How to liquidate a property quickly in a bad economy

In the not very distant past, it was easy to invest in a piece of real estate, flip it for a 50% -100% profit and move on to the next one. Today it doesn't work that way. With the uncertainty of our economy, plummeting home prices and a questionable job market, many people are understandably reluctant to invest in real estate. This can be bad enough if you are just trying to sell your home so you can move, but what if you are one of those unfortunate investors who needs to unload several pieces of unprofitable property that you can no longer afford? Don't despair, you have several choices available as long as you can act logically and keep your emotions out of the equation.

First, you need to figure out the absolute bottom price that you can sell a particular property for to break even. If your financial situation dictates that you must get rid of the property now, then that is how much you sell it for. If you are comfortable maintaining the financial obligations just a bit longer, you can set your price to make some profit. You need to keep in mind that when the economy is slow, only the best deals will attract attention.

Next, you need to let your contacts know about the property. Most of your contacts probably won't be interested in your property, but an acquaintance, business partner or friend of one of your contacts may be. Talk to anyone you know that may have more contacts in the real estate industry. This could include bank managers, lawyers, financial planners or even real estate agents (though they will generally want their commission).

You can also utilize online resources such as forsalebyowner.com ebay.com or even craigslist.com, as well as several real estate investor forums. You may want to consider sending out a message to your contacts on Linked In, Facebook and MySpace too.

For local exposure, you may want to use screen-printed yard signs on the property as well as in the surrounding neighborhood. Be sure that the signs include the address and phone number because most investors will usually want to see the property before they contact you. Just to be sure, you should check your local sign ordinance to avoid fines. In most cases, you will just receive a warning but it is better to be safe than sorry.

In a worst-case scenario, you could also consider a short sale. In a nutshell, what happens is you sell the property for less than is owed and the title is transferred to the lender who then either holds the property on their REO (Real Estate Owned) list or sells it on their own. This is something that you must negotiate with the lender before hand. You may be wondering why they would agree to do this in the first place. The reason is that it is typically less costly for them than moving forward with a foreclosure, so while they may accept a loss, it is less significant and it is wrapped up more quickly.

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