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In our recent home selling experience, I've noticed a trend in people expecting deep discounts because of the way you've decorated a home, or the furniture you've arranged, or the fact that you own a pet.
By, "trend", how many people have asked for a discount based on one or more of these things?
Out of 30+ showings, only one buyer agent made a fuss about this. And we think it was because they saw the litter box under the staircase. We've since moved the litter box into a more discreet storage closet location in the basement. We don't really have any other cat storage options at the moment.
If only one agent mentioned it, did that buyer even make an offer? How do you know people are requesting discounts for these things?
By, "trend", how many people have asked for a discount based on one or more of these things?
In my general discussions about my home sale, it has come up a number of times from various commentators. I don't have an exact percentage for you, my apologies, but I'd say more than a handful.
If only one agent mentioned it, did that buyer even make an offer? How do you know people are requesting discounts for these things?
My apologies, I should have been more clear.
A few buyers have made such comments about these pain points.
I'm referring to the commentary that I've received back when seeking out advice or insights. I've had a considerable number of people tell me I should consider cutting my price. Granted, they don't know anything about my current price, and nobody has made any suggestions about what a reasonable price cut for any of the aforementioned issues would be.
to be honest, this would be the reason I'd be expecting you to lower your price. An additional bedroom and/or bathroom seems worth more than that to me
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Some have another bed or bathroom, but they also sold for $5-15k over what we are asking. We also have lots of updates those recently sold homes do not.
to be honest, this would be the reason I'd be expecting you to lower your price. An additional bedroom and/or bathroom seems worth more than that to me
Just about every real estate blog or journal article I've come across indicates an added value of $5-$10k per additional room assuming similar square footage. Just one example: https://pocketsense.com/value-adding...e-7759437.html. Our home, in comparison to many of these comps, actually has more square footage.
Since we ultimately have a similar layout as the rest of these comps, we have room to build an additional room in the basement where they've added theirs. In fact, since our basement is partially finished, it's really just a matter of framing a couple walls. Electrical is already hooked up. We have not proceeded with this kind of project, because we have not been convinced that the ROI is worth it. Why drop $5k+ on building costs when I could just price drop $5k from asking. Then we'd be $10-$20k below the sales prices for comps with an added room. I'd argue that's more than fair.
Just about every real estate blog or journal article I've come across indicates an added value of $5-$10k per additional room assuming similar square footage. Just one example: https://pocketsense.com/value-adding...e-7759437.html. Our home, in comparison to many of these comps, actually has more square footage.
Since we ultimately have a similar layout as the rest of these comps, we have room to build an additional room in the basement where they've added theirs. In fact, since our basement is partially finished, it's really just a matter of framing a couple walls. Electrical is already hooked up. We have not proceeded with this kind of project, because we have not been convinced that the ROI is worth it. Why drop $5k+ on building costs when I could just price drop $5k from asking. Then we'd be $10-$20k below the sales prices for comps with an added room. I'd argue that's more than fair.
that link says nothing about an extra bedroom being worth 5K-10K. Perhaps you have other sources but all that one said was
Quote:
Some homeowners decide to remove the wall between two small bedrooms to create a single, larger bedroom. Empty nesters whose children have left home are especially attracted to this idea. Realtors advise against this change unless a homeowner plans on reverting back to two bedrooms before selling the house. The difference between the 2 bedroom vs 3 bedroom resale value can be significant enough to make it worthwhile to add the wall back.
on the other hand, I also found this
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We found that across America, the least expensive upgrade is going from a one bedroom to a two bedroom ($30K more). Upgrading to a fifth bedroom is most expensive, costing over $113K versus a four bedroom.
The cost of adding an extra bedroom varies dramatically across the country in our analysis of large metro areas. The most expensive place in America to upgrade to a two bedroom from a one bedroom places is the Denver metro areas where it costs over $100K. Upgrading to a third bedroom or a fourth bedroom is most expensive in the San Jose metro area where those additional bedrooms cost $270K and $300K respectively.
In our recent home selling experience, I've noticed a trend in people expecting deep discounts because of the way you've decorated a home, or the furniture you've arranged, or the fact that you own a pet. Keep in mind, all of these things are temporary attributes inside the home and would be leaving with the owner once they move out. Even as it pertains to the pets, it's not as if the home has taken on damage from the pets; it's their mere existence that provokes this request. Obviously, we'd be open to offering minor credits at closing for any cleaning/repairs that may be required as result of our own doing.
