If you’ve found yourself saying, “I can’t sell my house in Columbus Ohio,” this article is for you. Maybe you’ve been trying to sell your Columbus house for a while now and haven’t received any offers, don’t panic! You still have a few options at your disposal to help you sell your house for a fair price.
You’ve probably already tried the first one at least once: Lowering the asking price.
Everybody wants to sell their house for more than they paid for it but if housing prices in your area are low, the economy’s not doing well, or your home has some sort of structural or locational problem, you may have to reduce your asking price.
What are my options if I can’t sell my house in Columbus?
Here are five other things you can try when you can’t sell your house in Columbus:
1) Take It Off the Market
Your Columbus Ohio home may be on the market at a time when there aren’t many buyers looking. If this is the case, you might want to take your Columbus Ohio house off the Columbus Ohio real estate market for a while and wait until more Columbus Ohio home-buyers come out of hibernation.
The Columbus Ohio housing market has been sluggish since Fair Housing Act laws were passed in May of 2016, with Columbus Ohio home sales dropping 3 percent from last year. Even though there are some indicators that Columbus Ohio home sales may rebound slightly by spring of 2017, it still looks like it will be another slow year for Columbus Ohio real estate.
2) Take Out a Second Mortgage
If you have built a lot of equity in your home, you may want to take out a home equity loan — if you can afford to pay the higher monthly payment, that is. If not, you may be able to renegotiate a loan modification plan with your lender or convert your adjustable rate mortgage into a fixed-rate mortgage that has a lower interest rate. The loan can be used to fund other things, including real estate investments.
3) Rent Out Your Home
If you can’t sell your home and don’t want to hold two mortgages (your old home and your new home), one option may be to rent out your home at or near the price of your monthly mortgage payment. That allows you to apply the rent to your mortgage without having to incur any additional expense – other than upkeep, maintenance, and repairs.
There are a few things you need to take into consideration before renting out your home. First, make sure that Columbus Ohio rental laws allow for short-term rentals. Many areas do not allow for short-term rentals, meaning you would only be able to rent out your home for a longer period of time (typically six months or more).
4) Consider a Short Sale
“I can’t sell my house in Columbus because I owe too much!” This can happen if you purchased your home within the past few years and currently owe more than the home is worth (called being upside down).
In some instances, you can negotiate with your lender to accept less than what you owe on your mortgage. If it looks like the other option is foreclosure, your lender probably will accept a short sale.
To do this, you’ll need to have a buyer on board who can close quickly. Fortunately, we can! Give us a call today at (614) 756-6497 for a no-hassle offer on your house.
Keep in mind, however, that short sales can affect your credit. Redeeming a pre-foreclosure on your credit history might disqualify you from getting another mortgage, at least for a little while.
5) Offer a “Lease to Own” Option
A lease to own option is when you rent your house to somebody with the option to purchase your home at or before the lease expires. This is a good option if you can’t find qualified buyers because you can collect rent plus a lease option fee from a tenant while giving them time to save up for a down payment and establish their credit so they can get a mortgage to buy your home down the line.
You also can add a lease premium to their monthly rent that can either be applied to the down payment later or – if they don’t end up exercising their option to buy your home – you can keep it as income.
I Can’t Sell My House in Columbus OH!
If you are interested in learning more your options for selling your home in Columbus Ohio, call us at (614) 756-6497 or fill out the form on this page to get more information sent to you right away.