All Forum Posts by: Vonetta Booker

Thanks for your feedback, everyone. Upon further thought, I'm going to go ahead and keep the listing. It took a lot of time & money to get my license (solely for MLS access, the convenience of viewing listings & making offers on my own--plus listing flips/rentals & keeping the commission).

I guess when the flip didn't sell as quickly as possible, I started second-guessing myself & wondered if someone else could do a better job.  But the fact is, another agent isn't going to have more invested in selling this than I am, anyway.  And @Ryan Dossey, you're absolutely right--comparison DOES kill confidence! I kind of fell for a minute into looking at other local investors & comparing their DOMs to mine--but looking at the WHOLE picture, everyone has their own ups & downs with investing, selling properties, etc.  

Lesson (one of many) learned: Only compete with myself!  (And also that just like everything else, listing/selling properties gets easier the more you do it. :)

Have you ever had another agent (who's perhaps more experienced in marketing, etc.) list your property even though you're licensed? I'm considering it, to give myself more room on focusing on other aspects of my business...but I wondered if this was a thing. 

Thoughts? Or is the whole reason you got a license to list your own properties, lol?

 Actually, Barbara--although I didn't plan that as my original exit strategy, that is certainly my next step (and soon) instead of just letting it sit.  Rents for a 3/2 SF in that area are $1700-$1800, so I'd be getting some cash flow at least instead of watching it ebb away each month in interest costs, lol.  A rent-to-own situation is another one I've been considering.

The loan is via a HML...so I guess I'd refinance, right?

  Thanks, Clinton...I'm going to check out that podcast this morning!

Thanks again, everyone! I decided to hold a broker/agent open this Friday (with a gift card raffle for those who fill out my agent pricing feedback questionnaire)...I figure that's a good start to getting some opinions & hopefully buyers. Next is most likely the agent bonus, as well. 

@Travis Lloyd Wow, awesome local feedback--that's a relief to hear, somewhat! ;-) Yes, I'm definitely open to throwing in a couple of window units...but actually, I've noticed that even when it's sweltering outside, the house still manages to stay comfortably cool inside (could be due to the ceiling fans, especially when the windows are open to allow a nice cross-breeze), but I should probably add to the MLS listing's agent remarks that window units can be supplied w/ a sale.

Did you offer the agent bonus instead of or in addition to a price reduction? And once you did, did you immediately notice an increase in showings?

I've calmed down a little from yesterday, lol--done a "whoosa!" and am moving forward with whatever needs to be done.  @Nicole Pettis, I like your marketing ideas; I'm going to keep going hard w/ what I've been doing & implement some new things suggested by you & others in this and a couple of similar threads I've seen.  I'm going to continue w/ the FB & Craigslist ads, also look at Postlets.  

I especially like the broker/agent open house idea; going to start putting that together.  Today I have a fellow agent from my brokerage (Keller Williams) who's more experienced in that neighborhood (I found he actually sold the house in the past for a previous owner) coming through to assess things and give me some feedback on what price I can possibly tweak it to in order to sell.  

All in all, I've regained my confidence that it WILL eventually sell...the question is, at what price.  I've accepted the possibility that I might not make as much of a profit as originally thought, but hey--you live & learn, especially in this business! The important thing is doing what I need to to sell & move on as quickly as possible, and applying what I've learned from my mistakes to my next deals. :-)

Thanks everyone for your replies! 

@Account Closed, thanks but the issue w/ that is even if there was money left in the budget to do that, it would leave only 2 bedrooms--and buyers are looking for at least three.  So I think either way, they'd find an issue w/ the br. situation.  This is something I'll DEFINITELY look out for in the future...it's one of those "live & learn" things, I guess!

**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!” :-/ 

 No, it's a 3/2. :-)