Please wait as we prepare your PDF file ....

Mission Chronicle Blog

Search Blog

our goal is to help you stay informed by providing timely and interesting articles.

7 reasons not to ‘carry’ the house in hopes of a price boost

02/20/2017

Download PDF

Some homesellers told me that if they didn’t get their house sold last summer at the sales price they wanted, they would take it off the market before Thanksgiving and wait to put it back on the market after the holidays.

They would “carry the house” until spring. Their logic: During the spring market, they certainly would be able to sell it for the higher amount.

I didn’t say much. It wasn’t my plan. Suffice to say, I’m not a big believer in carrying a house for any length of time.

I don’t have the nerves for it. Through the years, while I have bought and sold four homes, I have never owned two places simultaneously.

One time, I actually lived in corporate housing for seven months, rather than owning two homes.

If the collapse of the housing market taught me one lesson, it was this: Prices don’t always go up — they go down, too.

Who’s to say that next year’s spring market is going to be better than today’s market?

There is nothing in my state’s economic news that gives me tremendous comfort that the market will be improving by leaps and bounds.

As I thought about these sellers’ idea, I could think of seven reasons carrying a house is a less-than-ideal situation.

1. What goes up comes down, including home prices.

2. Evidence has consistently shown that the longer a house is on the market, the lower the offers become.

Taking a house off the market doesn’t eliminate “market time” in the minds of buyers. The first question every buyer factors into their offer is this: “How long has this property been available?”

3. An empty house is a disaster waiting to happen.

Pipes break; squirrels get in; the sump pump goes out; and so on.

4. Time equals money.

For every day a house goes unsold, sellers incur a cost.

Just add up everything (taxes, mortgage interest, insurance, utilities, landscaping, snow plowing, repairs, maintenance and cleaning costs) and divide by 365. That’s the daily cost of carrying a house.

There is a break-even point where selling the house for less will start to net more money than carrying a house.

5. Opportunity cost

As long as the house is “being carried,” money is being tied up in maintaining an empty house rather than in an income-producing asset.

6. Depreciation

Everything in the house depreciates with time: the roof, the furnace, the appliances, the windows.

Time puts additional wear and tear on the house and devalues the house further in buyers’ eyes.

7. It’s harder to sell an empty house.

When the house comes back on the market, it’s empty. The vast majority of homes show better when someone is living in the house.

I’m sure if I thought about this longer, I could probably come up with more reasons. Like I said, I’m not a fan of carrying a house!

Ann Jones has been a respected Realtor on the North Shore of Chicago for nearly 15 years. Her primary market is the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff area but serves clients along the shore as well. Follow her blog at anns-blog.com or on Pinterest.

Source: click here

Read More

INSPIRED, INTELLIGENT, INSIGHTFULL

STAY INFORMED WITH TIMELY AND INTERESTING ARTICLES FROM OUR BLOG, MISSION CHRONICLE. OUR ASPIRATION IS TO PROVIDE REALTORS AND OTHER REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS WITH EXCEPTIONAL RESOURCES AND SHARE OUR KNOWLEDGE TO PROPEL YOU TO YOUR GOALS.

  • Mission Chronicle Newsletter July 24, 2023

    Mortgage rates continued to press downward last week after the previous week's CPI data pointed to e...

  • Mission Chronicle Newsletter Feb 20, 2023

    Despite the recent downward trend in mortgage rates and hopes that the Fed was nearing the end of it...

  • Mission Chronicle Newsletter Feb 6, 2023

    The Federal Reserve meeting ended as market participants expected, with a quarter-point increase and...

  • Mission Chronicle Newsletter Dec 26, 2022

    Mortgage rates held relatively steady last week as most economic news came in better than expected.C...

  • Mission Chronicle Newsletter Dec 12, 2022

    Rates managed to move slightly downward last week as recession fears grew amid hopes that the Fedis ...

  • Mission Chronicle Newsletter Dec 5th 2022

    Mission Chronicle Newsletter Dec 5th 2022. Platforms: Browser, mobile-responsiveIdeal for: Leasing a...

  • Inman Review: Tenants and leasing teams get better connected with RentTango

    Have suggestions for products that you’d like to see reviewed by our real estate technology ex...

  • Tech Review: Smart Alto puts people first in its innovative lead qualification solution

    Have suggestions for products that you’d like to see reviewed by our real estate technology ex...

  • Refreshed and nurture-savvy, Market Leader’s CRM deserves your attention

    Have suggestions for products that you’d like to see reviewed by our real estate technology ex...

  • The top 4 tips to improve your negotiation skills

    In today’s luxury real estate market, strong negotiation skills are an asset—you might even say ...

March 2024
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

  • Polls

    What information you are looking for?

    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...
  • Last month Results

    How Is My Site?

    • Good (100%, 3 Votes)
    • Excellent (0%, 0 Votes)
    • Bad (0%, 0 Votes)
    • Can Be Improved (0%, 0 Votes)
    • No Comments (0%, 0 Votes)

    Total Voters: 3

    Vote

    Loading ... Loading ...