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Nothing here...we haven't had any interest for nearly three weeks!

Almost hope we don't receive a call today...DH started a huge deck cleaning, pressure washing project etc., yesterday and now it's raining and he can't finish (rain would dilute the cleaning solution)! The spray has blown on the windows and they are now horribly streaked. Anyone coming today would think OMGosh...what a nightmare of endless maintenance!

Our home has been on the market for one week, so far we've had 8 showings. Had one last night but so far, nothing for this weekend.

Absolutely NOTHING! Dropped the price a month or so ago and have had NO interest. Right now, our best bet is to win the lottery.............

quote:

Originally posted by gardenqueen:
Our home has been on the market for one week, so far we've had 8 showings. Had one last night but so far, nothing for this weekend.

Hope you receive an offer from one of them...!

gardenqueen, the first week or two are always the most busy. Just hope for a second showing.

Maybe now that summer, or almost summer, is here the showings will pick up.

Nancy, what has it been now... about 4 years? Is your husband still working? I'm sorry the price drop did not bring anything. Your property is different so it takes a special buyer but one would think in all that time......

Will be thinking of you all. Keep us posted.

Nancy in CA, So sorry to hear that even after the price drop, you aren't getting any new showings. And, I know you need to sell so will post a few suggestions:

Bottom line, any property will sell if the price is low enough so, is it possible that you have chased the market down to the point in which there is no return? I know this is a specialty property - vet's clinic with attached home - but has it been marketed as such? In trade journals? Vet schools for newly graduated students? Even, franchise corporations who support new endeavors? I know, not at all what you and your dh had envisioned, but every month it stays on the market is another drop....

Maybe it is time for a fresh perspective/a new realtor/new listing and a new emphasis. Instead of promoting it as a vet clinic - what else does its attribute support? Any ideas there - you know the property, we don't but, after this long with no offers, looks like something needs to change.

Let us know what you are thinking; we are all pulling for you!

We did have a last minute showing, and we had to fly out the door; that's ok tho...we try to be always prepared!

Our Realtor says we are 'in the running', but then we always hear that

Glad to hear you had a showing, CJO. Always best to be prepared, as you mentioned.

One statistic you (and others) might be interested in - WRT showings, we expect 1 offer for every eight showings. If you haven't received an offer after that amount of activity, we believe the property is probably overpriced or requires another significant adjustment, e.g. staging, different marketing campaign (better photos, for example), curb appeal, etc. It's usually price so we start there.

Incidentally, that's a benchmark we've used for years and it's worked very well for our clients. As a benchmark, it's an average. Consequently, it might not apply to your unique situation. Something to consider - hope that helps someone.

Nancy, sorry to hear you're still on the market. Noticed that you're apparently marketing a veterinary practice. Don't know any of the additional specifics of your situation - took a quick look at the posts but they don't go back that far.

B/c we work with investors, we've often faced your situation or similar ones. Many medical professionals invest in RE so we've worked with them for years prior to their retirement. One method that's worked for us is evaluating all of their available assets and selling them individually.

IME, medical practices, as personal service businesses, don't attract that many buyers when sold as turn-key operations for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it's difficult for the new operator to retain clients over time. Pets are members of our families so clients develop personal relationships with their vet. Besides that, many new professionals carry significant student loan debt so they worry about borrowing extra start-up capital.

They often believe it's easier to begin their operation slowly and use word-of-mouth and f&f to build up their clientele. Many prefer to locate closer to home to attract f&f. Still others start-up in or around new home developments, believing those areas need professionals to service either new homeowners and/or other relocating professionals that may be new to the area.

Instead of selling the turn-key operation, we've frequently sold the practice essentially as a client list. On several occasions, we've had a retiring professional move his/her practice to a new location, in the same general area. By combining the retiring vet's practice with another experienced vet, the transition has been much more effective and allowed the new professional to retain more of the clientele.

It works especially well when an experienced vet is ready to expand his/her practice and has sufficient capacity (and staff) at their location. They often employ a newly licensed vet to essentially train with the retiring vet and the practice/clients transition naturally, over time.

In these situations, the retiring professional has worked for a period of time, from say 6 months and up to 2 years, in the new vet's practice. Sometimes the retiring vet slowly transitions from full-time to part-time - other times they've transitioned more quickly. That way, the clients become used to the new practice and professionals. The transition usually works very well. In some instances, the retiring vet has been able to also sell fixtures and equipment to the replacement practice.

Meanwhile, we address the RE portion of the practice's assets. On several occasions, we've modified a vet's building to accommodate 2 medical professionals. (The vets had extra space to board animals.) We've converted other locations to retail space with minor remodelling. So, instead of selling the property as a veterinary practice, we've considered the zoning and needs of the community and sold the property accordingly.

Although it's not typical, we've also addressed the situation of a personal residence on site at the practice. B/c not that many professionals currently care to live on site (they prefer a home elsewhere to escape to, even though they understand they'll live at work, building their practice), we've also converted those spaces to commercial.

If the residence is located behind the offices, it can work well for certain, specialty tenants. Depending on the home's s.f., we've converted several into 2-3 commercial spaces. Some tenants prefer out-of-the-way locations, behind other spaces, and don't require significant signage. Examples are diet centers, substance abuse centers and meeting rooms for traffic schools, etc.

