Is my house really only worth this much?

Question

The address is 215 Avocado Ave. Sanford, FL 32771. I knocked the price down to $184,000 just to try to get it sold and move on to the next one. Most every recent sold (within 3 months) is from the east of US 17-92, which puts them in the Historic District, and mine is not.

Mine is listed at $98/sf, and the other recent solds are mostly in the $150-$160 range. I can't help but looking at this thinking I'm selling for too low.

Wayne Brooks · Answer

Historic district homes are not comps for your property.  If your property is not selling at your listed price, that tells you everything you need to know about the price.

Matt Devincenzo · Answer

I looked at that house when it was on the market last year, and I own/owned 4 homes in Sanford until just this year so I'm very familiar with the area. Your problem is you are in Goldsboro not Sanford Historic or Georgetown neighborhoods. Fortunately you are North of 3rd which is a better section and may actually transition....but it may be too soon for it...or the transition could die off depending on how the Goldboro redevelopment plans proceed.

Russell Holmes · Answer

@Patrick Philip I'm West of Sanford about 40 mins.  I'm familiar with the area, but not enough to know differences by neighborhood looking at a map of Sanford.  Going off of your mention of 17-92 being the split of historic district, It is difficult to find comps, especially rehabbed comps, right around your house on Avocado.  I think that a combination of starting well over $200k (listing history looks like it was $229k at one point) and the time of year has further cut down on interest.  It would take a much more in depth CMA to determine whether you are on point or not, but I think the lack of showings and offers is pointing to that.  Maybe ask your Realtor to run another CMA to see if things have changed since listing.

Here are the two closest and most comparable homes I found, both smaller than yours:

1016 OLIVE AVE, SANFORD, FL 32771 (rehabbed 1285sf 3/2) sold for $119k back in March, or $92/sf

1005 S PERSIMMON AVE, SANFORD, FL 32771 (rehabbed 1400sf 4/2) sold in April for $163k or $116/sf

Those prices aren't bad, but they are from last spring.  I would venture to guess demand will pick up again this spring, but whether that will be at or above last years prices remains to be seen.  I think you're getting much closer to market value than you were when up over 220k, but you may need to decrease more if determined to sell this year.  Full disclosure, I don't have a buyer specifically looking for a house like yours. So while in the same market, my advice is not to try and influence your price strategy for any personal gain.  Just simply a personal opinion.

Oftentimes looking only at price per square foot can be deceiving when comparing homes with the same number of bedrooms.  Picture two 4/2 homes that each have living rooms, kitchens, dining room, etc.  One is 1500sf and the other is 1800sf, but no extra separate rooms.  If priced at an even $100/sf, would it really be worth a full $30,000 to a buyer to have the same number of rooms but all 20% larger?  Oftentimes when the number of rooms and amenities are the same and the square footage is within 20%, difference in total price ends up being only around 25-30% of the unrealistic difference found by multiplying the smaller home's price per square foot by the larger home's size.

Regardless, your Realtor doesn't have a whole lot of comps to compare to as we all see the same sold data, so it isn't entirely his fault for not picking a perfect price, but rather a missed interpretation of adjustments somewhere.  If he listed it at $160k and sold it tomorrow you may have never known if it could have sold at $185k.  There's nothing wrong with calling him to ask him to run a new current CMA and suggest a price he thinks it would sell today at.  You may not be willing to drop to that number, but it will open communication.

If all else fails, would it cash flow as a rental if you held on to it?

Brian Pulaski · Answer

The same thing I will say here I said in my PM.

The neighborhood looks questionable. I don't know the area obviously but it doesn't look to be the best. The immediate sold houses (a block or two worth of sold houses on Zillow show most under $100k, but I didn't dig very far). The color scheme of the house isn't my style and the house might be over priced for the immediate area.

The answer is always lower the price.

Patrick Philip · Answer

Tell Scott in #5 I said hi. He likes beer.

Patrick Philip · Answer

I wouldn't want to hold it as a rental because I'd rather get the equity out to move on to the next project.

I used to manage a trailer park in Zellwood. Take 441 north, right on Washington, left on Woodward Ave. Just behind the Family Dollar. I managed it from April 2015 until October 1st of this year. You know the place?

Is my house really only worth this much?

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