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In this market it is not always the price that is keeping a house from selling.
It is also the multitude of choices out there. As an example, in the Phoenix area, as of last week, we have 43,000 single family homes on the market valley wide. That gives the buyer a wide range of choices.
So with those choices they are being extremely picky. If there is one thing that they object to in a home, they will leave that one and go to the next.
Four years ago, when we bought our present home, my wife wanted a formal dining room. We found a home on the lake that we loved. It had everything except the formal dining room. We opted to do without the formal dining room in order to have the other items.
In todays market we would probably continue looking because we would believe we could find "exactly" what we want.
So before one lowers the price it may be wise to consider all of the comments that visitors have made regarding the home, and see if there are some common objections that people are voicing.
Why lower the price if price is not the objection? The realtor may, or may not, be able to determine if the objection is the price or if it is something else. The agent should be asking each agent that shows the home for feedback. And that has to be done within one day because an agent usually shows many homes during the day, and may have a difficult time after a couple of days remembering your home.
In this market, even if the price is a bargain, many people will still look for the exact home they want and then try to negotiate a bargain.
Bill,
In our case, we received 2 negative comments and they were both about our neighbors house. It is ugly and unfortunately we can't do anything about it, so we were hoping a reduction in price would help off set that. We do not plan on drastically reducing, because we can't afford to, but a few thousand for now. That is, if we can ever get our agent to call us back before our contract expires in Feb.
Thanks again for you advise, it is appreciated!
Terri
Bill,
In our case, we received 2 negative comments and they were both about our neighbors house. It is ugly and unfortunately we can't do anything about it, so we were hoping a reduction in price would help off set that. We do not plan on drastically reducing, because we can't afford to, but a few thousand for now. That is, if we can ever get our agent to call us back before our contract expires in Feb.
Thanks again for you advise, it is appreciated!
Terri
Whether its an ugly neighbor's house or a dated kitchen, its still a knock on your house. It always comes down to what someone is willing to pay for your house.
If you are not getting any traffic or serious offers at the price you are listed at, then the market is obv telling you to lower your price.
Whether its an ugly neighbor's house or a dated kitchen, its still a knock on your house. It always comes down to what someone is willing to pay for your house.
If you are not getting any traffic or serious offers at the price you are listed at, then the market is obv telling you to lower your price.
Hopefully we can get in touch with her soon, as I agree!
Three weeks - sort of - and we have an offer. Based on the buyer getting financing, we expect to close on Dec. 28th, as we've already done all the dueling home inspections and a few minor repairs, and signed all the necessary papers.
I say that we were "sort of" on the market for three weeks because the first week of that we weren't even in the MLS because we were in the process of packing and moving and we weren't ready for showing and pics.
We priced our house at a point where we expected it to move relatively quickly, and it did. Our agent had sets of spreadsheets and statistics from the last 6 months, with age of house, square footage of house, square footage of lot, inititial list price, actual sales price, time on market and the prices of houses withdrawn from the market. With those tools and his general advice, we set a listing price based on what we though the house would actually sell for, after negotiation (since no one is getting asking price currently).
For instance, the house around the corner from us has been on the market for 5 months. Both houses are the same age and general construction techniques. They are about 200 sf larger than we are (2150 to our 1935), but our lot is bigger (9,500 sf to their 7,500 sf). They have 4 bedrooms to our smaller 3, plus they have a much nicer kitchen, but we have a 3 car garage, a hot tub and A/C as well as central heat. Their price is $275,000 (slightly less than median for this area), our listing price was $246,000 and we accepted $239,000.
Could we have gotten more? Maybe, but we now live in our new house, about 275 miles to the south and west, so we aren't in the position to keep and eye on the house and regularly freshen it up, either. Also, we own the house free and clear so there wasn't a price we "had" to get, we just wanted to get as much as we could yet sell it fairly quickly, which we (hopefully) have done. I was surprised to sell it this quickly, but, as the agent pointed out, anyone looking at this point in time is very motivated to buy.
Three weeks - sort of - and we have an offer. Based on the buyer getting financing, we expect to close on Dec. 28th, as we've already done all the dueling home inspections and a few minor repairs, and signed all the necessary papers.
I say that we were "sort of" on the market for three weeks because the first week of that we weren't even in the MLS because we were in the process of packing and moving and we weren't ready for showing and pics.
We priced our house at a point where we expected it to move relatively quickly, and it did. Our agent had sets of spreadsheets and statistics from the last 6 months, with age of house, square footage of house, square footage of lot, inititial list price, actual sales price, time on market and the prices of houses withdrawn from the market. With those tools and his general advice, we set a listing price based on what we though the house would actually sell for, after negotiation (since no one is getting asking price currently).
For instance, the house around the corner from us has been on the market for 5 months. Both houses are the same age and general construction techniques. They are about 200 sf larger than we are (2150 to our 1935), but our lot is bigger (9,500 sf to their 7,500 sf). They have 4 bedrooms to our smaller 3, plus they have a much nicer kitchen, but we have a 3 car garage, a hot tub and A/C as well as central heat. Their price is $275,000 (slightly less than median for this area), our listing price was $246,000 and we accepted $239,000.
