Seller's Market in Houston metro area (League City, Allen: countertops, appliances, home)

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by S.Allen

Dude, you have had what....3-5 days of selling?


Have some patience. It WILL sell and you WILL probably get your asking price (again...if it was sanely priced).


"my house has been on the market for 3-5 days and nobody has bought it - this market is crap"


Do you hear how crazy that sounds?

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.

[Caro42]

Originally Posted by Chanteuse d' Opéra

Will it always be a seller's market? I'm hearing that it will be harder and harder for millenials (I'm an elder millenial) to purchase a home. We aren't in the market to buy but know of some friends of ours who *do* and everything that they offer gets turned down or no response only to find out that someone went 20k over asking price or offered a cash payout.

Thoughts? Realtor input is always accepted as well.

I just sold my house in Katy (June 2021) for $20,000 over asking price. And there was a bidding war at that price. It IS a sellers' market here because there are more buyers than sellers in the Houston area, but real estate trends are seasonal and fluctuate wildly. It will most likely not be this way next year. But the cost of construction has gone up tremendously and you cannot buy what you could a few years ago for the same money. So prices are going way up. Same house you could buy three years ago is now $50,000 - $100,00 more.

[Caro42]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

The amount of listings in our neighborhood, Montrose, have increased greatly in the last few weeks and some of the pricier homes are just sitting on the market. A house down our street was listed in Feb for 749k and now it is down to 699 after several price drops and changing agents. I'm not seeing the big appreciations, and I'm seeing lots of price drops on homes that are sitting on the market around here. Realtors were maybe overly optimistic in their pricing. Maybe they are getting better increases out in the suburbs, but not in central Houston. I think people who waited out the pandemic are now ready to sell, at least in the loop.

The houses in Montrose are old and need massive updating and refurbishing. Buyers are opting for new or almost new construction in Katy or other suburbs that are city planned, landscaped, and do not suffer from the urban blight that plagues Houston, a city whose no-zoning strategy that dates back decades has turned it into a slum of telephone poles, cracked, broken-up streets, potholes, junky strip centers next door to one's house, and a general resemblance to Bombay or Istanbul. It's awful.

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by Caro42

I just sold my house in Katy (June 2021) for $20,000 over asking price. And there was a bidding war at that price. It IS a sellers' market here because there are more buyers than sellers in the Houston area, but real estate trends are seasonal and fluctuate wildly. It will most likely not be this way next year. But the cost of construction has gone up tremendously and you cannot buy what you could a few years ago for the same money. So prices are going way up. Same house you could buy three years ago is now $50,000 - $100,00 more.

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.

[S.Allen]

Are you using the "updates" to drive up a higher price than comparables around you?

Some people add in thousands, because they just re-did floors or painted and that puts their asking price higher than other similar sized houses in their neighborhood that recently sold. Ditto for a recently added pool.



I know...it is nice to have upgrades, but like putting fancy wheels on a car...it does not always mean you get it back when you sell it.

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by S.Allen

Are you using the "updates" to drive up a higher price than comparables around you?

Some people add in thousands, because they just re-did floors or painted and that puts their asking price higher than other similar sized houses in their neighborhood that recently sold. Ditto for a recently added pool.



I know...it is nice to have upgrades, but like putting fancy wheels on a car...it does not always mean you get it back when you sell it.

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.

[S.Allen]

Well then there is SOME glaring issue that is keeping it from selling.


Not sure what it is, but if people are buying lesser condition homes for more money...there IS an issue somewhere.


Are you zoned to a less desirable school in your district, than other houses that are being used to comprare? Is there a Super Wal Mart behind your house or some other near by item that many would consider undesirable? Do you back onto a really busy/noisy street? Ratty apartments across the street or around the corner? A landfill?

A great house can be great...but located near something that many people would not want to live near and that can be a factor.



..there is something there most likely.

[tewest86]

Originally Posted by S.Allen

Well then there is SOME glaring issue that is keeping it from selling.


Not sure what it is, but if people are buying lesser condition homes for more money...there IS an issue somewhere.


Are you zoned to a less desirable school in your district, than other houses that are being used to comprare? Is there a Super Wal Mart behind your house or some other near by item that many would consider undesirable? Do you back onto a really busy/noisy street? Ratty apartments across the street or around the corner? A landfill?

A great house can be great...but located near something that many people would not want to live near and that can be a factor.



..there is something there most likely.

We are all in the same school district. Actually, we are all zoned to the same exact schools. We are all in the same area. We are actually all part of the same master planned community. All comparable houses are less than a 1 min drive away. We are not near any commercial properties. All neighborhoods are the same and part of the same HOA.

The only negative feedback we get is lack of additional space upstairs such as a game room. I even have a few other local realtors confused. Showing them my listing and them coming to visit, they estimated that it would be gone in a matter of days. Oh well. What's even funnier, because of the upper class neighborhood beside ours, a few ibuyers offered us more than what I'm listed for now based on recent sales in our area. That was back in May. Even after the inspection, I would have left with more cash in my pocket. I should have took their offer. I can't now because I'm on the MLS.

[S.Allen]

Originally Posted by tewest86

We are all in the same school district. Actually, we are all zoned to the same exact schools. We are all in the same area. We are actually all part of the same master planned community. All comparable houses are less than a 1 min drive away. We are not near any commercial properties. All neighborhoods are the same and part of the same HOA.

The only negative feedback we get is lack of additional space upstairs such as a game room. I even have a few other local realtors confused. Showing them my listing and them coming to visit, they estimated that it would be gone in a matter of days. Oh well. What's even funnier, because of the upper class neighborhood beside ours, a few ibuyers offered us more than what I'm listed for now based on recent sales in our area. That was back in May. Even after the inspection, I would have left with more cash in my pocket. I should have took their offer. I can't now because I'm on the MLS.

Dang...yeah...you might have missed your window there.

When I retire to our country property and escape Houston, I am not doing a damn thing to my house to sell it, except maybe have the floors and carpets cleaned. We have owned our home for 19 years and even if we took 10 grand off the asking price, to accommodate for the old paint and floors, we would still make double what we paid for it. Why bother with a few details that you might not get your investment back out of?


Things ARE slowing a little in our neighborhood but houses still sell well within 30 days of listing. Have faith...it will sell.

[RVD26]

Originally Posted by tewest86

We are all in the same school district. Actually, we are all zoned to the same exact schools. We are all in the same area. We are actually all part of the same master planned community. All comparable houses are less than a 1 min drive away. We are not near any commercial properties. All neighborhoods are the same and part of the same HOA.

The only negative feedback we get is lack of additional space upstairs such as a game room. I even have a few other local realtors confused. Showing them my listing and them coming to visit, they estimated that it would be gone in a matter of days. Oh well. What's even funnier, because of the upper class neighborhood beside ours, a few ibuyers offered us more than what I'm listed for now based on recent sales in our area. That was back in May. Even after the inspection, I would have left with more cash in my pocket. I should have took their offer. I can't now because I'm on the MLS.

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.