I'm sorry it is taking so long and the incentive is a good idea, but I think the best would have been completing the addition as a buyer generally will over estimate the cost to get something done.

Also a note that if you have a local MLS then it could have been changed in there and realtor.com hasn't picked up the changes yet.

Thanks! Yeah, I would have liked to have finished the addition, but we transferred to three states away and it just wasn’t possible. The cost to have a contractor do it all would have taken it way over what the neighborhood could bear, price-wise. As it is, we have way more in it than we are asking, and at the price point, you have 1950s homes in original condition with wood/ aluminum windows and blue bathtubs, and then you have our house. I’m sure it will sell with the $5k incentive, it’s just a slow process. Before we had bought our house, it had sat on the market for seven years! Let’s pray it doesn’t take that long.

"The cost to have a contractor do it all would have taken it way over what the neighborhood could bear, price-wise."

Isn't that what every would-be buyer is probably thinking? Your incentive only works for the buyer that can DIY?

We have asked our realtor about lowering the price, but she said no, that’s not the problem. The problem is just finding a buyer. She keeps telling us to be patient. The average days on the market is 131 according to the first realtor. We’ve been on the market for 185 days, not including the first two months the other realtor had it. She said that the incentive was a better idea than a price reduction, because it’s like getting their money back. If we just lowered the price, they would still be out their down payment. This way they can complete the remodel. I’m hoping this does it. At least this way maybe we will get an offer that we can counter. Average price in our neighborhood sells for $79,900, and that’s for original 1950’s condition. We are priced at $85,000 so with the 5k incentive, that brings it down to average selling price, and they get a remodeled house. Still hoping, lol!

Oh, and I’m sorry Chocolatesnap, I forgot to answer your question- the cost of having a contractor do it would have raised it beyond price point, for us. Maybe I didn’t quite word that right? We put more money in it than a 3/1 would sell for in our neighborhood, so if we hired a contractor to finish the remodel, we’d be way WAY over what a 3/2 could sell for, but at the 85, the buyer is fine to do what they need to do to get it to a 3/2 with a den or a 4/2, whichever they use that space for. Am I making sense? Clear as mud? Lol! The buyer is getting the house far below what we have in it, so they’re fine whether they DIY or hire a contractor. I don’t know whether the 5k would do the whole thing, but it’s a major start.

Am I correct in understanding you have a relatively major remodel only partially completed? If that is true, my hunch is that is why it's not selling. Buyers want turnkey and totally done, at least here in my part of the country. HGTV has warped most minds and no one wants to take on someone else's partially completed construction project.

While you can see it done, the average buyer just sees a major headache. In order to sell something like that here, you'd have to list it way under market. Sorry. :(

I agree with pb. It's a project in the making, which many people don't want to take on.

It's price. If it doesn't sell, it's price. Your realtor says she just hasn't found the right buyer yet? That's because there are no buyers willing to spend that PRICE.

You are between a rock and a hard place, unfortunately. I feel for you. Reduce the price until it sells. What choice do you have, if you don't want to continue to pay two mortgages simultaneously?

Denita's explanation is right on. Buyer's can not find easy financing for it. And most buyers do not want a fixer - upper, and that is not because of some TV show.

I have seen many garage conversions, and have yet to see one that really looked good.

And, if the second Realtor is so good, why is she bringing buyers to your home that have no money as you state?

I am wondering whether it would make more sense to take the $5000 and undo/clean up the project you started. If garage space/storage space is more desirable for most buyers--and a partial project wrecks financing for those buyers; is there a way to hire someone to take down what you started--and make your home just like the rest in your neighborhood. Or at least more like the comps that are selling faster?

A house without a garage would be hard to sell........

^In the neighborhoods I sell in, yes, absolutely. That's why a garage conversion is considered a negative. There are some neighborhoods where it isn't as much as a negative.

Ilovetocook - I have a question. Do you use Zillow (or similar) to track home sales in your town/area/neighborhood and price range? If you do, what are you finding?

