I have had enough of my current neighborhood and have decided to sell my house and move on despite the poor market conditions.
I bought my house during the boom and paid $180000 for a two bedroom 1.5 bath on a slab in the city of Atlanta. My house was built by a custom home builder that normally made homes in the $1 million + range, they bought some lots in an up and coming part of Atlanta and built 8 craftsman style homes on the same street. They are all similar but no two are exactly alike.
My house was the first one built and it was marketed with the upstairs living space unfinished. My real estate agent told me this was done to get buyers into the area and then they would perhaps buy one of the larger fully finished homes on the street or buy mine and request that the upstairs be finished before closing. Because things were tight for me I bought as it sat and planned to finish the rest of the living space on my own. The other houses on my street sold for between $220000-$240000 and then the bottom fell out.
I have done a tremendous amount of work upstairs but it isn't finished yet. It was all studded out and electrical and plumbing rough-in was done when I moved in. I have almost completed all the drywall work, carpeted the two bedrooms, trimmed windows and hung doors, and added a quality heating and air system. All that is left is finishing the stairwell, flooring in the hall and bathrooms, adding fixtures to the bathrooms and caulk and paint.
My dilemma at this point is that any further time and money I spend will be lost when and if I sell. I need to pay the loan down to about $160000 before I feel it will be worthwhile to list it and I would guess I have about $5000 more to spend upstairs and maybe 100 hours of my labor to complete it. As it sits I could list it as a 4 bedroom 1.5 bath because both of the upstairs bedrooms and required closets are complete.
Should I list it as is or keep burning cash and time and finish everything out before listing?
