How many have EVER sold?

[spark]

I'm extremely intrigued how many of the investors in propery have the experience of SELLING a property. All should have the experience of buying of course, but how many have ever sold? Especially in a difficult market? I have my selling experience from overseas in a slow declining market and the feeling was very challenging, traumatising even. Maybe that's the reason I'm a happy renter now. Would you share your experience in a poll?

1) Only bought, never sold
2) Sold 1
3) Sold 2-5
4) Sold more than 5
5) Never bought, so never sold

 

[travelbug]

I've sold 3 properties, always in a sellers market. At the end of a boom. So sorry I can't help with the difficulties of selling in hard times.
Obviously the only time you would sell in a buyers market is if you were forced to.

 

[The Y-man]

Sold one about 5 years ago, then sold 4 this year. I'm told this year is a slow/declining market in Melourne, but all sales have been within expectations.

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[BayView]

We sold the first two IP's we ever bought, but none sold since.

The first one was sold after 2 years, when the rental yield turned out to be $350 p/w and not $450 p/w like we expected, and we had a nightmare tenant into the bargain. We made a small profit, and a lesson was learned.

The second one was sold after 4 years, just before we left for the USA. There was some cap gain, but the rents hardly moved in all that time, and we were not sure how the USA cashflow would be, and didn't want to jeopardise the USA trip through no funds to use. As well as that, we had a commitment on another block of land which was due to settle last year, so we sold and put the money into the LOC ready for the block settlement.

 

[pudestcon]

I voted no sells because I take the poll to mean IPs. I have sold 2 PPOR over the years. 1st one for $10,000 after buying for $4,000 and holding for 5 years. 2nd one sold for $105,000 after buying for $48,000 and holding for 18 years. The last sale happened in 2000; both houses located in the same WA wheatbelt town

 

[Monty Burns]

I put down sold one which is currently wish full thinking
as I try and get rid of a block just out side Canberra.

After this one the plan is to keep as many as possible
unless they are poor performers

 

[aaarghhh]

Sold 1 property and the funds went to buying a bunch of other properties and a few shares.

 

[Bill.L]

Hi,

Have sold one PPOR/IP in 1990 and 2 IP's late last year.

1990 was at the top of market, took 2 weeks to sell. One IP last year was an absolute dog, only made 50% CG over 5 years and positive cashflow the whole time, but the tenants, their drugs, their exxes, their disappearances, ahhhhh.

So, sorry, no tales of selling in a buyers market.

bye

 

[Ausprop]

I love selling those negative cashflow IPs... the monkey off your back feelign is wonderful! it's easy to kid yourself as to the value of your portfolio - but go to the market and see how much cold hard cash you can collect for it and you really see its true worth

 

[oc1]

You should include a couple more option, >10 and >20

 

[steveadl]

Sold 2, but only to get into bigger deals.

 

[Bargain Hunter]

Sold three to offload problem or non-performing properties.

 

[LynnH]

Sold 4 - all in so-so markets. One for a decent profit, the others for pretty much what we expected. Should never have sold any of them, but got sick of grotty tenants, rent not being paid on time, etc. Biggest mistake we've ever made, in hindsight!

We have since 'seen the light' and have been buying back in - won't be selling again, unless it is to get rid of 'dogs' (but have none of those at present).

Cheers
LynnH

 

[Dazz]

Sold two non-performers back in '02 that cost a packet and caused no end of grief with ratbag tenants. Haven't regretted selling them one bit.

Best move we've made, except for the good ones we kept.

 

[topcropper]

I sold a house in a small rural town in 2003.

I did this to invest into the share market, as I correctly decided that shares were very cheap.

My timing was good as far as the shares went. However, not so good property wise. I thought property prices were at a peak, and I was right as far as Sydney went, however this was only the start of the boom for country house prices. The house I sold would be worth exactly double today.


In hindsight, I should have kept the house, and leveraged off it into the shares. Most of the shares I bought at the time were cashflow positive, as they were so cheap the dividends paid the interest bills.

See ya's.

 

[Lily House]

Sold 2 IPs early this year.

First was a development site that we discovered late last year we couldn't actually develop the way we had planned to (long story). Without the potential, and highly negatively geared, it was something we had to get rid of.

The second IP sold so that we could pay off PPOR debt. Saw the market had peaked, decided to take the profit while it was there. Market had started to dip when we sold, but managed to sell for only a couple of grand below what we had hoped for. It is a lovely feeling having no non-deductable debt!

Lily

 

[ianvestor]

When I started out, I was trying to do a bit of everything, not having settled on a particular strategy yet, and as such ended up with an empty block in a regional area (Macleay Island actually).

I sold it for a couple of reasons; a) I realised I didn't want to be buying any more that far away from a capital city and b) I don't want to self-manage, therefore I would have to employ one PM just for one little regional property. Not to mention the fact that it would be a major project just getting a house onto the block. Not worth the hassle.

As I grow my portfolio, I want to keep the number of PMs to a minimum (only have 1 so far), and will stick to inner-city properties. If I can keep that to a maximum of two PMs in each capital I invest in, that would suit me.

When I sold the block, it was probably more of a buyers market in the area; it took about 6 weeks to sell, but I got what I wanted for it (broke even after 2 years of interest payments, stamp duty, legals, etc.).

-Ian

 

[oc1]

I buy and sell often for income and deposit money for up coming deals. It's over the amount specified in the poll.

And don't be scared to sell, especially if it moves you forward. If you have done your job properly the worst thing that happens is...........................................YOU MAKE MONEY.

 

[linglc]

Sold a PPoR (unit) in 2004, after holding the unit for about 1 year, and made a little bit of profit there.

Sold an IP in early 2006, as I thought the property was faring really badly in terms of capital growth and returns, and the tenants had literally trashed the place. Really slack PM was looking after this property, and I thought I would just get rid of the property and invest in other things like shares.

Sold another IP in 2006, when wifey got pregnant with our 2nd kid due to fears that we could not sustain the holding cost.

Now looking back, I really regretted letting go of all properties. Having read a lot from books on property investments and forums, I realised that the cost associated with purchasing and disposing of properties would usually outweigh the temporary cash flow issues that one might have, and on both of the IPs that I have disposed, the boom was just round the corner and I missed it totally.

 

[Medine]

I've only ever sold one property in early 2007. I made a profit and then missed out on another 20% growth during the following months. I won't sell again. Buying is for me.

Cheers, Medine