Thread: Predicament

Originally Posted by Drake

I bought a House in January of 2007. I was fresh out of college, had a new job, in a new city. It was a great job with great pay and great benefits. I needed a place to live and loved the job so planned on being there for a while so I choose to buy instead of rent. I didnt buy until I had been working for about 6-8 months. Well about a year and half after I bought a house, my company got bought out and decided to move everyone to Los Angeles or Denver. I was in Memphis at the time and most of my family was in Tennessee. I did not want to move that far away. So I decided to move back home town and get a job there. Well the problem is I owe 152,000 on my house and the market is not very good in memphis and I can only get around 150,000 for my home. I am getting married in June and the both of us will comfortably be able to afford 2 house notes based on the price range we are looking at. However, we would like to get rid of the house. Our house is on the verge of being annexed into city limits and hte price will drop further then. Should we try to sell and take a ~15,000 dollar loss or rent out and fear getting annexed and loose even more money selling down the road? If I do take the 15,000 dollar loss what is the best way to come up with the money I am short? Personal loan? I am thinking I will be able to bring around 5-7k to the closing table.

Call an atty and find out what the closing costs would be if you sold on your own fsbo. I think you will be surprised that it is not that high. Then make sure you will have the cost to close. List asap fsbo because as you are saying there are no room for extra fees. If you owe 152K and it's worth around 150K try to get that. Good luck

I thought about that, but I live 250 miles away. I would not be able to show the house or anything. Is there a way to sell FSBO and still let other realtors in? Also there are 950 homes for sale in my area in my price range, I would be competing with some pretty heavy marketing. Can I still get an MLS number and get listed on websites?

Do you have a friend or neighbor that can show the house for you? Seems like someone can help you out without too much trouble.

I am surprised that you guys are pushing this poor home owner to try to FSBO. First off, you all know that FSBO's tend to get 10% to 15% less when they sell then home sellers who are represented by Professional REALTORS. Second off, he is not there. Doing a FSBO long distance is a invitation to disaster and if this were the only wrought he were willing to go as a seller, the best advice to give him would be to rent it.

Thank you Jim.

My thoughts as well.