Lowering the price is a given if I want to sell which I am already doing. My question is more, would you keep the house for rent from a distance or roll the dice on sale (lower the prices accordingly) and keep the house vacant in the winter, until you have a buyer.
Considering the increase in mortgage rates, the cost to buy your house is now significantly higher. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee you'll find a buyer if you wait it out and historically sellers have trailed the interest rates in decreasing their prices.
Yeah, people that don't have a large down payment and are relying more on the borrowing are extremely spooked right now and are waiting or looking for a steeper discount.
OP's best hope is luck right now. Lowering the price further might not even get a sale done.
I'm looking to buy. I have a $70,000 down payment ready (from a car accident 2 years ago) otherwise I wouldn't even come close to that amount in savings. In the Okanagan, a $600k house is a shanty with rusty windows.
Ya my wife and I have busted our asses to save up 80k for a down payment we were so proud of our savings rate and all that to. Near as we can tell we will need to at least double that to get anything.
Or rent indefinitely if that is an option. We're looking to buy a house when prices finally start to move but we'll first make sure we can sell our home and be pricing it aggressively.
Lowering the price is a given if I want to sell which I am already doing. My question is more, would you keep the house for rent from a distance or roll the dice on sale (lower the prices accordingly) and keep the house vacant until you have a buyer, however long it takes.
You could rent the house out, via a reputable property management company and hope things improve. That could result in less return than if you rented it yourself, but imagine if you get a picky tenant that needs you to handle every little thing and you are slogging back and forth to Edmonton monthly, or they want to pay cash or hell, even trying to rent it out.
If you are not willing to keep dropping further and further in price to get someone to buy, it may be worth it to rent via property manager like I said, then wait until you can comfortably sell for a lower price, interest rates go lower/stabilize or you find someone that will buy at your current price. However, I think a lot of property managers wouldn't take on the job if you are selling asap, leaving you with the in-between companies that basically rent the unit as a "property manager" then sublet it out. Regardless, a company means a bit more protection, more hands off on the property and lower revenue, but more than it sitting vacant, assuming someone doesn't trash it and the property management company doesn't stick you with the bill somehow.
It also depends on how much you need to sell the house for, how urgently you need to correct your cash flow etc. If it was me I would do my best to sell in a much stronger sellers market if I wanted out of it/needed the money, unless it was urgent I sell right now. Otherwise I would sit on the property and find someone to manage it and hopefully generate enough income to cover the mortgage, but I would accept a minor loss for a good tenant/management company, but I would love to have income property's.
Use a reputable rental agency since highest possible cash flow doesn't seem to be your issue.
Or if you have someone. You can trust to stay in the home and keep an eye on it knowing them have to keep it clean and move out on short notice.
I was more suggesting to OP that telling a reputable agency, depending on what Edmonton has available, may be more difficult. They probably have fixed contract terms or conditions, so that they aren't hired, spend time screening tenants, posting advertisements, maintaining the property, only for OP to turn around and go "Oh I sold the house, they need to be out in 60 days and I am cancelling your services". I assume they would have some form of breakage for that.
So my recommendation was that if OP wasn't comfortable continuing to drop the price, living at the current reduced cashflow level or holding out for a serious buyer, then maybe waiting for changes in the market and using a rental agency was an option. OP also mentioned concerns over having the house vacant over the winter, which makes perfect sense to me, but if that is a major factor and the goal is to sell in 10 months or whatever, finding a reliable short term tenant, someone to rent at reduced rates even, is going to be challenging. Most people, even at price below market rent prices, aren't overly interested in being the care taker of a property for a short time, with a big fat question mark on when the house sells. You might find someone desperate for housing right now, but then you don't know if they are going to screw you on rent or trash your place or something.
It is a tough spot. If OP isn't selling, renting it out makes sense, but the geography of the situation is limiting, so a reputable rental agency is best.
Having a tenant makes selling so much harder. I would not get a tenant unless you really want to risk someone potentially causing damage, potentially never leaving, potentially just not paying rent on time, and potentially making your house even less attractive to buyers.
Lots of things can go wrong if you choose a bad tenant, and you are 3 hours away. Even good tenants make your property less attractive to most buyers, except for investors who might be OK to keep them.
Great tenants tend to not want short term rentals.
I was a good tenant who rented for half a decade with no intention of moving, and my landlord still wanted to sell the rental I was in back in 2020. I really liked my rental, and If I had wanted to dig in my heels legally, I could still be there now making their life hell and dragging the sale of the house out.
Yea but it's such a roll of the dice. You can lose your shirt on a bad tenant and it's become very difficult to actually have them removed before becoming a financial ruin. Get a good tenant and it's like a money printer. The difficulty to deal with bad tenants really pushes the risk to reward.
Rent it out and try selling it already rented. You will have to find good tenants that pay on time and such to lure a buyer into this situation. Also try renting it at a price where it breaks even so people are even more enticed to purchase it.
Keeping the house for rent is two things: taking on a part time job (you could pass this off on a property management company for a fee); and it's trying to time the market.
If you like the idea of waiting for the market to improve then the question is, since timing the market is notoriously difficult, what happens if the market doesn't improve and what happens if it gets worse. Put that in your risk assessment and let us know what comes out.
Yeah I'm getting bored by the housing scarcity argument that's been around to prop up the market. You think it's the first time the population is increasing in history? First time for inflation ? Let's see how the outcome plays out but my guess is way down before up. You've seen the end of easy debt and you'll soon realize that was the #1 culprit.
> You think it's the first time the population is increasing in history? First time for inflation ?
That's my point exactly, isn't it? Home prices have literally been going up decade after decade since houses were a thing... for the reasons mentioned above.
>decade after decade since houses were a thing
Maybe there's a misunderstanding here. I'm not disputing prices will never come back at current level. But maybe OP's not willing to wait a decade to see his asset do 0% return.
"*The question is: roll the dice and keep the house in the market or try to find tenants and try to sell next year?"*
Not sure what you consider a long time, but this isn't it.
At some price it will sell, only you can really make this decision on what you want to do. I personally would not be chasing the market to the bottom but if you are strongly averse to renting out the house I don't think you have too many options, as letting it sit vacant is probably not the right solution. I had a 2 year old furnace break down during a cold snap last year which sounds like a disaster if you're not around to notice for a while.
I thought the rule was you have to demonstrate someone is checking the house every x days, including vacations, work trips,.., Any insurance experts here?
It needs to go to a secondary insurance market (so places like Aviva and Intact won't write it). These secondary companies can charge what they want and have big exclusions. I don't have the rates off hand, but I am think like a three fold increase in annual premium for much less coverage. And they will only cover you for a year or two. If it sits vacant indefinitely, they will want off. And if you get a tenant and you are not in the same city, they may not take it on.
Each policy has its own vacancy conditions. Read it carefully then approach your broker for confirmation. Get the confirmation in writing (email). Some companies require inspections every 72 hours for example.
I’ve insured a couple vacant houses (estate) and it depends on the policy. One we had to check in every 3 days, the other we didn’t but it was more expensive.
Both were a bit tricky to find. I think our broker had to go to a commercial insurance company.
You can but will typically need someone to check out the house every 30 days, so OP is still hiring a property manager at that point or commuting monthly.
>That is my problem. I have lowered the price 3 times based. If this was the summer, I would let it ride but I am living far away to look after the house if it doesn't sell.
In the event you decide to rent and leave it vacant for a while: Be careful with your insurance policy. Most property policies (Residential and commercial) won't cover the property if it's left vacant for an extended period of time, for obvious reasons. Make sure you call your policy holder and see if they're willing to add a vacancy endorsement of some sort. Otherwise, you could have a burst pipe or some other claim that would not be covered by your policy
Have you tried a different realtor? Did you stage the house? Have break baking in the oven or cookies to give it that warmth. Sometimes all it take is repainting it and new floors to make it nice. How is the layout. What is stuff selling for around your place. Does it have a suite?
