S/O Rents - would you sell lower to certain people?

[downtoearth]

So as a spin off from the real estate/rents... If you owned a property in an area where the rents and housing prices have skyrocketed in the last 5-8 years, would you sell below the value that a real estate person suggested if you found a buyer who needed and you knew would be priced out of the area without it?

I am a heart-strings person and my DH is not... we have a place like this in Denver area (up 48% in value from when we bought) and sometimes I suggest just selling to our renters or my coworkers for a little profit (say 20% from what we bought) so we'd cover expenses to sell and know someone who is priced out of the area.  DH says I'm crazy to think about real estate with my heart and not just make the most money, but I also know that we helped contribute to changing the neighborhood from a working class area to a hip (i.e. gentrified) area and feel like we could at least keep it with some people who are going to be working class/non-profit workers as their end goals. 

We won't decide to sell until next year when our 5+ year renters are done with grad school and looking at their next step anyway.

[StrawberryBlondie]

No. Well, maybe like to Baby H or something. Not to a random.

[Bernadine]

I don't feel like I'm in a financial position to do so, so no.

[aurora]

Not to a stranger, no.

An elderly woman in my neighborhood has been renting the same house for 25+ years and the owners decided they just can't be landlords anymore. They offered to sell it to her at ~20% below market value, which I'm not even sure if I'd be nice enough to do (that's a *lot* of money where I live). But, it makes me think they are awesome people. Unfortunately she can't afford even that so she's moving.

I definitely wouldn't in your situation. I think there's a big difference between young, 5-year renters (or random people I haven't met yet) than a 25-year elderly renter.

[fuckyourcouch]

Personally, no. I would be pricing myself out of the Denver market too if I didn't get enough money to contribute to my next down payment.

If my situation was different and I had the cash to spare? Maybe. I would definitely consider it.

[josieposy]

No. Not unless I was independently wealthy.

[downtoearth]

Jun 29, 2015 13:37:59 GMT -5 aurora said:

Not to a stranger, no.

An elderly woman in my neighborhood has been renting the same house for 25+ years and the owners decided they just can't be landlords anymore. They offered to sell it to her at ~20% below market value, which I'm not even sure if I'd be nice enough to do (that's a *lot* of money where I live). But, it makes me think they are awesome people. Unfortunately she can't afford even that so she's moving.

I definitely wouldn't in your situation. I think there's a big difference between young, 5-year renters (or random people I haven't met yet) than a 25-year elderly renter.

The "young" renters are closer to 40 and our friends, so I have a soft spot for them.  DH is more focused on the bottom line.

I also read Velar Fricative 's post in the other thread about her mom and it made me think harder about ways or programs that could help keep working class people in areas as they develop more.

Thanks everyone for the responses, I probably need to separate money decisions from emotion b/c I am NOT independently wealthy or out of debt even. I am house poor with two houses and will still be in debt with not enough retirement/not enough to pay for our kids college if we sold the rental at market value. I should be more practical, huh?

[katietornado]

I've always thought that we might do this someday as landlords (like giving a discount to people who foster dogs, since we're such bleeding heart animal people, and finding pet-friendly rentals can be difficult), but probably not for selling a house.

[sfy]

Huh. I tend to think I'm super nice with things like this, but not even I am this nice. I would consider this a huge windfall and I wouldn't be willing to let it go to help someone afford a home. To help someone eat, yes. To buy a house, no. I do agree that I'd likely do this if I were independently wealthy.

[starlily]

For a sale? No.

I do, however, charge slightly below market rate for my rental because I'd rather have a steady, reliable renter than a profit right now.

[wawa]

Jun 29, 2015 14:51:49 GMT -5 starlily said:

For a sale? No.

I do, however, charge slightly below market rate for my rental because I'd rather have a steady, reliable renter than a profit right now.

I could see renting for below market rate as long as it covered my expenses to retain a good reliable renter.

I am not going to sell my house for significantly less than market to anybody except family unless I won the powerball and just wanted to unload the darn thing. 

[cinco]

No. We are absolutely not in a financial position to sell lower. We rent out our starter home at a slight loss, but not out of the goodness of our hearts.

[Michelle]

I would rent lower to a friend. I would sell lower through my will if I had a long term renter who couldn't afford to buy, especially an old person, or would gift free rent to them except cost of taxes and then gift to relative after they die, if you can even do that long.

I am on your DH's team though, unless you are brangelina and can't spend all your money in your lifetime if you wanted to.

[saz]

It sounds like maybe your house is in my neighborhood. We are on the verge of moving and either renting or selling this house, and we would not sell it for less to someone we knew. I would probably give a discount on rent though to know we were having good renters we already knew.

[meltoine]

Only immediate family to whom I would otherwise give a gift of such magnitude.

Real estate transactions are business, not personal. I'm not going to compromise my family's bottom line to essentially give a stranger thousands of dollars.

[cairo]

We would have for my dad's house. Not a huge discount, but I told DH and my brother that if we got multiple offers, I would rather take a lower one for a first time homebuyer. We ended up doing just that, the family was first time owners with a new baby. Fortunately for us, they were also the highest offer. I know my dad would have liked that we sold to them.

[readyin07]

We aren't in the position in the teeniest tiniest bit, but this is something I thought about extensively when we were getting ready to move. It's become so unreachable in my area for "normal" people and my good friend's home was foreclosed on around the same time we were looking to rent ours..I kept telling H that if we won the lottery we would just rent it out to her at a loss until their credit got strong enough to buy. But could we personally take an $800 a month short change on the house? Nope and we are underwater on it as it is so we can't sell it at a loss b/c we're already taking one!

[foundmylazybum]

We have cut a break to people we have rented to before and it has never worked out in our favor! It was never really in terms of "rent" per month but it was things like rental history or their total down payment and first and last month deposit. Those are indicators you should be careful. The first time the person was a girl who had no rental history and so she had to put down a large deposit. What a disaster. The second time the lady was a single mom, going to law school, and we were all "yeah she'll be great in our house take care of it, she'll be this lawyer lala." But she had a hard time meeting the full deposit.

This lady was SUCH a pain in the butt. She ended up wanting to break the lease and four months into law school little Elle Woods thought she was going to try some nonsense to act like our house wasn't up to code with the pool to get out of the lease. I was mad and it really taught me to look at the renters harder and not cut them breaks.

If we were selling?

Welp. I'd be all about the Benjamins baby.

[MixedBerryJam]

Jun 29, 2015 13:26:26 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

... would you sell below the value that a real estate person suggested if you found a buyer who needed and you knew would be priced out of the area without it?

...

I am a pretty heartstrings person, too, and even I wouldnt do that if I knew the person couldnt afford it in the first place. i am about to lobby my siblings to possibly sell my  mother's house to other than the highest bidder, though. Her across the street neighbor wants to buy, and I'd much rather sell to her than to a total stranger. She, my mom, and my mom's next door neighbor were very close, and the two surviving friends would love to live next door to each other. 

[iammalcolmx]

No, the only people we would do thay for live in expensive houses in DC so they could afford our place easily. These would be our parent's BTW.

[pixy0stix]

No. Then again I'd just like an offer.

[LoveTrains]

Jun 29, 2015 14:51:49 GMT -5 starlily said:

For a sale? No.

I do, however, charge slightly below market rate for my rental because I'd rather have a steady, reliable renter than a profit right now.

Yep me too.

[vanillacourage]

No, for many many reasons. Plus, I'm cynical and feel like they'd turn around and sell it for market rate shortly afterward and pocket all MY profit. 

Another reason (I told you I had many!) - do you like your neighbors?  Then why would you want to screw with their property valuation?