You should speak to a realtor soon. It may be that they recommend you not bother with mold remediation and just sell the property as a tear down.
^ Yep. Or better yet, pray that lightning hits house and it burns to ground and you collect full face amount of dwelling coverage AND then you sell the vacant land for top dollar additionally…lightning does strike… just like some people win the big lottery!
Thanks everyone. I’ve kind of given up on “the kids.” But now I have to wait for the estate adminsistror to come back from Europe to sign with a realtor. That won’t be until September. If the kids didn’t enter into the picture, we would have signed with a realtor in May or early June, but we are where we are. I am going to do the mold remediation, because I think chance of someone actually living in the house is still pretty good, and I don’t want it uninhabitable. It is a solid little brick house, and if it sat 100 feet back from the road would be a fine location. But the house is probably 15-20 feet from the road, which I think will make it a little harder to sell. We will just have to see what the market will bear.
No, no. They have things like email and fax machines nowadays. Put it on the market asap. It’s costing you money in the meantime.
Assuming the estate administrator is accessible by email, can’t you get him to sign the listing agreement electronically after informing him of the salient terms? Just make sure you send the entire agreement so it’s available for his review. He can sign and return to the listing agent.
Good luck!
You guys are completely correct. But that would assume someone who used a cellphone BEFORE 2015 (he’s never texted yet, and a smart phone would be more than he could handle… I tried), and actually knew how to check email from something other than his computer at home. His “concession” or whatever is calling me from wherever he happens to be, every week or two. Next time he calls, I will ask him about doing the listing via fax/email, but it may be more than he can handle. He is a fairly wealthy man, but travels around Europe for months at a time, in a very old vehicle, and often doesn’t even have access to electricity. It’s been interesting working with him on this estate… Actually, he’s been very easy to deal with, but we each have our idiosyncrasies.
I remember selling a property long distance (and buying too while I was in one place and H in another). Our realtors put things on a site called “docusign” and we signed from wherever we were. That may be an option for your idiosyncratic friend.
When we bought our home, we did pretty much everything via fax as well. The W was living in TX and the rest of us were in HI. It worked fine. I’d certainly ask the executor to sign via fax or email giving you the right to retain a realtor. In the meantime, start looking for the best realtors in the area – ask around to see whom is recommended. It’s good when the same names keep coming up. Finding a good realtor will need to be done anyway, so this can be done even before you have authority to hire, just so you know who you are going to hire. A good realtor can give you comps and make suggestions about what absolutely needs to be done to get top offers and what is better not to bother with, including staging vs. no staging and whether the costs of staging are included as a part of the commission. They may also have access to a good mold remediator company at great prices.
Docusign is the trend now.
If this person stays in a nice hotel at any point, they should be able to accommodate him regarding fax communications and the like.
BTW, especially if the house is under-built for the neighborhood, someone could open up the house out the back and add on the kind of open concept living/kitchen space that is popular, and a master suite as well. They wouldn’t have to excavate and build a basement and all of the systems, which would make it cheaper than starting from scratch.
Just be careful. My best friend had their house appraised for 500K, realtor wanted to start it at 425K, and the couple insisted on 500K. After no progress, the price was dropped until finally they did get the 425K. In the mean time, they were saddled with a LOT of extra debt.
The only thing I can say is that I would not take 200K for a 335K house under any circumstances, even if there is no mortgage and the original price was much less. Go to Zillow and check on houses in the area. I agree that the land may be worth more if the area is great.
I would however, if I had a good relationship with the neighbors and their kids, sell it for 250K without a broker. If they can’t pay 250K, they can’t have the house.
Could you convince the kids to have the house appraised? Or do you think there is a chance that they’d want to flip it - sell it for 300K within a year of buying, and you would just say “oh well…”?
I am 90+% confident the intent of the “kids” is to live inthe house, not sell it. So I’m not worried about that. I just worry that we are giving the place away.
It is a fairly desirable location, and building out the back would be a logical thing to do. So the house could grow with a family as financial situation improved.
BUT, the house is really in pretty bad shape right now. It hasn’t been updated since at least the 80s.
What I would hate to have happen is to list it with a realtor, and after months, maybe not get any more than the kids are willing to pay. I do think real estate is improving in this area. I also think once we have a realtor or two do a market survey we will have a better idea what to expect.
OP here. Looks like we may very well sell the house to an investor. He offered what I believe is a decent price, given the state of the house.
Excellent. Then he can flip it and sell it to the kids next door. Everyone wins. (Except the kids next door.)
How do you find the investor or how does he find you? If you care to share, if not it’s ok too.
@DrGoogle I’m not the OP but as soon as my MIL died, I mean within days, we had investors calling us and sending mail offering to buy her house. I saved them in a file, there must be well over fifty solicitations. We never talked with any of them but I was very curious what price they would have offered.
Interesting, I was approach by realtors but these are the people we know and they know we have a house to be sold.
You tried with the neighbors. Done. Sell it and get what you can. That will be a nice addition to your nest egg.
@DrGoogle, one of the people who came to bid on the mold job for the house (another thread on that) indicated he knew an investor, and that he was pretty fair. I was expecting to be disappointed with his offer, but it’s really not bad, and we can settle within 21 days. It’s not over til it’s over, but it’s looking pretty good.
Sounds like a winner, 1214 !