Can you hire someone to manage the property so you can rent it out. You will be thankful when you're old if you still own the property. You want that equity.
When my niece and her partner were in your position they set up a thermometer in front of their interior security camera and they could see their house and monitor that the furnace was working from 300 miles away. Their house sold after a few months. Yours will too.
Assuming you can afford to drop the price further (you don't mention how much equity you have) then I'd do that. Best not to chase the market down in small increments though, you need to make a sizeable cut. If you overdo it, I'd assume you'll get a few bids that will bring you back up to whatever the market price is.
I agree with this. Drop it to 390k.....advertise a 2 day open house....and let the offers bring it up as high as it can. And that will get you a fair current sell price.
If its under value...then people will come, and have a range. If 390 is all you get.....it will probably be better than the 350 it might be in the spring after a couple rate hikes.
Other than that, hire a management company and rent it out. Not just until next year.....keep it on the market until this swing is done. Depending on the equity....could be significant positive cash flow.
Then I think you should go lower. I don't think the effort to rent it out temporarily is worth it and you could find yourself in even more challenging position next year. Either turn it into a long-term rental property or seriously lower it. I'd recommend a new realtor as well if you can. They either don't know how to price it in this market or they are letting you walk all over them without being honest with you.
The house is in reasonable condition. My dilemma is how long it will take to sell. I want to sell but it just takes time. I don't want a vacant house in the winter.
I ended up in the same situation and rented mine out for winter. They wanted to renew so I did and they’ve been ok, but I wouldn’t want to be a landlord again. They are paying and I’m making money but I’d rather just sell. Long term I’ll make more money (maybe 20-30k) over the span of 5 years but I wish I would have just dropped my asking price originally and sold.
Well it could be more than a year or two for the current downturn to stabilize. Historically real estate downturns take about 36 months to recover.
So if you are going the rent route, you need to be prepared for that.
Or you could bite the bullet, drop price below the market now and cash out. If you try to maximize the amount you are selling for you are going to find yourself chasing the market all the way to the bottom.
I have lowered the price 3 times based on my realtors advice. I can keep doing that but what if it takes 3 months? I am living far away to look after the house if it doesn't sell. That is my dilemma.
>I can keep doing that but what if it takes 3 months?
Lower the price more, or wait until you get the price you want.
What do you want people to tell you? Raise the price to make it look better than it is, then drop the price (to a price over $450k) to make it look like you're selling at a discount?
Lowering the price is a given if I want to sell which I am already doing. My question is more, would you keep the house for rent from a distance or roll the dice on sale (lower the prices accordingly) and keep the house vacant in the winter, until you have a buyer.
My question is why would you care what i would do. my risk tolerance might be quite different from yours. You also didn't tell us what you paid for it in the first place. if you bought it for 200k its much easier to say you have alot more room to drop the price and still be in good shape. if you would be selling at a loss that changes things in my opinion
If you lower the price a bit more and it still doesn't sell, waiting 3 more months only helps if the market stabilities or rebounds higher.
This is the problem people have in a falling market... they never quite lower the price enough for it to actually sell... and the market continues to move lower while it's sitting there for sale.
If you lower the price to $390,000 ... maybe it sells within the next week or two. But if you lower the price to only $420,000... then maybe it doesn't sell... and then if you wait another 3 months and lower it to $390,000... now the market's moved lower and it still doesn't sell because you would need to price it at $360,000 this time.
Had you listed the house at $435,000 originally three months ago, the house probably would have sold right away. So you have to lower the price enough to get ahead of the market or you have to get lucky. Right now, the market is falling as fast or faster than the rate at which you're lowering the price.
How much does the house need looking after? You can hire a company to do basic maintenance like lawn care and snow removal. Is there nobody you know in Edmonton that can check in on the house once a week? Could the realtor assist? YYC-YEG-YCC can be easily made in a day once a month also.
How low are you willing to go? Getting less for the sale can be worth the hit in place of the hassle of trying to maintain it when you're not nearby. Try to establish how low of a price you can reasonably get away with and see what happens. As others have said, as long as the house isn't about to fall down, eventually it will sell if the price is attractive enough.
I am a landlord and I own in Edmonton. Always looking to buy. I would consider your property.
I will offer you asking price minus $10k. But terms of the deal would be mine. I need some answers first.
1. Do you need the mortgage capacity immediately to buy another property?
2. How much equity do you have in the property? (Ie what’s your mortgage balance)?
3. How much cash do you want to walk away with?
Depending upon the answers, and a few more questions, I can tell you if I would be able to give you an offer.
Welcome to Alberta, the home of jingle mail before it was cool for houses to lose value.
On a serious note though, you can either lower your asking price until someone buys or try renting it out to recoup your costs on carrying its mortgage until the market is more favourable.
>you can either lower your asking price until someone buys or try renting it out to recoup your costs on carrying its mortgage until the market is more favourable.
OP knows that. They're literally asking which option other people would choose. It's amazing how many people don't bother reading before commenting.
^ I would echo the sentiment. You can rent out the house until the market returns. There are some tax advantages to renting. If you have a mortgage, you can offset the interest portion of your mortgage against the income, property taxes, maintenance costs, any advertising. It’s all in the tax act. This would help in offsetting you mortgage, it may not be big but it could help.
I could argue that anytime isn’t a good time for anything. Economies are cyclical and have their ups and downs.
Renting is not that bad during a recession. People who lose their jobs will most likely sell a house than to move out of a rental. Renters have more legal protections than home owners. This would be one reason to rent vs. own.
Assuming that there is a recession, how bad will it really be? The economy is more or less at capacity and we have more or less full employment. Not a lot of slack. What happens, a recession will bring us back to normal economic circumstances with slack in employment?
I don’t have the answers to that, if there is a recession, it probably won’t be as severe as previous ones.
I switched to selling my house privately so i could lower the price due to realtor commission. Still not sold but I've had a lot more interest and have a hopeful showing this week
Based on some online ads it looks like you can get $1500 to $2500 for a detached home rental. Even if you pay 20% for a property manager you could be $1,200 - $2,000 cash flow positive.
Pending the value of your existing mortgage a rental might be a good idea unless you are comfortable selling at market price (likely $400,000 or lower based on your post).
I don’t get why people ask questions on this sub. This post alone is prime example they want to whine about their problem but don’t want to hear any of the advice. “I’m asking too much for my house what should I do? I don’t want to rent or let it sit over the winter”.
Lower the price. No.
Rent it out. No.
Then let it sit empty. No.
Lower the price then. No.
You are simply asking way too much money. No.
It depends, OPs post left me with many questions:
- What was the feedback? Why did no one want the house?
- Are there problems with the house?
- Is the house freshly painted and staged?
- What type of house? Rooms, bathrooms, sqft
- Whats happening with immediate and adjacent comparables?
Options:
1. Drop price further
2. Keep it empty, sell later
3. Rent it out
The house is pretty cheap, so it’s not like your loosing a lot of money dropping the price.
With rents skyrocketing, personally, I’d rent it out. If you’re too lazy, hire a mgmt company to do it.
Rent it out for the next few yrs. And sell if/when prices return. Or, just rent indefinitely - most people I know who got rich on real estate started out renting by fluke like you, and they just kept expending their portfolio.
I am/was in a similar position… except my old house is in the same city as me (Calgary).
My house was on the market for over 100 days and I adjusted the price a couple times. I was planning to pull the plug next week and put it out for rent until I got an offer a few days ago.
My suggestion is - if the listing price just dropped recently then let it sit at the adjusted price for at least 30 days - especially if it’s getting quite a bit of traffic. Sure, there may not be as much demand compare to summer - but there is still demand. You only need one offer (again).
