How Do I Sell An Expensive House?

You?ve lived in your house for years and taken pride in with numerous improvements. Now it is overvalued and you?re wondering, "How do I sell an expensive house?"

When discussing how to sell an expensive house, there are two scenarios in which the issue comes up. The first is you have a home in an expensive neighborhood, but one which you?re asking for a price comparable to similar homes around you. In such a situation, you should be able to sell your expensive house through traditional means, either as a FSBO listing or through a realtor. The home should be cleaned up and listed with a multiple listing service. Open houses should be undertaken as well as online advertising with photographs. In this current market, you should be able to move the home fairly quickly.

The second expensive house scenario is a bit more complicated. In this scenario, you have improved your home beyond a value supported by surrounding structures. This can often occur if you live in a home for a substantial period of time and make additions to the home such as new rooms, floors, renovated kitchens and so on. The homes in your neighborhood all appraise for roughly $300,000, but your additions should make the house worth upwards of $450,000. You have a problem because nobody is going to buy the most expensive home on the block.

What To Do?

You?re first choice is to hold onto the home and hope the neighbors get around to improving their homes. This strategy is rife with problems and should probably be avoided.

A better choice is to target market your home to a specific demographic. If you?ve added rooms to your home, you should create advertisements directed at families with multiple children matching the number of bedrooms you have. If you?ve gone nuts with improvements in the kitchens and fixtures, you should market the home as ?luxury without the price.? The point is to turn your problem into a unique selling position for the house. Trust me, there is a buyer out there looking for a solution to their problem.

Appraisal Problems

If you house is over-improved, every potential sale will fall through because the appraised price will make it difficult for the buyer to get a loan. The best way for dealing with this is to ?carry a second? mortgage on the home. In essence, you agree to take a certain percentage of the price in payments over a certain time period. This allows the buyer to get into the house and you to get out. If you go this direction, make absolutely sure you use a lawyer to make sure everything is legal.

Trying to sell an expensive house can be a challenge. That doesn?t mean it can?t be done.

Posted by Alan Peoples on December 13, 2008 at 12:00 AM

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Alan Peoples is affliated with Home Sellers of Maine, which is located in South Portland, ME. For further assistance please use the contact information located on the right.

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Local Information for South Portland, ME

Latitude: 43.631549 -- Longitude: -70.272724

ZIP Codes for South Portland, Maine	04106 04116
Area Code for South Portland, Maine	207
Time zone for South Portland, Maine	EST

Other Area Cities: South Portland, ME Buxton, ME Cape Elizabeth, ME Falmouth Foreside, ME Gorham, ME Portland, ME Scarborough, ME Westbrook, ME

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South Portland, Maine was first settled in 1630, and it grew to become a small residential community with many farms. On March 15, 1895, it was incorporated as a town after it broke away from its neighbor, Cape Elizabeth, and three years later, it became a city. In 1940, the Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corp (later called the “East Yard”) was established to build cargo ships for Britain. When the United States became involved with World War II, the shipyard expanded to include the South Portland Shipbuilding Corp. (aka the “West Yard”), that later combined with the Todd-Bath yard to become the New England Shipbuilding Corp. These shipyards built 236 of the 440 foot (134 m) long Liberty Ships, more than 10 percent of all the Liberty ships constructed during the war years. At its peak, the shipyard employed some 30,000 people, including thousands of women, who took over the jobs vacated by men going into the service. The shipyard gradually ceased operations after the war ended in 1945. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Maine 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	South Portland	Maine	United States
Population	23,324	1,274,923	281,421,906
Median age	37.9	38.6	35.3
Median age for Male	35.8	37.6	34
Median age for Female	39.6	39.6	36.5
Households	10,047	518,200	105,480,101
Household population	22,803	1,240,011	273,643,273
Average household size	2.27	2.39	2.59
Families	6,043	340,685	71,787,347
Average family size	2.85	2.9	3.14
Housing units	10,349	651,901	115,904,641
Occupied units	10,047	518,200	105,480,101
Vacant units	302	133,701	10,424,540

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How Do I Sell An Expensive House?

Local Information for South Portland, ME

Latitude: 43.631549 -- Longitude: -70.272724

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