Real Estate 2, Disgruntled Investor 0

So, I've decided to take my house off the market, and rent it back out again.

The place is getting decent foot traffic during the rare times when my shitty realtor passes along the chore of doing an open house to one of his colleagues, but he's doing absolutely no follow-through on them. In addition, more houses in the same neighborhood with the same setup as mine (and updated carpet, kitchen, etc.) have been springing up on the market at lower prices than mine. I could just lower the price and take a major, major loss...BUT THERE'S NO GUARANTEE IT WILL EVEN SELL AT THAT PRICE!!

In short, the market sucks ass.

So, I've decided to take my house off the market, and rent it back out again. (Is there an echo in here??) I'll officially unlist it on Monday, so of course there is the off chance I'll get a contract today or tomorrow, but doubtful.

In real estate, only two things matter - location and timing. The house is in such a stellar area that the only explanation can be the timing. Oh, and my terrible realtor, who I will not be retaining for services in future real estate sales.

While I'm obviously somewhat bitter about this, I'm surprisingly at peace with this decision. Continuing to rent it out had been in the back of my mind throughout this whole process, and part of me knew that that would happen anyway. I'll continue to enjoy tax benefits, and can hopefully wait this market out. I'm going to revisit the selling idea during the next selling season, which I've been told is September.

Another aspect of this is that I'm somewhat loathe to allow this investment to fail so quickly. The mortgage I have on the place (5-year fixed ARM, adjustable after that) essentially gives me 4 more years to wait out the market. As I've noted earlier, I went into this with the intention of fixing-and-flipping and ended up with rental properties. So, I'm going to roll with that. When the time comes, I'll sell.

Until then, bring on the psychotic alcoholic defecator tenants!!