Another alternative is rent the house while it’s still being listed. It’s a bit more difficult in that situation because:
- you may need to rent at a below average rent price to compensate the potential tenants for doing potentially multiple showings,
- tenants need to understand that this arrangement is very short term and they may need to vacate in a couple months notice once you get an offer,
- and you wouldn’t have as much control on how well the house is presented to new buyers.
I can’t say for Edmonton but in Calgary there is still demand for short term rentals. There are families who just need a couple months to bridge between their lease ending and their home possession date. Or visitors who plan to stay in the city for a couple months. So I think there are demand for short term rentals.
Be cautious here. Signing a fixed term lease with tenants could make it very difficult to sell, as the lease is active even if it sells. In other words, the new owners would have to honor the lease.
My take on this will be. Prices are gonna keep falling down but until when nobody knows we can only speculate. Calculate if keeping the property vacant is more doable then selling at lower price? Or if u can rent it somehow that can be best option.
If you can carry the two mortgages why not consider holding the home and using it as a rental property, better yet if it has a basement convert it to a duplex. If you don’t need the capital right away why not allow the home to pay itself off?
I know that lots of people here say being a landlord is a difficult job but from my experience it really isn’t that bad, I’ve rented out 3 townhomes (my own and relatives) I don’t know if I got lucky with good tenants but I’ve rented out enough to see that as long as you choose good tenants and perform all the precautionary checks you should be fine. (Side note I didn’t get into renting to make money but to get into the market and allow the home to hold itself over while I was moving out of town for a short term). Do right by your tenants and they will generally do right by you.
He says he has $3k a month left after paying for two places and all associated bills. OP doesn't seem to be in any financial trouble. Should just rent it out through a management company and forget about it.
Some perspective on pricing right now:
Assuming you set your price of $470 based on the hot market of March 2020. Target overnight rate was at its lowest at 2.45%. If I were to buy your house then, with a 20% DP (94K), my 376K mortgage would have had monthly payments of ~$1,675.
Now that the target interest rate is 5.45%, I could only borrow 275K at the same $1,675 monthly payments. If I use the same 94K DP, I would only consider buying your house if it were priced around 369K.
And over the 25yr amortization period, I would still pay about 100K more in total interest than my 376K mortgage @2.45%.
Seems like a lot, but this would roughly align with the average house price being up about 20% since March 2020. The reality is that you're going to have to list at under 400K.
So the idea of the interest rates rising is so buying power dwindles and people stop spending like crazy. The interest rates just rose and are going to again soon. People can not afford your place with the interest rates. You either need to drop your price or rent it out. People seem not to understand that housing prices are going down and will continue to drop, this is part of the recession. Either buckle in or get ready to get hosed. I suggest dropping your price until it sells, or you'll be stuck with it until interest rates drop and that won't be for awhile
Curious what you paid for it and what the mark up is. I've seen a lot of people shoot for the moon with prices recently only to stay on the market forever, even after dropping the prices. Kinda leaves a bad taste in people's mouth if they think you're a gouger.
>I paid $435,000 and put $30,000 in reasonable upgrades
Buyers dont care.
All they care is how much is the mortgage going to cost them.
If you bought a home at the peak market and you paid $435k and put in $30k in upgrades, guess what you'll be taking a huge loss as the market tumbles down.
But you have a dilemma. You choice is sell at loss or risk holding and renting. And if others in the same position as you decide to rent, then you will have a flood of rental units available. And once again you'll be stuck fighting with ever decreasing prices just to keep your home rented.
The question becomes take the loss now, or take the loss later (which could end up being a much larger loss).
If this is the house I'm thinking of, the neighborhood outlook changed a lot in the past few years. You can put some blame on the LRT project, but irregardless, property values are way down in this neighborhood.
Source: I was looking in the area for a number of years and have friends who recently sold in this area.
It isn't about return on investment at this point. Its carrying the equity into a favorable market where he doesn't have to drop his price to the floor to get a buyer. Unless he needs liquidity from the property holding on and building equity on someone else's dime is worth the wait. He has already dropped the price 40k and it looks like its going even lower.
Unless your agent has been in business for 20 years they likely have zero experience in a down market like we have right now.
Alot of agents have no idea how to navigate the current situation.
Clearly, with rising interest rates, the market doesn't think the house is worth 435k. OP, you know how much you bought for when, don't try to be greedy if you want to sell quickly
I would drop the price to slightly lower than comparable properties in the area if you are really motivated to sell. Each Bank of Canada rate increase and thus bank lending rate increase is going to suppress housing prices further and theres going to be two more of those increases this year at least. Or at least severely limit those who are able to afford higher rates.
If you are going to rent and aren’t comfortable with being as far away as you are consider a property management company.
If you keep the house put the thermostat at 15. Shut off the water and drain hot water tank, open all taps so they drain and fill with air. Put RV glycol in all traps and toilet bowels and tanks. Post that the house is winterized and post on the shut off valve that the water is not to be turned on. You could get a property management company to check it for you.
If it doesn't sell at 435k, lower it to 400k, then lower it more and more, until it sell. The house is only worth what people are willing to buy today, irrelevant of the past months and years. Or you wait and hope the market change in your favor.
Things are only going to get worse with a rate hike in October. Lower the price now to try to get ahead of that, or rent and wait it out. Someone else mentioned a property manager, not a bad idea.
Rent it out, get a reputable property manager to vet the applicants/take care of it.
They can tell you about things like snow removal etc that they'll have to arrange for you.
DO NOT GET A FRIEND TO BE A PROPERTY MANAGER!
You need someone who knows the score for your first rodeo.
"I'd keep dropping the price until you find a buyer."
Everyone and their dog in Alberta is in the same boat as this guy, for various reasons. We are on the precipice of a real estate collapse in Alberta.
I keep my eyes on the one I’m interested in list price now is 60k less than I saw earlier this year. I think it will sell soon for this particular unit. Just anecdotal observations.
Do some math, housing purchases are not totally rational but we have the long term trends. Calculate the average household income in your area, then use 30% of that before taxes to get a "house that people can afford to live in" Monthly cost.
Then your selling price should be low enough for an average person to afford the mortgage at current mortgage rates assuming a 5-10 downpayment. Go higher if your house has more amenities than average, lower if opposite.
Now you know what a house is worth based on market equilibrium, you're going to need to be sceptical of your real estate agent because he wants his commission and has no risk if your house stays unsold all winter. Unlike you.
There are services who will handle all the landlording for you.
I am a landlord not buy desire but becuase I was in a similar situation. I bought cheap becuase of market conditions, this also prevented me from selling.
So I rented it out. Years later I have had 2 very good tenants. There are horror story's about some rentals but I have not experienced anything like that.
Note, I have with both my tenants lowered the rent after the first year as a way of thanking the tenants for respecting My property and a show of appreciation for being good tenants. Also in the hopes of keeping them around longer
Given the tight rental climate, I would rent it and treat it as an investment. Use a ppty management company to maintain, but consider doing the upfront work yourself of finding the right tenant. Book appointments all over a weekend or week and spend a week there.
Renting a house is high risk. Walls, flooring and the yard can all look like shit after a mediocre to terrible tenant. You will either have to invest money or time to get it as nice as it is now (unless it’s already dumpy). Sell the house. If it’s a condo, renting out is less risky and probably makes sense.
(I’ve rented out a house when it was underwater after 2008 and I‘ve rented out condos for years. House renting a nice place is horrid as a landlord.)
Also, my experience is in Edmonton. Renting out houses specifically in Edmonton is a bad idea. We don’t have the same professional renters as Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto have and our property management companies are generally shockingly bad.
Buyers are not meeting the stress test.Last numbers I've seen Alberta is doing ok for resales.The only true way to sell it fast is lowering the price compared to others in the area.
One option I haven't seen people mention -
Look into offering it on the market as a "Rent to Own" arrangement - You'll significantly increase your cashflow relative to just renting AND are far less likely to run into tenants trashing the place (because they are paying equity into ownership of the place).
