grade rather than something someone would put in their own house. You have unused wall space, no back splash, cheap looking oak cabinets, no hood/microwave over the stove, a mismatched appliance set, no dishwasher (even though there was plenty of space for one), and the fridge just looks lost where it's at (is it supposed to go in front of the window in the random 3' gap?). For the cabinets you could have done a much higher end looking cabinet for similar looking money if you went with RTA cabinets. If you can't find a local RTA cabinet supplier I've bought online from cabinetgiant.com and thertastore.com, both have solid plywood nice looking cabinets for less than the cheap particle board ones from Home Depot/Lowes.

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Updated over 10 years ago on 11/26/2014. Most recent reply

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Posts: 150
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Dave CarpenterPoster

Investor
Cedarburg, WI

Buying & Selling Real Estate

First Flip - is it me or the location?! What can be done?

Dave CarpenterPoster

Investor
Cedarburg, WI

Posted August 23, 2014 08:15

I have a flip that is on the market in Milwaukee and I am starting to get nervous as the Wisconsin weather begins to cool off and kids head back to school. I am open to suggestions on things to try or ways to get more interest. Here are some of the details:

purchase, rehab, holding costs, and expected realtor fees are currently at $90k all in.
holding costs look to be about $1000 per month
it has been on the market for 96 days with 2 price drops
property has been rehabbed pretty thoroughly
- new floors (mostly carpet)
- new paint (inside and out)
- fully remodeled kitchen
- remodeled bathroom
- finished upper (bungalow) with master bath and sitting area
- new furnace and AC
- no garage, but garage slab (old one was knocked down before I bought it)
is on 54th and a block north of North Ave, a little Northeast of Wauwatosa

I had some interest when it first went on the market (a dozen showings), but have had no offers. typically the concerns that are shared revolve around the location. Something at this point I can't control.

How do I get this property sold?

Thanks BP community!

Dave Carpenter

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