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California Property is going up for sale

December 4th, 2011 at 12:13 am

I have decided to sell the CA property. BB and I went out to visit it last week and decided selling was the best option.

We went out to CA for 5 days. We spent 3 days in the city, staying on Haight street. It was great, but expensive! But great.

Then we headed a little south and spent 2 days in San Mateo to see some old friends of mine.

I met with the long term tenant in the condo, and she has not found a job yet, no promising prospects.

I met with a realtor and we discussed next steps.

The condo is in surprisingly good shape, and surprisingly huge!

The realtor said we need to paint it nuetral, fix the heater, paint the cabinets, clean the carpets and stage it before putting it on the market. Maybe get some new light fixtures too.

The realtor is really fixated on staging, saying its really important.

I dont know, if you walk into an empty condo- does staging really compel you to put in an offer? Wouldnt taking the $2k to stage it maybe be better spent on a granite countertop? Or would nice furnishings be a better bang for your buck?

The realtor also said if it does not sell within a month, to increase the realtor commission by 1% to get realtors to work hard on bringing buyers in.

Regardless, the tenant is moving out in January, and BB and a contractor friend of his is going to fly in to complete the fix ups. He'll stay at the empty condo for 2 weeks and do all the necessary remodeling with the realtors input. She said she will go to Home Depot with BB and pick out the fixtures and stuff for him.

So we are hoping the remodeling is $5k, flights for the men $1k, food for the men $500, rental car $300 ...and then staging $2k.

So thats the plan...right now. pics of the place are below. Input appreciated!








10 Responses to “California Property is going up for sale”

  1. MonkeyMama Says:
    1322961542

    I may know someone interested in the property. I have a friend looking to put $100k down on a $500k property. I don't remember what price you said you were going for. Frankly, this place looks eons above where she is living and what she has talked about looking at. But I am not sure how she feels about the neighborhood. Remind me - what is the square footage? How many bedrooms? What price are you looking at?

    Good luck!

  2. Gamecock43 Says:
    1322962100

    Hi monkey, the place is in foster city. It is 2 bedrooms, 2 baths. It is 1400 sq ft. The realtor wants to put it on the market at $405k. The final list price would depend how the updates and market dictates when it's ready to list. Is foster city too far for your friend?

  3. MonkeyMama Says:
    1322962207

    Yeah - I don't think she will be interested then. But I will mention it, just in case.

  4. Gamecock43 Says:
    1322962421

    Yeah foster city is a world away from the city! Very residential. This place also has a garage spot if you know anyone else looking.

  5. cptacek Says:
    1322980136

    Yes, staging is huge. I sold my Dallas house for $30,000 more than another house in the same cul-de-sac with the same floor plan because I staged it and they didn't. That was before the crash, though.

    For sure, paint the pink bathroom some other color. And match the shower curtain to the new wall color and towels.

    Paint the ceiling a light color in that kitchen, and it will really look bigger. But painting the whole room a nice beige would do the most good. I have painted cabinets, and it made them look really good, but I wouldn't want to live in a house with painted cabinets...the paint kept chipping where the doors hit the stiles. So, if you do it yourself, let the paint dry for a LONG time before closing the doors and drawers or it will pull it off.

    You want all the clutter gone. Hardly anything on the countertops. Hide the trash can, if that is where it always is.

    You want to make it look like they could move in. The illusion should be if they buy it, they could pack a suitcase and move in and live there.

  6. ceejay74 Says:
    1322981830

    I just hope it's a different contractor friend from the one who blew up the budget on the impulsive purchase! Other than that, sounds like a good plan. Best of luck!

  7. gamecock43 Says:
    1323004593

    Ok, we will stage then. We are painting the whole place Navajo White. Thanks for the tip about painted cabinets, I would not have known that.
    And the contractor friend is the same friend who blew up our last budget! His skill is great even if his budget anticipation is not.

  8. Ima saver Says:
    1323009415

    I think you are smart to put it up for sale.

  9. ceejay74 Says:
    1323012118

    Ohh...well, I would just mentally say goodbye to about five grand more than you're planning on. Between him and BB, based on past situations you've described with both of them, I don't think they'll be able to stick to your budget. (But I hope I'm wrong!) You'll still make a tidy profit, so it won't matter too much in the long run.

  10. all4money Says:
    1323895052

    Definitely need to "neutralize" the condo so painting the whole place is a great idea.

    Glad you decided to sell the condo -- I wish you the best of luck.

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