Hello,

What suggestions do you have for selling a property such as how to choose a realtor (I've been speaking with ones who have the most sales in my area with best reviews), actual staging vs virtual staging, professional pictures and videos, update bathroom(have a handyman), stainless steel appliances (all four for 2k),fsbo vs having a realtor, doing a lease option, or any other suggestions or strategies you have.

I'm thinking about selling my rental property since I cannot rent out all 6 bedrooms any longer according to the city codes. With only 4 bedrooms to rent out, I would only be able to make about $200 profit a month. Mortgage is $1400,

Remaining loan $200k

Down payment 12k

Sale price around 260k

Thanks for your help!

Not enough equity or profit to pull out cash. You'r barely making ends meat as it stands. Why can't you rent the entire house to one family and make the management easier?

Hi Robert,

It always floors me when I hear a RE investor start talking "realtor". Do you think a realtor can sell it better then you an investor.

How is the selling market in your area?

How long does it take for a home your size to sell?

How did you arrive at $260,000 selling price?

For Sale By Owner is easy in a "Seller's Market", by awfully difficult in a "Buyer's Market".

A word about 2nd Trust Deed: It used to be a real good selling tool some years ago, when interest rates were double digit. Today, it is seldom recommended. Go and read about 2nd TD and decide if it's for you or not.

Okay. Here is an example on how I helped a young couple buy a single family home of mine. This was a 3 bedroom, two bathroom home with a heated pool. The market value at the time was around $235,000.

A standard mortgage would have been 80% of the appraised/sale price, or $188,000 loan with a $47,000 down payment.

Since there was no realtor, I was saving 6%, or around $14,000.

Instead of the above scenario, I was asking $250,000. So I was asking for $15,000 above the current market price and was saving $15,000 in commissions. I was ahead of the game (15K + 15K) by $30,000.

The reason whey I was able to get above market is that I remodeled the house before the sale. New roof, grounds, sprinklers, cement driveway, flooring, blinds, kitchen, etc. The house was a dump when I purchased it and my old purchased price reflected all of this work that needed to be done, 12 years prior.

So the young buyers had good income. Husband was working as an engineer and his wife was a school teacher, working down the block from this property.

The couple did not have the $50,000 down payment in cash. Their retirement accounts was huge but at the time they couldn't borrow against it. What they did have saved was $30,000. So they could have gotten a 90% mortgage with a 10% down. But with less than a 20% down payment, they would have had an impound account, paying the property taxes and insurance to the mortgage holder and a 1/2% higher mortgage interest rate.

So instead I loaned them $20,000 in escrow as a second mortgage and with their $30,000, they had the $50,000 down payment required to secure a 80% mortgage without PMTI (private mortgage insurance, tax and insurance impound).

Their first mortgage was at 7.5% interest rate and my second mortgage was at 10% interest rate. I saved $30,000 selling this couple the house and got a only a $20,000 second mortgage. I was $10,000 a head of the game with 10 years of payments and a a balloon payment at the end for the balance.

I hope this helps you sell your property.......When I advertised this i the local news paper I said,

Welcome, John!

I suspect we spoke Sunday, and this is property in Roanoke, right?

Glad you came here. Keep your chin up! : ) There is a lot of wisdom & experience here.

Are you sure that the current rent is as high as it could be? Any way to increase the amount x 4, to get a little more profit each month? Or perhaps increase profits by renting amenities (marked up) for convenience - like lawn care, furniture, snow removal, big-screen TV, custom paint - whatever they might like.

Is the $200/month after all expenses? If so, I would hang on longer - at least until the spring selling season - as long as you are still in the black, even just a little. Especially if your current tenants are well behaved and pay their rent.

Keep in mind that a typical Realtor will want you to spend money to make it HGTV move-in perfect. If sold, is it more suited for an owner-occupant or another investor? Makes a BIG difference.

If you want more specific help reviewing documents, screening, VA laws (see link in top left of this page) or selling or whatever (assuming you are who I think you are, from Yorktown) - Call me - glad to help any way I can.

John,you asked at least a half-dozen questions in your initial post, most of which have been discussed many times already in this forum. Please take the time to search through previous posts, and then if you have a specific question come back and ask it.

"Have any of you done lease options?"

You don't want to do anything fancy, with lots of moving parts. Your situation is too precarious. You don't have enough buffer to give you a high chance of success if something falls through or goes wrong.

You want to get out from under it as soon as possible.

You're also in a precarious enough position that you don't want to worry about squeezing every last dime out of the transaction.

You want to be free of it.