Keep waiting for offer or rent ?
My house has been on the market since September. I have lowered the price many times to stay conpetitive with homes in my area. I have had many showings but no offers. Am I better off continuing to lower the price or opt to rent my home till the housing market improves ?
Answers
4078 points
MNSL answered 2 years ago …
.I think this is a very tough question to answer.
I think it is better to rent if you can. But what will happen if you can not find people to rent and if markets come down sharply in the future and if you can not find buyers for next 05 years. In some areas now they find difficult to rent as well.
Currently we see slowing down of economic activities in some areas together with gradual job cuts especially in real estate sector in countries which was over exposed to housing market. In other words we are almost in recession. In addition it will take longer period to improve market sentiments. On top of that with high inflation rate world wide some home owners will find extremely difficult to pay their mortgage in next 18 months and their will be forced selling in some countries in next 18 months. Financial institutes which are over exposed to real estate sector will have negative profit growth as well. Therefore we do not see immediate recovery in this sector and picture is very gloomy.
In addition suddenly now some banks reports are coming up saying over supply of houses and excess inventory. They never said when during peak time and said there will be a future for the housing market.
I hope somebody who is expert in real estate market will give you a better answer.
952 points
Grudun answered 2 years ago …
As MNSL said it is a complicated question. Here are some things you have to take into consideration:
Where will you live if you rent out the home?
Do you owe more on the house than you can get if you lowered your price significantly?
Have you considered taking your house off the market for a week and relisting it with a lower price to reduce the MLS listing age?
If you rented it could you break even(or come close) when you factor in vacancy, repairs, taxes, insurance(will probably go up) and your mortgage payment?
Does your mortgage require the home to be owner occupied(a lot of first time buyer ones do)?
Will you hire a property manager or be willing to get the call at 3 AM for a maintenance problem?
How will you find/qualify your tenants?
I would answer all of these questions then the choice should be a lot easier to make.
4086 points
EthanR answered 2 years ago …
Both answers above are very good. I want to add one question to the mix:
How does your home show? Does it have excellent curb appeal both inside and outside?
The two main reasons that a home does not sell are price and condition. Watch out for wild paint colors, room clutter, dark rooms, smoking or pet odors, patchy grass, broken door bells, exterior needs painting, etc. I have seen people be unsuccessful in trying to sell their homes because of these and many other curb appeal negatives.
I hope you are working with a Realtor. Only 15% of all homes that are for sale by the owner will sell. If you are working with a Realtor, and your home shows very well with excellent curb appeal, then renting may be your only option. But depending on where you live, it is also possible that home values will be less next year than they are right now. The trade off is your tenant will be paying down your mortgage principal in the mean time.
I wish you the best of luck. These are trying times for selling a home.
