Seller's Market in Houston metro area (Katy, River Oaks: condo, new house, landscaping)

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by RVD26

You may want to consider getting a different realtor.
We just closed on our home after getting only one offer after it sat with no offers for almost 3 weeks.
If I had to do it over again, I would have gotten a different realtor (this one is a client of my wife and came highly recommended) and almost did right before we got the offer.
The offer ended up being $5k less than what we had it listed for, but over the reduced price.
Being a realtor is more than just listing it online, you need to make sure it's being shown to the RIGHT people and not just a bunch of looky-loos.

Forgive my ivy but what more can a Realtor do beside listing and open house?

[S.Allen]

Yes, finding a new realtor might be a good move.


Every one is different and some are better at targeting people that might be interested in your style of home.

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by S.Allen

Yes, finding a new realtor might be a good move.


Every one is different and some are better at targeting people that might be interested in your style of home.

We had a showing yesterday and their realtor was on my doorbell camera saying how he has no idea how my house isn't sold yet and how it was one of the best houses he's showed in our area for the price. He's showed our home to a few people. I'm just puzzled at the moment.

[tewest86]

In the Clear Lake area, we have quite a few homes that've been sitting for 30+ days and alot more that've done price reductions. I've noticed that in League City, Friendswood, and East Pearland.

However, I see posts from other areas where someone gets 40+ offers in 2 days on a house that hasn't been touched since 1988.

[RVD26]

Originally Posted by tewest86

Forgive my ivy but what more can a Realtor do beside listing and open house?

Originally Posted by tewest86

In the Clear Lake area, we have quite a few homes that've been sitting for 30+ days and alot more that've done price reductions. I've noticed that in League City, Friendswood, and East Pearland.

However, I see posts from other areas where someone gets 40+ offers in 2 days on a house that hasn't been touched since 1988.

A good realtor will have lots of personal connections to help get your home shown to the right buyers.
That's how you get homes that sell before even being listed.

Some of the areas you are describing are not as high in demand as areas like Katy, Cypress, Sugarland, etc. so that could be another reason.

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by RVD26

A good realtor will have lots of personal connections to help get your home shown to the right buyers.
That's how you get homes that sell before even being listed.

Some of the areas you are describing are not as high in demand as areas like Katy, Cypress, Sugarland, etc. so that could be another reason.

Ok. Thanks for your input. We've looked at a number of houses but most don't have the updates ours have. They are bigger because I need a dedicated office now but they aren't as clean and kept up as ours. I look at things such as the condition of the base boards or inside the kitchen cabinets.

The ones that are getting multiple offers have pools and nice bag yards. All the others are sitting for 7-14 days. These are nice houses. One that I've had my eye on and will probably try to get once we get on offer has been listed for 43 days. I don't see any big turn offs about the house.

I guess you are right in saying that the big housing boom isn't as big down this way.

[tewest86]

This one has been sitting for almost 10 days.

https://www.har.com/mapsearch/?map_t...min=4#m6507978

This is another one that we are looking at. All homes are in CCISD.

https://www.har.com/mapsearch/?map_t...in=4#g21623280

[Caro42]

Originally Posted by tewest86

No house over here is getting $20,000 over asking unless it has a pool. You must have priced it too low. A house similar to mines in our area listed for $40,000 cheaper than ours and got multiple offers. They ended up selling for $315k which is still slightly more than where we are listed. I’m not playing the game of listing super low and hope for multiple offers to drive up price. I think it’s a silly game that some sellers are doing in my area. We’ve been listed for 2+ weeks and no offers. We are the most updated house in the area. Even my realtor is confused. People are choosing houses that need a lot of work for the same price that are maybe 100-150 sq/ft bigger. Some of these houses we have visited and they have rotting door jambs, water damage kitchen cabinets, wall paper throughout, original 80’s vinyl floors, single pane windows, etc. it’s almost just funny. Oh well. Nothing I can do.

On the contrary, I did not price the house low, I priced it at $65,000 ABOVE what I paid for it only three years ago, which is unheard of. Of course, I had put in thirty thousand in landscaping and repainting, and the house had many upgrades, such as stone floors, cathedral ceiling, water softener, all white kitchen, granite countertops, no rear neighbors, etc.. I sold it at $20,000 above my asking price, with a bidding war between buyers.

[Caro42]

Originally Posted by tewest86

No. We are still prices well base on comparable sells. It seems most young couples don't know nor care about the difference double pane windows make vs the original single pane windows found all throughout the Clear Lake area. It seems like most of the young couples want a gameroom/play room upstairs which we don't have. These are all housed built in the late '80s and early '90s. I'm not going to give my house away. More 4 bedrooms in this area are between 2,000-2,500 sq/ft. We are at 2,200 sq/ft. Even at the open house, everyone was marveling at the condition of my yard and house clean the interior of our house is. But talking about how great everything is including the price has produced no offers. It's crazy what I here on the cameras. They will ohh and awe and everything and say how much they love everything.

We walked through a house in our area Friday. The house was 100 sq/ft bigger and had a pool. However, the house needed work. The baseboards had water damage, exterior wood had rotten spots, yard was poorly maintained, flooring was different in darn near every room, signs of water damage on the ceiling, and alot of other stuff I saw. This is what people are offering list price for and by-passing our house that is $5-10k cheaper and in pristine condition.

Buyers live and learn. Buying an old house built thirty, forty or even fifty years ago is fraught with problems that young people are not aware of. Aging roof, aging appliances that will soon need replacing, leaks, rotting wood, water damage, aluminum wiring, dated finishes and surfaces, nasty old carpeting, ugly kitchens and bathrooms with broken or leaking fixtures, dated tile and countertops, and on and on. No one should ever pay list price for a house in the condition that you describe, with rotting baseboards, water damage, etc.

First, you get the house inspected, then get the faults discovered by the inspector priced, (Fox Inspections here in the Houston area does that, for about a hundred bucks) and deduct that from whatever you think a fair price might be, plus the costs of the cosmetic updates the property would need. And these days, it can cost you fifteen to twenty thousand to paint all walls, cabinetry and trim of a small house. New flooring can be thousands per room. More if you have to rip out the old flooring, especially tile. Landscaping is three to four times what it cost ten or fifteen years ago. Plumbers charge an arm and a leg. The last one I had to call charged me $900 for three hours' work. Home improvement costs a fortune, so don't be a naive buyer. You will get scammed. Sellers NEVER tell you everything. Educate yourself and make offers accordingly.

[Caro42]

Originally Posted by tewest86

I hear what you are saying. However, you hear how this is such a sellers market with people getting multiple offers just hrs after listing for properties that you couldn't usually give away.

Houses that get multiple offers over list price are the pretty ones, even if it's cottage sized. You'd better have your house in top condition, freshly updated, painted and landscaped, to command prices like that. People do fall in love with a pretty house. No one falls in love with an ugly house and the only buyers for those houses are the fixer-upper remodelers, and they're going to offer a low-ball price, because they know full well what it costs to update a house. A lot.