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Author Archives: Carol Mangum

A Near Miss on a Hoarder House

It doesn’t look so bad on the outside.

I saw an HONEST TO GOD HOARDER HOUSE this week. I’d raced out of the house for an early meeting with a client, totally failing to bring my boots. Yes, it’s August in Austin, Tx and I was wearing open-toe sandals.

My next appointment of the day was with the relative of the owner of the house in question. Sadly, the owner had been rushed to the hospital earlier in the week and according to this fellow, he’s been diagnosed with brain cancer. So he was quite unavailable.

About the House

The home is a 1-story, and its lot is the largest in the cu-de-sac. I was excited at the prospect of finding my next rehab. I’ve been investing in real estate for about 15-years now, and my favorites are homes which have double side gates and room for a great workshop out back, or the addition of an additional dwelling unit in the backyard. This home fit the bill.

The man I met was son-in-law to the owner and he was horrified to find the home in the state that it was. Apparently, it had been a long time since they’d come to visit, and the mental health issues his relative was dealing with hadn’t been apparent. They live in Arkansas on 23-acres. The property apparently, keeps them very busy.

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The Wandering Mangums

Here’s the house we are moving out of. We’ll miss this pool!

Sue Ann has mentioned a couple of times that my husband, Russell, and I have been moving frequently since we moved out of the main Villa Park house. I hear some of you are curious as to what exactly we’re doing with our vagabond ways, so I’m here to fill you in!

When Sierra moved off to college, we decided to downsize. We had just finished a “homestead flip,” where we bought a house, fixed it up, and sold it for a good profit. The next house we found didn’t work out (Kerrville Folkways), and we were looking to try something new and fun and to learn more about the greater Austin, Texas area.

We ended up signing with an innovative company called Showcase Properties of Austin (also known as Dream Home Manager), which specializes in helping sell high-end properties in this area for clients who are having trouble selling them because no one is currently living there.  According to them:

“It is a fact that vacant listings look & show better when they are staged and at Showcase Properties, we are passionate about assisting you in doing just that with our no cost solution. Statistics show that a finely staged and manicured home sells 70-80% faster and for 13% more money than an equivalent vacant home.”

That’s where we come in! The company finds qualified people (they call them Home Managers) who will rent the homes at a substantial discount, stage them with their own furnishings, and keep the house ready to show at an hour’s notice. With my background in home decorating and real estate, I was confident we had the ideal kind of furnishings to help sell a house, so I knew we were the perfect candidates for this job! And since Russell and I have spent our married lives moving around for the military and his work, we are comfortable pulling up stakes and starting again. Russ says he likes it because, “It makes you weed out your crap!” We’ve become very good at not holding onto stuff.

You can see how this works out well for home sellers, too. The property is rented and someone else helps with the utilities, plus you don’t have to keep checking to keep the house show-ready.

When a house sells, we get 30 days’ notice, look through the available Showcase Properties homes, and find a new place to live! After the initial move-in when we we started out, they pay for movers to switch houses.

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Our Call Saved a Good Friend Nearly $6,000

A friend of mine called asking for advice on some foundation repair bids she’d gotten. She’d already called three different companies and gotten bids in the range of $5-6000 to repair her home.

Imagine the mess if all this brick started shifting around and cracking. We assume Texas A&M builds good foundations, though.

Luckily, I was only 20 minutes away from her home and I had more question. I asked, “Are you home right now? I’m only 20-minutes away. May I come over and take a look?”

She said, “yes, please come over.”

After I got there and we visited a little, I said, “OK, it’s obvious that you’re not having that problem here in the living room. So show me this area that you believe is having foundation problems.”

So, she said, “OK, come this way.”

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Why Go Neutral to Sell Your House

Today we’re sharing what Carol originally wrote in a comment on my post about Ultra Violet, the Pantone Color of the Year. I’d mentioned that she would not recommend you put it on your walls, and here’s her response:

Here is a neutral bathroom in the Chapparal house.

Absolutely true, Sue Ann! One of the trends I’ve noticed a LOT in my ~20-years in this business, is that people who are in financial trouble who try to sell homes with heavily colored walls tend to have problems. They may have said when they painted the room, “Oh, it’s okay, we’ll just change it back when we go to sell it.” And it always seems they just don’t have the money or time to “change it back.”

And maybe they think it’s a really pretty color and feel others will, too. But people who don’t spend much time with buyers don’t hear the feedback. I do. Trust me, buyers think it costs thousands of dollars to repaint a room and often don’t even get that far in their thinking. Usually they just reject the house outright and go on to the next one!

And, dear home owner, let me tell you, it’s a LOT of work to stage, declutter, pack up personal photos and knickknacks, to get a house ready to sell (especially if you really want (or NEED) to get top dollar on your house). If your house has dark blue, violet, orange, or red walls, you seriously limit your market of buyers. That’s why I always recommend folks buy throw pillows, curtains, or accessories in the trendy colors instead of painting.

Sue Ann promises to repaint this room before selling Bobcat Lair.

Paint colors aren’t just a matter of opinion. Notice that hospitals paint emergency rooms and operating rooms in soft, soothing colors. Can you imagine a more stressful space that could use less stimulus? Loud, bold and heavy colors are proven to actually cause your mood to change.* If one already has a lot of stress (and it’s often stressful for buyers when deciding to FINALLY buy a home), why wouldn’t you want to make your home welcoming and soothing for them?

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Seller Financing from the Investor’s Viewpoint

The other day, I was talking with a relative who has been trying for months, unsuccessfully, to sell a house they own. It’s not rented out, not getting shown to buyers, and is costing them money all the while. They had been leasing it for $500 per month. They’ve been trying to sell it for over a year. That means they’ve said no thanks to about $6,000 and feeling frustrated and helpless this whole time. When I suggested owner financing, I was met with howls of dismissal, until I pointed out that it might be the only way they’ll ever get it sold.

Carol is thrilled to have another seller financing deal under her belt. Money coming in every month!

Why Seller Financing Makes Sense

A seller might be willing to offer financing for several reasons:

  • Make the property stand out and get it sold faster
  • Increase the odds of getting full price
  • Get enough for a down payment to buy another property
  • Cover the monthly expense associated with owning the house

One huge advantage of seller financing is that you can almost always ask for a significantly higher price on the property and people will pay it.

In other words, seller financing doesn’t just benefit buyers who don’t qualify for (or don’t want) traditional financing. It also benefits sellers, especially those who are particularly motivated to sell their homes.

Sell Your Property Fast

Offering seller financing can open many doors to allow you to work with a much wider range of potential buyers. The fact is, a lot of buyers won’t even consider buying your property simply because they don’t have or can’t get the funds needed to purchase it. If you offer seller financing, you’re solving this problem right out of the gate.

The more flexible you can be and the more options you can offer to potential buyers, the faster you will get your property sold. On the other hand, if you’re only holding out for one lump sum, you could find yourself sitting on a property for a lot longer than you need to.

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