How long to sell a house in Albuquerque?

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by berncohomes

And I bet you thought that was $250 (approx) very well spent.

I'd say yes. I'm glad I did it for what they found.

Originally Posted by berncohomes

You could also do the same thing with an appraisal ...

I wish I had known that at the time.
At the time, I trusted the realtor to tell me what a realistic price was.
She said $465k, but $425k might have been better in May, 2007.

After three months with no views, I decided to get educated and started
arguing with her about lowering the price. We kept bumping it down
(arguing every time) by $10k or more every so often, but at
$380k, the 6-month contract expired and we dumped her.

Lots of people kept telling us to dump her earlier than the 6 months, but
I couldn't see any way to do it without paying her the 3%. It would have
been cheaper in the long run to do that, but ... ouch!

Our new guy researched it thoroughly and by that time, I was up to speed
and we both agreed on $340k. We started getting 4-5 views per week.
We had an offer in a couple weeks that fell through and another soon
after and it was sold in less than 60 days at the right price which
turned out to be $319k.

Now, I can appraise a house myself ( not inspect it, though ).
One trick is to put more weight on houses sold rather than
houses listed. Originally, in the example above, we were priced right
in the middle of the 'cloud' of other listed prices in our area/size/etc.

Once I started getting visits from the clue fairy, I found that we were
well above the 'cloud' of prices of houses sold - hence no views.

It recently sold again for $285k. It was a great house in Chandler.

[mrgoodwx]

Originally Posted by mortimer

As always, if the house is priced right, it will sell.

Coldwell's numbers include sellers who insist on getting the
price they either paid for the house in 2006/2007 or so or
those who insist on getting what they "think" it "should"
be worth, but who don't do their homework on values.

I've seen some go in a couple months.

I've seen others on the market for more than a year.

That's the key. I think there are a lot of owners out there who refuse to accept the likelihood their house won't sell for the same price it would have sold for a couple of years ago. Most of the houses in my neighborhood are 25-35 years old. I don't know what they are selling for, but the ones listed for sale are generally in the $140-150 per square foot range. Yet...the guy behind me has had his on the market for OVER TWO YEARS, and he is still asking $175/square foot. He's angry and stubbornly refuses to lower his price. So...the house will sit...

[dagnabit9]

Well, if the $140-150 per sq ft rule applies, I am somewhere between $174,000 and $188,500. If I use the lower price and then take 5-10% off that for some instant equity, I should be good with $156,500. That way I can still clear a good amount after paying the agent (or agents?). What do you think? Am I going TOO low..??

[berncohomes]

Where are you getting the $SF from?

Ignore everything that is listed on the market and first concentrate on what has sold.

We go by Areas & Zones in Albuquerque, this can be found by a quick google search, a zone is a 1 square mile area and go by what has sold in your zone in the last 3 months. Use comparable properties, if yours is 1400SF 3 bed 2 bath 2 CG on 1/4 acre don't use a 3000SF 5 Bed 4 Bath 3 CG on an acre as a price per square foot estimate.

If you can't find anything close go back an extra month.

It's pretty quick for a Realtor to do, shoot me an email with your address and I'd be happy to do it for you, that way when you interview potential Realtors you'll have my "opinion" handy.

[mrgoodwx]

Originally Posted by dagnabit9

Well, if the $140-150 per sq ft rule applies, I am somewhere between $174,000 and $188,500. If I use the lower price and then take 5-10% off that for some instant equity, I should be good with $156,500. That way I can still clear a good amount after paying the agent (or agents?). What do you think? Am I going TOO low..??

Dagnabit9...I didn't mean to imply that you should list YOUR house for $140-150/sq ft. I was just using that as an example of the listings in my neighborhood...and how some people seem way out of line (like the guy with $175/sq ft)...and that's probably the reason it has been on the market over 2 years. There are a lot more variables...as Bernco mentioned. His advice makes solid sense. Good luck!

[dagnabit9]

mrgoodwx...I was set straight by my agent yesterday about the $/SF thing. (Larger houses tend to be less/SF, smaller houses more/SF.) He also pulled up a listing of everything that has sold since June, what's on the market now, and such so now I have a pretty good idea on a price. He's going to get back to me today about certain features of my house and how they will bring more than what we had originally planned. And special thanks to berncohomes - he was a big help too!

[ohyes]

Location, Price and condition will tell what your house is worth and how fast it will sell.