If you have been struggling to sell your house for the last few months without any bites, you might find yourself saying, “My house in Texas won’t sell…help!” Well, this article is going to be one that you’ve been waiting on! Here, we are going to walk you through all of the potential issues that might be preventing you from finally getting that house off of your hands. The good news is, you still have a few great tricks up your sleeve that you might not know about so that you can get a fair price for your house.
If you have been struggling for quite some time, then you’ve probably already tried to lower your asking price.
Obviously, everyone’s out to the get the highest price for their home possible. Certainly, everyone wants to get more for their house than what they bought it for; but, if housing prices in your neighborhood have gone down, if the economy isn’t doing well, or if your house needs a fair deal of work to be done, then you might need to look at further reducing your asking price.
My House In Texas Won’t Sell…What Are My Options?
When my house in Texas Won’t Sell… the good thing to know is, you do have some options. Here’s five things you might try to finally get that property off of your hands:
1) Remove it from “the Market”
Do you currently have your house listed with a realtor? Depending on how long it has been listed and what “activity” your house has shown since it has been listed, it might be working to your disadvantage. For instance, it your house has been listed for half a year and shows numerous price drops and offers that have fallen out of escrow, it may begin to look like something is wrong with your house and ward of potential buyers.
If that is the case with your house, then you might consider talking your house off the market for a few months and wait for the market conditions to improve before you try and put it back up for sale.
2) Sell it “Owner Financed”
If you really need to get the house off of your hands quickly, then selling owner financed will open up your pool of buyers tremendously and give your more options for a quick sale. The is a situation in which you become the bank to new owner and usually collect a down payment up front and then the rest of the money in monthly payments. Of course, this way, you will not get all the money at once, but it will usually give you more money over the long term. If you are interested in learning more about this option and how it can work when my house in Texas won’t sell.. then this is a great article that explains in a little more detail.
3) Rent it Instead of Sell It
If my house in Texas won’t sell and you need to move out into another home, instead of being stuck with both mortgages, you always have the option of turning the house into a rental property so that you don’t have to hold on to two mortgage payments. The best part about this option is depending on the rent conditions in your area, you might even end up making money each month if your rents can bring in more than what your monthly mortgage payment is. Just remember to factor in the upkeep and other additional expenses like repairs and maintenance.
Whether or not this is a good option for you will heavily depends on your current circumstance and whether the house is in rentable condition. You do want to make sure that you are providing a house that is in good, working condition so that you attract responsible and dependable renters. Make sure you do adequate screening of potential candidates and get a security deposit to cover your investment.
4) Consider a Short Sale
If you fit in the category where “My house in Texas Won’t Sell because I owe too much”, don’t feel hopeless – there are a lot of people within Texas that are in the same boat. You see this a lot with people who bought houses right before the crash in 2008, when housing prices were extremely inflated and now, the house isn’t worth what you paid for it (this is what is referred to as being “upside down”).
In some circumstances, you might be able to negotiate with your bank to let you sell your house for less that what you still owe to the mortgage. Banks will usually accept a short sale if you are behind on your mortgages and it looks like you are heading to foreclosure, however, every bank has different rules and guidelines.
In order to do a short sale, you need a buyer on your side who is able to close quickly. That’s where we can help! If you are considering a short sale, call us right away at (310) 658-8252 for a fast, no-hassle offer for your property.
However, it is important to keep in mind that a short sale will affect your credit score. Having a short sale mark on your credit history will show for a few tears and may prevent you from obtaining another mortgage, for a least a few years.
5) Consider a “Lease-to-Own” Option
A lease-t0-own option is when you rent your house out to someone and give them the option to buy your house at a specified time, or before the lease will expire. This is a good option when you are not able to find a qualified buyer because it gives you the ability to start collecting rent in meantime while your tenant saves up for a downpayment and also gives them time to establish good payment history with you. It’s very similar to option #2 “Sell it Owner Financed” but this way, you are giving each other a trial period beforehand to make sure it will be a good fit for the both of you.
You can also structure it in such a way that a lease premium is added to their monthly rent payment and that premium can count towards the down payment if they do exercise the option to buy (sort of like a forced savings plan for the tenant) – or, you can keep it as income if they do not exercise their right to buy later on.