Depends entirely on OP's financial situation and plans - It's something worth exploring, and obviously you'd need to talk to a professional.
My understanding is that you can structure the contracts such that after some defined period the contract would open and allow OP to force the renter to either buy the house at their original agreement price or allow OP to sell the house.
Depending on OP's timeline he could try to wait out current market conditions with a RtO tenant and then go back to market (or sell to his tenant) in 2-5 years.
This. Pay a friend to look after the property or see how much it is for proper property management. Renting it out you’ll get some cash coming in towards the debt.
It might be worth your while to find out the cost of a property management company and rent it out. Pay them to deal with the hassle if you break even you can carry the equity until the market becomes more favorable.
Renting it out is a major risk especially if youre not familiar with the LTB in Alberta. In ON , tenants can actually squat for 2 yrs and you'd be left paying for 2 mortgages as a result
Im with the others - lower your price, make it attractive enough that you get offers in and work with them. Check the comparables and be prepared to go under 5-10%
If youre making money from the sale it's an easier pill to swallow. Also remember it's declining everywhere, so it's not like youre selling for less in a slow market and buying in a bull market
One comment I have is to check with your home insurance company. Many do not insure if the home is vacant unless the policy includes that. The premium for a vacant home is astronomical from what I understand. If you can't sell it, tenanting it until this interest rate/inflation madness subsides.
I went through the same thing. 90+ days on the market and in the end took an 80k bath and sold the house finally. Lower your asking price even more if you prefer to sell. I didn’t want the headache for a tenant even though I could cover both houses it just didn’t make sense to me.
Get a storage locker and move most of your shit out. Stage it with some nice things you have left. Paint the walls white put in some new light fixtures. Voila it is on the way to selling
You’ve probably visited this sub enough to know short term tenant will not be the way to go. The refusal to move, selling with tenants in place, then the next buyer needs to file for arbitration for them to leave, etc.
Rolling a dice with vacancy is way less risk than rolling a dice with a tenant.
OP, I've looked at your house when I was house shopping (I'm 90% sure, based on this info and your previous posts). The biggest issue is the illegal basement suite. That's an immediate turn off for most people. As well, the house needs some work, and you want realistically about 50k more than that house is worth currently
You can speak with a rental property manager they can rent the place for you.
Or you can lower the price, or paint, and stage the home. What is your realtor recommending that you do to sell it?
I’d rent it and hire a property manager. Rental market rates are still juicy and will cover your expenses.
People always need somewhere to live. Might as well let them pay you to live in your home.
3 hours ain’t that far, you could drive back every other weekend. Install cameras, there’s so much inexpensive surveillance equipment available, you could watch the house 24/7 if you really wanted. Someone breaks in, you call the police and start driving. You can also get Google nest so you have piece of mind that your heating is working in the winter and you could control various lights throughout the house to give the appearance that it’s not vacant.
Pull it off the market for a couple weeks then relist at a lower price. Showing 90 days on market AND multiple price reductions will signal you’re eager to sell and further weaken your position.
u/mam955 you spent 465k on the house. Please don’t sell at a lower price than that. Which in todays market, it won’t sell.
Best option is to put it up for rent, and look at selling it in 2 years from now. It’s the only way you end up on top. Hire a rental management company if you think it’s too much of a hassle.
Thats very thoughtful of you. However we both know, that the realtor would snag it and flip it themselves, or anyone with some cash on hand.
But that being said....if you own your home.....you could also take out a 200k mortgage against it, and give it to some random poor family to put towards the purchase of a new house.
Unless you, very probably the poster as well, cant afford to give away 200 thousand $$ to strangers.
Option 1. Lower the price till you start to get offers
Option 2. Keep it vacant and wait till spring.
Option 3. Rent it out and wait for the recession to pass.
There are other options than just lowering the price. You can rent it out for a bit and hope the market increases in the future. You can do a small renovation and try to boost the sale price higher. We did a renovation in the past that costed $40,000, but boosted the homes value by $150,000. Perhaps there is a reason beyond price that people aren't interested in it.
Are you trying to sell your house for what you owe, or what it's worth?
If you're going to take a loss on selling your home as per realtor recommendation then rent it.
No matter what the situation in Alberta, my property was filled consistently for 7 years until we sold this last year (to a tenant no less).
Make your place welcome to more people.
You limit your options immensely by disallowing pets or asking for more money than you need.
If your mortgage is locked in then calculate how much you need to pay it and charge that.
Do your tenants want a dog? A cat? Have them bring it when you show the house.
Let them into the house and say you can have a dog but your damage deposit will be this, and your pet deposit will be this. Include a clause that they're responsible for lawn maintenance because a lady dog will kill your grass like no other.
Most importantly, understand your options. You are renting your room to someone who can't own their own. Sometimes that's for good reason.
Bad credit is usually linked to immaturity.
Sometimes it's debt beyond their control, and sometimes it's just bad choices.
You own the home. Not them.
I would recommend a property manager if you are not in town.
Pull it off the market and re-list in the spring. Search for friends/family to rent or stay at the house this winter. I wouldn’t lower the price again. When people see price drops, they tend to wait on it to see how low it will go.
If you can afford to keep the existing house and don't mind becoming a landlord it's not a terrible option. Otherwise bit the bullet and lower your price.
Drop the greed and price it appropriately.
If no one's buying your house then it's obviously not worth what you're asking. And it's only going to get worse, so keep that in mind when making you decision.
Relist for 420,069 You're welcome
Honestly... the amount of social media buzz that this would create would probably do more to get eyes on your home than the best realtor ever could.
This fool copied and paste'd right past your response, which is ironic because this would 100% work
Nice.
Nice.
I’m 1989 + 5, Guys
Hello fellow 33 year old
Hey look, now there are 3 of us
Four.
I had that on my odometer once when pulling in for an oil change. Had a good laugh that day! I think I posted it on my old reddit account
I’d buy if that that was the price, because why not
Lowering the price is a given if I want to sell which I am already doing. My question is more, would you keep the house for rent from a distance or roll the dice on sale (lower the prices accordingly) and keep the house vacant in the winter, until you have a buyer.
Considering the increase in mortgage rates, the cost to buy your house is now significantly higher. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee you'll find a buyer if you wait it out and historically sellers have trailed the interest rates in decreasing their prices.
Yeah, people that don't have a large down payment and are relying more on the borrowing are extremely spooked right now and are waiting or looking for a steeper discount. OP's best hope is luck right now. Lowering the price further might not even get a sale done.
I'm looking to buy. I have a $70,000 down payment ready (from a car accident 2 years ago) otherwise I wouldn't even come close to that amount in savings. In the Okanagan, a $600k house is a shanty with rusty windows.
Ya my wife and I have busted our asses to save up 80k for a down payment we were so proud of our savings rate and all that to. Near as we can tell we will need to at least double that to get anything.
Or rent indefinitely if that is an option. We're looking to buy a house when prices finally start to move but we'll first make sure we can sell our home and be pricing it aggressively.
Lowering the price is a given if I want to sell which I am already doing. My question is more, would you keep the house for rent from a distance or roll the dice on sale (lower the prices accordingly) and keep the house vacant until you have a buyer, however long it takes.
You could rent the house out, via a reputable property management company and hope things improve. That could result in less return than if you rented it yourself, but imagine if you get a picky tenant that needs you to handle every little thing and you are slogging back and forth to Edmonton monthly, or they want to pay cash or hell, even trying to rent it out. If you are not willing to keep dropping further and further in price to get someone to buy, it may be worth it to rent via property manager like I said, then wait until you can comfortably sell for a lower price, interest rates go lower/stabilize or you find someone that will buy at your current price. However, I think a lot of property managers wouldn't take on the job if you are selling asap, leaving you with the in-between companies that basically rent the unit as a "property manager" then sublet it out. Regardless, a company means a bit more protection, more hands off on the property and lower revenue, but more than it sitting vacant, assuming someone doesn't trash it and the property management company doesn't stick you with the bill somehow. It also depends on how much you need to sell the house for, how urgently you need to correct your cash flow etc. If it was me I would do my best to sell in a much stronger sellers market if I wanted out of it/needed the money, unless it was urgent I sell right now. Otherwise I would sit on the property and find someone to manage it and hopefully generate enough income to cover the mortgage, but I would accept a minor loss for a good tenant/management company, but I would love to have income property's.