I'm trying to find out if homes in your price range in your area are selling right now - except yours - or if there's just not a lot of movement at all. At this time of year homes in my market are flying off the shelf. I'm concerned why yours is not getting any offers. You need to ask your realtor specific questions and challenge each and every answer he or she gives. If everything else is selling and yours isn't then "the right buyer just hasn't come along" doesn't cut it. Full stop.

1. 1. If financing was ever an issue (as some have suggested re: FHA/VA/first time home buyer loans) that should have come up long before now. Potential appraisal problems (if that's what your realtor says) should also have been addressed long before now.

2. The updates you've listed (especially as compared to other homes in the neighborhood) should make yours stand head and shoulders above the rest. The unfinished space is tricky, I agree, and the $5000 allowance should help overcome those objections. This should have been suggested in the beginning.

1. 3. Ask your realtor if potential buyers (the ones who actually come and look at your house) are pre-qualified or if they're just kicking tires (if so, stop wasting your time). Ask your realtor if those people who looked at your house went on to buy another similarly priced house in your area. If so, you have a big problem. It's a small town, your realtor will definitely know and should be willing to tell you.

2. If potential buyers are pre-qualified and your home doesn't have any obvious financing or appraisal issues (again, this should have come up before now) and other homes are selling, what's the real issue?

3. It's my opinion that you need a realtor you can trust more than you need a "good realtor." If your bullsh*t meter gets pinged trust your gut. Either way you're going to have to accept the hardship (you're not the only one who's ever been in this position), buckle down, and have a plan B if this all doesn't work.

4. You nee to know your market, know what's selling and for how much and in what condition.

5. Of course - and you already know this - getting an offer is just the start of the process and nothing to celebrate. You need to do your homework because I predict you're going to have plenty of objections during closing and, if the past is any indication, you're going to get railroaded if you're not prepared to put your foot down and stand up for your interests.

6. How long are your listing agreements for? 3 months? 6 months?

7. I feel for you. But if you take ownership of the problem you can endure this.

Sorry I haven't responded before now. I have been working a lot of overtime and I really haven' been online much, lol!! I have been watching the market and the only thing under contract right now is a home listed for $28k, in terrible condition. The town has a lot of investors that rent out houses, but they buy the houses cheap cheap. We are not in a position to go that low. All the realtor keeps saying is be patient- my house sat on the market for 7 years before I bought it. I don't know, but if the garage addition not being completed was going to mess with someone's financing, wouldn't she tell us? This is in Texas. She never even asked if completing it was a possibility. The only thing she asked is if we would consider tearing down our picket fence and put up a gate on our other fence. We said no, but nobody that has looked at the house has complained about the fence that she asked about.

Why did the house take 7 years to sell prior to you purchasing it? Is there something major about the house that is turning people off?

Well, it had needed ( in our opinion) to be gutted, but really no more than any of the houses that are on the market now for the same asking price as my house. There is a story we found out after we purchased and moved in, that apparently there is a large group of people that won’t go to our neighborhood because they don’t want to see our house, it’s a weird story: the house was built by a couple in the fifties. She passed away, leaving him in the home. Apparently they had several holdings, oil leases, etc. but apparently their children were pretty worthless, drug addicts. The old man was good friends with two of his neighbors, so when he died, in his will he left the house to his two neighbors. He left other things to his family- money, but he didn’t give them the house. One of the neighbors bought out the other and put it on the market. It sat for 7 years because there’s a group of people that are mad that it wasn’t given to them. This is a large, large family group in a small town. One time on a Saturday afternoon, after it became obvious from the outside that we were remodeling, a very drunk young man stopped by my house at 1pm, threatening to get a lawyer and take my house, because he felt it should have been given to him, being his grandfather’s house. Nothing ever came of it, of course. We bought the house with a clear title. Another time I was working with a lady my age, and she asked where I lived. When I told her she started yelling at me, because I look young for my age and my husband doesn’t, so she started yelling at me for “marrying an old man for his money.” I was 27, he was 30 and neither of us had any money, but come to find out she was a member of that family that believes they should have been given the house. I thought that this wouldn’t be a problem with selling now because we lived there for 14 years. But maybe it’s still a factor. I don’t know.

