I’m happy to announce the Highland Utah property closed yesterday. It would not have been possible without the help of my awesome agents Harvey and Robyn and Christoffersen.
First, they took a chance on me and partially fixed up the property at their own expense. Then they helped bring a buyer at $399,900 subject to existing financing. This means the buyer took over my payments via a Wrap Around Mortgage. On top of that, the realtors also sold the metal shed separately for $1,200. I’m very pleased with the transaction!
I made an amazing $318.19 on the sale. That’s my net after catching up the $6,133.15 back payments, paying 7% sales commission and closing costs. I did get 17,000 cash back at purchase from the seller back in March. So the total profit is 17,318.19. I forgot to include $6400 for June and May holding costs (mortgages, late fees and utilities) plus newspaper marketing and travel expenses (driving, one week hotel and food). Also the cash back I got was actually 18k. So the total profit for this deal is about 12K with the shed.
Harvey first approached me after my listing with Gary Ford expired. Gary was a good agent too but nothing really happened during the 90 days of his listing. Harvey’s sold me on the idea that if I partially fix-up and stage the property I will get a faster / higher sale. Harvey and Robyn specialize in staging properties as part of their listing service. I liked the idea and signed the listing agreement.
Harvey promptly evaluated the property and made a detail list of suggested repairs along with prices and time estimate. He told me he has workers that can jump on it right away. The cost was 5-10K. The repairs/staging would address the eye sores and trouble spots.
The property would still be marketed as a fixer-upper to an investor or handyman. That’s because to retail it to an owner-occupant you need to invest 50-100K for major remodeling inside and out. The suggested partial rehab would simply allow the investor/handyman buyer to realize the potential without being distracted by the ugliness. Apparently the emotional appeal of staging works on the investor crowd as well.
Problem is I had no money. I explained my situation to Harvey. That wasn’t a problem for him. He offered to invest his own time and money in exchange for a higher commission of 7% plus 2,000. I was surprised by his generous offer and desire to take a risk on me. So I signed him up and he went to work right away.
The staging took about two weeks. Within days after starting there was increased activity. People in the area were coming by to see what’s going on. In Harvey’s words “the whole neighborhood came alive”. He said even the contractors from new construction next door started cleaning up their yards.
Here is a progress report that Harvey and Robyn sent me. This shows you some of the things they did:
- The front door is still needing to be replaced
- The Cleaning Crew is coming in tomorrow, for the interior and windows
- Grass is DEAD (DOA), but as soon as possible, we will turn on the water slowly and see if we can get is to come back…??
- We’ve decided to just give the shutters a quick coat of exterior white paint. They look pretty good cleaned up!
- We still need to repair the railing, and remove the flower box (which is Bolted to the house)
- We still need to use the power washer, but not until the yard work is finished
- We need to Fill in the hole in the basement concrete floor
- Inside, we are about ready to remove wallpapers, and paint the walls neutral… in fact: I got a small piece of sheetrock with the color from the big family room, and home depot is going to match the color, so the rooms we paint will match that one!
- Repair / Replace broken and missing pieces of gutter, and downspouts
- And Last but, not least, (or being left until last) is getting the big metal shed sold, and removed from the property.
You can see the pictures of the progress here.
Wholesale buyers took notice. While staging the property Harvey was getting inquiries. Several people wanted to see the inside and place offers. Keep in mind the property was off the market at this point. Harvey was going to list it as soon as staging was complete. A couple of potential buyers were allowed to see it early. One of those ended up placing an offer a couple of days after property was listed. Amazing!
The buyer put down cash and closed in about 15 days. Yes, I only got about $300 of that cash but at least I know they are serious. If they are putting up almost 40K they will probably continue making payments to prevent foreclosure and loosing their investment. Their 40K down is 10% of the purchase price. I feel they have ample “skin in the game“.
The owner financing that I gave them was set up to where their payments equal my underlining mortgage payments. I am not making any spread on the payments. They were surprised at my high interest rate but still agreed to the terms. Their down payment paid the agent costs, closing costs and caught up my loan. They are making the first payment on October 1st and will continue for up to a year (1 year baloon). Within the year they will have to refinance or sell the house. At that point my underlining loan will be paid off and the mortgage will be off my name.
Again, I’m very pleased with the owner financing experience of my agents Harvey and his wife Robyn. They have done many wraps before and coached the buyers’ agent on the process. This made the whole transaction go very smooth. Also thanks to Lisa Lott at First American Title of American Fork UT for handling the escrow so nicely.
Bonus 1,200+ for shed(s). Lastly, Harvey and Robyn went beyond the call of duty by selling the big ugly metal shed separately for 1200. Also they found another shed. This is a nicer wooden shed and it was half-way on the neighbouring property. Originally we though it belongs to the builder next door but later found it’s mine also. Harvey spent money and lots of effort to got the shed on blocks to make it easy to put on the trailer and go. It is now for sale also.
This has been a great experience. Its rare to find such good agents. I’m very glad Harvey called me after my listing expired. The whole time we worked over the phone and I have never even met these people. If anybody needs to buy or sell any property around Salt Lake City I would gladly recommend the Christoffersens.
