So, life has been quite hectic these past few months as we have been super busy in the renovation of our "short sale" house but it's coming along so nicely!
On the other side of the fence in "not-so-good-news-land":
-had a purchase offer on the house; buyers withdrew before we could even consider accepting it or countering it 
-2 weeks later we received a lease option offer on the house; again, buyers withdrew before we could even consider accepting it or countering it
Our listing contract ends on June 30 and we are seriously considering throwing in the towel and just try to rent the house out instead. We've been trying to sell the house for 4 years now! The feedback we've received from every realtor that has walked through the doors have been so positive, i.e. great price (even as we've reduced it several times), great location, great house in general, yada, yada. So, what's the deal??!!
In researching our option to turn the house into a rental property, this is what my CPA has told me:
Since we would be selling at a loss anyway, he advises that turning it into a rental property right now might not be such a bad idea. We could then start deducting depreciation and other expenses. Our mortgage payment is currently $1600 monthly. He advises us to try to refinance it to get a lower monthly payment as the house would probably only get $1200 to $1400 in rent so that we could break even.
Given that we are planning on moving into our "short sale" house sometime at the end of July, we need to make some decisions regarding this house. What do you guys think? Apparently we are stricken with just plain ol' bad luck on this house but we aren't alone... a co-worker has been trying to sell her spec house that they built for the same amount of time (4 years) with no luck either.
Any words of wisdom out there for me?
I'm back... with a question.
May 31st, 2012 at 03:16 pm
May 31st, 2012 at 04:50 pm 1338483012
THAT said, I don't think it is the worst idea to take it off the market for a while. A house that sits on the market a while just becomes a huge red flag. "Something is really wrong with the house." "The sellers are unreasonable." Etc. I kind of wonder what your realtor has been saying in the process - it is really odd to put an offer and rescind. To me that would be a huge potential red flag when it came to realtor. (OR a look at myself - what did the realtor communicate about us that is so offputting?).
Have you had the same realtor for 4 years?
My mind goes there because when we bought our first home the average home sold in 5 minutes in an insane bidding war. The condo we ended up buying had sat on the market for 6 months. HUGE red flag!! We quickly discerned two things - seller started out with WAY unrealistic price (which was realistic by the time we got around to it - with skyrocketing housing prices). They also had a TERRIBLE realtor. Once we kind of realized all these dynamics, we felt confident with our choice to buy. We did not have to compete with other offers, which was absurd at the time. (& we had NO Problem selling it when we moved - with an A realtor).
Maybe a home that sits 4 years today, where your house is, is not that unreasonable. But I think taking a break, getting some cash flow (refinance/renting), and revisiting a future sale with another realtor, is not the worst idea.
May 31st, 2012 at 04:56 pm 1338483383
I do feel for you - how frustrating!!!
June 5th, 2012 at 08:50 pm 1338929420
Our listing agreement is over June 30. I went ahead and advertised on craigslist the house as available to rent for July 1. I've had one family really interested in it... did a drive by and they have asked for a look inside. We are scheduling a "showing" for the weekend so maybe going the renting route will be more successful for us after all???
June 10th, 2012 at 08:46 pm 1339361169
Jerry