Well I have had some activity but no bites yet on my house. It has been for sale for about 3-4 weeks with little advertising. Unfortunately there isn’t anymore money for advertising, I wish there was. And now we are entering December. I have lowered the price from 70k down to 67k. I have a for sale sign and flyers on the sign for people to take, but does anyone buy houses in December or am I totally screwed? Thanks any positive feedback would be appreciated.
It’s been my experience that newspaper ads are fairly inexpensive in my area. How much does a short add cost in yours?
TP
About $150 for a three line add. Seems quite high to me…
You have to get creative in your marketing. Think about what type of people deal with individuals looking for homes? I am not just talking realtors.
I can give you the answer, but is better if you think for yourself.
Also, what is $150 for an ad compared to another month of holding costs on the home?
Think about if you were buying a home yourself, who would you deal with? Those are the people you have to network with and let them know you are selling a place.
Have you ever heard the expression save a nickel, spend a dime?
TP
You can sell the right home at the right price no matter what time of the year it is. Did you ask the other people why they chose not to buy? Can you offer seller financing or a lease option?
Also try Craigslist or other any other free online advertising communities. You want need to invest in a website that allows you to show pictures of these homes.
They’re right, spend $150 to make your profit on a sale. Advertise for FREE on www.craigslist.com. Be creative with your headlines like "BE IN YOUR NEW HOME FOR THE NEW YEAR or for Spring, etc. (depending on how fast they can close).
Also, owner financing should get someone in there faster, but if you don’t advertise, only a tiny percentage of buyers even know your treasure exists. Maybe someone at a local company is looking for a place closer to their job.
You can do it. Good luck! 
Thanks for the great advice. I am putting a seven day ad in the paper and having an open house a week from today. There are some houses in the neighborhood going for the same price that haven’t been touched from the 1970’s. I wish I could offer seller financing but I am not in the position to do that.
The Flint Journal’s ad rates are ridiculously low: like $3.50/line.
Give up a month or two of rent, give a new TV and you set yourself apart from others.
I did put an ad in the Flint Journal, to put a 3 line ad in for real estate is $63.50 flat rate, each additional line is 19.50. The free payments is a good idea
The Metro Detroit Market is probably one of the worst/slowest markets in the country right now. To much bad auto news is keeping people from doing anything major right now.
I’ve had great luck lease/optioning out homes. A nice chunk of change up front, nice monthly positive cash flow, plus a nice back end.
Also, there’s tons of homes for sale, but not a whole lot of rent to own / lease options available for potential buyers. Homes in this market are selling BELOW appraised value with very little appreciation but the lease option market allows you to get full market value plus 5%-10% added value.
If you have the opportunity to go this route (or need to stop the bleeding) this is a great way to go.
Keep your chin up and good luck!
I think it’ll be tough sledding until spring in the D.
The auto stuff is too cyclical to base a biz off of, IMO.
I think the foreclosure market will remain booming and you just have to set yourself apart from the crowd to get your houses sold.
I just sold one in about two weeks. It was priced slightly below median prices in the area and I offered a small closing cost credit. It was worth it to me to pay about $2500 in their closing costs, as opposed to having my nicely done rehab sitting vacant for a month or two - while I’m paying on it.
Dude, that’s GREAT news.
What area?
I thought I had a serious bite on mine. After a week in the newspaper advertising my open house, one person showed up. She really liked the house, then the next day called me to come look again. She said she wanted a couple days to think about it, and now I haven’t heard anything from her and even tried to call her with no response…
Dude, that’s CRAPPY news. Sorry to hear it.
Its almost at the desperation point for me. I obviously didn’t plan on having a major setback with reconstructive knee surgery and pushing this into winter time. I really don’t know what to do. I firmly believe it is priced right and the ad in the paper got no real response. I just don’t know what to do. If I go with a realtor thats going to eat up a good bit of whats left of profit…this has been a horrible first experience. I did all my research, the numbers worked, I think its just me that has failed, and now I am failing my family, at Christmas time no less.
OK, well first, you have not FAILED anyone. You learned. You’ll do better next time. Your family will not hold this against you. This was done to obviously better all your lives.
Now, perhaps THIS house was not the one to get your rolling. Can you get out with minimal damage (small gain/small loss), take what you’ve learned and do it better next time? Betcha you can.
THNDR…you have alot to be thankful for. Kick ass the next time around. Maybe we can meet for a beer sometime.
Merry Christmas.
My rehab was in Las Vegas.
You can list your house in MLS and avoid paying the usual 6-7% to realtors. There are some companies that will list your house in MLS for a flat fee ( about $900) and you decide what you want to give to a RE agent who brings a buyer to the table. Usually it is about 3%, but you can decide for yourself- is it worth $2000? Maybe you can list it in MLS for the original price of $70 000? It doesn’t cost anything to list and you can pull it out before your contract is up if you don’t see expected results. I agree with one of the previous answers that you can sell anything for the right price. Winter will make it more challanging, but it is not impossible. Just avoid paying anything upfront, put lots of nice pictures of the property on the internet and hope it will help!
Lana.