Asking Price vs. Sale Price (Chicago, Arlington Heights: real estate, fsbo, housing)

[futurecitizen]

Can anyone speak to the ratio of sale price to asking price in Chicago areas like Evanston, Oak Park, Arlington Heights, etc? How much less can you offer? I don't really trust realtors to give me a real price, as they are obviously invested in keeping the market high. I'm more interested in word of mouth stories of asking prices versus sale price. It seems like many properties are sitting on the market for months...

[acdevane]

According to the MLS those properties are selling for 95-96% off list price. That's not saying that the price wasn't reduced prior to the home selling however. Ask a Realtor to provide you with the stats for the area you're looking in. There's always going to be an exception, but on average, that's what's happening out there. Real Estate is LOCAL. Contrary to popular MEDIA belief - the Midwest is not hurting as bad as some make it out to be.

[rada475]

Go to sites such as Trulia, Zillow or Domania and look at recent sales. If you can, try and keep track of places that recently went under contract and then see where they actually sold.

Unless I thought a place was an absolute steal relative to others in the area I wouldn't even consider putting in a bid over 90% of the asking price, and sometimes I would do 75-80%. It isn't that the housing market is so weak, but rather that sellers don't realize that prices haven't gone up.

Sellers are putting prices higher in the hopes of a chance to get a big gain, but most are willing to negotiate and accept much lower prices (what's their alternative?)

If you have a particular place in mind that you want to compare sold vs. listing a realtor can get you the MLS sheet for it that shows the Original Listing Price as well as the sale price.

Hope this helps.

[brenty]

Well it really depends. A friend of mine was moving from Evanston to Glencoe, and fell in love with a house and they got in a bidding war. Originally they had the highest offer of $1,445,000 which was full asking price. Then another party offered $1,495,000 which was over. My friend still got the house though, probably because his realtor was also the listing agent. In Evanston homes are still fetching close to full asking price. I would suggest offering 95% to 100% of the asking price. Do not be afraid to go over the asking price because inall three of those towns you are likely to get it back fairly quickly.

[aragx6]

It's important not to get emotional over a house and spend too much. That's how you end up house poor. It's dangerous in the current market. No, we're no where near as bad as some other places in the country, but we are going through a correction and if you were to pay 5% over the asking price you could very well be into your house 7-10% more than its worth come this time next year.

[acdevane]

Originally Posted by rada475

Unless I thought a place was an absolute steal relative to others in the area I wouldn't even consider putting in a bid over 90% of the asking price, and sometimes I would do 75-80%. It isn't that the housing market is so weak, but rather that sellers don't realize that prices haven't gone up.

Surely you jest! 75-80%? Do you live in possibly Florida or California? - even there. If you're talking FSBO then maybe I could understand. This is the midwest, and I think you're living in la-la land. Your loss is someone else's gain.

[samitranjan]

I would say a very important consideration is how long the house has been on the market . Go to zipreality or any site which tells you number of days in the market . That should help you decide . i was just doing a random search in the Wheaton area and think about 90 to 92 % is the average I am coming too.

[rada475]

Originally Posted by acdevane

Surely you jest! 75-80%? Do you live in possibly Florida or California? - even there. If you're talking FSBO then maybe I could understand. This is the midwest, and I think you're living in la-la land. Your loss is someone else's gain.

Not at all,

I'm looking in the high end market which may be impacting this, but many places are listed 10% higher than where they were listed 2 years ago. This is because sellers think they have gone up (when in fact they have flatlined or gone down). Go another 10% below that and you get to my numbers. Understand I'm not saying that you can get 75-80% of where they SOLD last year, but 75-80% of where they are currently listed. Listing prices are very arbitrary and driven by emotions.

I have seen many homes listed between 2.2-3.0MM selling from 1.5-2.4MM. Some people have been sitting on homes they paid .5MM for 10 years ago and just assume they can get 2.5MM for them today. They then need to sell and it sits on the year for over a year. If a bid comes in at 1.7MM it is very hard for them to pass and hope that it won't sit for another year or two.

Just look at how many homes have been sitting for over 1 year. These are the candidates for a 75-80% bid. Also new construction is a good candidate b/c the builder can't afford to hold the property with it sitting vacant. Go in with a bid and no major contingencies and you will see how much sellers are willing to deal.

[aragx6]

Markets correct themselves from the top down, so that's probably pretty accurate.

Someone purchasing a mid-range home, however, probably shouldn't look to be adjusting that greatly.

[chicagodoc]

One of my friends recently purchased a home in Highland Park for 90% of the asking price. I am almost certain selling prices will continue to fall in the upcoming months. One must remember asking price is just that - an "asking price."