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Updated over 5 years ago,
Selling a sub optimal rental
Hi folks,
I have a rental property (SFH, 3bdr/2ba) in Phoenix in a pretty good location that I'm looking to sell. I bought it six years back from a flipper who either no had clue what he was doing or was a plain old crook - over the years I spent an arm and a leg on repairs and so I decided to sell it and move to a more stable property. Last year I put it on the market in a bad timing (November) and after spending almost 10K on various upgrades (paint, appliances, doors, landscape, etc) I had zero bids despite plenty of shows. A few of the reasons - the property doesn't have a great flow, the kitchen is small, there are low ceilings in the dining room, and though updated six years ago the finishing level is mediocre. So I decided to wait another year and at least cover some of my expenses while hoping the market doesn't tank. Long story short I'd like to put it now on the market again in the next couple of weeks and curious if you would just try go with 'slap lipstick on a pig' or should I try to spend some serious dollars on upgrading the place (or something in between). A similar updated house a block away was sold for $223/sqft just six weeks ago, whereas I listed my house last year for $163/sqft and still wasn't able to sell. The thing is comps could be misleading/confusing in that area because every block is different and $/sqft is also a gross method. For 1928 sqft I could make $115K extra on my asking last year so presumably if I get a contractor to do that for at least 20K less it might be worth my time.
I'm wondering if you experts recommend getting into this adventure or just would sell it as quickly as possible with minimal effort? I should say that I have no time to spend on this - I started a new gig in Jan so am super busy, therefore if I do want to go into this 'fixer-upper' play I'll have to find a super reliable general contractor that can do this. I'm not a local and live in California so as much as I think there's money to be made here, I'm leaning to just trying to sell quickly.
Also, if I do want to sell quickly - what if anything do you recommend doing about the more structural problems? Should I just invest in landscape and curb appeal up front and hope for the best? And how would you choose a broker that actually knows how to sell a tougher cookie w/o dunking the price significantly.
Appreciate your wisdom!