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Wow. Just wow. Was it really necessary to respond to her like that? She has been SO nice and so accepting of the feedback and so eager to do everything suggested, she really didn't deserve your "tough love."
JMO.
I just don't understand why people feel it necessary to be mean, condescending, and/or sarcastic when dealing with complete strangers. You would NEVER act this way to a person face to face. EVER. It's rude.
I just don't understand why people feel it necessary to be mean, condescending, and/or sarcastic when dealing with complete strangers. You would NEVER act this way to a person face to face. EVER. It's rude.
Are you talking about AaronS's post? If so, then we must have read totally different posts. The seller came on here asking why buyers won't view their house, he did some research, and the results are telling. There's nothing mean, condescending, and/or sarcastic about pricing data. Assuming that the house is listed at $225k and offers have been at least $200k, that's at least 88% of the asking price, which is a great offer in today's market given that most sales are 89% to 92% of asking price. Sure, some de-cluttering would help, but price is paramount in much of today's market. I'd also be curious to know how many times the median household income this property is too since that could also be a major problem.
As a buyer, the most expensive property in the area gets no attention from me. The property that is priced over estimates is one I flee from. If the seller wants buyers then that price has to come down or they must be more willing to negotiate. The seller doesn't want to "give the house away" for a hefty $165k, but the buyer also doesn't want to turn over their savings, years of hard work, and much of their cash flow to a property that's priced high. Price the property lower and buyers will be more willing to check it out. Price the property below others in the area and people will be running over each other to see it the very next day. If you don't have to sell, then don't play ball with buyers and don't be surprised when people figure that out and stay away.
I should also note that properties that have been on the market for 8+ months or have been re-listed also get no attention from me because I think the seller is hiding something or there's a major problem somewhere.
Wow. Just wow. Was it really necessary to respond to her like that? She has been SO nice and so accepting of the feedback and so eager to do everything suggested, she really didn't deserve your "tough love."
JMO.
I just don't understand why people feel it necessary to be mean, condescending, and/or sarcastic when dealing with complete strangers. You would NEVER act this way to a person face to face. EVER. It's rude.
Yeah. It would be much more prudent to comment on them only making minimum wage instead.
I saw nothing mean in their post. If you come on a forum and ask peoples opinions you will get feedback. Suggesting she is overpriced is HARDLY rude and sarcastic.
Beckycat's house has been on the market for 4 months. Similar homes to hers are selling for 30% less than her asking price. No amount of staging is going to sell her home for the price she is asking. Numbers don't lie.
And MsFancyPants, if someone came up to me and asked why their house isn't selling when it's overpriced the way Beckycat's is, then yes I would say it to their face. You can call it tough love, rude, or whatever you'd like, but sometimes the truth plain hurts to hear.
Yeah, the minimum wage comment came after SEVERAL personal attacks from him and was deserved. Becky has been nothing but nice and accepting of everyone's feedback. Again, two totally different scenarios that you've managed to somehow make a link with.
Two people read the same post and get two different perspectives, I guess. I read it very mean-spirited. Granted, he did take a lot of time to research it, which I didn't really understand to begin with. I guess it was his accusation that he wasn't getting the whole story, kind of read to me like he did it to prove her wrong, which he then subsequently did in what I read as a very condescending manner.
Big Dragon just said the same thing in a manner I, as a seller, would be much more apt to read and give credence to. It's not necessarily what you say sometimes as much as how you say it.
Did you guys just intentionally gloss over the fact that she's been in escrow already at over 200k? And that she had another offer over 200k?
Ok. The point is AaronS put her MLS# and her address on here for all to see. There is other ways to prove a point without links to personal information. Several times in this post, it was asked for her to put her MLS on this thread. She declined to do so which I do not blame her at all and actually support that decision 100%.
Its all about respecting beckycat and anyone else who asks the same type of question.
Aaron, apology accepted. Perhaps I overreacted! This is what I was reacting to:
"After reading through this thread, I was curious about whether you were telling the whole story surrounding your home." This implied to me that you were accusing her of either lying or intentionally omitting something bad.
