Hello,

I have a house that was flooded in Harvey (Aug. 2017) for the first time (to my knowledge as I bought it from a wholesaler with no disclosure) .

The house is one story with three bedrooms (one of them is a master suite) with a very reasonable living space and backyard.

I rehabbed the house and it looks great now, ....nobody would buy it :0(

The house is near the medical center in Houston (in a subdivision called parkwest near Westbury)

If I rent it it will create a -ve cash flow of about $300

I'm thinking to turn it into Senior independent living but it seems to be very complicated strategy with the best yield.

Any experience in doing this in Houston would e appreciated?

Cheers,

What's the address? Can you provide pics of the property? If it's not selling (even in a flooded area) it's most likely an issue of price if there's no serious defects in the renovation. 

@Ryan Dossey , the address is 5931 Arboles drive, Houston, TX 77035 you can check the pictures online, we are working with one of the best realtors in town.

A neighbor stopped by when the buyer was doing the inspection and she said that the house was flooded three times, I know she is not telling the truth because I owned the house in one of the floofs that she calimed and it not flood.

It looks like you guys are pending? 

First off... Great design. Home looks sharp! 

The issue I'm seeing is a note about foundation repair on a property has flooded. That's 2 major strikes. You would need to look at your contract and determine (if you are pending) if flooding is an excuse to terminate their P & S agreement.  If I was a buyer that would freak me out. 

@Ayman Elmasik I am an agent in TX so I cant technically ask what's going on here with this deal to you. Because you have an agent representing you.

But it looks like this home has been overpriced. There was one other home in the market that sold for $8k below asking price. But all the other sales for properties have been of rehab projects. I read that properties in this area flooded multiple times from different agent's write ups and that's a major turn off. 

I would talk with your agent about some strategies they suggest for getting people to bite on this property. Might have to bring out the trick bag for this one!

Good luck brother!

@Ayman Elmasik Your property has only been listed for 36 days, so lets not panic. Fine job on the home by the way! Best looking house in the neighborhood as far as I'm concerned. A couple of suggestions, please find and verify the amount of times the property has truly flooded. In my opinion a one time flood especially the Harvey flood would be much easier to overcome than a property that has gone through several floods. I pulled up some of the disclosures on a couple of properties a few blocks north and they noted that their properties flooded twice. Doesn't mean your property flooded twice, but would be a good idea to verify. Yes, your property was initially overpriced at $275k, however the drop to $259k seems about right for a one time flooded property. Looks like half of the listed rehabbed properties have dropped their prices, more than likely for the same reasons you dropped your price. Very important that you price your property right the first time, it adds a negative connotation when properties need to drop prices.  Best of luck!

@Ayman Elmasik   It's not easy to sell flooded home unless you are in much wanted community. I sold two properties in last month both are flooded but bought by owners directly. Not by investors. They are both are in good community people want to buy and build on. Westbury is loaded with investors who are trying to rehab and flip it. It is going to take time. You gotta to be patience. I am sure you put the holding period in to consideration when you did your numbers. 

Thanks all for your replies, @Ryan Dossey yes we were under contract and then a neighbor came to the house while they were doing the inspection and lied about the flood history of the house and told them it was flooded three times of course they just ran away.

I know she is lying about at least one flood (Tax day in Houston) as I was the owner at that time and the house did not flood. the earlier one (Memorial day) I'm not sure because I bought it from a wholeseller and I didn't see any signs that says it was flooded.

I pulled the FEMA claims history of the house and it shows only the flood of Harvey.

No the advise I really want is on how to stop this neighbor from coming into my house.

@Ayman Elmasik , Have you tried using any of the below

#1 using your house for short term rentals (aka AirBnB type) and then relying on companies like Evolve to manage it. As your house is near hospital,  you'll have good occupancy rate.

#2 leasing it for people who are willing to do yearly lease (1.5 or 2 times regular rent) from you and use it for AirBnB rentals. They'll be responsible for all the damages caused by the guests and even take care of minor repairs

#3 Offered to sell your house to any prospective buyers using creative financing  ways like seller financing with minimal down payment and then selling that note and cashing it. 

Like you mentioned, you can even use it for Assisted living facilities (ALF) but an officer ( I think Fire marshall dept) will need to inspect and provide Certificate of occupancy.  I think there are five departments to get through for getting your license to run ALF.  

#4 You can try to approach any nearby ALF or rehabilitation or mental health company and ask if they are willing to expand their portfolio and you can lease it to them for 2 or 5 years (usually 1.5 or 2 or 2.5 times standard rent). But pls note, they usually look for more bedrooms so that can make some profit and you may need to do some house modifications to align with their interests as well as to make it ALF compliant. 

In order to address neighbor's issue,  Did you get a chance to invite your neighbor for a lunch and then try to address his/her concern.  

rgds

Kishore

@Kishore Babu , thanks for your input, very valuable. as for the neighbor it was sorted out over a walkway chat