jmatthew said:
I posted a few months ago about renting v. selling our condo in the Summit. We're not upside-down or anything like that. We have 30-year fixed mortgage. We're not in any danger of foreclosure. Our problem is that, for many reasons both personally and professionally, we would really, really like to move to North Carolina. We would have liked to have moved before Christmas, but we can't get rid of our condo. We tried selling it for 1 1/2 years, and nothing. Looking back, we probably were asking too much. Just recently, we've been trying to rent it. Still, nothing. We have a 3br/3ba townhouse, 1763 sq. ft. We've been asking $3,300 for it, which is less per square foot that the apartments across the street, and roughly in parity with other properties in our neighborhood, at least according to the Realtor we're using. We've also indicated that we're flexible on the rent.
Now, we don't know what to do. There is an REO in our neighborhood, 18 Anjou, which is being offered at $724,500. It the same model as ours, except much more upgraded. (Which is why it's an REO. The former owner took out all the equity and covered every surface he possibly could with marble and travertine, put in stainless steel appliances, etc., basically your typical Fritalian villa overkill. I suppose some people like that look, but it's pretty hideous, in my opinion.) In any event, we've done a few upgrades and our place is not in any need of any major repairs.
We bought long enough ago that we could undercut the REO by $25,000 and still come away with a profit. So, I'm interested in opinions. Should we go for it or keep trying to find a renter?
Dealing with the lease aspect of your situation (And I understand you are under contract right now, I am not soliciting you rather just offering my assistnace (all my info is coming from the MLS)
1.) Including your rental I see 5 leases currently available in The Summit
Yours - Plan 3 $3,300 Days on the market: 77
36 Bretagne -Plan 4 $3,400 Days on the market: 67
71 Anjou -Plan 2 $2,800 Days on the market: 6
11 Bretagne -Plan 2 $2,800 Days on the market: 27
30 Auvergne -Plan 1 $2,600 Days on the market: 144
Then I went and searched what's been actually leased in The Summit going back approximately 6 month:
36 Bretagne - Plan 4 $3,400 Days on the market 68, leased on 7-1-2008
24 Auvergne - Plan 4 $3,100 Days on the market 86, leased on 10-25-2008
49 Auvergne - Plan 2 $3,100 Days on the market 29, leased on 6-30-2008
78 Anjou - Plan 3 $2,800 Days on the market 33, leased on 11-5-2008
2 Auvergne - Plan 2 $2,650 Days on the market 63, leased on 11-12-2008
If you want your condo leased, you are going to have to drop the price (do a little advertising to help give you maximum exposure)
Two most recent sales in The Summit have been both Plan 2's at $650k and $630k. Two bank owned's currently for sale and 3 short-sales currently for sale too, for a total of 7 condos for sale at this time.
That is one hek of a sale price taking into account all factors.
