"Accidental House Flipper" seeking advice about selling house

[Kristin McPherson]

Good morning!  Although I've been listening to BP podcasts for about six months, this is my first time to venture into the forums.

I identify as a Real Estate Rookie and Accidental House Flipper.  My husband Chris and I purchased a 3000 sq ft brick house on an acre as a primary residence in April 2014.  It was a foreclosure, and the price had just dropped to $69,000 when we found it.  We offered $40K, the bank negotiated us to $52K, but we returned to our $40K offer after the inspection came back.  (I actually wanted to run away, but Chris felt confident about tackling it.)  They accepted our offer within an hour.  

Chris rehabbed it all summer to make the place habitable for us, and we began occupying in November 2014.  We had a brand new kitchen but had to close off the living room and master suite until we had the time and money to tackle those, and we just prayed our kids wouldn't fall through the floor while bathing.  It was pretty rough!  We basically did one big project annually, so now we have a pretty nice house with nearly new everything in the past six years.

My husband accepted a ministry position in Sept 2019 in a city about an hour and fifteen minutes away.  We've driven back and forth there for over a year to attend church and events 2-3 times weekly.  We finally purchased a home in that city in October 2020.  The kids and I live in the new house full time, and my husband is still working and living in the "old" city as he finishes projects at the house and wraps up his job until Feb. 26.  He still comes to the "new" house on weekends and occasionally a week night here and there, and we're eager to get fully transitioned.

We haven't listed the old house yet as we are still wrapping projects, but a guy called me last week about it.  He'd heard from someone that we'd be selling soon and is interested in purchasing a larger home.  I sort of feel that he expected us to be ignorant about real estate because of our lack of experience (and was unpleasantly surprised that we ended up being a little knowledgeable about the market), but I got the vibe from him that he was really trying to score a deal at the expense of our ignorance.

He called on Thursday and I agreed to show the house on Saturday.  We whipped it into shape as best we could and walked this couple through.  They were visibly stunned by Chris's work and clearly want the place badly.  They sat at the table with us and made an offer on the spot:  $150,000 as is (several projects including gutted master bath are still in progress, and he said he can manage those).  The kicker is... they have no financing!  He said he'd give us $15K, take over our note, and pay out the rest later.  He threw around a bunch of numbers and gave a really shady vibe.  We said no thanks and stood up.  We told them to check with a lender and get back with us if it works out.  (We aren't in a position to owner finance and really need the capital to put onto our new mortgage and pay off some bills.)

Even though the guy seemed a little shady, I'm glad for that experience for several reasons:  it really got our momentum up (my husband and son quickly completed some smaller projects and I deep cleaned in preparation of that showing), and it gave us confidence about our home's value.  We had initially hoped to sell it (even with all projects completed) for at least $150K.  Now the market has exploded here though, and we can do better.  The cheapest listing in our city with 3000 sq ft and an acre now is $425K.  There is no inventory at all for houses this size in the $150-250K range.

Our Zillow photos and description are not up to date, but I don't mind sharing the info now in case anyone wants to look.  The address is 29 23rd St SE, Moultrie, GA.  We are planning to list with an agent in early March once we finish our projects, and I have a real estate photographer lined up to take good photos.  I'll run over there in the next few days though and try to take some updated photos with my phone for those who want to offer input.

I'd love advice about staging, listing, marketing, and anything else a trained eye spots that we should address.  We would love to do another transaction in our new city as we have opportunity.  My husband has learned so much about rehab from our home (he's also owned a painting business for almost ten years) that he wants to work as a remodeling contractor in the new city "on the side" (he's a pastor, too).

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and interact with me!

https://www.zillow.com/homedet...

[Forrest Faulconer]

Hey Kristin, well done on adding some sweat equity into what's now a beautiful home. It sounds like you are wanting to list it for sale by owner? Otherwise a solid Realtor would take care of photos, listing, marketing, etc. I would highly recommend having it fully remodeled before selling it, a gutted or unfinished bedroom or bathroom will definitely ding the value and reduce the number of potential buyers. (I personally look for projects and opportunities to add value in every purchase, but that is not everybody). 

Forrest Faulconer