When to List a Rehabbed House For Sale

When is the absolute best time to list a rehabbed home for sale?

A lot of real estate investors make the mistake of listing their houses for sale too early. I’ve tried this myself before, and have put houses for sale when I am about three-quarters of the way done with my rehab...

The goal was to save time and find a buyer by the time the rehab was finished. The logic behind this strategy makes sense, but I have found that allowing buyers to see your house in the middle of a rehab can actually hurt you.

The reason why is because most buyers can’t seem to shake their initial impression of a house. If they see a gutted property mid-rehab, even if they come back for another viewing when the rehab is done, they will usually have the image of what it looked like before in mind. I am a big believer in putting your best foot forward, so my standard rule is that I do not show a house until it’s 100% done (which means that the house is clean, has a sign to take your shoes off at the door, and a welcome mat is out). I don’t care if the house I’m trying to sell is worth $100,000 or $1 million, I still want the property to pop! The image that you want to portray to a potential buyer is that your property is a nice one that you care about.

One thing you can do is put the house up for sale a little bit early but avoid showing it until it’s ready. Sometimes, I’ll put a “coming soon” sign out in the yard, which starts building calls and anticipation on the property. Your agent will just have to let prospective buyers know that he/she would be happy to schedule a showing once the house is ready. Whenever I have made an exception and shown a buyer the property mid-rehab, I have lost that buyer.

You don’t want anyone to have an incomplete image of your house in their mind, instead, you want prospective buyers to walk in and feel like everything is brand new.

I hope this strategy helps you on your next rehab. By the way, if you’re interested in working with me one on one, and doing more advanced training, I do have an elite mentoring program that you can check that out at FastTrackApplication.com.

My program is by application and interview only, as I am very selective about who I let in. It’s really all about how to build a multi-million dollar real estate flipping business. If you are accepted, I work with you personally at my vacation house in Southern Utah. So, check out FastTrackApplication.com and I’ll be back with another article soon!

Until next time!

Happy Investing,

Jerry Norton