We've also had tenants using a portion of a remodelled former home as meeting room and/or conference center rental space. All of the various tenants usually love having kitchen space for both the daytime staff and refreshments for larger groups. We've successfully set-up several kitchens as shared space/common area, used by all the various tenants. Several times we've reduced the kitchen's size but repurposed its parts and/or materials elsewhere on the property. By sharing it with all the tenants, as a common area, it's used more frequently and the tenants split their cleaning service's additional fee plus a handyman to keep it properly cleaned and maintained.

Sorry if I've repeated things previously discussed. When I heard the details of your situation - had to wonder if those various options might help you or someone else in cyberspace.

As usual, all of the above, IMHO.

Good Luck!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RErocker,

Thanks for all your thoughts. I do appreciate them. I agree that it would be best to probably find a new realtor, but my husband is not wanting to do that now. He just turned 78 so also is not willing to commit to a 1-2 year working with a new vet in case they will buy it.
We are in a VERY unique position in that the home is above the clinic. Everyone who sees it loves it, but no offers.
We advertise in statewise vet magazines, national magazines and also have presented it as other forms of business. i.e. doggy day care, breeders, etc....
We have been on the market for 4+ years and agree that is too long and probably price was too high to begin with, but it took a long time for realtor to get on board with lowering the price drastically. I wanted to do it months ago.
So, here we sit!
Am going to print out the pointers and talk to my husband this weekend. He is SO ready to retire and at this point, it would be extremely hard on us financially to sell much lower than we are.

Hi Nancy-

What does your Realtor say about the new price..under market?

What about comps..since it is a speciality property - has she gone out of area to find comps? What did they sell for and how comp were they?

Is it zoned for a vet? OR classified as a home business?


Can you repost your MLS num,ber - I was wondering how much land..and other ideas for use.

She likes the new price, but I called her 3 weeks ago and emailed her 2 weeks ago and so far no response. I know that is bad and I am frustrated, but my husband owns the property so technically I am not on the listing.
As for comps, we do have a hard time finding similar properties but the ones we are finding sold right at our price. Ours is in better shape and more appealing- as to outbuildings, home, office, etc.... but that really doesn't matter if no one is interested.
We are zoned agricultural and do have a use permit for the clinic. We have 7.5 acres, 3000 square foot home, 3000 square foot clinic, hay barn, horse barn, 1 BR apt and several irrigated pastures.
REL~ After what happened to CCM, I am leery of posting the MLS, but will send you a private message with it, if that is ok?
Thanks for all your help!

It won't let me send you a PM.

quote:

Originally posted by Nancy in CA:

We are zoned agricultural and do have a use permit for the clinic. We have 7.5 acres, 3000 square foot home, 3000 square foot clinic, hay barn, horse barn, 1 BR apt and several irrigated pastures.
REL~ After what happened to CCM, I am leery of posting the MLS...

First of all, Nancy in CA, I do understand your hesitancy re what happened with CCM (I was probably one of the most vocal and loudest critics of someone using information posted on these boards to de-rail a potential purchase ) but remember, that was a COMPLETELY different situation.

In that case, it involved someone considering a PURCHASE - not a sale - of a place with an HOA (always a hot-button topic) that someone felt compelled to call the HOA to "report" that the potential purchaser "might" have in mind a violation of the rules in the future - nothing at all like your circumstances...

I really don't see any potential problems involved here in your case should you choose to post your MLS number - especially since it has been on the internet already for nearly 4 years - but do what you are comfortable doing!

Just have to say that it's hard to offer any constructive advice without seeing the property, the listing and how it is being marketed since it has been stagnant for so long.

So a few questions without knowing any of the particulars: Are you still living there? Is the vet practice still active? How many times have you changed out the photographs, listing verbage and re-listed so as to start the meter running again? If people are seeing a listing that shows more than a year on the market, chances are that they immediately believe that something is wrong with the property which may very well NOT BE THE CASE but perception is everything.

With your recent description, I can think of several different ways to market the property, including a therapeutic riding school, live-in residential school for dis-advantaged youth or individuals (both of these groups have access to grants that would help with the financing) OR as a vet clinic as you have been promoting, a dog agility program and several other things that come to mind....

But, none of that is helpful without knowing the particulars. So hope you re-consider about posting the listing - we all want you to "get sold!"

I understand the difficulties of your situation, Nancy. Truly, I do.

We've worked with some professionals in that age group. When they transferred their practices, they only made token appearances. The replacement vets told me afterwards that they believed even that minimal level of involvement helped them retain more of the clientele.

That's definitely a challenging property. I'm sure your house is lovely. It's often difficult to imagine RE used in different ways, however - especially when it's your own property.

Don't know about your agent - it's understandable if he/she was hesitant to provide information b/c you're not the owner and his/her client. OTOH, it's normal for a busy professional, or any homeowner, for that matter, to designate a contact person. (Has your dh done that?) At minimum, IMHO, you deserved at least a token, courtesy response.

Good ideas from Idaho, above. (My brain's a little fried today from work or I'd jump in.) We actually worked with a client who set up a non-profit to offer a therapeutic riding school. Also worked on a deal with a start-up animal rescue non-profit. Both of those clients required extensive remodelling (and had to clear some zoning hurdles) to change the use of their chosen property. Incidentally, to match up buyers and sellers on those deals, we worked with an agency that arranges special financing for non-profits.

I understand your reticence WRT posting your personal information. Up to you, obviously. The visual always helps, however. Feel free to PM me, if you prefer to go off-line.

All of the above, JMHO.

Best of luck and keep in touch,

Rocker

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RErocker,