When I first wrote this piece, we hadn’t received any offers and were feeling discouraged. Since then, we accepted an offer and expect the sale to close in July.
Nearly four months have passed and our house still hasn’t sold.
We’ve had 30 showings with positive feedback, yet no offers—not even a lowball bid.
The home is priced competitively and below comparable listings, so we’re reluctant to reduce the price further.
At our current asking price we’re already facing a loss, which is why we’re exploring other options. Selling a house has been far more stressful than I anticipated. Many possibilities have crossed my mind, but choosing the best path forward has been difficult.
Below are the options we’ve been considering since our house hasn’t sold yet.
Make a temporary decision
We could make a temporary choice while we wait to see how the market moves.
One approach is to take the house off the market for a while and monitor the neighborhood to see if values rebound. This is risky: the neighborhood could continue to decline rather than recover.
On the other hand, if the area does improve, we might be able to rent the property in the short term and reduce our eventual loss.
Move back home
Another option is to move back in with family when our current lease ends. Right now we’re renting in Colorado, so returning home at the end of the lease is possible.
This isn’t ideal—our move wasn’t meant to be temporary—but it may be the most realistic and least stressful solution if the house won’t sell.
Moving back would also eliminate many of the concerns tied to the other options, such as managing a rental from afar.
Rent the house to long-term tenants
We’ve considered turning the property into a long-term rental. It’s likely we could find tenants relatively quickly, and rent could exceed the mortgage payment.
While we wouldn’t make a large profit, the rent could cover the mortgage and, over time, the house could become a lasting income property. Compared to short-term rentals, long-term leasing generally requires less hands-on management.
The main disadvantages are the risk of problematic tenants and being long-distance landlords. Hiring a property manager would reduce the workload but also cut into rental income.
Rent the house on a short-term basis
Alternatively, we could list the house on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, VRBO, or HomeAway. This could provide higher income and give us a place to return to occasionally.
However, managing short-term stays from another state is difficult. Cleanings between guests, restocking supplies, and regular maintenance would be challenging to coordinate. We’ve also found no local companies that offer dedicated vacation rental management in our area.
Reduce the price significantly
We originally listed the house below our 2009 purchase price and have lowered it since. The blunt option is to continue dropping the price until it sells, but that would mean a substantial financial loss.
The benefit of a deep price cut is a faster sale. It’s not a course I want to take, but it is a viable option if other strategies fail.
Have you sold a house before? Did you ever feel anxious about whether it would sell? What would you do if your property received no offers?