(This is posted to both misc.consumers.house and alt.home.repair, but
not X-posted. )

Last summer, a neighbor sold his house to a contractor. The house went
down in November, and a new larger home is going up in its place. The
shell is completed (they finished siding yesterday), and there's been
HVAC, electrical, and plumbing contractors in and out for the past
week. It should be ready for sale within 6 weeks or so. During the old
house knock-down, DH spoke to the President of the contracting company
about whether they'd be interested in doing the same for our property,
as we're moving in June. The Prez said they could be interested, but
wouldn't do anything until the one down the street is finished. Since
it's nearing completion, DH and I would like to write a letter to the
contractor, include a photocopy of our plot plans so he has an idea of
lot size, and let them know that we're still interested in a sale. I'm
looking for information on the best way to write the letter... what to
say (or not) that would get the contractor interested.

Some general info:

The house down the street sold for $310K. (It was rather small, no
additions... which is unusual for this neighborhood. Also needed some
work.) Houses in this neighborhood have been selling at $350-400K (and
inching higher) for the past two years, and on the other side of town,
prices are much steeper... in the $600K+ range. (Those houses are more
McMansion-y, while my neighborhood is 3-4 bedroom Capes). We'd be happy
with $320K (and our lot is much bigger than down the street). We're in
a town about 15 miles west of Boston.

Contractor told DH in November that they're planning on listing the new
house down the street at $550-600K. I can't wait to see how quickly it
sells, and the final price.

We'd like to avoid the whole "showing the house" thing with a realtor.
We've got 4 big dogs, and two of them don't like the two others, so
they have to be separated. We've also got one car. If a realtor came by
with a prospective buyer, we'd have to take two dogs out in the car,
and I dunno... walk the other two? (Leaving any dogs here alone with
strangers isn't an option.) And add three kids into the mix, as well.
It would just be easier to sell privately than deal with the
house-showing mess.

If we sold directly to the contractor, we wouldn't need to bother with
a realtor, and the associated fees. All we would need is a lawyer.
Also, since he's knocking the house down, there's no worries that new
owners might sue later for "problems."

We bought our house as a "fixer-upper." We've done a lot of work to it,
but there's still more to be done before we'd be ready to sell it
through a realtor. If we went with a realtor, our asking price would
probably be more like $350K+ (but that profit would be negated by the
realtor's fees and the time/money spent on repairs). If we sold to the
contractor, we wouldn't have to bother with the rest of the repairs,
since the house would be demolished.

We want to be out by June. If we use a realtor, there's no guarantee
that the house would sell quickly enough, which would throw a wrench
into our moving plans. We're moving to Alaska, and want enough time
over the summer for the cross-country drive and house-hunting there.

So, the letter writing? I plan to emphasize that our lot is bigger (as
is our house, compared to the one knocked down), and that we're willing
to move quickly. I'd like to mention the "realtor problems" WRT our
dogs, as well as repairs still needed. But I'm not sure if the dog
thing would sound too personal and not professional enough (I'm
shooting for "business-like" writing, not "chatty.") And if I discuss
areas to repair, I'm worried that (should the contractor decline and
we're forced to go with a realtor) there's now written disclosure of
problems.

Any suggestions?


Cina

In article , Cina
wrote:

(This is posted to both misc.consumers.house and alt.home.repair, but
not X-posted. )


We bought our house as a "fixer-upper." We've done a lot of work to it,
but there's still more to be done before we'd be ready to sell it
through a realtor.
Any suggestions?


Cina

If you sold to the contractor and it is sold as a tear down (based on the
neighbor example you cite) the only value the house has to the contrator
is the land value + they face the nuisance and cost of removing the old
house. Any improvements you have made is not worth anything to the
contractor. So from the contractors point of view they would like to buy
the house for value of land - cost of removing house etc. if they intend
to make a profit.

Your improvements are only of value to another homeowner who might choose
to live in it as is.

IF the condition is actually quite good and only a few additional
improvements are needed (like your selling through a realtor scenario),
again the contractor will view this as a pure business decision: can they
make the improvements and sell at a profit. In both scenarios, the
discount has to be sufficiently large for them to be interested.

Roland

On Wed, 03 Mar 2004 11:20:53 -0500, someone wrote:


So, the letter writing? I plan to emphasize that our lot is bigger (as
is our house, compared to the one knocked down), and that we're willing
to move quickly. I'd like to mention the "realtor problems" WRT our
dogs, as well as repairs still needed.....