I have a question: you mention that a home is under contract that is listed for $28k. Is that home in your neighborhood? Do you have actual comparable sales for your current pricing?

Your Realtor may or may not know the underwriting guidelines for incomplete construction. That is why I said to contact lenders, mortgage lenders, so you know. In my area it would be a real stumbling block. Check your area.

As to the negative aura surrounding your house because the family that owned it two sales ago didn't pass it on to their children....I don't know how to combat that now. Maybe you come up with a strategy to offer it to that family for $X (market value with a small discount). I need to think about this a bit.

Ilovetocook - a drunk and a lunatic got messy with you over perceived slights from two generations ago. I'm thinking Deliverance, but without the mountains. Don't provoke them, but don't indulge those fools, either.

I'd jack the price up by $5000 - the incentive amount - and let it be cash back at closing. With the extensive renovations you've done I can't see an appraisal not supporting the raised price, and it doesn't add that much to a monthly payment on a 30 year mortgage. Financing issues will hinder the sale no matter what price you put on the house (so dropping it isn't gonna help, either).

They can use the money to buy a moped or drugs, or fix their teeth.

Any incentive has to be used toward buyers closing costs and pre-paid expenses or as a price reduction if the buyer has financing. If you offer a $5k incentive and the closing costs and pre-paid expenses are only $4k total, then that is all that can be used as "cash back". Check your financing requirements. There are many rules that restrict the amount, as a percentage of sales price, that the seller can pay toward buyer's closing.

As to the appraisal, it is a common miss-perception that a seller will recoup anywhere close to what was spent in improvements. Some improvements add zero to value.

Danita, to answer your question, no that house is not in our neighborhood. Both realtors priced the house based on comps that had sold recently in the neighborhood, and yes I realize that I’m not recouping the cost of the remodel. I got to live with those upgrades too. I was just thinking it would make the house stand out and sell faster. Three houses are for sale in my neighborhood, all priced the same- mine, a 2/1 and a 3/2. Both the 2/1 and the 3/2 have original windows, and original cabinets. The 3/2 has blue carpet in the kitchen and 1959s bathrooms, but there are two.

Although it is helpful to see what is your competition on the market, it is also important to see what has recently sold that is comparable to your home. Both Realtors should have shown you similar homes that are Active & Sold and expired so you can see actual sales prices. If you have a 3/1, that is what they need to show you in recent sales. Showing you 3/2's or 2/1's require adjustments to the comps that not all agents perform adaquately. An appraiser will be able to do an appraisal for you if you aren't getting accurate pricing models from your Realtor.

As a point of interest: in my area a 2 bathroom home gets much more in closed sales price than a one bath home in the same neighborhood, even if the houses are the same size. Most people do not want the hassle of installing a second bath, except for those of us on Houzz :)

And Patrick, HAHAHA!! Well we don’t live there anymore, but THANK YOU. The house is in Texas, and we now live in Mississippi. No I don’t want to raise the price- I thought the realtors priced it too high in the beginning. I thought they should have priced it at $79,900 and hoped to walk away with 75, but they were the experts.

and to answer other questions, the people that were looking at the house were not pre-approved. Idk if they went on to purchase other homes. I will write her today. We have been kind of afraid to bother her, but really, I need to get out of that mentality. She’s supposed to be SELLING this damn house! Lol! Maybe if I pester her it will light a fire under her butt..

Afraid to bother her? Well that's just crazy. If she doesn't want to be bothered, you need another realtor.

Personally I'd drop the price to the $79,900 you wanted to. If it's not selling it's because of the price. Period.

Are you able to finish the remodel?

Hahaha Littlebug! We were just discussing this, my husband and I. There’s no other realtor that we are going to hire that will be different.

i wrote her today, asking the questions y’all asked- did the buyers that viewed our house go on to buy other houses? We’re they preapproved? She did not answer me. She said she would try to see why the incentive still isn’t showing up.

