I love marketing real estate but I'm not a fan of the real estate profession. Watch any episode of Million Dollar Listing and I promise you, it is a true representation of what goes on behind the scenes.
But enough about that, let's talk about the recent photo of Whirlwind - the photo on the right...
Remember, the photo on the left was taken in 1984 and the asking price was $1,250,000. It had a lot going for it at the time, but the location and price limited the pool of potential buyers. It actually sold in foreclosure for $800,000 and that loan ended in foreclosure a few years later. The Butcher Mansion is very, VERY expensive to maintain.
Now, Commercial Bank, the current owner of Whirlwind, has listed the property at $1.2 million. Twenty-eight years after the initial marketing of Whirlwind, the property has declined in value. And it's unfortunate, but $1.2 million, in my professional opinion, is not only unrealistic it's flat-out delusional.
There are so many things wrong with this photo - the perspective, the furnishings, the chandelier - which I'm pretty sure you can get on sale at any big box store for about $100. The white on white color scheme accented only by 4 pink Grandma chairs and a coffee table with what appears to be a little fake plant. And again, no lights. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I can't even get mad about it, it's so pitiful.
If you see any of my other posts on the Butcher Mansion, you'd see the extensive state of disrepair the home has fallen into. Mold, mildew, animal feces, missing sheetrock, missing floors, rotting wood, rotting floors, missing columns, single-pane windows, dated fixtures, dated design. The whole place needs to be gutted. And it's 22,000 square feet - that's a multi-million dollar renovation. Again, this home is located in an area about a mile from a coal ash steam plant, in a subdivision ruled by an HOA, in a town where the median income is $35,000.
Marketing the house at $1.2 million is idiotic. There, I said it. It's dumb, dumb, dumb. Commercial bank was the highest bidder at foreclosure last February and they picked up the house for $400,000. Now, there are a lot of investors who go to these weekly trustee sales and they know what properties are coming up. No one touched Whirlwind. Flip investors are smart. They can tell you to the penny what it's going to take to restore a home. And not one of them was interested in taking on Whirlwind. That should tell the bank something.
The man I presented my offer to at Commercial Bank in Farragut, TN told me he was told by three auction houses that they could get $500,000 for the property. I told him good luck. It didn't sell at $400,000. I don't know why they think it will sell at $500,000. And why they would be willing to carry the maintenance and utilities cost for more than a year, not to mention pay out an auction house fee and continue to allow Home Owner Association assessments and dues to pile up (I was told by the bank representative that they're not paying them - which clouds title and more money will have to be spent to clean that up before sale). I find it flabbergasting. I didn't get the best grades in math but I do know how to add and subtract. And I've never been much of a gardener but if I ever find myself in a hole, I know to stop digging.
You cannot list a home at $1.2 million and market it with crap photos. You cannot list a home at that price in Clinton, TN when it needs a complete overhaul. Florescent lighting in the kitchen? Deduction. 6" tile on the floor? Deduction. Old appliances? Deduction. No walls? Deduction, deduction, deduction. Mold? Deduction to infinity. That's how math works. Crap + Crap + Crap does not equal $1.2 million. Never has, never will.
The best way to market this house? Get out! Write it off. You have a fund for that very purpose. Start the bidding at a $1. Unless you're going to market it as a fixer-upper at a fire-sale price, do not post photos. People have expectations with a million dollar price tag. Whirlwind does not meet those expectations.
All Commercial Bank is doing by posting those photos is delaying the inevitable. They are burning through money every day that house sits vacant.
When you have a house published in various news publications as having utility bills and maintenance costs so outrageous that everyone who has ever taken a loan out on the property forecloses, you've got a bigger issue than getting people to accept your asking price. There are buyers out there, like me, who also know how to add and subtract.
You have a fixer-upper falling further and further into the abyss, taking fist-fulls of your reserves with it. Do you hear that? Cha-ching. Cha-ching. Cha-ching. That's money adding up. I can wait this out. Because every day that goes by, I subtract, subtract, subtract.
you know why the new photo irks me?
ReplyDeleteIt is an absolute misrepresentation of the house! Not a single other room in there is in this condition. I understand trying to make a good impression and I guess that is what they were shooting for. There is a fine line between trying to make a good impression with photos and making a totally FALSE impression with photos. This picture leads me to believe that there are walls and floors in the house, oh what disappointment one will experience when they realize they were duped by this ridiculously false representation of Whirlwind.
-Kerri