Sellers telling lowballers to ..... (5%, agents, sale, banks)

[ready2sue]

Right, I am a troll because all of you know-it-alls say so. OK. Wow. I was just hoping for some helpful advice. Thanks for the insults. It's not like I don't get enough of those already. And by the way, in a real estate transaction, it is VERY easy to know that someone is gay when they are seeing the property WITH THEIR GAY PARTNER and signing the offers WITH THEIR GAY PARTNER. And yes, some people are not obviously gay, but others are. And I am obviously gay to the sellers, especially since I took my partner to see the house several times and we discussed where we would put "OUR BED" while the seller was nearby.

But right, I am a troll.

PS: Yesterday I found out from a neighbor that the sellers are very religious and "anti-gay." But I am sure I have no case.

[PotterGeek]

PS: Yesterday I found out from a neighbor that the sellers are very religious and "anti-gay." But I am sure I have no case.

I'm sure this neighbor will 'go to bat' for you in the courtroom and testify to that?

Listen...they came off their price 20K for you. That in itself shows attempted negotiation. Instead, YOU balked at their offer. I think you're going to find this very, very difficult to prove in court. At your cost mind you.

[cleasach]

Not too long ago, when people were buying a home for $200k and selling it for $400k there were high fives all around at the jackpot they hit. I guess you could say that they were taking advantage of the "up market."

Now buyers are taking advantage of the "down market" and sellers are suffering from "fatigue" according to that story. I wonder where all the "buyer fatigue" stories were a few years ago when people who wanted to own a home had to take on an extra job and cut to the bone to afford the outrageous prices.

[PotterGeek]

Originally Posted by cleasach

Not too long ago, when people were buying a home for $200k and selling it for $400k there were high fives all around at the jackpot they hit. I guess you could say that they were taking advantage of the "up market."

Now buyers are taking advantage of the "down market" and sellers are suffering from "fatigue" according to that story. I wonder where all the "buyer fatigue" stories were a few years ago when people who wanted to own a home had to take on an extra job and cut to the bone to afford the outrageous prices.

Another sad buyer with an axe to grind?

[cleasach]

Originally Posted by PotterGeek

Another sad buyer with an axe to grind?

Nope. I'm resigned to the fact that I'm priced out of the market where I live and am probably better off to wait until I'm ready to retire to buy out of state so I'm neither a buyer or a seller. I keep my eye on things around here but that's about it.

I just think it's interesting that when sellers were making a killing on their homes all was right with the world and now that the pendulum is swinging back the other way people are acting as though somebody owes them something.

[PotterGeek]

Originally Posted by cleasach

Nope. I'm resigned to the fact that I'm priced out of the market where I live and am probably better off to wait until I'm ready to retire to buy out of state so I'm neither a buyer or a seller. I keep my eye on things around here but that's about it.

I just think it's interesting that when sellers were making a killing on their homes all was right with the world and now that the pendulum is swinging back the other way people are acting as though somebody owes them something.

Well, let me explain to you that this is a big country and in my little neck of the woods, I don't know ANY seller that made 100% profit on their home, ever. Unless they owned the house for 20-30 some odd years, and even then it would be extremely rare. In fact, I don't recall prices appreciating to that ridiculous level for my entire state. Instead we maintained a nice modest 2-4% yearly appreciation. That's hardly cause for high fives for sellers even in the heyday. YET, in today's market, sellers are still lowballing and prices have started to come down. Not a lot is moving.

Sellers here never made a 'killing.' But they sure are taking it up the you know what right now. And to me, ain't alot right about that...

[cleasach]

Originally Posted by PotterGeek

Well, let me explain to you that this is a big country and in my little neck of the woods, I don't know ANY seller that made 100% profit on their home, ever. Unless they owned the house for 20-30 some odd years, and even then it would be extremely rare. In fact, I don't recall prices appreciating to that ridiculous level for my entire state. Instead we maintained a nice modest 2-4% yearly appreciation. That's hardly cause for high fives for sellers even in the heyday. YET, in today's market, sellers are still lowballing and prices have started to come down. Not a lot is moving.

