Keep trying to sell house after 2 weeks?

[Jack B.]

I had been thinking about listing my house for sale with the plan to move back into a rental I own. When the tenant in the MIL apartment in my house gave notice he was moving out of state, I decided to list my house rather than find another tenant (I wasn't enjoying the whole MIL apartment neighbor thing). I got an offer the first couple days, but it fell through due to buyers financing 2 weeks later. I am not getting a ton of traffic since I lost two weeks on the MLS. Plus the house is expensive and in a neighborhood of expensive homes of 1+/- million or so. I see a lot of houses sitting on the market for months here, which is partly why I decided to list the house while I was living in it still before giving notice to my other tenant at the rental I planned on moving into when I had a buyer. If I found a buyer, I would give notice to the tenant in the rental I want to move back into. Well, since I had a buyer I gave them notice and they are moving out at the end of the month but now I'm left with two vacancies and am out thousands in rent per month while paying the mortgages by myself. Suffice it to say, things didn't go that well. So here are the options I'm looking at.

• Option A:

Stick to original plan and move back to rental. I am already paying for March anyways and have lost the rent income for that month from both units. I have 5 weeks to find a buyer and close. If I do, I didn’t lose anything you wouldn’t have lost already by going with the first buyer who couldn’t get financing. If I don’t have a buyer by the 5th of March then I can start trying to rent it out on Zillow again during peak time of month. Meanwhile I can advertise on Craigslist hoping to find a tenant there since I can’t advertise on Zillow while it’s for sale. I could also try to sell it one more month in April beyond that while you try to find a new tenant, eating two months of mortgage payments alone. IF I do rent it out before it sells, take it off the market and try again next year. I could also try to rent the main house out by the room for more money. It’s tough to find renters for expensive homes. 95% of people in my neighborhood are owners, but there are some who have interest in renting, but the pool is very small.

Pros:

-Higher quality of life where I was planning on moving to.

-Don’t have to unpack some stuff and plan on staying another year.

-Gives me the option of selling it now or renting it out until next year if it doesn’t sell, since I would move to my other house then anyways.

-Along with the above if I rent it until next year I can get more money for the house, perhaps 50-100K more.

-I was in somewhat the same situation a few years ago,but it wasn’t a sale; the renter backed out, took 2 months to find a tenant but worked out in the end. It felt like I would never find a tenant though…

Cons:

-Downside of this is possibly carrying the mortgage for a while and possibly selling it for less, especially if I can’t rent it out. The other house I was planning on moving back into is easier to rent. So is the MIL apartment at my current house because they are lower rents.

-Neighbors are not so great here either, but less problems than other places we have lived.

Option B:

Stay, rent the rental I was planning on moving back into back out for another year (or try to get the existing tenant to stay, fat chance since they are already sending reference checks my way for apartments) and the MIL apartment out for $375 more per month total (they were slightly under market rents). Let the house appreciate more then try to sell it again next year. This will allow me to recoup the lost rents and then some not only by raising the rents but also letting the house appreciate more.

Pros:

-Likely sell for more money next year, 50-100K more money. Would at least be able to sell for current price instead of taking a lower price.

Cons:

-Downside of this is either living out of boxes for a year or unpacking at least SOME stuff again. Not everything needs to be unpacked though, very little.

-Another year with crappy neighbors (loud bass music, etc.)

Which option should I pick or is there an option I’m overlooking?