This is why I said selling in a small town, in the title. Small towns are different than a city that has a lot of competition. At least in my town anyway. All of the real estate agents are older ladies past retirement age, that come from money and don’t have to work. They become real estate agents because it satisfies their nosiness in that they can go see how everyone lives, and staves off the boredom. But they don’t, like, actually **do** much. Y’all said I should have been shown comps of recent sales? Never happened, never will. Texas does not disclose sales price anyway, so it’s not public knowledge. Even when we bought this house, in Mississippi, in another small town. We had trouble getting an appraisal, and when we finally got someone to actually show up, she had to pull comps of 3/2 houses on an acre (our house is a 2/2 on .86 of an acre) because there weren’t any comparables. And like I said, that was when we finally got somebody to come out. The first appraiser never showed up after making several promises to do so, and then when I called him, he screamed and yelled at me. Small towns. Anyone providing a service acts like you should be grateful they are providing that service, and not expect anything else. Real estate agents simply put the house on the market and wait for a buyer to come. There is no rush. We chose the first realtor because he was a middle-aged man, and so we thought he would be more motivated to sell it because he has to put food on the table. That wasn’t the case. This one has at least kept in touch with us, but she only initiated one message, two weeks ago, after it had been on the market 180 days. It is very frustrating, but there’s nothing I can do to change it. I did have her lower the price today. If it doesn’t sell by June I’m afraid we are going to have to rent it out.

Ilovetocook - thanks for writing that up. For some weird reason I enjoyed reading it.

Interesting about Texas not disclosing sales prices. Now I wanna hop on Zillow and see what shows up under "recently sold." Where I live you can can also go to the website for the county's property tax records and find out the sale's price (if it was an arm's length transaction).

Also interesting about the appraisal process you went through in Mississippi. Around here the bank orders the appraisal I think.

And no surprise about your realtor not answering your questions. She probably doesn't know the answers and is too busy playing bridge to find out. It seems like no matter where you go - small town to big city - it's still a racket in one way or another.

I'm going through the selling process right now, too. I've already purchased another place. I kinda don't want to sell the current place because I actually like it better than the new place. Barring a full price offer I'm probably gonna ride out the listing agreement and maybe rent it out (the new place doesn't allow rentals per recent HOA rule changes). The new one is a great investment and had several offers, they just chose mine.

The first offer I got on my current place was hilarious - the buyer actually asked for my patio furniture. One piece of that furniture, however, is very sentimental to me and I'll never part with it. Then I thought, "The buyer can't go buy her own furniture?" It's a real estate transaction, not a garage sale. Before you go asking for people's personal items you should probably ask first to see if they're open to it. I find those antics incredibly offensive and insulting, but I just smiled and countered at full price. Not a penny less. Bye, Felicia.

Due to some choices I made the process is more eye opening this time around. You learn so much about human behavior.

Patrick, yes, the bank ordered the appraisal but then when they didn’t hear from the appraiser after a month they told me that I needed to call them because they (quicken loans) were not allowed to talk to the appraiser. That’s why the appraiser yelled at me, because apparently ONLY the bank is supposed to talk to him. He didn’t end up doing it, anyway. Like I said, small towns.

I do love the little town we landed in though. We are in a small lakeside development that reminds me of a campground, on the outskirts of a town of 500 people. I love it, but the buying process was a nightmare, and I’m not moving EVER AGAIN! And now, the selling process, which I was promised would be simple, painless and quick, is like having my toenails pulled out without an anesthetic. There has to be a price to pay for the peace of a small town, I guess!

Wow, your experience seems so interesting! I’ve never met anyone who bought before selling too. For us, it’s nerve-wracking. May I ask why you would choose to buy, and live in, a house that you don’t like as well as your current home? I’m assuming that you are thinking you will live in it for a little while and then flip it, as they don’t allow rentals?