Sellers here never made a 'killing.' But they sure are taking it up the you know what right now. And to me, ain't alot right about that...

In my area (working class area of NY) they were building a lot of condos in working class neighborhoods and this construction gave hope to those of us with reasonable salaries that we'd finally be able to buy. Instead, investors/flippers were swooping in and buying them up pre-construction and then doubling the prices which put them out of the reach of the people in the area. Then more condo developers bought single family homes and knocked them down to build even more condos because it was so lucrative.

These are the people I referred to when I said they were making a killing. I've read stories in various places where these people are whining and stomping about because they are stuck with these units and deserve some kind of break. There are also a lot of people who bought these units from the flippers at a cost way above their means and they too are crying for a handout. Another fallout is that there are many condo buildings that were nearly finished and now sit abandoned for many months presumably because the builders thought they'd get a half a mil for each unit but they won't now so they are just walking away and leaving these blights on the neighborhood.

Thank you for posting the situation in your area. I have indeed learned something. It's easy to become jaded when thinking about the scene in one particular area and I admit that I extrapolated those thoughts to everywhere. I see now that things are very different elsewhere.

[mrpeatie]

I live in an area of SC (Charleston) that has saw huge increases in values for pretty much the entire decade of the nineties and through about 3/4 of 2005. Then we hit the wall.

I sold a condo I bought in 2000 for 175% of what I paid in 2007 after a year and a half on and off the market. Granted I put at least 10% into improvements-or fixing others deferred maintenance in some instances- but that was still at least 50% increase over what a perfect unit would have sold for 7 years earlier in a blazing hot market. So there are still some areas that have simultaneously left recent buyers in huge holes and priced a lot of people out of the market.

One problem I saw was some people making assinine lowball offers. And then trying to remake them several times thinking I would be desparate to sell. I actually told one buyer the spigot was off and chased them off after they tried to misuse an inspection as a chance to refinagle the actual purchase price and ask for upgrades (ie- complaining not about hidden items but washer/dryer, flooring, etc that was plainly visible when they put the offer in.) The final buyer was an investor who looked at it as a decent investment & I gave him a better deal than the previous couple in exchange for a lightning quick closing. We both left happy. The day of closing I actually found a note on the door from a couple who had made three lowball offers- they really wanted the place, I must be desperate by now, would I rent-to-own????

Some peopel are taking the downturn as an excuse to be a**es to sellers. Some people put up with it, those of us who are not in dire straights do not.

[Axiom]

Originally Posted by HomeStager

Something seems ass backwards here. Why are the people with good credit, with money invested, and making payments not also allowed to sell short if the market has them upside down and they need to move?

Yep, starting down the road of privatized profits and socialized losses creates quite the moral hazard doesn't it? Where do you draw the line?

But why should anyone's risk and/or losses be shifted to the public?

In a true free market economy every lender who wrote too many high-risk loans and every investment bank which securitized those loans would go bankrupt and their assets would be auctioned off in an open market. And yes, every borrower who got in too far over their heads would also default and go bankrupt. Difficult as it sometimes may be, that's how a capitalist economy should work.

Originally Posted by theS5

I know that I would have loved to have gotten out of my equity investments at that % loss. I also know that if I bought those equities on margin, I would either have to pay or go bankrupt. Many homeowners are in the same position. It sucks, but it is reality.

Agreed.
When did appreciation become a given in the real estate market?




FWIW I had the "not going to give the place away" conversation with an aquaintance just the other day.

History on his house:

1995: $318,000 (new)
2003: 603,000 (his price)

Current asking price: $985,000
"Low Ball, no way I'm giving it away for that" offer: $900,000

Why does he feel an offer almost $300,000 more than he paid 6 yrs ago is such an insulting low ball?
Because the house next door to his sold for $1,040,000 in 2008.

There's some crazy entitlement thinking out there.

[middle-aged mom]

Originally Posted by TexasGirl@Heart

And when the market starts to improve next year, buyers will be regretting they didn't take advantage of the $8000.00 tax credit this year. Who will be crawling on their hands and knees then?

The market will start to stabilize when unsold inventories are substantially reduced and not a minute sooner.