Selling Your Condo / Apartment

[kimthebride]

I find that selling a condo/apartment is different than selling a house...particularly in the market today.

Is there anyone else out there going through this?

Let's:
1. Share our stories
2. Share tips
3. Console each other ;)

--

My story:
Our condo has been on the market for 8 months. We have dropped the price twice, a LOT of money. We've had 2 offers: 1 we accepted & the guy just disappeared, 1 was CRAZY low (as in, obviously he was not right in the head to offer it). We never expected to have kids here, and now we have 2...we're so ready to get out but don't want to give the place away! We do need some profit to be able to buy our next home, a forever house.

My biggest obstacles in selling:
Our building was built almost 20 years ago and used to be one of a kind. Now, there are a ton of buildings like it popping it all over the area. So now buyers have a ton of options.

Also, there are about 10 units in my building similar to ours (2BR, 2.5Bath) for sale. We're priced in the lower-middle of the pack.
So I am befuddled...How you do differentiate your condo from the others, when there is SO MUCH to choose from?

[lee60657]

KimMy story is a bit different as we sold our condo within 10 days of putting it on the market. BUT...I thought I would share some of things that I think/heard through feedback, that contributed to the quick sale.

Background We live in a 5 story elevator building with 15 units. There are 3 floor plans (I think). We have a community heated garage parking spot. Parking is a premium in our area, so I think that helped some too. A unit one floor up from ours sold in early March. Honestly, that unit had SS appliances, 2 parking spots and other upgrades our unit did not have. That unit had been on the market since the previous July. We were very concerned.

Things we did that I think helped:
We rented a storage space and practically emptied the closets and got rid of lots of our furniture. We also got rid of the majority of DD large toys - they just cluttered everything. It sucked, but it made our place look alot bigger.
We have great outdoor space for the city, so we hyped that up. We also put alot of effort into cleaning up our outdoor space. We bought lots of flowers etc. We also had the windows professionaly cleaned at our realor's suggestion - at first I thought it was stupid, but it really made the place look better and let in more light. We live in the city and I guess our windows were dirtier than I realized :o
We priced it at about 15K more than the lowest amount we would accept. It was a good price point - we got people in that we may not have if it was priced higher.
You have probably already done stuff like this, but we had "upgraded" our whole unit with potterybarn and/or restoration hardware lights, fixtures, hardware. I think it was a selling point b/c it stood out from the run of the mill standard stuff in the units we were competing with.

I really hope you sell your place soon - it sounds like you have had to deal with many schmucks during your time on the market :(

[bookworm]

I looked in because I'll be in the market for a condo within the next year or so and thought I'd see what the other side looked like.


Also, there are about 10 units in my building similar to ours (2BR, 2.5Bath) for sale. We're priced in the lower-middle of the pack.

This may not be helpful (because I'm not sure what to do about these concerns), but when I see several listings in the same building it turns me off to the entire building for a few reasons--

1. Worry about resale value (why doesn't anyone want to buy these?).
2. Worry about who the neighbors are going to end up being--of course you never know, but that many units for sale can alter the owner-occupied v. investment property ratios (unless there are so many units that that just doesn't matter).
3. Worry that there is something about the building that people just don't like (bad management, fascist condo association, street noise that I can't tell during a visit or two, etc.).

I certainly can't claim to speak for all potential buyers, but I thought I'd throw out those thoughts in case you have creative ways to mitigate the concerns. Good luck with your sale!

[Kate&Joey]

Kim: I remembered this article about professional "stagers" who come in and revamp your house in a way that will show it off better to buyers. Maybe something to look into? I hope you get some good prospects soon!

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/homefinder/stories/2007/07/23/cover_0722.html

[Sue]

We're looking to sell our place in the next couple of months, but I think we're lucky. Technically we're a condo, but we have a detached house and and pay common charges for trash, recycling, water and landscaping/snow removal. There are only 12 units in our 2 subdivisions and the last one that was on the market was 2 years ago, before that was when we bought ours. We are surrounded by 3 much larger complexes of traditional units, but are the only ones that are detached in the area. So I am hoping between the uniqueness of the property and the upgrades we have done, it will sell quick. I really hope so because if we don't get into a bigger place soon, I'm gonna kill someone!

[EJM]

A few tips in case someone hasn't thought of them :)

DH spent a ton of time retouching paint and repainting our baseboards, it seems like a waste of time but made a huge difference.

We also cleaned the place out and stuck everything possible in storage. I think we had about 100 boxes tagged by the moving company when we moved, and about 2/3 of those had been in storage for listing.

Our realtor really wanted us to redo the hardwoods, but no way with a toddler so he used a product called Bona X on the floors -- wow, what a difference! We also rented a steamer and did the carpets.

Our assessments were insanely high for the area, but include a ton so we really stressed that fact because some people see that number and won't even look.

We had upgraded all the fixtures at one point or another while we lived there. We also installed handles/pulls in the kitchens and one bath, most people in our building never bothered with anything beyond the basics.

When pricing we picked a number a bit lower than my DH would have liked, but it was right below a typical budget cut-off and we wanted the increased traffic.

[mpc863]

We just sold our condo and we had a similar situation as there were 3 other units in the building for sale (out of ~20).

We moved about 1/2 of our stuff out of the place and stored it (ended being 3 months). Our agent had a good eye but if yours doesn't then I would look into a stager.