Cina

1) If the house is going to be demolished anyway, its condition is of
no importance. The bigger it is, the more it will cost to knock down
& cart away, so that is hardly something to emphasize (same for any
improvements made, what's the point, it is going to be torn down).

2) I don't get why *you* would want to mention that it would be hard
for you to show the house, and that you need to make expensive
repairs; that only weakens your own position and tells them that you
really really don't want to have to show the house, so that they are
more likely to get a low price from you. Why would *you* want to
disclose how much you really want to sell to the contractor?

3) My opinion is that you are attaching too much importance to
imagined emotional issues of phrasing the letter. They are business
people and construction experts, its not like they are gonna be swayed
as to if it is a good deal by your artful pleadings. Money talks is
all that counts, will you sell it to them cheap enought that they in
turn can make money on the rebuild. All they are buying the property
for is to get the empty lot. I'm sure they can figure out its size
for themselves, and that they know how big the other one was. If you
want to say "house on 12,000 s.f. lot" that is a convenient fact but I
don't see how what you an amateur try to "emphasize" to a professional
builder will change what they do one bit (other than to show them they
can offer you lower because you disclosed you have little
alternative).

I don't even thonk it needs to be a letter, but whether letter or
phone call, how about "Hi, remember us, we are still interested in
selling our house at 123 Elm St. (12,000 s.f. lot) for teardown."
That should serve to remind them.

-v.

Roland wrote:

If you sold to the contractor and it is sold as a tear down (based on the
neighbor example you cite) the only value the house has to the contrator
is the land value + they face the nuisance and cost of removing the old
house.

This is a good point. I keep thinking of it in terms of the house
itself, but WRT to the contractor thing, I should be considering only
the value of the lot. Thanks for pointing that out.


IF the condition is actually quite good and only a few additional
improvements are needed (like your selling through a realtor scenario),
again the contractor will view this as a pure business decision: can they
make the improvements and sell at a profit. In both scenarios, the
discount has to be sufficiently large for them to be interested.

I wouldn't say the condition of the house is "quite good"... some of
the work we need to finish is pretty major, which is why we've stalled
out. (As it is, this house is definitely not "marketable" as anything
but a handyman special, despite the work we've done thus far.) I
suppose we could also consider finding a contractor to buy and fix up
the house, but this particular company only does knock-down-build-new
kind of work.

Thanks for your help.


Cina

v wrote:

1) If the house is going to be demolished anyway, its condition is of
no importance. The bigger it is, the more it will cost to knock down
& cart away, so that is hardly something to emphasize (same for any
improvements made, what's the point, it is going to be torn down).

Good point. I hadn't thought of costs for carting the house away,
though tear-down at the neighboring house consisted of a backhoe-type
machine banging away until it was flat, and then scooping the mess into
a dumpster. It took one worker one day. The disposal fees have to be
killer, though.


2)
snip
Why would *you* want to
disclose how much you really want to sell to the contractor?

Duh, me. All I can say is that this is an emotional subject for many
different reasons, which all boil down to "we want to get the hell out,
yesterday." Obviously, I *don't* want to let them know that we
reallyreally want them to buy the house. But hey, that's why I'm asking
my questions here, before we contact the contractors.


3) My opinion is that you are attaching too much importance to
imagined emotional issues of phrasing the letter. They are business
people and construction experts, its not like they are gonna be swayed
as to if it is a good deal by your artful pleadings.

Another good point. I don't think that my writing skills would woo them
if they'd otherwise be uninterested (Hm, perhaps if I came up with a
nice little iambic pentameter sonnet?), but I want to make sure what I
write grabs their interest. Mostly, I was thinking that a well-written
letter gets more of a response than a misspelled, poorly phrased jumble
of unintelligible ramblings.


I don't even thonk it needs to be a letter, but whether letter or
phone call, how about "Hi, remember us, we are still interested in
selling our house at 123 Elm St. (12,000 s.f. lot) for teardown."
That should serve to remind them.

Hm. I was thinking that a letter was more "concrete" than a phone call.
But I can see what you mean... a phone call accomplishes the same thing
("Hey, we're still interested"), plus we could feel them out to see if
they're actually interested as well.

Thanks for your input.


Cina