Any ideas on a good strategy for relisting property without losing current interest?

Question

Hello, hope everyone is doing well.

In the past few days I have learned a lot of new info about the situation of selling the family home. We used a flat fee listing company to list the home a few months ago while I was away but we had a tenant in there. She agreed to show the house but people were coming at all hours so she put up a sign no soliciting. I was out of town and spoke with family members who said that there were no good offers. (I now found out that there were offers which I saw in the cabinet, but I think they just did not want to sell, also we had a tenant in there)
I want to try to sell the house myself now that is why I used a flat fee listing since Im not working right now and I want the experience, so far I have bought 3 homes at auction and rented them so I know a bit. We have had many offers on our house over the past few days since I have come back to town and am over seeing the sale. The house is listed for 445k (which I have now confirmed is low- even a couple of the buyers realtors admitted this- surprisingly) , We had a Realtor and her son visit the house and offer us 420k cash. They seemed really friendly and like nice people she said her son was getting married and needed to find a place and they really like the house. I believed them but we had loan offers that were higher so I told her the only way we would consider their offer is if she waived her commission since we are not going to take that much of a cut in price just because we have a cash offer. I never heard back from them when I suggested that. I sat there thinking why would a Realtor and her son want to pay 420k cash for a home that rents for about 2000 a month? Then I realized that they were just flippers who realize that the home is worth about 480k if they buy 420k cash from us the mom gets a 3% commission and then they put it right back on the market after a few upgrades for about 480k. Our best offers are close to 480k already anyway through conventional loans. The home is in good condition but it is VERY dated. We have decided to invest in new carpet, paint, scraped ceilings etc., tile, (I can get good prices on these) then we will put it back on the market for around 480k. I figure its our family home so we should at least try to get fair market value for it or else the flippers will. We would much rather sell to an owner occupant anyway, someone who will appreciate the home.

Now heres my question for all you strategists out there, my flat fee listing is about to expire. The problem with this flat fee listing service is that they charge about the same to change the pictures as to pay for a new listing. I know many will say just hire a realtor but I would prefer to do this myself because I enjoy it. The Days on the market is close to 365 now and is ready to expire. The truth is that I just started showing the home about a week ago. Would it be better for me to just pay for a new listing- where I can take new photos of all the upgrages we are installing? Also the Days on the Market would be reset. (which would actually be more accurate of the days it has been shown- Again I realize that realtors will see the CDOM) I look at competing houses in my area and the realtors do all kinds of stuff like delisting, relisting multiple times etc. etc. I can't do anything like that because it all costs a lot on flat fee listing so my plan was just get the house into the best shape I can and then put it back on the market with new photos. The current list price is 445k with old photos even though I am going to relist it at 480k completely upgraded. About 20 people are calling a day to see the house, I have been telling these people who call that the house is being upgraded and should be ready in a couple weeks but they still think the price is 445k. Should I just tell them the new price is 480k on the phone or should I take the house off the market now while it is being upgraded and I am waiting to take new pictures? Or should I change the price to 480k on the current listing (while keeping the old photos up) and when the home is ready then just change the photos? I cannot show the home for a couple weeks anyway so how should I handle inquiries during that time? I have a feeling I might lose these people when I tell them the new price of 480 even thought the home is being COMPLETELY upgraded because they already saw the listing of 445k. How do I relist with new photos at market value of 480k without people seeing the 445k price? With a good property add description? I noticed my competition is listing well above market for 515k is that to leave room for negotiation or are they not serious sellers?

Any suggestions for upgrades for a home in the 500k range? Would it be more important to upgrade a 500k home than a 80k home? We still have pop corn ceilings right now. I was thinking of adding granite counters in the bathrooms. Is crown molding necessary? If I accept a loan offer I want to make sure the house will appraise, so I was thinking if I get some granite, hard wood floors in there it may appraise for a higher value. Anyone have experience with this?

Thank you all for any ideas.

Jon Kirkpatrick · Answer

I'm not a RE market guru, but I'm just going to employ some sense here.. that seems reasonable? I mean, what, you counter at 430k? Sounds like a waste of time. Just accept it. All cash? Sounds like a deal to me. Use that money to fund other investments. I don't think you should be concerned what they do with the property. They are giving you 430k cash? Done. I think I found the reason. You are emotionally attached to the property. This is always a disaster and I can probably guess "gurus" won''t have any answers for you because you already have emotional interest in the property.

Will Barnard · Answer

Tyler, you are talking about two different things here, apples and oranges. You either sell at full retail market value with Ann updated home, or you sell as is in outdated condition for less. One or the other.

Tyler M · Answer

As I said the house is dated, we are working on updating it. The comps suggest that after the property is finished it should sell for about 480k- again a conservative estimate after remodelling.

Mike G. · Answer

Jake doesn't really know what your home is worth. He's just saying if your house is priced right in the LA area today, it should sell quickly. It seems like maybe it's not priced right. If the house is dated and you are expecting to get the same price as houses that are recently updated, that's not a realistic expectation.

Tyler M · Answer

Keep in mind that the numbers I am using are a little off because this is a public forum. The crux of the issue is that there is that there is about a 40k margin between our property and similar homes. We believe that the reason is that our home is VERY dated. These other homes are completely updated which would not cost much for us to do.

Tyler M · Answer

Also if I accept an offer now and the deal does not go through, my listing will be taken down in a couple weeks which means people won't see it and I may miss out on some back up offers.

Tyler M · Answer

Hi J Scot. Our highest offers are about 440k. The low end is 480k it could possibly sale for 490k or 500k as Jake mentioned in the post above. The home is in great condition but is really dated and needs cosmetic work, the buyers in this area want a home that is turn key and completely updated. It would not cost that much to do this. The goal of relisting would be to add new photos of the upgrades. These flat fee listing companies charge the same amount to change the photos as to buy a new listing. Also we have only showed the property for a few days when the DOM says almost a year (we had a tenant and could not show the home). Which is kind of unfair as realtors in our area are constantly delisting, relisting and resetting the DOM. They list the square footage higher than it actually is etc etc. Im not saying all do this but I am competing against a lot who do.

J Scott · Answer

I'm confused. You have offers close to $480K, and now you want to spend a bunch of money to relist at $480K? What is your goal by relisting? It sounds like you already have what would be full price offers at the time you relist... What am I missing?

Jake Kucheck · Answer

I didn't read everything but I can tell you that you should pretty much be able to sell anything under $500K with your eyes closed at the moment. Huge surplus of buyers, huge deficit of inventory. As long as you don't get the pricing wrong by 15% the wrong way, your DOM shouldn't matter at all. I would say it would make the most sense to re-list with a different flat fee broker, if you are so opposed to using a traditional agent.

Tyler M · Answer

I wish we had never listed the home while we were out of town and could not really show it because of tenant but what can we do to salvage the situation and make this listing come to life? This house is in Orange County CA. If anyone is familiar with RE trends in this area.