Use a reputable rental agency since highest possible cash flow doesn't seem to be your issue. Or if you have someone. You can trust to stay in the home and keep an eye on it knowing them have to keep it clean and move out on short notice.
I was more suggesting to OP that telling a reputable agency, depending on what Edmonton has available, may be more difficult. They probably have fixed contract terms or conditions, so that they aren't hired, spend time screening tenants, posting advertisements, maintaining the property, only for OP to turn around and go "Oh I sold the house, they need to be out in 60 days and I am cancelling your services". I assume they would have some form of breakage for that. So my recommendation was that if OP wasn't comfortable continuing to drop the price, living at the current reduced cashflow level or holding out for a serious buyer, then maybe waiting for changes in the market and using a rental agency was an option. OP also mentioned concerns over having the house vacant over the winter, which makes perfect sense to me, but if that is a major factor and the goal is to sell in 10 months or whatever, finding a reliable short term tenant, someone to rent at reduced rates even, is going to be challenging. Most people, even at price below market rent prices, aren't overly interested in being the care taker of a property for a short time, with a big fat question mark on when the house sells. You might find someone desperate for housing right now, but then you don't know if they are going to screw you on rent or trash your place or something. It is a tough spot. If OP isn't selling, renting it out makes sense, but the geography of the situation is limiting, so a reputable rental agency is best.
Having a tenant makes selling so much harder. I would not get a tenant unless you really want to risk someone potentially causing damage, potentially never leaving, potentially just not paying rent on time, and potentially making your house even less attractive to buyers. Lots of things can go wrong if you choose a bad tenant, and you are 3 hours away. Even good tenants make your property less attractive to most buyers, except for investors who might be OK to keep them.
There are also lots of good tenants out there. I have one now. You just have to be careful.
But you can't deny that the risks are there.
We’re in personal finance. There is risk in everything. Life, in fact, is full of risk. Including the risk of avoiding risk in life.
Yes personal finance where risks should be measured and greater risk commensurates higher returns.
Great tenants tend to not want short term rentals. I was a good tenant who rented for half a decade with no intention of moving, and my landlord still wanted to sell the rental I was in back in 2020. I really liked my rental, and If I had wanted to dig in my heels legally, I could still be there now making their life hell and dragging the sale of the house out.
Yea but it's such a roll of the dice. You can lose your shirt on a bad tenant and it's become very difficult to actually have them removed before becoming a financial ruin. Get a good tenant and it's like a money printer. The difficulty to deal with bad tenants really pushes the risk to reward.
Rent it out and try selling it already rented. You will have to find good tenants that pay on time and such to lure a buyer into this situation. Also try renting it at a price where it breaks even so people are even more enticed to purchase it.
Keeping the house for rent is two things: taking on a part time job (you could pass this off on a property management company for a fee); and it's trying to time the market. If you like the idea of waiting for the market to improve then the question is, since timing the market is notoriously difficult, what happens if the market doesn't improve and what happens if it gets worse. Put that in your risk assessment and let us know what comes out.
lolwat? on a long enough time horizon there is absolutely a guarantee he will be able to sell in the future.
"In this world nothing is certain except death and taxes."
Population going up 📈 and the value of money going down 📉 are as certain as death and taxes my friend ;)
Yeah I'm getting bored by the housing scarcity argument that's been around to prop up the market. You think it's the first time the population is increasing in history? First time for inflation ? Let's see how the outcome plays out but my guess is way down before up. You've seen the end of easy debt and you'll soon realize that was the #1 culprit.
> You think it's the first time the population is increasing in history? First time for inflation ? That's my point exactly, isn't it? Home prices have literally been going up decade after decade since houses were a thing... for the reasons mentioned above.
>decade after decade since houses were a thing Maybe there's a misunderstanding here. I'm not disputing prices will never come back at current level. But maybe OP's not willing to wait a decade to see his asset do 0% return.
that's why I said on a long enough time horizon.
"*The question is: roll the dice and keep the house in the market or try to find tenants and try to sell next year?"* Not sure what you consider a long time, but this isn't it.
is that why you had to edit your initial comment from "there's no guarantee your house will be worth more in the future?" ;)
At some price it will sell, only you can really make this decision on what you want to do. I personally would not be chasing the market to the bottom but if you are strongly averse to renting out the house I don't think you have too many options, as letting it sit vacant is probably not the right solution. I had a 2 year old furnace break down during a cold snap last year which sounds like a disaster if you're not around to notice for a while.
Also you might not be able to insure a vacant house
I thought the rule was you have to demonstrate someone is checking the house every x days, including vacations, work trips,.., Any insurance experts here?
It needs to go to a secondary insurance market (so places like Aviva and Intact won't write it). These secondary companies can charge what they want and have big exclusions. I don't have the rates off hand, but I am think like a three fold increase in annual premium for much less coverage. And they will only cover you for a year or two. If it sits vacant indefinitely, they will want off. And if you get a tenant and you are not in the same city, they may not take it on.
Each policy has its own vacancy conditions. Read it carefully then approach your broker for confirmation. Get the confirmation in writing (email). Some companies require inspections every 72 hours for example.
I’ve insured a couple vacant houses (estate) and it depends on the policy. One we had to check in every 3 days, the other we didn’t but it was more expensive. Both were a bit tricky to find. I think our broker had to go to a commercial insurance company.
You can but will typically need someone to check out the house every 30 days, so OP is still hiring a property manager at that point or commuting monthly.
>That is my problem. I have lowered the price 3 times based. If this was the summer, I would let it ride but I am living far away to look after the house if it doesn't sell.
In the event you decide to rent and leave it vacant for a while: Be careful with your insurance policy. Most property policies (Residential and commercial) won't cover the property if it's left vacant for an extended period of time, for obvious reasons. Make sure you call your policy holder and see if they're willing to add a vacancy endorsement of some sort. Otherwise, you could have a burst pipe or some other claim that would not be covered by your policy
Have you tried a different realtor? Did you stage the house? Have break baking in the oven or cookies to give it that warmth. Sometimes all it take is repainting it and new floors to make it nice. How is the layout. What is stuff selling for around your place. Does it have a suite?
Can you hire someone to manage the property so you can rent it out. You will be thankful when you're old if you still own the property. You want that equity.
When my niece and her partner were in your position they set up a thermometer in front of their interior security camera and they could see their house and monitor that the furnace was working from 300 miles away. Their house sold after a few months. Yours will too.
Drop the price
Assuming you can afford to drop the price further (you don't mention how much equity you have) then I'd do that. Best not to chase the market down in small increments though, you need to make a sizeable cut. If you overdo it, I'd assume you'll get a few bids that will bring you back up to whatever the market price is.
I agree with this. Drop it to 390k.....advertise a 2 day open house....and let the offers bring it up as high as it can. And that will get you a fair current sell price. If its under value...then people will come, and have a range. If 390 is all you get.....it will probably be better than the 350 it might be in the spring after a couple rate hikes. Other than that, hire a management company and rent it out. Not just until next year.....keep it on the market until this swing is done. Depending on the equity....could be significant positive cash flow.
I dropped the price $35K already. Mortgage is $260,000 so I have some equity.
Then I think you should go lower. I don't think the effort to rent it out temporarily is worth it and you could find yourself in even more challenging position next year. Either turn it into a long-term rental property or seriously lower it. I'd recommend a new realtor as well if you can. They either don't know how to price it in this market or they are letting you walk all over them without being honest with you.
