Your house isn't selling; is it priced too high? (Charlotte: for sale by owner, real estate)
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Now, I know that the folks on our forum are more aware of trends w/ such things as real estate sales than perhaps the average citizen out there, so this probably does not even apply to anyone reading this, LOL.
But I am wondering what the heck homeowners who have their homes for sale are thinking w/ having their houses on the market at unrealistic prices.
I decided to spend some time this last weekend looking at listings, in hopes of finding some outdoor gardening ideas. I so enjoy seeing how others have created structures, water features, etc and what plants they have used.
What I saw just blew my mind. House after house that was priced a good $50-100,000 above where they should be (in my opinion, of course). And I don't think I am wrong b/c most of these homes were put on the market back in the winter, b/c the photos clearly showed winter landscapes.
BTW - for any of you who do have your homes on the market . . . get those photos updated. Nothing says "This house has been on the market for at least six months" like a set of photos taken in December.
So I just wondered . . . have the rest of you noticed the prices of houses here being unrealistic? Now, I was looking at houses over $500,000. So keep that in mind.
We really liked this brick ranch in Concord...It wasn't that big at all and the yard was decent sized but not huge. It was for sale by owner so I knew they would be asking too much. After we looked at it, in my head I was expecting a price around 180, feeling that was about 15-20 too high. The couple that owned the house actually looked at us with a straight face and said 220. I know they expect people to put in counter offers, but with an asking price like that, they must have expected over 200...
If you live in Mecklenburg county, you can take advantage of the "market analysis" link on the Polaris website to get an idea of what comparable houses are selling for.
The main reason why people don't sell their homes quick is because they can't seperate their emotion from the selling process.
99% of people price their Taj Mahal thinking its the best thing since sliced bread. Also, many haven't gotten the memo that was posted 1 1/2 - 2 years ago that Charlotte is not immune to the downturn. Some are finally realizing it now.
Also, when you get articles from Stella Hopkins in the Observer every other week about how parts of Charlotte have increased 30-40% over the past 5 years (which is bunk when you factor in concessions, front and back loads (ie closing costs), what do expect people to think?
Combine that w/a limited supply of buyers (along w/tight credit), and you have an extremely unbalanced RE market. Just look at the numbers for the Charlotte region.
My advice if you HAVE to sell is price yourself 10-20% below the competition minimum....
Home prices are sticky on the down swing...if you want a laugh, take a look at the AllenTate map search and look at the sea of homes for sale...I was looking at the 200k to 400k default range, there is no way prices here will not continue to decline...
One of the things that surprised me was - how many homes there are over $500,000. My friends in real estate tell me that homes are moving fastest in the under $300,000 price bracket. But I didn't realize there were so many in inventory over $500,000.
What I am wondering is - why are there so many homes in that category for sale? So many of these homes are under three years old, too. This just surprised me. I had looked at real estate maybe 6 weeks ago . . . just to see what was for sale around me. I swear there are more homes on the market in the above $500,000 category than 2 months ago, but maybe I was just not paying as close attention when I last looked. I didn't actually check on the numbers at that time.
All this has me wondering - WHY are these houses for sale? People have gotten jobs elsewhere? Some of the houses are empty, but most do not appear to be. So it looks like families are still in them. Do people not "have" to sell so they just have their houses on the market in case a buyer happens along? Are some of these houses hardship sales? If they are, why the heck aren't they lowering the prices for a quick sale?
What I was thinking is that the over priced homes must be owned by sellers who are not serious sellers. But that seems illogical cause why bother? It is a hassle to get calls to show your house at random times.
So I can't figure it out.
Now, the houses under $500,000 . . . I only spot checked in a few areas and it seemed stuff priced in the $300-400K range were about right. I saw several I thought needed to knock off some more $$$ b/c of competition nearby (similar properties in same neighborhood) but most seemed more realistically priced - as compared to how many seem inflated in the $500K and up bracket.
Americans can not afford 500K houses. Americans can not afford 300K houses. Those "500K houses" weren't worth 50K when they were built. All part of the scam.
I had a RE agent tell me that anything under 150K sold in a week, but became sluggish over 150K. I have had several appraisals on my house that range from 180K to 220K. I don't understand why there is such a wide range of opinions.
I wonder what you people think of Zillow.
I may be forced to sell, since I have enough money to last another three months. I don't know where to go, or even whether to stay here.
But people are saying (rightly) that it's a bad time to sell. But my house was built in 1979, and structurally and aesthetically is much more appealing than the recent housing inventory. Still I would make less on it now than in a few yeas (next year will be worse).
It's a dilema. No job. I hate it here. Alone and lonely. No "boom town" to move to. Bad time to sell. Old and penniless (I have over 100K equity in my house. but still owe 70K). No pension. No IRA. No 401K.
I went and looked at a tiny log cabin in Shelby for 25K. It was moldy and in bad condition. But it's on a private wooded lot. It's 65 miles away, but it's quicker to uptown than south Charlotte is. I'd have to put a minimum of 20K into it to make it liveable. I have no money, but a 25K credit limit on my credit card. I could buy it outright and then sell my house and pay off the credit card. Am I stupid to be thinking of this?
Ani, regarding the higher end homes, there isn't just 1 answer.
Some are just "testing" the waters and are not serious....just want to see if they get bites...
Many have lost primary incomes (look at BAC and Wachovia). Many of those who are out of work can't do it on 1 salary...so they look in other parts of the country.
Some are serious and want to "trade down" to a smaller 300-350K house.....
Some cannot afford to drop their draws and "dump" their home...they don't have enough equity invested. So they have no choice but to keep the home on the market and pray someone offers them close to what their asking.
Just a bad situation right now for sellers....(in all price brackets IMO)
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