Investor Home Sale About to Close

[Zombie13]

AntoGain - thanks! Yep, we're done. <to the tune of: Symphony of Destruction >: done done done... done done done... done done done done done done....
Yeah the house needed work but it wasn't, IMHO... dilapidated nor, condemned LOL! It needed a refresher. After it was reworked, yeah it was All White Paint but that's an opportunity for a buyer to make it their own.
And yeah, so glad we sold the house when we did... Barbisi has excellent instinct on these things.
Also, yeah heh, if we buy a house, we will have GBoo-Koos of CASH first. And no fixer uppers!\

[Barbisi]

AntoGain welcome to the forums!
The situation was resolved in May of last year and we were able to see detailed photos (on a real estate website where the house was listed for sale) as well as receive firsthand info from our former neighbors who toured the property during an open house and relayed details back to us.
We did get the most cash we could, given the houses' dilapidated condition due solely to 5 years of BK13 enforced neglect, so we are satisfied with that.
We are relieved and grateful the timing of the discharge allowed us to sell to an investor while the red-hot Colorado real estate market was at its apex and not just a few months later when the rising interest rates caused demand and value to recede significantly.
Had we had to sell just three months later, we would likely have had to sell for probably 50K less, that is just how much home buyers' interest decreased there.
We never were investors unfortunately; that is what fueled our bankrupt state in the first place.
We have learned our lesson and if we ever buy a house again, it will be modern, updated and not an unappealing fixer-upper, that is for certain, LOL!

[AntoGain]

I don't think you have to worry about what the investor plans to do with the house after you sell it. Your goal is to sell the house on the most favourable terms for you. Negotiate a price that you think is relevant to your property. You do not have to discount the price only because they plan to make expensive repairs to the house. I think they know exactly what they want to do. By the way, I have investment experience, too. I put it on hold for a while due to personal circumstances. To invest profitably, you have to act according to investment management. Only the necessary knowledge, skills and experience will make you a successful investor.

[justbroke]

Beware of wonder.

[Barbisi]

justbroke , speaking of investor house #2, our former neighbor sent Zombie 13 a phone photo of the front - it looks like they removed part of the porch and repainted the shutters black.
I wonder what they've done to the inside.................

[Zombie13]

justbroke - Thanks! I am very late to responding; been non-stop since May 23rd. Starting to slow, settle now.

[justbroke]

I'm glad to hear that this is progressing in the right direction!

[Barbisi]

Carmella , thank you!
When the realtor first approached this investor, she offered 50k less, which would have lowered our take -away profit by some thirty thousand (adjusted for commission and junk fees). To her credit, our agent said, "They won't go for that." The investor then raised her bid. (We could have had an investor bidding war, but given the fluidity of our timeline (a job waiting in Washington with much higher pay),it just didn't make sense to gamble and try and find some one else in such a compressed timeframe).
And she was more than willing to take over the detested solar panel lease, which could have been a major sticking point with a conventional buyer. We did lose $3200 on the teetering old furnace, however, but there was really no way around that.
Two more takeaways from our experience : (1) never buy an old, poorly maintained, never updated fixer-upper if you don't have enough cash to fix it up properly and have to end up using 100k+ on credit cards (house #1) and (2) never buy a house with a solar panel lease (house #2).

[Carmella]

Barbisi That is WONDERFUL news!! Take the money and run, run away

[Barbisi]

Yesterday the investor paid our house a visit to plan exactly how to install an AC/Furnace combo and apparently was measuring the outside dimensions of the property. The realtor came along with the HVAC installer and we hid in the house but did manage to ease drop on their conversation a little from an upstairs window.
From all indications , this investor intends to pull out all the stops and turn this 1975 two story family home into a showplace which 5 years of BK13 enforced neglect ensured we would never be able to do. She is planning to remove all popcorn ceilings and is also interested in installing a basement master bath suite. We believe she will gut all bathrooms and the kitchen and remove all carpeting and turn the main level floor into hardwood and she will probably remove some walls to accomplish some of her remodeling.
So the original idea that a budget of 30K would be enough was both naive and wishful thinking on our part. Clearly painting the inside walls and replacing the carpet and adding all-SS appliances would not have sufficed to get us as much money as we'll get by selling to this individual without doing anything!
While I would never recommend following our lead, I do believe selling to an investor is the only course that makes sense in our just discharged case.
Of course, we would have preferred to clear 300k instead of 200K, but without enough money to make these required updates a reality, this is our best case scenario and it is a win-win for us after a grueling five year BK13 because we finally get to leave Colorado with a sizable little nest egg in hand !