When to decide to rent?

[Mariana Skonieczka]

I purchased a house at Auction.com last Sept. I put over $10,000 into fixing it up. It has been for sale since Dec. My realtor is my sister-in-law and she has set up about 10 open houses since Dec. We have had several people with a strong interest but nothing ever comes to fruition! I want to flip again and have been doing due diligence on several properties. I cannot buy another one until this one is sold. My question is: What amount of time do I give it to sell my house before I decide to rent it? I have cut the price twice. Is there a reason why someone wouldn't want to purchase a flip house? Everyone who sees this house raves about how cute it is. I'm confused and frustrated!

[Brian Levredge]

If it's been shown that many times and you still haven't gotten an offer, then you probably have it priced too high, assuming everything with the house and area is in good shape. How did you do your comps? How is your SIL marketing the property?

As far as renting is concerned that should have been a secondary exit you were prepared for in the beginning. I don't know that there is a hard and fast rule on the amount of time you list a house for sale before deciding to rent it out. If you rent it, you are in essence locking your investment into that property, so you should make sure you are ok with doing that in the first place.