I've had a number of people tell me I should drop the price significantly because of these factors. Is this normal behavior? As someone with more of an engineer mindset, this seems completely impractical and unreasonable to me. These are not things being sold with the home; the home itself is what is being sold and should be valued based on its own condition. Am I crazy for thinking this way?
I love this bs reasons people come up with to drop the price when they go buy a house.I don’t like the hoise because you have pets, I don’t like the furniture or the color bla bla bla. But I’m willing to live with it as long as you drop the price by 20%. Wtf are you kidding me. GTFO.
No you’re not crazy. I sold a house once where the kitchen was original. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it it was just older. As soon as I signed the contract the buyer started with demands for all sorts of things.
My agent was weak sauce . She wanted me to just keep dropping the price to satisfy the buyer.
I told the buyer the house is sold as is where is. Don’t like, it might as well leave now.
I ended up keeping the property and it’s rented out. It’s currenty cashflowing more than the GDP of some African nations.
Stop listening to those regarded agents and buyers. They all just want to shaft you out of your money. I can tell you whoever buys the hoise isn’t gonna give a crap if it had dogs or a gangbanger on acid ragged the walls. You drop the price 30k they’re going to “accept” taking the hoise as is. As hard as it is for them to do so. Fing a-holes.
When I bought my hoise I told the agent
hey I found this fireplace had this issue, the roof had this issue. I already called a contractor it’s gonna cost $3500 to fix it. I offered full price. Credit me back $3500 at closing and we can move forward.
I didn’t like the kitchen, or the carpet but I already fully remodeled the kitchen and carpet is gone.
In our recent home selling experience, I've noticed a trend in people expecting deep discounts because of the way you've decorated a home, or the furniture you've arranged, or the fact that you own a pet. Keep in mind, all of these things are temporary attributes inside the home and would be leaving with the owner once they move out. Even as it pertains to the pets, it's not as if the home has taken on damage from the pets; it's their mere existence that provokes this request. Obviously, we'd be open to offering minor credits at closing for any cleaning/repairs that may be required as result of our own doing.
I've had a number of people tell me I should drop the price significantly because of these factors. Is this normal behavior? As someone with more of an engineer mindset, this seems completely impractical and unreasonable to me. These are not things being sold with the home; the home itself is what is being sold and should be valued based on its own condition. Am I crazy for thinking this way?
Market is hot, feels like 2005 again so people are trying everything they can to reduce the sale price.
Sellers are miffed about the 5-6% commissions and realtors that just want the deal to get done at any price.
Buyers are expecting the world and want crazy reductions.
A friend is selling an admittedly 80's house. They bought in 2005 (paid too much), used it as a winter/vacation home with not putting any money in it. It's listed for over 500K, first contract looked like a go until the buyer wanted $30,000 off for a new kitchen. House was being sold "AS IS" and the kitchen is fully functional but it has old style cabinets/countertops. Price was agreed upon in the contract and the seller came up with the new kitchen idea in the inspection period. Seller laughed and buyer moved on.
I don't know what factors into the $100k figure in the snippet above. It seems steep, so I'm guessing they are referring to adding an addition on the to the home. My friend's basement was completely unfinished and they framed the entire thing for less than $40k.
As I mentioned before, our place has room for an additional room in the basement, exactly where other comp units have added an additional bedroom. Since we have a partially finished basement, it's a matter of framing a few walls. For what it's worth, I'm going to get a quote on that from a contractor my friend recently worked with.
As far as the price per sq. ft. factor, we went through the list today of homes sold within the past year in our community, and we're probably in the 70th percentile. So we're not a steal by any means, but we're definitely not the highest either.
Edited to add: I misread the article above. Apparently it's stating that I can add over $80k value by adding some walls to complete our basement bedroom. I really don't buy that for all cases, because I think square footage factors in. Some of the units in my community have a finished room in the basement and are smaller than our unit. I think these inflated values with adding rooms ties into the actual size of the home. Generally speaking, a 4-bedroom house is bigger than a 3-bedroom house, and so forth. Since we have a partially unfinished basement, we actually have room for an entire bedroom. If we really wanted to go all out, we could make our place a 5-bedroom palace! I don't think that means my home is going to sell for over $100,000 more than our community comps as that article suggests.
So I think that square footage is a factor in pricing our units appropriately. Adding a bedroom to a unit that is the same exact size as another is not the same thing, in my opinion, than moving from a small 2-bedroom house to a larger 3-bedroom house. Especially because another standard bedroom of 100 square feet adds exactly that: another 100 square feet.
Last edited by iSudo; 09-25-2019 at 06:44 PM..
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