Help! Flip’s not selling…price-lowering/marketing strategies?

[Vonetta Booker]

**Apologies in advance for the “freak-out” tone of this post…but that’s why I come to you guys! ;-)**

Hi, guys…I'm trying not to go crazy over this (and maybe my expectations were/are too high), but I'm getting anxious that my flip has been on the market 16 days with no offers yet. I know some might think, "16 days is nothing!"…but I feel like every minute counts in minimizing those HML carrying costs, unloading the flip and moving on, especially since the rehab itself took about a month & a half over the initial timeframe (due to no fault of the contractor's).

Here's the listing, w/ address, pics, MLS #: http://www.mlsfinder.com/kwls/kw/index.cfm?action=listing_detail&property_id=422699110773

(Also, related posts about this property here & here)

I put it on the market (I’m also the agent) June 28, initially listed at $254.9. The first week, I had 5 showings; the general feedback from agents was that although buyers liked the overall rehab & staging, the bedrooms were too small for them (something that I’ll definitely take into account in future flips—but being that this was my first, I didn’t at first recognize this as a potential liability.)

A week ago I lowered the price to $250k, thinking that would bring a rush of buyers? Nope, not so much. Since the July 4th weekend, I’ve had one other showing & an open house this past Sunday which brought out a lot of people, but no offers. Feedback the same--house looks great, bedrooms too small. I thought I’d done the right due diligence re. comps & the pricing, but now I’m like, “Jeez…was I that far off?”

I'm totally open to dropping the price even further, but now my confidence in my comp-assessing ability's been shaken a little, lol. I'm thinking a reduction to $245k might do it, but I don't know…I'm just afraid that I'll keep dropping & dropping with still no activity. I've done lots of marketing—MLS, agent email blasts, featured ListingBook & Facebook ads, a SEO single-property website, open house, flyers, Craigslist, etc. Is there any more I can do? Is there something I'm NOT doing? Or, is the extra stuff just moot because the price is just too high?

I’m open-minded re. doing whatever I have to in order to get this sold quickly. I hate to sound like I’m jumping the gun, but time is money! Should I do one more bigger drop $5k down to $245,000? Or, more frequent, smaller increments (i.e. $500-$1000 a week, for example?)

This is the hardest part to me…because at least I felt like I had some control during the buying & rehab process. Now, I feel like I’m at the buyers’ mercy, lol. Heck, at this point if need be, I’m resigned to making just a small profit or breaking even—like BP-ers say, “Consider it tuition!” :-/ 

[Nicole Pettis]

@Vonetta Booker

Great job!

Few things, just coming from a designers aspect. While the house looks great, maybe add a little more warmth and welcoming manner to the house. I would add some patio furniture on the front porch and a boxwood wreath to the front door. 

Then for the bedrooms. Maybe you should add some beds to show how they would look and fit in the rooms? Air mattresses and 5 gallon buckets are a cheap solution.

Then for the staging in the living room, I would pull the chairs and couch facing one another so it seems to be more of a conversation area. Right now it feels like everything is so spread out. 

 Also I noticed the sunroom wasn't included in the online photos. That might help bring in more buyers. 

And then maybe just market more. Put up flyers or bring in more buyer agents, add it to your FB feed if you haven't already. Send out postcards to the neighbors, maybe they know someone looking for a house.  Have another open house for buyer agents, get their input. As for comps, what were the DOM in your price range? 

My best advice is don't loose your confidence. Take a step back and figure out what you need to do to sell the property fast. I feel like if it was price that would be buyers major complaint, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It seems to be more size, so show them how things would work in those problem areas. 

Hope this helps:)