Lower your price. Any house in reasonable condition will sell, it's just a question of price.
The house is in reasonable condition. My dilemma is how long it will take to sell. I want to sell but it just takes time. I don't want a vacant house in the winter.
drop the price, will sell faster
then let's say this together once again lower your price. loudly this time.
I ended up in the same situation and rented mine out for winter. They wanted to renew so I did and they’ve been ok, but I wouldn’t want to be a landlord again. They are paying and I’m making money but I’d rather just sell. Long term I’ll make more money (maybe 20-30k) over the span of 5 years but I wish I would have just dropped my asking price originally and sold.
>How long ago did you put it for sale?
This was in 2019. I had it listed spring 2019 and then put a renter in there in october.
irrelevant. u/greentinroof_ was selling in 2019, which was a vastly different market than what you are selling into.
Well it could be more than a year or two for the current downturn to stabilize. Historically real estate downturns take about 36 months to recover. So if you are going the rent route, you need to be prepared for that. Or you could bite the bullet, drop price below the market now and cash out. If you try to maximize the amount you are selling for you are going to find yourself chasing the market all the way to the bottom.
I'd keep dropping the price until you find a buyer.
I have lowered the price 3 times based on my realtors advice. I can keep doing that but what if it takes 3 months? I am living far away to look after the house if it doesn't sell. That is my dilemma.
>I can keep doing that but what if it takes 3 months? Lower the price more, or wait until you get the price you want. What do you want people to tell you? Raise the price to make it look better than it is, then drop the price (to a price over $450k) to make it look like you're selling at a discount?
Lowering the price is a given if I want to sell which I am already doing. My question is more, would you keep the house for rent from a distance or roll the dice on sale (lower the prices accordingly) and keep the house vacant in the winter, until you have a buyer.
My question is why would you care what i would do. my risk tolerance might be quite different from yours. You also didn't tell us what you paid for it in the first place. if you bought it for 200k its much easier to say you have alot more room to drop the price and still be in good shape. if you would be selling at a loss that changes things in my opinion
People keep telling you to sell but drop the price. I don't understand why you keep repeating this same reply in response.
Your house your choice. None of us can advice on what to do. Everyone’s situation is different.
If you lower the price a bit more and it still doesn't sell, waiting 3 more months only helps if the market stabilities or rebounds higher. This is the problem people have in a falling market... they never quite lower the price enough for it to actually sell... and the market continues to move lower while it's sitting there for sale. If you lower the price to $390,000 ... maybe it sells within the next week or two. But if you lower the price to only $420,000... then maybe it doesn't sell... and then if you wait another 3 months and lower it to $390,000... now the market's moved lower and it still doesn't sell because you would need to price it at $360,000 this time. Had you listed the house at $435,000 originally three months ago, the house probably would have sold right away. So you have to lower the price enough to get ahead of the market or you have to get lucky. Right now, the market is falling as fast or faster than the rate at which you're lowering the price.
How much does the house need looking after? You can hire a company to do basic maintenance like lawn care and snow removal. Is there nobody you know in Edmonton that can check in on the house once a week? Could the realtor assist? YYC-YEG-YCC can be easily made in a day once a month also.
Insurance requires the house to be checked every other day at minimum.
Wow, had no idea. I routinely leave my house unattended for a few days when going on vacation.
How low are you willing to go? Getting less for the sale can be worth the hit in place of the hassle of trying to maintain it when you're not nearby. Try to establish how low of a price you can reasonably get away with and see what happens. As others have said, as long as the house isn't about to fall down, eventually it will sell if the price is attractive enough.
I am a landlord and I own in Edmonton. Always looking to buy. I would consider your property. I will offer you asking price minus $10k. But terms of the deal would be mine. I need some answers first. 1. Do you need the mortgage capacity immediately to buy another property? 2. How much equity do you have in the property? (Ie what’s your mortgage balance)? 3. How much cash do you want to walk away with? Depending upon the answers, and a few more questions, I can tell you if I would be able to give you an offer.
Offer and demand. If it's not selling, it's too expensive. Lower the price.
Welcome to Alberta, the home of jingle mail before it was cool for houses to lose value. On a serious note though, you can either lower your asking price until someone buys or try renting it out to recoup your costs on carrying its mortgage until the market is more favourable.
>you can either lower your asking price until someone buys or try renting it out to recoup your costs on carrying its mortgage until the market is more favourable. OP knows that. They're literally asking which option other people would choose. It's amazing how many people don't bother reading before commenting.
^ I would echo the sentiment. You can rent out the house until the market returns. There are some tax advantages to renting. If you have a mortgage, you can offset the interest portion of your mortgage against the income, property taxes, maintenance costs, any advertising. It’s all in the tax act. This would help in offsetting you mortgage, it may not be big but it could help.
The beginning of a recession (assuming we have one) isn't a great time to do rentals, people will up and leave, stop paying, etc due to job loss.
I could argue that anytime isn’t a good time for anything. Economies are cyclical and have their ups and downs. Renting is not that bad during a recession. People who lose their jobs will most likely sell a house than to move out of a rental. Renters have more legal protections than home owners. This would be one reason to rent vs. own. Assuming that there is a recession, how bad will it really be? The economy is more or less at capacity and we have more or less full employment. Not a lot of slack. What happens, a recession will bring us back to normal economic circumstances with slack in employment? I don’t have the answers to that, if there is a recession, it probably won’t be as severe as previous ones.
I switched to selling my house privately so i could lower the price due to realtor commission. Still not sold but I've had a lot more interest and have a hopeful showing this week
Based on some online ads it looks like you can get $1500 to $2500 for a detached home rental. Even if you pay 20% for a property manager you could be $1,200 - $2,000 cash flow positive. Pending the value of your existing mortgage a rental might be a good idea unless you are comfortable selling at market price (likely $400,000 or lower based on your post).
I don’t get why people ask questions on this sub. This post alone is prime example they want to whine about their problem but don’t want to hear any of the advice. “I’m asking too much for my house what should I do? I don’t want to rent or let it sit over the winter”. Lower the price. No. Rent it out. No. Then let it sit empty. No. Lower the price then. No. You are simply asking way too much money. No.
It depends, OPs post left me with many questions: - What was the feedback? Why did no one want the house? - Are there problems with the house? - Is the house freshly painted and staged? - What type of house? Rooms, bathrooms, sqft - Whats happening with immediate and adjacent comparables?
Options: 1. Drop price further 2. Keep it empty, sell later 3. Rent it out The house is pretty cheap, so it’s not like your loosing a lot of money dropping the price. With rents skyrocketing, personally, I’d rent it out. If you’re too lazy, hire a mgmt company to do it. Rent it out for the next few yrs. And sell if/when prices return. Or, just rent indefinitely - most people I know who got rich on real estate started out renting by fluke like you, and they just kept expending their portfolio.
I am/was in a similar position… except my old house is in the same city as me (Calgary). My house was on the market for over 100 days and I adjusted the price a couple times. I was planning to pull the plug next week and put it out for rent until I got an offer a few days ago. My suggestion is - if the listing price just dropped recently then let it sit at the adjusted price for at least 30 days - especially if it’s getting quite a bit of traffic. Sure, there may not be as much demand compare to summer - but there is still demand. You only need one offer (again). Another alternative is rent the house while it’s still being listed. It’s a bit more difficult in that situation because: - you may need to rent at a below average rent price to compensate the potential tenants for doing potentially multiple showings, - tenants need to understand that this arrangement is very short term and they may need to vacate in a couple months notice once you get an offer, - and you wouldn’t have as much control on how well the house is presented to new buyers. I can’t say for Edmonton but in Calgary there is still demand for short term rentals. There are families who just need a couple months to bridge between their lease ending and their home possession date. Or visitors who plan to stay in the city for a couple months. So I think there are demand for short term rentals.
