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I haven’t tried one of these in a while, but a friend’s grandma died and I offered them a chance to sell the house through a HBS. I am a little rusty, so here is what I did.
I put a huge obnoxious sign in the yard announcing the date of the sale and my phone number. I also started craigslist ads. I will likely put up a new one every day or possibly post two different ones a day and rotate them. Friday night after dinner, I am going to put up bandit signs in the area. At least forty, maybe up to fifty. I am not looking to spend much money in advertising, so am I missing anything for marketing?
The house is on one side of town, but a lot of the shopping where I would normally put a lot of signs is on the other. Does it make sense to put signs at the Walmarts and Grocery stores across town (maybe 5-7 miles away) or should I keep it more localized?
I am holding the open house from 1-4pm on Saturday and Sunday. It’s an old house in an old neighborhood, but I am starting the bidding at half the strike price so I should be able to get some people there. The neighbor called already with “concern that an investor would turn it into a rental”. I know if that happens it is likely selling for too little.
Appreciate any help.Hank is right – put out flyers in the neighborhood.
Subject line could be PICK YOUR NEIGHBOR or INSTANT EQUITY OPPORTUNITY
at least 50% of buyers for a HBS come from the neighborhood.
also put flyers at the local 7-11, subway, pizza place, cleaners, car wash is especially good because people have to wait for their car, any other places in the area.
Okay, day 1 went so-so. We were scheduled to have the open house from 1-4, and we had 5 people/family groups come in that time. We got two bids. Not what I was hoping for, but two is better than zero. As we were shutting down at 4, another group came and then another, then another, so we were there more or less an extra hour. We got a 3rd bid out of one of those individuals. The minimum bid was 9500, and the first person wrote 10k, the second wrote 11k. The last guy put 25k. He lives down the street and offered buying it on the spot for 25k before writing it down. I told him it was unethical and I had to complete the process.
This kind of freaked us out, especially since I am no pro at these. One of the people after him decided not to put a bid down because of that but said he would be back tomorrow (yeah right). My fear is, that this guy is a flake and when I go to do the round robin, he is the highest and not one bumps their bid. If I start with him and the next one is 11k (assuming I get no more bids tomorrow) and he flakes, its no good to go to the next bid in line since there is a 14k drop off. What do I do in that situation?
I know I shouldn’t borrow trouble, but I’m not sure what to do with this and the auction is tomorrow night. thanks for the help.Don,
You are right. I was also correct in my prediction. No more bids today and only 4 groups. Total of 12 groups of people/individuals and 3 bids. I will find out tonight if the top is legit or not. I am going to ask for certified, non-refundable funds of $2000 and a contract tomorrow. I think the guy that put $25k on the bid sheet scared some folks away. Oh well. At least it will be a short round robin!The top bidder scared everyone away. I had to leave a voice mail, but his daughter called back (he is hard of hearing) and she asked about paying the earnest money with a personal check, which I obviously objected to. So, I guess she is going to get a cashiers check tomorrow for the full $25k. Wow. She called back two minutes later and I was waiting to hear “Just kidding” on the line, but she asked who to make the check out to. In all the excitement, I wasn’t sure. It should it be the title company right? I am going to meet tomorrow to get the check and have him sign a simple two page contract. I still have a tendency to think this guy is a flake, but I guess if he delivers on the cashiers check, it’s good to go.
Greg
tell us again, what is your option price on this one?
i remember you said you were trying to help a friend out and not expecting a big profit
at the $25k sales price, how do the numbers shake out?
There are always fewer bidders in the lower price range houses. So I’d say this one was a success. At least you got the house sold!
Congrats
JackieI had a strike price of $20k while we split everything above that. I think it was a fair deal. I’ll certainly take 2500 for a weekend of work. If I could do that twice a month I’d be good. Of course, more is better, but I won’t turn my nose up at it.
Should I have shut down the sale when the guy offered me $25k on the spot late Saturday? I didn’t think it was ethical, but I do have the clause in my contract where I can shut it down. I wasn’t comfortable doing it since I had talked to people that were planning on stopping by Sunday.
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