Selling Your Renovated Property

Selling Your Renovated Property is republished from https://mpgdeals.com/

So you purchased a fix and flip to sell retail. It can be an exciting and stressful time all at once. But when is the best time to actually start marketing the property? How do you know when it is actually ready to go on the market and pass inspections? These are the questions we will answer in this short article.

Marketing Your Property

When should you start marketing your property to get it sold quickly? We all know that the longer you hold onto a property the more it will cost you in holding costs. Insurance, HOA dues, utilities and if you used hard money can add up quickly cutting into your bottom line.

If you ask most investors and realtors they will tell you that you start marketing the property once it is completely finished and staged, if you are going to lightly furnish the property for showings. We don't subscribe to that train of thought 100%. Let me tell you why.

A few years ago we renovated a condo in a high rise. From day one the neighbors were curious about what upgrades we were making. We also ran into several real estate agents that were showing other condos in the building. After introducing ourselves we were often asked by these realtors if they could see the property, sometimes even when they had a client with them that were there to see another unit.

Almost all of the realtors asked to be notified of when the property was completed, so we did. We actually notified them about 1 week before we were ready to go on the market. One of the realtors we had meet actually made an appointment to show the property the day it was ready. We hadn't even listed it with a realtor. He brought in a client and they put it under contract and closed within 2 weeks. We were extremely happy, being that the HOA alone on the property was $400 a month, and we only had the one realtor to pay!

We found an article that helps explain in more depth the Pros and Cons of marketing your property before it's completed on Connected Investors blog:

Realtors are normally decidedly for beginning active advertising and offering showings only after the property is 100% polished, cleaned, and even staged. Of course, this is in the agent’s favor as it theoretically makes it a lot easier to sell at top dollar. That means more profit and commission for real estate agents and the house flipper alike.

However, every day a property isn’t sold bleeds money and profit because of mounting holding costs. Some savvy rehabbers choose begin marketing the opportunity from day one of acquisition. Some may even market before that. The less you have to put in, and the less time it takes to resell, the lower the risk, and the higher the profit potential. In many cases this may also be the ideal scenario for the buyer. Some buyers would rather complete improvements to their own tastes. This kind of scenario is the exception rather than the rule, as most house flippers don’t want buyers on an active job site.

The downside of beginning to market too early is that some buyers just may not have the imagination to envision the end product and value and are scared away from an unfinished project. It depends on the buyer and how you are able to present the property. If you can afford it, test out these options.

Read The Full Article "How to Sell Fix and Flip Property"

Good advice. The one thing that you really need to take into consideration is how many contractors are on the job site that day, not only for staying out of their way, but for safety reasons as well.

Ready To List Your Property?

Okay, so everything seems to be done, or at least your GC tells you it's ready. Do you take their word for it? We don't. We always do a walk through and check every little thing. Just a few things wrong here and there can totally blow a sale to a potential buyer, thinking that if they see these little things wrong, how much more is wrong that they can't see.

Danny Johnson put up some great info on the Flipping Junkie blog about performing a punch list before listing:

It really comes down to the details. When I’m doing a rehab punch list I inspect everything from the texture on the walls, to if the paint has an even coat. Then, beyond the obvious cosmetic issues, I look at the elements that are going to be covered when the house gets inspected.

Important aspects of a house that are looked at during an inspection are:

• Trees rubbing against the roof
• The water heater raised 18 inches off the floor
• Weather strips on the doors and windows
• Hand railing on stair caseses (both inside and outside)

There are a lot of little things as far as safety goes that can be over looked. Especially when you have something like a deck at one of your properties, you always want to make sure there’s no structural damage. For instance, this house had that great big deck in the back yard, but it was a two story deck. Not only did we have to make sure the stairs on the deck were safe, with the appropriate hand railing, but we also needed to double check the safety of the railings and banisters were safe on the top section of the deck.

Always, always, always make sure your doors are sealed. That’s such an easy thing to fix, and just as easy to over look. You never want to miss the weather stripping on your doors. A good way to tell if a door needs a new seal is just to close it from the inside and see if there’s any light showing through from the outside. If there is, then you’re going to have to replace it.

The same goes for your windows. In fact, we had a house where we upgraded the windows to ones that open from side to side, but were installed opening up and down. Always make sure your new additions to the house are installed correctly!

Read The Full Article "Rehab Punch List – Getting Ready for Market"

You need to read the full article. He gives a lot of good info. Home inspectors can be a huge pain, and can "ding" you on the smallest stuff. Before you know it they have a huge list with little stuff that looks like a mountain to a potential buyer when in reality it's only a mole hill.

Summing It Up

It's really up to you and the project you are working on when you will start marketing the property. Just bear in mind that not all potential buyers will be able to invision the finished product. Then when the property is ready to be listed, be sure and do a thorough walk through paying attention to detail on every little thing.

As always, if you are looking for the best off market properties in Atlanta, sign up on our site.