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13 Comments
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Did you check with your lender to see if you have a Due on Sale clause? Wrap around mortgages aren’t permitted on most loans. If/when the mortgage company finds out, they’ll demand payment in full for the mortgage. You might have been screwed and not helped.
I’d recommend calling the mortgage company today. Or at the very least review your closing papers to look for a due on sale clause.
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all loans have a due-on-sale clause, but the “type” of loan you have on a property is what makes the difference. if you have an FHA loan then doing a wrap is completely…totally…no exceptions ever…Illegal!!!! Don’t even think about it…period! but, if your mortgage is conventional then most lenders will look the other way for a while (1 year would fall into that “a while” category) AS LONG AS THE PAYMENTS ARE BEING MADE ON TIME. it sounds like you have a conventional loan… next thing is that you ALWAYS set the payments up with an escrow company (cost is $50-100 to set-up and $8-12 per month to manage) the new owner takes the payment to them and they send out the payment(s) to the mortgage company in your name, give the new owners a reciept, and send you statement. clean and easy, and most of all…legal. this is done quite often and is a wonderful solution to the distress sale scenerio.
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it most likely has a due on sale clause…..but as long as the mortgage company is getting curent mortgage payments, everything is fine and they won’t be the wiser. do you think they want a house back or a short sale candidate in a soft market? the original intent of the due on sale clause was so mortgage companies and banks could rewrite new loans at higher interst rates. now that mortgage rates are fairly steady, it’s not really an issue. key words here are IF/WHEN the mortgage company finds out. who is going to tell them….the buyer? the seller? if anybody is going to get screwed, it’s the buyer who forked over $40k. IF per chance the lender finds out, they may exercise the due on sale clause. if everything was properly disclosed, the buyer was aware of this possibility.
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Ron LeGrand calls that disclosure letter the CYA or Cover your Assesets letter.
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Silly, arrogant child. Now it’s everyone else’s problem–”Help me, Help me! I made bad decisions…”
::shaking her head::
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Profit? You’re millions of dollars in debt and you call a 300 dollar return a profit?
Therein lies your biggest problem.
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i don’t think he’s a silly arrogant child. at least he had the stones to take a risk and try something and proably learned some things in the process and is that much the wiser as a result. if he is willing to take risks as he did, ultimately one day he will become very successful…..the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
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baffled?……he netted $300 at the sale. if you’ll read above you’ll see that he netted around $12k on the whole deal. in my opinion, that’s not too shabby.
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[…] Staging a fixer-upper helps also clip this post email this post what is this?see most clipped and recent clippingsPosted by Casey Serin (caseyNOSPAMREMOVETHIS@serin.us) on Thu, Sep 14, 06 at 18:19I just sold a fixer-upper home and the listing agents are staging exeperts. They offered to do a partial rehab and staging. I didn’t think it was necessary since its a fixer-upper sold as-is. Well aparently it helped. After listing with another agent for 90 days and getting no offers I ended up getting an offer as soon as I relisted after staging!! Amazing! I was facing foreclosure on that house and staging really saved the day. You can read the full story here: Utah Property Staged and WrappedHere is a link that might be useful: IamFacingForeclosure.com […]
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[…] I think its a great book too. I bought but haven’t had a chance to use it personally yet. That’s because I am facing foreclosure on 6 houses right now so I’m out of cash. I just sold a fixer-upper home in Utah and the listing agents are staging experts. They offered to do a partial rehab and staging AT THEIR expense. I didn’t think it was necessary since its a fixer-upper sold as-is. Well apparently staging helps attract a wholesale buyer as well. It helps them see the potential without being distracted by eye sores.After listing with another agent for 90 days and getting no offers I ended up getting an offer as soon as I re-listed after staging!! Amazing!Since I was facing foreclosure on that house staging really saved the day.You can read the full story here:Utah Property Staged and Wrapped […]
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IDIOT!!!!!
Mistakes made in haste are repented to at leisure!!! -
Calla Way, Sacramento, CA (Sold Jan-2006) Burdett Way, Sacramento CA (foreclosed Mar-07) Guadalajara Dr, Rio Rancho NM Sonora Ave, Albuquerque, NM (Sold Jun-06) Muncy Dr, Modesto CA W 10250 N, Highland UT (Wrapped, Unwrapped, Wrapped?) Larchmont Dr, North Highlands CA (Foreclosed Feb-07) Angleridge Rd, Dallas TX (Foreclosed Nov-06)
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Looks like the junker is back on the market. They first tried to sell it 1 day after you closed for $475k. It didn’t sell so they fixed it all up and are now asking $599,900. Looks quite nice too!
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Burdett Way, Sacramento CA (foreclosed Mar-2007) Guadalajara Dr, Rio Rancho NM (foreclosed Mar-2007) Sonora Ave, Albuquerque, NM (Sold Jun-06) Muncy Dr, Modesto CA (foreclosed Apr-2007) W 10250 N, Highland UT (Wrapped, Unwrapped, Wrapped?) Larchmont Dr, North Highlands CA (Foreclosed 07-Feb-2007) Angleridge Rd, Dallas TX (Foreclosed Nov-2006)
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