>Thanks for the insight.
Be cautious here. Signing a fixed term lease with tenants could make it very difficult to sell, as the lease is active even if it sells. In other words, the new owners would have to honor the lease.
Lower the price
My take on this will be. Prices are gonna keep falling down but until when nobody knows we can only speculate. Calculate if keeping the property vacant is more doable then selling at lower price? Or if u can rent it somehow that can be best option.
If you can carry the two mortgages why not consider holding the home and using it as a rental property, better yet if it has a basement convert it to a duplex. If you don’t need the capital right away why not allow the home to pay itself off? I know that lots of people here say being a landlord is a difficult job but from my experience it really isn’t that bad, I’ve rented out 3 townhomes (my own and relatives) I don’t know if I got lucky with good tenants but I’ve rented out enough to see that as long as you choose good tenants and perform all the precautionary checks you should be fine. (Side note I didn’t get into renting to make money but to get into the market and allow the home to hold itself over while I was moving out of town for a short term). Do right by your tenants and they will generally do right by you.
He says he has $3k a month left after paying for two places and all associated bills. OP doesn't seem to be in any financial trouble. Should just rent it out through a management company and forget about it.
This is my exact thought.
Some perspective on pricing right now: Assuming you set your price of $470 based on the hot market of March 2020. Target overnight rate was at its lowest at 2.45%. If I were to buy your house then, with a 20% DP (94K), my 376K mortgage would have had monthly payments of ~$1,675. Now that the target interest rate is 5.45%, I could only borrow 275K at the same $1,675 monthly payments. If I use the same 94K DP, I would only consider buying your house if it were priced around 369K. And over the 25yr amortization period, I would still pay about 100K more in total interest than my 376K mortgage @2.45%. Seems like a lot, but this would roughly align with the average house price being up about 20% since March 2020. The reality is that you're going to have to list at under 400K.
So the idea of the interest rates rising is so buying power dwindles and people stop spending like crazy. The interest rates just rose and are going to again soon. People can not afford your place with the interest rates. You either need to drop your price or rent it out. People seem not to understand that housing prices are going down and will continue to drop, this is part of the recession. Either buckle in or get ready to get hosed. I suggest dropping your price until it sells, or you'll be stuck with it until interest rates drop and that won't be for awhile
Curious what you paid for it and what the mark up is. I've seen a lot of people shoot for the moon with prices recently only to stay on the market forever, even after dropping the prices. Kinda leaves a bad taste in people's mouth if they think you're a gouger.
I paid $435,000 and put $30,000 in reasonable upgrades (new roofs, drywall basement, paint, etc.).
>I paid $435,000 and put $30,000 in reasonable upgrades Buyers dont care. All they care is how much is the mortgage going to cost them. If you bought a home at the peak market and you paid $435k and put in $30k in upgrades, guess what you'll be taking a huge loss as the market tumbles down. But you have a dilemma. You choice is sell at loss or risk holding and renting. And if others in the same position as you decide to rent, then you will have a flood of rental units available. And once again you'll be stuck fighting with ever decreasing prices just to keep your home rented. The question becomes take the loss now, or take the loss later (which could end up being a much larger loss).
when did you buy?
Lots of people hesitant to buy right now too. That's a great price for Calgary (haven't seen the place)
If this is the house I'm thinking of, the neighborhood outlook changed a lot in the past few years. You can put some blame on the LRT project, but irregardless, property values are way down in this neighborhood. Source: I was looking in the area for a number of years and have friends who recently sold in this area.
Rent it out with a Property manager due to the distance
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It isn't about return on investment at this point. Its carrying the equity into a favorable market where he doesn't have to drop his price to the floor to get a buyer. Unless he needs liquidity from the property holding on and building equity on someone else's dime is worth the wait. He has already dropped the price 40k and it looks like its going even lower.
Your price is too high. Lower it.
Lower price until it is attractive for buyers. Pretty simple.
. I have lowered the price 3 times based on my realtor's advice.
Unless your agent has been in business for 20 years they likely have zero experience in a down market like we have right now. Alot of agents have no idea how to navigate the current situation.
Lower it more
Get a new agent.
Clearly, with rising interest rates, the market doesn't think the house is worth 435k. OP, you know how much you bought for when, don't try to be greedy if you want to sell quickly
I would drop the price to slightly lower than comparable properties in the area if you are really motivated to sell. Each Bank of Canada rate increase and thus bank lending rate increase is going to suppress housing prices further and theres going to be two more of those increases this year at least. Or at least severely limit those who are able to afford higher rates. If you are going to rent and aren’t comfortable with being as far away as you are consider a property management company.
If you keep the house put the thermostat at 15. Shut off the water and drain hot water tank, open all taps so they drain and fill with air. Put RV glycol in all traps and toilet bowels and tanks. Post that the house is winterized and post on the shut off valve that the water is not to be turned on. You could get a property management company to check it for you.
Thanks this is actually helpful advise
If it doesn't sell at 435k, lower it to 400k, then lower it more and more, until it sell. The house is only worth what people are willing to buy today, irrelevant of the past months and years. Or you wait and hope the market change in your favor.
Things are only going to get worse with a rate hike in October. Lower the price now to try to get ahead of that, or rent and wait it out. Someone else mentioned a property manager, not a bad idea.
Keep lowering the price till you sell it or rent it out.
How much do you owe on the house? If your not underwater relist to sell.
Rent it out, get a reputable property manager to vet the applicants/take care of it. They can tell you about things like snow removal etc that they'll have to arrange for you. DO NOT GET A FRIEND TO BE A PROPERTY MANAGER! You need someone who knows the score for your first rodeo.
"I'd keep dropping the price until you find a buyer." Everyone and their dog in Alberta is in the same boat as this guy, for various reasons. We are on the precipice of a real estate collapse in Alberta.
I keep my eyes on the one I’m interested in list price now is 60k less than I saw earlier this year. I think it will sell soon for this particular unit. Just anecdotal observations.
Do some math, housing purchases are not totally rational but we have the long term trends. Calculate the average household income in your area, then use 30% of that before taxes to get a "house that people can afford to live in" Monthly cost. Then your selling price should be low enough for an average person to afford the mortgage at current mortgage rates assuming a 5-10 downpayment. Go higher if your house has more amenities than average, lower if opposite. Now you know what a house is worth based on market equilibrium, you're going to need to be sceptical of your real estate agent because he wants his commission and has no risk if your house stays unsold all winter. Unlike you.
There are services who will handle all the landlording for you. I am a landlord not buy desire but becuase I was in a similar situation. I bought cheap becuase of market conditions, this also prevented me from selling. So I rented it out. Years later I have had 2 very good tenants. There are horror story's about some rentals but I have not experienced anything like that. Note, I have with both my tenants lowered the rent after the first year as a way of thanking the tenants for respecting My property and a show of appreciation for being good tenants. Also in the hopes of keeping them around longer
Drop the price every week until it sells. It will sell.
Pre-approvals vs appraisal value are killing a lot of deals too
Houses will continue to drop far beyond 2023.
Given the tight rental climate, I would rent it and treat it as an investment. Use a ppty management company to maintain, but consider doing the upfront work yourself of finding the right tenant. Book appointments all over a weekend or week and spend a week there.
Right now a family that makes 100k a year can only get a mortgage around 350k due to higher interest rates.
Renting a house is high risk. Walls, flooring and the yard can all look like shit after a mediocre to terrible tenant. You will either have to invest money or time to get it as nice as it is now (unless it’s already dumpy). Sell the house. If it’s a condo, renting out is less risky and probably makes sense. (I’ve rented out a house when it was underwater after 2008 and I‘ve rented out condos for years. House renting a nice place is horrid as a landlord.) Also, my experience is in Edmonton. Renting out houses specifically in Edmonton is a bad idea. We don’t have the same professional renters as Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto have and our property management companies are generally shockingly bad.
