Do i hold it or sell for a loss and move on?

[Len Miller]

Hello BP community,

I wanted to share a "not so great" experience with you and see how you would handle it. I am a newer investor and purchased my second unit at foreclosure over 18 months ago. Without going into great detail, I will summarize some of the challenges this property has presented.

- Bought it on line at auction 

- used hard money to satisfy the mortgage.

- Took months to pay off because i had to track down the relatives of the deceased to get their consent.

- Had the unit under contract for sale

- pre-sale inspection found moisture in the wall.

- needed to get out of the hard money and refinance with a bank.

- couldn't refinance because there was an issue with the documents the daughters of the deceased signed

- had to reach back out to them again.

- refinanced the property with a bank. (unit appraised for $217,000. Took a loan for $156,000)

- had a mold remediation company come in, half of the 1200 sq ft unit had to be demo'd

- General contractors are currently installing a new kitchen, new bathroom and half of the living space.

Question is, what do i do with the unit now that it is almost complete. At this point i will need to sell the unit for $245,000 just to break even. The realtor feels that the market has slowed in the area and i will only get about $220,00 which would net me about $205,000 after closing costs (a $40,000 loss). I could rent the unit but between HOA, Property Manager and mortgage, the unit would lose about $150/$200 a month.

If you found yourself in this situation would you sell now and take any cash from the deal ($45,000-$50,000) to purchase something else and write this off? Would you Rent it for a year or so and list it n a year or two in hopes to secure a better sale price, OR have you been in a similar situation and found a creative solution to minimize losses?

Thanks in advance, 

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