As a property investor, it’s important to remember that not all of your property deals will go smoothly. From time to time you will find yourself stuck with a property that is hard to sell. So when this happens, what do you do?

There would not be too many property investors, if any, who have made outstanding profits from every real estate deal that they have ever made. From time to time, you will find yourself stuck with a property that you are having great difficulty in unloading. If you do, remember, it’s not the end of the world. Sometimes, it may be best to cut your losses and move onto the next deal. In fact, the longer you hold on to a property that you are finding difficult to sell, the greater chance you have of losing more money on the deal. It’s always better to move onto the next profitable deal than to sit on a property that is costing you money. At some stage, most property investors will need to make this decision ?the smart ones will let go. 

But what do you do before you get to the stage that the property becomes a loser? You may have a difficult property on your hands but you may still be able to salvage your investment, or indeed even make some money. 

For starters, you could find a purchaser who wants the property but is not ready, or able to pay for it yet. Perhaps it is a property that you are still in the middle of repairing or renovating. You could negotiate a written agreement with a potential purchaser to buy the property, once the repairs are completed to a satisfactory degree. You will probably need to offer the potential buyer a discount, but if this is going to get you out of the property without too much fuss, then it may well be worth considering. You may be able to convince another potential investor to invest in the property if they do not need to make any payments until they sell the property. 

If you cannot find a buyer, either a willing owner-occupant or another investor, who is willing to buy your property, then you might consider a partnership with a potential investor. If you are looking to flip the property, then look for an investor who wants to make repairs and or renovations and then sell the property to an owner-occupant. This way, you can put up the property while the partner puts up the costs of the repairs and or renovations. When the property is finished and sold, you split the profits. This may prove an effective way of dealing with a property where you have underestimated the repairs required. 

If you have a property that you intended flipping straight away, but are having difficulties in doing so, you might consider making some repairs to the property or sprucing it up so that it looks more appealing to a potential investor. This may erode any profit you may have been able to make because you hadn’t taken such costs into account, but if it means that you will be able to offload the property much quicker, then it is something that is definitely worth considering. While many experienced real estate investors know how to look past an untidy property, it will at least make it more appealing. And a tidy property will surely appeal to any less experienced real estate investors who might show some interest in buying your property. 

Remember, whenever you are flipping real estate, you are aiming for a quick profit rather than the maximum profit you can achieve. The goal is to not be greedy, and this rings even more true when you have a difficult property to unload. If you can get rid of the property relatively quickly, you can move on to, hopefully, a more profitable deal. So, if you have to sell for a price that provides a much smaller profit, or where you break even or even make a small loss, this is okay. It will happen from time to time. The trick is to know when you’ve got a difficult property on your hands and to know when to walk away from it.

 

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