Hi all. I’ve been trying to sell my mom’s house in a active adult community. It’s been a little slow going. Most of the houses in the neighborhood have been priced approximately the same, but one just went on the market for 40,000 less than comparable homes. This house was on the market in the fall of last year at the same price and didn’t sell. The owners pulled it off the market and, I believe, they then rented it out. They have now redone all the floors, painted the walls and added an air scrubber. I’m just wondering if it’s possible that the air scrubber is in response to a possible odor in the house. Just trying to figure out why this house is priced so much lower than everyone else, especially after putting in all this work.
Posted by cashburn2
4 Comments
you didn’t say your area, but here’s what I’ve seen in mine:
1. home prices are falling – people who enter the market with a COVID era price don’t see their house move until the price has dropped. as a way to avoid buyers seeing the price drop, I’ve seen some houses be pulled from the market and then reposted like 6 months later at the much lower (reasonable) price. you may just be in an area where that price point is the right one, and all the other folks are asking too much.
2. the house is in an adult community – I am assuming that means 55 and up? In that case – a lot of people (in general, but especially that age) can’t afford to sell their current (larger) home because the prices on the smaller houses have gone up so much. It’s cheaper for them to just weather the property taxes increase on their (almost, or paid off) house than sell, get a new mortgage, and find a smaller place.
You should go check it out on an open house. Maybe they had a flood and the place smells mold. Or the tenant had pets that soiled all over the place. My house has a scrubber installed by the previous owner but the bulb had been out since I moved in and I never replaced it, the cat smell is still here.
What is an air scrubber?
It’s good to look at the competitive listings, if you are able, go walk through it (especially if they have an open house).
But what are the most recent sales prices?