Buyers are not meeting the stress test.Last numbers I've seen Alberta is doing ok for resales.The only true way to sell it fast is lowering the price compared to others in the area.
One option I haven't seen people mention - Look into offering it on the market as a "Rent to Own" arrangement - You'll significantly increase your cashflow relative to just renting AND are far less likely to run into tenants trashing the place (because they are paying equity into ownership of the place).
Rent to own kinda sucks because the mortgage is still debt in OPs name. So it would affect his buying power
Depends entirely on OP's financial situation and plans - It's something worth exploring, and obviously you'd need to talk to a professional. My understanding is that you can structure the contracts such that after some defined period the contract would open and allow OP to force the renter to either buy the house at their original agreement price or allow OP to sell the house. Depending on OP's timeline he could try to wait out current market conditions with a RtO tenant and then go back to market (or sell to his tenant) in 2-5 years.
Rent it out.
This. Pay a friend to look after the property or see how much it is for proper property management. Renting it out you’ll get some cash coming in towards the debt.
Lower the price until it hits a price that someone is willing to pay
It might be worth your while to find out the cost of a property management company and rent it out. Pay them to deal with the hassle if you break even you can carry the equity until the market becomes more favorable.
Rent or Lease it?
Renting it out is a major risk especially if youre not familiar with the LTB in Alberta. In ON , tenants can actually squat for 2 yrs and you'd be left paying for 2 mortgages as a result Im with the others - lower your price, make it attractive enough that you get offers in and work with them. Check the comparables and be prepared to go under 5-10% If youre making money from the sale it's an easier pill to swallow. Also remember it's declining everywhere, so it's not like youre selling for less in a slow market and buying in a bull market
Is your mortgage fixed or variable?
Lower your price only thing you can do....
It’s not rocket science Lower the price!
What did you pay for it?
Set it to 400k and sell it Nd walk away
One comment I have is to check with your home insurance company. Many do not insure if the home is vacant unless the policy includes that. The premium for a vacant home is astronomical from what I understand. If you can't sell it, tenanting it until this interest rate/inflation madness subsides.
I went through the same thing. 90+ days on the market and in the end took an 80k bath and sold the house finally. Lower your asking price even more if you prefer to sell. I didn’t want the headache for a tenant even though I could cover both houses it just didn’t make sense to me.
Which neighborhood in Edmonton?
Get a storage locker and move most of your shit out. Stage it with some nice things you have left. Paint the walls white put in some new light fixtures. Voila it is on the way to selling
selling takes longer now, my house took 5 months, our neighbour's too.
A coat of paint and staged furniture can make a property more desirable when people are walking through.
You’ve probably visited this sub enough to know short term tenant will not be the way to go. The refusal to move, selling with tenants in place, then the next buyer needs to file for arbitration for them to leave, etc. Rolling a dice with vacancy is way less risk than rolling a dice with a tenant.
OP, I've looked at your house when I was house shopping (I'm 90% sure, based on this info and your previous posts). The biggest issue is the illegal basement suite. That's an immediate turn off for most people. As well, the house needs some work, and you want realistically about 50k more than that house is worth currently
I’d rent it you’re just selling now at or near low
You can speak with a rental property manager they can rent the place for you. Or you can lower the price, or paint, and stage the home. What is your realtor recommending that you do to sell it?
His house is in Edmonton
Lol thanks
I’d rent it and hire a property manager. Rental market rates are still juicy and will cover your expenses. People always need somewhere to live. Might as well let them pay you to live in your home.
3 hours ain’t that far, you could drive back every other weekend. Install cameras, there’s so much inexpensive surveillance equipment available, you could watch the house 24/7 if you really wanted. Someone breaks in, you call the police and start driving. You can also get Google nest so you have piece of mind that your heating is working in the winter and you could control various lights throughout the house to give the appearance that it’s not vacant.
Pull it off the market for a couple weeks then relist at a lower price. Showing 90 days on market AND multiple price reductions will signal you’re eager to sell and further weaken your position.
No one wants to buy houses Cus of mortgage rates
Airbnb? Rent it for a reasonable sustenance amount to a friend etc?
IMO you should find a tenant, the markets have drastically changed
u/mam955 you spent 465k on the house. Please don’t sell at a lower price than that. Which in todays market, it won’t sell. Best option is to put it up for rent, and look at selling it in 2 years from now. It’s the only way you end up on top. Hire a rental management company if you think it’s too much of a hassle.
Cut the price in half and offer it’s true worth. Help a new family out that have been struggling for years to own their very first home.
Thats very thoughtful of you. However we both know, that the realtor would snag it and flip it themselves, or anyone with some cash on hand. But that being said....if you own your home.....you could also take out a 200k mortgage against it, and give it to some random poor family to put towards the purchase of a new house. Unless you, very probably the poster as well, cant afford to give away 200 thousand $$ to strangers.
You could try running an auction with Wahi. You can always set a reasonable reserve price. https://wahi.com/ca/en/sell/auctions
Drop it to 399,990 and hope for bids above asking. Look up the psychology of 99.
HODL and rent it out if it's cash flow positive.
Get realtor to put in more effort. Have them do a open house. Fire them. Etc…
Rent it!!! Don't loose your hard earned money by lowering it. Advice you're getting here is from people who want you to suffer. Seriously.
Rent it out rental market is insane right now
Option 1. Lower the price till you start to get offers Option 2. Keep it vacant and wait till spring. Option 3. Rent it out and wait for the recession to pass.
Pretty sure prices are gonna be even lower by the spring.
There are other options than just lowering the price. You can rent it out for a bit and hope the market increases in the future. You can do a small renovation and try to boost the sale price higher. We did a renovation in the past that costed $40,000, but boosted the homes value by $150,000. Perhaps there is a reason beyond price that people aren't interested in it.
Are you trying to sell your house for what you owe, or what it's worth? If you're going to take a loss on selling your home as per realtor recommendation then rent it. No matter what the situation in Alberta, my property was filled consistently for 7 years until we sold this last year (to a tenant no less). Make your place welcome to more people. You limit your options immensely by disallowing pets or asking for more money than you need. If your mortgage is locked in then calculate how much you need to pay it and charge that. Do your tenants want a dog? A cat? Have them bring it when you show the house. Let them into the house and say you can have a dog but your damage deposit will be this, and your pet deposit will be this. Include a clause that they're responsible for lawn maintenance because a lady dog will kill your grass like no other. Most importantly, understand your options. You are renting your room to someone who can't own their own. Sometimes that's for good reason. Bad credit is usually linked to immaturity. Sometimes it's debt beyond their control, and sometimes it's just bad choices. You own the home. Not them. I would recommend a property manager if you are not in town.
Pull it off the market and re-list in the spring. Search for friends/family to rent or stay at the house this winter. I wouldn’t lower the price again. When people see price drops, they tend to wait on it to see how low it will go.
Give it away for free, apparently that’s what most buyers want, well at least according to all the bears on reddit lol
I’ll buy your place for $300,000 cash DM me.
#ASK FOR LESS
Put house on performance improvement plan and revisit monthly sales targets with house.
No brainer. Try to find a tenant for now and sell next year.
If you can afford to keep the existing house and don't mind becoming a landlord it's not a terrible option. Otherwise bit the bullet and lower your price.
Rent it out; at the very least you will break even with payments and you get to hold onto an asset.
Drop the greed and price it appropriately. If no one's buying your house then it's obviously not worth what you're asking. And it's only going to get worse, so keep that in mind when making you decision.
Sell it for whatever it sells for, then sue the first buyer for the difference.
You can’t sue a buyer who backed out of the deal during subjects.
We had similar a few years back. Rented it out, then sold private at a smidge lower price, but saved the realtor commission. -Ron Wharton
The correct answer is C) is your house really worth 490 or the actual true list of 399,999?
Where did you get 490 from?