Is your agent getting feedback from the people that are coming to look through your place? We got some valuable feedback this way and were able to make some quick fixes that enabled us to sell the place.

[kimthebride]

Thanks for your feedback, ladies!

Re: Why so many for sale
We have well over 200 units in our building, and the main reasons people sell are:
1. Young city couples move here for an easy commute, then have kids and decide its time for a house (like us & 2 others I know of)
2. People bought a place as an investment back when it was 'one of a kind', and are ready to get it off their hands
3. Retiring couples downsizing to become snowbirds
4. Divorce (must sell & split sale price) or marriage (moving into other person's home).

And construction on new units in the building just completed, so there is a bunch of 'new construction' available units up for grabs.

We've never met anyone who moved from here beause they didn't like it...but I can see why that would be an assumed concern!

Re: Staging & Storage
We did it as much as we could, but do have 2 adults, a toddler, a newborn & 2 cats here so we still need stuff. No one has ever commented on mess or clutter or toys or even aesthetics period in a negative way.

Showings
We do get a decent amount of showings, particularly since we've dropped the price. And we keep getting people "very interested" and even coming back for a second showing or staying as long as 30 minutes...but no one is taking a bite. We do a lot of Open Houses, which are usually hit or miss. All Open houses are at the same time on Sundays, so its nice that we get people who were looking at another unit stop by ours as well.


I guess I am frustrated because *I* know the perks of our unit over some of the others...but then again, I also bought here and can say that I know the feeling that you can't be persuaded to buy a home! We went into a handful of units here (and elsewhere), but as soon as we walked into ours we knew it was The One.

[bookworm]

That all makes sense, and I hope I didn't come across as criticizing your building (which I'm sure is very nice!)...just trying to offer a different perspective.

Having said that, I did think of some things I've seen in advertisements (not that they have induced me to buy yet, but that's more about me not being ready) that I have found interesting:
-Cash back at closing
-Seller pays a year of condo fees
-Seller pays a year of parking fees (if that's applicable)

I think these might be interesting to condo buyers b/c they tend to be first time buyers, who have been saving down payments and would value a little breathing room (to do those first-time-homeowner projects) in the first year over a slightly lower monthly payment over time.

Promotions I've seen and found silly are free plasma TVs and trips to Florida. :). But you never know...

[PLNUBRIDE]

Well….it appears that my DH and I might be in the same boat soon. We are on the lookout for a new home, but of course we have to sell ours first.

We have approx. 300 units total in our complex and there are 26 on the market. Our particular model has about 12 for sale and the price ranges from $227K to $275K…yeah, quite a span. We need to get at least 250K in order to make a new purchase possible.

First, I would have to say that most buyers and sellers should understand that inventory is high in every neighborhood because of the market…not because the area is undesirable.

If we list, here are some things I plan on doing:

1) Clear away ALL clutter from kitchen and bathroom countertops

2)Empty out/organize closets and cupboards as much as possible. This makes everything look bigger and shows buyers if you are neat and organized with your belongings, you probably take good care of household maintenance.

3)If there are rooms that are unpainted, paint them. Most of our house has been painted, except the Master bedroom, which makes it look unfinished and it does not flow with the rest of the house.

4)Do anything that will make your property stand out.

For example, our floorplan comes with a small backyard, but it only has small rocks for ground covering (builder provided). We plan on taking the rocks out and putting in pavers and fake grass. It will cost about $3,000…but 90% of the condos on the market lack a finished backyard…we probably won’t get the money back…but it will set us apart.

If you have a small outdoor space, spruce it up so people feel like it is additional living space (not extra storage space).

Replace standard bathroom fixtures with more distinctive ones.

Add crown molding or new base boards

Highlight a special feature, like a fireplace or a great view

5)Hire a Realtor that specializes in Condos…at least that is what I hope to do.

I don’t know….I just my condo will be on the market an easy 6 months……:o

BUT…since we are on the topic of suggestions: We have an indoor dog that barks whenever someone comes in the house. Obviously, this does not work when the house is on the market. Does anyone have any ideas as to what to do about this? She can’t stay with family…but I am open to Doggy daycare if there is such a thing (but I think they would need to pick her up)……has anyone done this?

[Walton]

Our condo just went under contract today, after being on the market 6 months. We are so happy! I will say that for us, the biggest thing came down to price. We were competing with new construction, and although we have the upgraded finishes, 2 parking spaces, and a location close to downtown Chicago, we also aren't brand new. And people like brand new. We ended up selling $44K under our original asking price, and approximately $15K under what we had hoped for. But in this market we just wanted to be done with it. We still made money so we decided not to be greedy and just accept this offer.

I think it's important to make your place look as bright and spacious as possible, but I also think it's important to price yourselves appropriately from the get-go. We listed about $20K too high at the beginning, so our outstanding days on the market started adding up, likely decreasing our bargaining power in the end. Just my two cents.

Good luck to all of you!

[kimthebride]

Hey ladies!

Just had to say that though we're still for sale, I have been watching HGTV's "Get It Sold", "Designed to Sell" and "House Hunters" and put some tips to work. I did some of my own staging, and at the last OH we got GREAT feedback. We are actually going to do some painting & a few other things to freshen the place up, take new pics an re-list the unit. I hope it helps!