"When you justify the list price of your home, it sounds more like you are listing excuses instead of reasons." That was just mean sounding (to me).
"For someone who spends so much time on these forums, I would think you would realize that price is what sells homes in this market." This sounds condescending (to me).
"While staging is nice (and honestly, any person serious about selling their home would have repainted/decluttered long ago)." A lot of people don't do this for a living or maybe have never done it before and maybe don't watch HGTV. You could've just said "While staging is nice, decluttering and painting need to be done also. And not questioned her motivation and/or seriousness.
These are all just my opinions and maybe Becky could care less. I just think that there are a lot of unkind people on this forum. And I'm not alone in that thinking by the DM's I've gotten. I'm not saying you personally, Aaron. Just saying it generally.
What I meant by that I felt she wasn't "telling the whole story surrounding your home" was that she openly admitted that she was at least $25,000 overpriced. That's what got me going. I apologize for posting her MLS ID, I wasn't aware that she did not want to disclose it. I simply took a look at her post history and saw that she had a lot of posts in the Orlando area. A few minutes later on Realtor.com, and her home's picture popped.
I'm sorry if I came off as condescending, I was plugging numbers into a bunch of sites and posted back what I found. I did not mean to come off as crass or impolite, I was trying to let the numbers speak for themselves.
As for these comments:
"When you justify the list price of your home, it sounds more like you are listing excuses instead of reasons." That's what it came off as to me.
"For someone who spends so much time on these forums, I would think you would realize that price is what sells homes in this market." Judging from Becky's post history, she spends a large amount of time on these forums giving and receiving advice related to moving and real-estate in general. While it might sound condescending, to me it is the truth. If anyone spent 10 minutes on this board, they would realize that price is what is currently selling homes.
"While staging is nice (and honestly, any person serious about selling their home would have repainted/decluttered long ago)." Again, same reasoning as above. If you plan to sell your home, you clean it up to make it as attractive as possible to potential buyers. If you simply glanced at a couple of posts on this forum, it would quickly come off as common sense to you.
When I first read Aarons post, it was kind of harsh to me. I can understand what MsFancyPants is saying. Then, I said to myself, I'm just going to take this as constructive criticism. I let it go and gave my honest opinion back. I think there is a right way to say things so you don't come off so strong. I think though for some, that's just their personality. I try to say things in a nice way not to hurt anybody's feelings. I do realize price is important, but I really think that Aaron is way off by saying my house is ovepriced by $65K. The guy across the street just paid $200K for his house and another house on the next street over recently sold for $197K, so I know I'm not off by that much. Where do you you get that the homes are selling for 30% less? The only ones that I see are short sales or foreclosures. In this area, as I mentioned before, you have to be careful where you buy. The reason being is b/c you can have a really nice house and be in a less desirable area. The schools are zoned for certain areas and just b/c you live in Lake Mary, you may still be zoned for Sanford schools. The bottom line here is: 1) I'm working on staging my home better. 2) I'm going to get better pictures. 3) I will take it from there.
Once again, I appreciate the suggestions.
Aaron: Thanks for taking the time to explain. Selling a home is tough right now, and for some people is very emotional too right now. Some people are losing their homes through no fault of their own, they lost jobs, had to relocate, lost their life savings, whatever. And too many people, in just a few days on this forum I can attest to this, are just rude. Maybe I'm defensive for those people. I don't know. My heart just breaks for ANYONE who is losing their home and I don't even differentiate because of why. It just sucks, and the last thing anyone needs right now is a bunch of preaching and bunch of sarcasm and a bunch of negativity. I am the eternal optimist. This, I know. I don't expect everyone to be like me. I just expect some manners and if people can't muster that, then just move along and don't say anything. I fully realize it is everyone's right to post what they want, and it's mine to post this wish that everyone would just be constructive and nice about it.
Thanks again, for explaining. You didn't have to. It is very easy for me to admit when I am wrong, and I was wrong about you.
NJ, get up off the floor.
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