Difficulty in selling a house in a small town? (agent, sales, banks)
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Hi - I've been looking at real estate (mainly in WV) and my main concern right now is how hard it is (i.e. how long it takes) to sell a house in a small town (say around 1000 people). If I buy a house, I'm not planning to put it on the market anytime soon, but wanted to have a general idea of what I can expect if I end up going back to school, starting a second career, etc. and want to sell the place. I really like the look of many of the towns I've seen and houses I've looked at, but am a little worried that once on the market, it could take years to sell. Basically I was curious what I should expect, in general. I'm kind of at an earlier stage right now, so I've avoided places that have large declines in population, but haven't looked at things like the percentage of houses in the area on the market.
it could take years to sell... the percentage of houses in the area on the market. This is called "Absorption Rate"
Basically I was curious what I should expect, in general.
Sounds like you have a good handle on what to expect and what the issues are.
The larger issue (and perhaps solution) may be in WHICH of these wide spots in the road to choose from...
and to do that choosing for reasons that have NOTHING to do with ANY of the houses that may be available there.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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In this small town we don't seem to be having any issues with days on the market. May I suggest you speak with a local real estate agent about your concerns. They would be the ones with their finger on the pulse of that market.
Thanks for the advice. I'd say that most of the towns are within about an hour of a larger population center where I expect most of the jobs would be. Most of the houses I've looked at need some work, but not a ton, and I was planning to get the place fixed up after I moved in. Also, I do definitely plan to ask the real estate agents I've been talking to about this also (hopefully they'll be honest about it).
Have you had luck in finding a good agent? That seems to be the issue where we are more than anything. We're in very rural middle TN (community of less than 200 people 2 hours from a big city) and can't find one to save our lives here. We've been looking to move to GA or AL and the listings I'm seeing on line for homes for sale have me a bit exasperated with those areas as well. Trying to get a realtor in any of the three areas to return a phone call or e-mail, or find a home listed for sale that has more than a couple pictures is like pulling teeth. We've been so frustrated with the entire situation that we decided to hold off on selling our house for the time being and look to move when we can and just rent the house we own now. The area we moved from had some amazing agents. My mother is an agent in NC and she's constantly on the phone, checking e-mail, meeting with clients, taking tons of photos of houses she's listing....the woman never stops. Just amazed that you can have such active agents in some areas and then the ones we have in our area which are the total opposite.
I hear you - one agent took two weeks to get back to me. I'm planning to take a trip to look at houses in a few days, so I was able to set up enough showings to make a trip down worthwhile, but it took some time and persistence (though, some agents were real good at getting back to me). I'm looking in northern WV in small towns, mostly within an hour of a city.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrs1885
Have you had luck in finding a good agent? That seems to be the issue where we are more than anything. We're in very rural middle TN (community of less than 200 people 2 hours from a big city) and can't find one to save our lives here. We've been looking to move to GA or AL and the listings I'm seeing on line for homes for sale have me a bit exasperated with those areas as well. Trying to get a realtor in any of the three areas to return a phone call or e-mail, or find a home listed for sale that has more than a couple pictures is like pulling teeth. We've been so frustrated with the entire situation that we decided to hold off on selling our house for the time being and look to move when we can and just rent the house we own now. The area we moved from had some amazing agents. My mother is an agent in NC and she's constantly on the phone, checking e-mail, meeting with clients, taking tons of photos of houses she's listing....the woman never stops. Just amazed that you can have such active agents in some areas and then the ones we have in our area which are the total opposite.
You don' thave to just live in a small town. My house is about 15 miles from the large employers. People have to work and in an environment where there is little public transportation and the fact that they have to drive 15 miles to get to work, some people are not willing to give up their 10 mpg trucks to do that. So it takes longer to find a buyer. When you couple that with the fact that banks want 20% down to even consider a person, you have a big multple whammy. If it wasn't illegal to offer a buyer money tobuy the house we could get more sales because the buyer could then use that money for the downpayment.
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