Could we have gotten more? Maybe, but we now live in our new house, about 275 miles to the south and west, so we aren't in the position to keep and eye on the house and regularly freshen it up, either. Also, we own the house free and clear so there wasn't a price we "had" to get, we just wanted to get as much as we could yet sell it fairly quickly, which we (hopefully) have done. I was surprised to sell it this quickly, but, as the agent pointed out, anyone looking at this point in time is very motivated to buy.
Well done PNW! You wanted to actually sell your home and not just list it like so many others clogging up the MLS. By selling quickly you accomplished your goal of moving to your new home without worrying about additional mortgage, tax, insurance payments, not to mention depreciation in a declining market.
Three weeks - sort of - and we have an offer. Based on the buyer getting financing, we expect to close on Dec. 28th, as we've already done all the dueling home inspections and a few minor repairs, and signed all the necessary papers.
I say that we were "sort of" on the market for three weeks because the first week of that we weren't even in the MLS because we were in the process of packing and moving and we weren't ready for showing and pics.
We priced our house at a point where we expected it to move relatively quickly, and it did. Our agent had sets of spreadsheets and statistics from the last 6 months, with age of house, square footage of house, square footage of lot, inititial list price, actual sales price, time on market and the prices of houses withdrawn from the market. With those tools and his general advice, we set a listing price based on what we though the house would actually sell for, after negotiation (since no one is getting asking price currently).
For instance, the house around the corner from us has been on the market for 5 months. Both houses are the same age and general construction techniques. They are about 200 sf larger than we are (2150 to our 1935), but our lot is bigger (9,500 sf to their 7,500 sf). They have 4 bedrooms to our smaller 3, plus they have a much nicer kitchen, but we have a 3 car garage, a hot tub and A/C as well as central heat. Their price is $275,000 (slightly less than median for this area), our listing price was $246,000 and we accepted $239,000.
Could we have gotten more? Maybe, but we now live in our new house, about 275 miles to the south and west, so we aren't in the position to keep and eye on the house and regularly freshen it up, either. Also, we own the house free and clear so there wasn't a price we "had" to get, we just wanted to get as much as we could yet sell it fairly quickly, which we (hopefully) have done. I was surprised to sell it this quickly, but, as the agent pointed out, anyone looking at this point in time is very motivated to buy.
Didn't try to start high, didn't try to get cute w/the comps and hope for a sucker. Wasn't banking on the market stabilizing anytime soon....
Wow, someone actually priced ahead of the curve and aggressively. And guess what? It sold quickly...piece of mind, outahere....who'da thunk it?
The usual comeback from sellers/realtors when they hear this is that I don't want to "give it away"...you're not giving it away. Your pricing it realistically.
Didn't try to start high, didn't try to get cute w/the comps and hope for a sucker. Wasn't banking on the market stabilizing anytime soon....
Wow, someone actually priced ahead of the curve and aggressively. And guess what? It sold quickly...piece of mind, outahere....who'da thunk it?
The usual comeback from sellers/realtors when they hear this is that I don't want to "give it away"...you're not giving it away. Your pricing it realistically.
Very nice job.
I am going to slap my hubby silly and also my first realtor. I should have stuck to what I wanted to sell this house for. Believe me hubby is going to read the post above. Three wasted months. Meantime person who came when we were gone last week and wanted the cc&r's are still thinking of a what they can do with their motor home.I got a call last night from the agency that does the cc&r's and told her we lost a sale once a few weeks ago because they had a boat and now this motor home. I told her also that it is allowed to park cars on the front yard but no boat or motar home in your back yard. We all have rm in the back for either.She will not budge.Our realtor and the other brokers did tell me that they are still working something out since all the neighborhoods around here do not allow motor homes either but you can store them in areas around town.
lorriem i hope they can work something out with their motor home. You sound frustrated and I don't blame you. my house isn't even on the market yet (the 26th) and there have already been a few times I've wanted to slap my hubby.
i have to say this is exactly why i would never buy in a neighborhood. all these rules and regulations. ugh! someone one here mentioned price being the top 3 reasons. i disagree somewhat on this. even if a house was the lowest in the entire town if it doesn't meet my requirements i won't buy it, period. price is not the only factor when it comes to buying a home.
lorriem i hope they can work something out with their motor home. You sound frustrated and I don't blame you. my house isn't even on the market yet (the 26th) and there have already been a few times I've wanted to slap my hubby.
i have to say this is exactly why i would never buy in a neighborhood. all these rules and regulations. ugh! someone one here mentioned price being the top 3 reasons. i disagree somewhat on this. even if a house was the lowest in the entire town if it doesn't meet my requirements i won't buy it, period. price is not the only factor when it comes to buying a home.
I have to agree but price is a factor also.When we were looking for a home in NC I wanted a fireplace,Fence and a screened in porch.I loved a home with all three but we didn't want to spend that much for a house.We found another but the restrictions said only two dogs we have three.The home we bought we had seen right in the begginning and I always liked but it didn't have a fireplace,screened in porch or a fence.It did have a great layout and the back deck had a big over hang so a sreened in porch is an easy fix and Lowes has a great sale on a fence that we have bought.We still ended up saving money even with the extras because the builder was very motivated.
I like Hoa only because you know that people will have to keep their homes up and no old shacks or trailers will be next to you. So there is good and bad.
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