Advice for a Freaked Out Apartment Seller
Help! After many wonderful years living in Brooklyn my husband got a new job and we have to relocate to Seattle. He left me here to sell the apartment and take care of our two young boys thinking we’d have the deal wrapped up and be out there by Christmas. Well, it hasn’t quite turned…
Help! After many wonderful years living in Brooklyn my husband got a new job and we have to relocate to Seattle. He left me here to sell the apartment and take care of our two young boys thinking we’d have the deal wrapped up and be out there by Christmas. Well, it hasn’t quite turned out as we planned.
The broker recommended we price the apartment (a two bedroom walkup on Henry Street in Carroll Gardens) at $595K when it first went on the market almost two months ago. No takers.
After two more price cuts, we’re down to $475K. The open houses are always very busy. But NO ONE IS BUYING. At this point, I’d consider any offers. But there aren’t any. What should I do? The URL for the listing is http://www.bhsbrooklyn.com/detail.asp?id=960620
Thanks in advance for any and all advice!
You shouldn’t buy in Seattle just as no one should buy your place. If you can rent it for the price of your mortgage, that might be a good option, though housing prices are very likely to drop further, so you would have to stick with that plan for a couple of years probably. The earliest it could come back would be 2010.
You’re up shits creek without a paddle on this one. Rent it out ASAP.
Ironballs, one thing you might think about is.. I have lived on my block in the north slope for 15 years, In this time the turnover rate for houses has been way less than 1 a year. Some on my block have been here longer than me, which I am assuming means they owe next to nothing on their property. SO I really do not see anyone cashing out when the market is going down, 2-4 family brownstones with longterm owners who live off the income. The house is their income so why would you quit your “job” in a recession? Supply has always been tight, this recession will make it tighter, people scared to make a move, unless they face foreclosure. I see prices falling for sure, but 50% is off the mark. People still need a place to live and Park Slope is one of the desirable places to live in NYC. It is not like the 70’s. And if prices fall dramatically in the next year there is no way they are going to raise dramatically in the next year or two after that I think you are smoking some good stuff if you think a flip of any significance is going to happen in the next 3 years. But good luck if you do it.
definitely get rid of all the books and knick knacks except for a couple of things on the shelves above the TV. turn the dining room in to a dining room only – eliminate the shelving? storage unit? to the left of the table, ditch the desk and the high chair too (altho bring the high chair back after new pics are taken and after every open house!) add a couple of chairs to the dining room table. remove the clothes hanging on the hooks in that room too. also, ditch the drawers in the dining room too. looks like there are toys? next to the TV – get rid of those too and maybe the chairs to the sides of the TV (can go around the table). would be lovely to see the table set up for the pics and open house as well.
AND, no joke, after you get rid of this stuff, you must must take new pics. my looking at these, makes me think that the apt is really really small. also, could use a pic of the 2nd bedroom, the bathroom, and a much better pic of the kitchen. this pictures are not good. very amateur. the broker should provide a better photographer.
good luck and let us know what happens.
Any outdoor space with this thing? Roof deck? Backyard?
I think if it doesn’t sell at what you determine is a rock-bottom price, then you have to rent it out. Here’s the thing: If you lose $100k off what you wanted, it probably won’t kill you, if your husband’s job in Seattle is solid. You’ll be able to make it back with a lower cost of living there, if you want. I do feel your pain if it’s legitimate, but 2 months even in a hot market isn’t unrealistic. It took my folks 2 years to sell their home…
P.S. in addition to the desk you also have to get rid of those file cabinets in the dining room. They’re huge and make the room seem tiny. Hang pictures on the wall instead. It really does need to show as a dining room. Once the office is gone you could switch the living room and dining room, too. Which is probably the original layout, right? I think the biggest mistake people can make is showing their home in an unusual way THEY used the rooms and the space. You need to show a place with its rooms arranged as they are intended to be.
2 months is not unusual! It’s not time to panic the seller yet. It took a little over 2 months to sell our 2BR coop in Park Slope, back in Fall of 2006. And it was larger than this place. I don’t think this apartment has to go much lower in price than it is now. Do NOT simply put “Make Offer” on the listing. Worst idea ever. You’ll never sell it, you’ll look like there are major problems with the property and nobody wants it.
Here’s the problem to me as it breaks the major rule in real estate that all your rooms should be shown with clear identity and purpose:
The room that is a dining room AND an entry foyer AND an office with file cabinets has got to be totally cleared out and become just a dining room. If you need to store away your laptop in the closet and work on the dining room table when people aren’t seeing the house, that’s what you have to do. But get rid of the desk. Get rid of the coats hanging on the wall.
Having a room that’s cluttered and so multi-purpose like that only shouts to buyers “there’s not enough room here”. I would get very anxious and turned off stepping into that room as a buyer.
When was the priced reduced to $475,000? It’s listed at $569,000 on streeteasy. (And if streeteasy is wrong, that’s not helping you either.)
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/356464-coop-588-henry-street-carroll-gardens-brooklyn
According to this link, the price on this place was reduced to $569,000 2 weeks ago. Unless that info is incorrect, it’s misleading to suggest that this “won’t sell” if it has been reasonably priced for less than 2 weeks.
This post just seems like creative real estate advertising to me – getting everyone worked up about how a great place ‘won’t sell’ at a reasonable price.