I like the new home I bought very much. It's the same square footage as my current one but it's all on one level. It also has a bricked court yard in front and back. It's in a pretty nice town home community, and each one is a bit different. On paper it's fabulous. I'll be alarmingly frank: it was an impulse purchase. I don't regret it, though, at all. I'll drag myself over there when my listing agreement here runs out.

The home I refuse to leave has a nature preserve and a large creek running through the back of the community, and my home backs up to it. No one can ever build back there, and the natural setting is energizing. Lots of wildlife, obviously. I took it all for granted until I started spending more time at the new place. It's just not the same, no matter how much I try to convince myself.

Don't let the process wreck your nerves. You have a fabulous home to sell. If people don't see that then screw 'em. Have a solid plan B in the works and prepare to see it through.

I don't understand why your realtor didn't price it at $79,900 like you wanted in the beginning. Don't know that it would have made much of a difference, but you have carrying costs and your realtor should have been a tad more respectful of that. We tend to second guess ourselves no matter what.

Glad you like your new place so much! It sounds very nice.

Oh, I see why your old home would be hard to leave. It’s nice to come home to a peaceful setting at the end of a hectic day. Your new place sounds charming, and peaceful too, but in a different way.

I’d keep the old home, a property like that is hard to find.......

If the price is right the house would sell. We just bought a country property in a small town, within a week on the market there were 5 offers from local people. There is a creek behind property on neighbor’s land, we are waiting for him to sell the land someday......

Texas does not disclose sales price anyway, so it’s not public knowledge.

^ The MLS is a database and the sold comps are there. The Realtor has access to the sold comps in the database even in a non-disclosure state.

I'm a retired appraiser, but not in Texas. Although, I have lived in and owned property in Texas. My parents moved out to Texas in retirement to live near my brother who was in the Air Force. My brother retired and built an adjacent home on the property my parents had acquired. My parents passed, the home went to my brother and he has moved elsewhere in Texas to be near his grandkids.

My DB has already moved. The property is on the currently on the market. It is located in between two Podunk towns near an Air Force base. It is a much nicer property than the average house in the area.

They are getting the same song and dance as IlovetoCook from their realtor(s). "It's priced right, we just need to wait for the right buyer." If I had a dollar for every realtor who said that, I'd be rich. They are dealing with ridiculously inept agents, too. I wouldn't tolerate it. Luckily, I didn't get an interest in the house, so it really isn't my problem. I'm watching the train wreck from afar. My brother needs to lower the price.

IlovetoCook, You need to finish that bath or tear out the addition. One or the other. Those are your choices. Your only option if you leave it as it is now is to sell to a cash investor. They will low ball you.

It's a starter home. Your market is a starter home market or an investor market. The house must be able to pass a VA or FHA inspection. That's the goal.

Don't entertain the idea of trying to rent it out. Long distance landlord is an impossible situation. You don't have that kind of expertise. I wouldn't consider selling to buy in this circumstance. Any buyer that can't qualify for FHA isn't worth the risk. They will abandon the property in bad condition. You need to sell. Because you have a loan on the property, you can't finance the sale.

The last option is to walk away. If you don't have any equity and don't care about your credit, you can hand the keys to the lender. A short sale is a possibility, too. But, I would try to sell it first even if you have to write a check to make it happen. Give up on trying to make money. That's probably not going to happen.

Your realtor should have a handyman that is capable of completing the bath. Get her to ask around. Agents do this sort of service all of the time. There is someone capable of doing the remaining work. Understand you will need to make a couple of trips back to get this done.

Make your agent provide you with the MLS listings of all of the closed properties within the County that are either a 2/1, 3/1, 2/2 or 3/2 that have closed in the last 2 years. Throw out the new construction, if there is new construction in the area. Given the small population, the large area and expanded timeframe are necessary. This will give you some idea of your situation. The report will include some very important information such as days on market, average list price and average sales price. Once you have these numbers, you will be able to make an informed decision. If your agent balks at providing you with this information, go to her broker and get it from them.

You do have options. Most of them are bad. Get the MLS sales asap.