Dawna Davies and her assistant Jodi Blanchard did an exceptional job in helping us sell our home in San Luis Obispo. Dawna’s intelligence and knowledge of the business made the whole complex process easy for us to understand and navigate. What seemed like counter-intuitive advice at the start—that we should be extremely thorough in discovering any possible problems with the forty year old house and present them in advance—turned out to streamline the final transaction by building trust in potential buyers and removing the possibility of unpleasant surprises and uncertainty for us. Her contacts with a wide range of local business people who carried out many preparatory operations quickly and economically offered another unique benefit. Her tact and amiability made our numerous interactions pleasant rather than wary. And Jodi’s work in converting the box full of documents from our files into a coherent house-maintenance-history binder meticulous and creative. From start to finish our involvement with Davies Company was personally as well as financially rewarding.
- What are your future plans? Do you plan to return to the area and want to move back in to the house? If so, do you expect it will be suitable for your needs at that time?
- What is your property condition? Is it rentable in its current condition or does it need repairs? What repairs will be required if you rent out the property. Get a property inspection to determine condition. The legal required repairs may be less demanding if the property is for sale, instead of for rent.
- How do you feel about being a property manager? Are you up to date on current laws and property requirements as a property manager? Are there professional property management services available? Evaluate the costs of management and how it will affect your cash flow on the property.
- What are your financial consequences? Talk to your tax advisor about the impact to your finances and tax obligation if you are to receive rental income. If you continue to own, find out if you will have negative or positive cash flow. If you sell, how much after-tax proceeds will you get to keep?
- What are local market conditions? What is the local rental market demand for the kind of home that you have, today and in the future? If you sell instead, how quickly will your home sell and what are projections for future value if you were to wait to sell?