First Seller's Post

You've probably noticed the vast majority of the blog to this point is related to our purchase of a home in Westchester, NY.

I recently began the process of selling a rental home my brother and I own in Pennsylvania.  This property was passed down to the two of us from our parents.

For the past several years, this property has been occupied by renters.  While some extra cash from the sale of this rental property would have been great for our home purchase, I wasn't in any hurry and didn't really consider it. 

In the midst of the home buying process, I received an e-mail from our renters.  They were expecting a baby and were beginning to look at purchasing a home of their own.  They asked if we would be interested in selling the Rental Property to them.

The timing was advantageous and we didn't have any long-term plans for the home so we thought we'd investigate.  I also found that there are some strong tax advantages to selling a home then rolling over the proceeds into the purchase of a new home.

We engaged a local Realtor, the same one who had sold our father's home, who put together a report on comparable homes for sale or recently sold.  This framework helped us to estimate the current market value of the rental property.  We then hired an inspector to take a look at the home - we haven't been inside the house for years and we knew some aspects of the house would need repair.

The inspection, fortunately or unfortunately, turned up many items that would need to be fixed in order to sell or by a buyer who was willing to put in the money.  The inspector also let us know that we'd need to find a cash deal or a conventional mortgage - any type of government loan wouldn't work, as the house wasn't in good enough shape.

We've used this information to come to our listing price and we conveyed that to our current renters.  We are now awaiting the listing of the house to go live and hopefully get some interest.

I look forward to updating you on the progress of the sale!