It sounds as though the marketing of your home is good if you are receiving offers. Although perhaps one or more of our experts will have more valuable feedback. The market decides how much a property is worth. Sometimes we don't get the offers we want, we get the offers the market dictates.

To me it sounds like your only option is to wait until you get the type of offer you want. That could be tomorrow or it could be years. Only you can decide if you are willing to take that risk.

I don't undertand why your condo can not be financed with an FHA loan. Please explain. If that is the case, then you are going to be marketing to investors who can purchase with cash. That is where your agents resources should be targeting. Almost all buyers in your price range will be using FHA.

FHA has current rules where eligibility is not just based on the person who has obtained the loan. Condo communities have to apply for eligibility and collectively meet certain standards to obtain and maintain eligibility. This has been extremely frustrating because I have lost buyers when my condo was listed for thousands higher than it is now. People can use FHA loans for condos, it just has to be in an approved FHA condo community. I can't tell you how upsetting it has been to have buyers attempt to purchase my home and I can't sell to them. This has only become a problem now because our whole area has suffered property depreciation. Not just condos. Years ago, this would have been a minor problem (FHA) because I could have had a lot of wiggle room to reduce a price to sell. I would have been able to sell at a higher price. Property value has gone down in general and the number of foreclosures available aren't helping. People were buying in our condo community Years back. Now, it is like we only seem to finalize transactions with cash purchase investors. I am trying to think of ways to attract investors or first time home buyers who have traditional loans. I am trying to explore any avenue that I may have missed that would attract a buyer.

ncrealestateguy:

I don't undertand why your condo can not be financed with an FHA loan. Please explain.

In many markets of the country a property must first be certified as an FHA qualified property- the whole of it- before FHA financing can apply. It's very standard in mine, and it requires that either the owners of the complex or the HOA go through the "hoops" necessary for qualification.

A comprehensive explanation of the rules is here.

WHOOPS! Sorry, homehomegal...I must have been on pause while typing.

homehomegal- you're in a tough place, in that it appears that you're reliant on the current values of your area and your immediate complex. Very hard to work around this,

About the only thing you/agents can do is highlight your condo's condition, relative to the other's in the complex, and price appropriately. Even at that, showing well (at a higher price) may not mean anything to people trying to buy at bargain prices. Really hard to overcome a market trend.

That said, you could still reach out to numerous agents that you see listing in your area. Offer them all a "pocket" listing. "Keep this in mind for your clients who want the area but not the remodel". And again- keep your price reasonable.

The only FHA limiting rules that I have ran into are that the units can not be tenant occupied by more than 10% and that if part of the space has any commercial space attached to it, it can not be more than 25% of the complexes' total sq. ftg.

What is the limiting factor(s) of your complex? This will tell you best how to market it.

To be truthful, I would never advise a buyer to purchase a unit in a complex where FHA financing is unobtainable. First, it drastically reduces the number of buyers who can obtain financing. Second, even buyers who can pay cash or use conventional financing would be fool hardy to do so, because they will run into the same big problem that you are now having. Third, one of the few factors that influences a property's value is the availability and ease of financing. (Location and condition being two other big factors) It sounds as though your property strikes out on two out of the three.

I don't know why even an investor would purhase a unit in the complex either... the appreciation history of the complex is negative, with no hope that the future shows anything else. Investors do not typically go for this type of property. To be frank, you are going to have to find a very novice buyer, who is non represented or represented with a very novice agent, who does not know what they are getting themselves into and who chooses to use conventional financing.

Who are the buyers that are purchasing other units in the complex? This may shed light on who to go after.

I really do hope that something falls into your lap sooner then later. And if and when it does, make the deal happen no matter what.

Sounds like you may have to just bite the bullet and sell at a real loss.

Are you working with a real estate agent?

Yes, I do have a real estate agent. I may try to find a loan type that would appeal to people, but would not be FHA. Does anyone know of any other specialty loan types?

FHA used to allow a "spot approval" for an individual condo unit, instead of the entire complex/building getting approved. That ended a couple of years ago. Lenders and various government officials have been pressuring HUD to bring back some sort of spot approval. Though we all know how quickly HUD makes changes ....

What makes me upset about it is that condo communities were not notified about these changes. That is, as far as I know, or can tell, at this point. They should have been required to notify owners of upcoming adjustments. Had I known this was coming, my unit would have been on the market pronto. I would be willing to bet that a number of foreclosures have happened because of this. This was not a minor adjustment in requirements. This was a major change with big impact on owners and property value.

Thanks for the input. I have considered contacting one of the income property owners. The other one doesn't want it. He low balled in his purchase history and that is why I have put him off. I am trying to exhaust some other avenues first.

Are there foreclosures in your complex? That is also a huge negative for buyers.

Truly if the condo is going downhill, waiting will mean recouping even less of your money. If you can afford it, you're much better off selling for whatever you can. Waiting could mean even less money.

Same reason why I personally do not care for the condo / townhome concept for my RE purchases. There is simply too much that is out of one's control, that, IMO, can impact one's life in a big way.

It's one of the reasons we sold our condo. Too many cooks making decisions on how we should spend or not spend our money.

For example, one condo nearby had board members defer structural maintenance and because of that, the owners were forced out of their building for over 5 years while the structural issues were fixed. At one point condos in that building were being sold to speculators for $25,000-$35,000. The units all have waterfront views and similar condos in structurally sound buildings were selling at the time for 20-30x what those condos were selling for.

While the residents are back in, and prices are back up, they are not up comparably to other buildings surrounding it.

At this point, there are no foreclosures in the condo community, just in the surrounding area. What we are is mostly being negatively impacted by the current FHA rules. People have attempted to buy my home. They have just been stopped by the new FHA policies. On more than one occasion, I would have been sold and out. When I purchased, these were not the rules for FHA.