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Sold my daughter's condo this past July...for $340K,
60K more than I paid for it 5 years ago. No big deal profit-wise, but was not the pain in the a** I expected and a quick clean deal. It is in NJ about 20 minutes by bus from NYC, so "local local local" may explain my good fortune. I found someone who worked in NYC but couldn't or didn't want to pay NYC prices. So, don't give up- it only takes one customer. If you can, put 20% on the asking price that you can drop (in your wildest dreams don't think you're going to get it). Most buyers like to think they are making a killing or killing you. So play the game. And if you're replacing the sell with a new buy, reverse the process. The new buy should be much more reasonable than in the bubble past. My new buy in Baltimore was asking $350K and I got it for $317K minus $7K credit towards my closing costs. The builder wanted to be able to show stats to give the impression that he sold the unit for $317 and not $310. It's a shell game...good luck!
60K more than I paid for it 5 years ago. No big deal profit-wise, but was not the pain in the a** I expected and a quick clean deal. It is in NJ about 20 minutes by bus from NYC, so "local local local" may explain my good fortune. I found someone who worked in NYC but couldn't or didn't want to pay NYC prices. So, don't give up- it only takes one customer. If you can, put 20% on the asking price that you can drop (in your wildest dreams don't think you're going to get it). Most buyers like to think they are making a killing or killing you. So play the game. And if you're replacing the sell with a new buy, reverse the process. The new buy should be much more reasonable than in the bubble past. My new buy in Baltimore was asking $350K and I got it for $317K minus $7K credit towards my closing costs. The builder wanted to be able to show stats to give the impression that he sold the unit for $317 and not $310. It's a shell game...good luck!
See it is this type of seller that is making me nuts. No offense, I get your reasoning but it makes it tough for some buyers.
I went to see a house. Listed for roughly $300k. Two comps show similar houses sell for $280k and $255k. This $300k house has a unusable kitchen but otherwise comparble to the other listings. So did they price it 10-20% above a FAIR number assuming they would get lowballed? (Surely possible) or do they believe it is worth $300k? (Also 100% possible)
So sure I can lowball (even though technically it is offering a FAIR number based on comps but a large % lower than asking) and hope the seller was expecting this or hold off from making an offer until the price gets to a REASONABLE number. So far I have held off. Cause say $260 was my TOP offer. That means I have to come in at $240 or $250k probably to give me some wiggle room up. That is over a 20% below asking price offer. Which most people would find an insult. Just puts a buyer in a tough spot.
Where I wish the seller would list it at a FAIR number right away and stick to it versus playing this lowball type game. Cause fair priced listings in my area sell within a few days. Mainly cause there are so few people asking fair prices right now.
You've got a chicken/egg conundrum there, NatasNJ. The buyers, listening to the media ("the sky is falling! The sky is falling!" Isn't that exciting to read?!?!), are just SURE that they DESERVE a "steal of a deal" (emphasis on "steal"), and are lowballing. The sellers, most (granted, not all) of whom simply want fair market value for their house, see this and price accordingly to take such lowballing into account. And we're off to the races.
If everyone dealt with accurate sold comps, instead of what they "think" they "deserve" (on either side), it would be easier to return things to something reasonable for all sides. But as long as everyone on both sides is dealing with emotion, and their emotions are like a runaway horse, that can't be accomplished as easily.
At this point, the best way to fix this is for buyers to stop lowballing and sellers to price reasonably. Who's going to, as Dr. Phil says, step up and be the "hero" in this situation?
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Sold my daughter's condo this past July...for $340K,
