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I am posting here because I am trying to gather as much advice as possible. My wife and I put up our house for sale almost a year ago. We priced it high as we were still living there and were willing to rent if the right buyer came along. We recently built a new house and have moved out. We thought the house was in line with pricing but we received no offers for over 300 days on market. Our realtor recently held an open house and only two couples attended with one expressing an interest in the property. They toured it again with their realtor and made an offer. They are pre-approved, putting 20% down and sent over a deposit of 5k with the offer sheet. Their realtor pointed out that his clients felt the house needed updates to the kitchen, baths, deck, walkway and installation of central A/C and subsequently dropped their offer to 345k when asking was 394k. They also sent over some comps with a house at 355k being considered the most comparable. We were happy to get an offer and submitted a counter of 380k. Well the Buyers rejected it, stated the concerns regarding updates and that the house was a fair offer in line with the applicable comps -their agent said they were still very much open to purchasing at the 345k initially offered. I am really unsure as to what to do next, part of me thinks they should pound sand while the other part realizes we haven't had an offer in over 300 days!
Get your agent to give you a good current set of comps. Your list price may or may not have anything to do with reality. If the $355K house is really comparable then counter at that price. Your counter is so far off the comp (if it's a good one) that the buyers aren't willing to continue negotiation because they don't think you are willing to sell at market value.
Without knowing anything about your market, other than there is one comp for $355k, the most obvious piece of information is 300 days without an offer. In my market that means at least 20% overpriced.
Obviously, your price is high. Unless there is no movement in the market, you should have seen some activity in the 300 days! After that long, you now know what it's NOT worth.
What does your Realtor think? If he thinks you are overpriced, listen to him. If he thinks your price is right, then get an appraisal.
Our realtor showed us comps in price range we are at, however they are more updated. My wife wants to hold out but part of me is now wondering of that's the best offer we will see. Especially as we are no longer living in the house and I keep hearing that 300 DOM means everyone in the buyers pool has likely looked at and dismissed the property. We live in a smaller market that's about two hours from any major cities in the Northeast, very small buyers pool and high unemployment, mostly blue collar. Buyer was white collar professional who'd recently moved to area.
Based solely on what you've said, you would be nuts to let this buyer get away. And, the comp at $355K...was it in need of updates or was it already updated? If it was already updated, they are giving you a fair offer. I have a feeling your agent is reluctant to tell you things he/she knows you won't like. Give your agent your 'permission' to speak frankly with you.
300 DAYS ON THE MARKET?! And you "wonder" if there's something wrong with the pricing? Umm . . . yeah. Is your broker a good friend or something, to allow this listing to drift so unsatisfactorily for so long?
The market has spoken, very loudly: Your price of $394K is unacceptable in the condition that your home is currently perceived. What does your agent say about the price? Have they done a recent comparable report? (We do one every 30 days, if we have one that lasts that long.)
Tell them to go pound sand, if it will make you feel better. I suspect, though, that in this case, it would be a matter of winning the battle, but losing the war. Meanwhile . . . what are your carrying costs on this house if you have it for another 300 days?
You made a classic error made by sellers every day: You knowingly priced it too high for the market, thinking that if some poor sucker came along, you would graciously move. Guess what? Not too many suckers out there these days, and they aren't going to waste their time with delusional sellers.
Our realtor showed us comps in price range we are at, however they are more updated. My wife wants to hold out but part of me is now wondering of that's the best offer we will see. Especially as we are no longer living in the house and I keep hearing that 300 DOM means everyone in the buyers pool has likely looked at and dismissed the property. We live in a smaller market that's about two hours from any major cities in the Northeast, very small buyers pool and high unemployment, mostly blue collar. Buyer was white collar professional who'd recently moved to area.
Your wife needs a strong dose of reality pills. If the other houses are updated, and yours is not -- guess what? Yours is NOT "comparable" if comes off as being less desirable. Less desirable = more work for buyer = less money. It's a pretty basic equation.
After 300-days on the market, a 15-percent discount from the asking price may well accurately reflect the market price for this home. Are prices in the area generally trending up ... and at what rate?
You can search for actual sales on your County Tax Appraiser's web site or ask your Realtor for a more comprehensive list of comps. You can also do your own assessment of the reasonableness and cost of upgrades... or perhaps counter with an appraisal contingency.
However, the reality is that the potential buyer thinks the house is way over-priced -- and doesn't think your $380K counter is low enough. Since they are qualified and seem to have the money, you probably don't want to lose them and possibly wait another 300 days for another buyer. By the same token, they could be low-balling you, in which case the general expectation is that the seller will 'split the difference.' That would mean that $365 could be seen as a counter worth consideration. Of course, they might simply come back and 'split the difference again' putting their adjusted offer at about $355. -
- You will never know until you try ... and will likely lose them entirely if they don't think you are being 'reasonable'. Even if they counter your counter, you can still move ahead with your efforts to get reliable comps and keep the negotiations moving ahead with another counter.
Well, our agent thought we could get them to at least counter back at 362k to 365k. I thought the sellers would have at least increased a little for negotiation purposes. I was not prepared for no counter back.
There agent stated that they like the house but won't go higher. Though initially he stated they were open to negotiations. That's why we countered at the number. He also said they were back out looking and if we changed our minds to let him know. He impressed upon our agent that they were well qualified and didn't ask for any help with closing costs.
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