Posted on 07/12/2010 6:19:12 PM PDT by ggrrrrr23456
My mother is preparing to sell the home that she and my late father have lived in for more than thirty years. Luckily, the housing market hasn't affected her that much since the area she lives in has become a hotspot for real estate over the years (Bay Area, CA).
The realtor she has been working with is, in my opinion, being pushy. He wants her to sell the house as soon as possible (within the next two months) and I'm of the opinion that she needs to wait given the depressed market and current economic situation. She also doesn't move as fast as she used to, and two months of packing, remodeling, maintenance, and whirlwind activity won't be good for her health.
I've insisted that she get at least two or more opinions on what to do with the house, but the current realtor is an apparently good salesman as she hasn't taken the initiative to talk to anyone else.
Does anyone have any input or ideas on this? Any realtors out there that can give me some inside information, or at least an inside opinion?
Thanks so much.
Since realtors only get about 2% of the price, after sharing it with the buyer’s broker and the office where they work, they make a lot more money selling multiple properties at a lower price, than working the get the best price on one property, they spend more time, than the extra few $K they would get.
Sell quick is the motto and in a slower market, you can only sell quick, if you sell cheap.
This is from Feb 2010 data, but, as I said, prices are starting go up in the Bay area.
Please see link:
http://www.bayarearealestateadvisor.com/bay-area/index.asp
What matters the most is if you have a real need to sell or if there is just no hurry. That s/b your prime motivation IMHRO!
Even in a bad market, a well cared for house priced right will sell fairly quickly. Its when folks have those deferred maintenance issues and other factors that will make a dwindling buyer pool even smaller and make things really tough for a seller in this market.
Plus, you really do want to price your home correctly and sell quickly because a house that lingers on the market screams OVERPRICED or to that small group of searching buyers that are serious about buying will develope an impression that there’s obviously something wrong with that house even though they haven’t even seen it.
If you have a trust issue with an agent, interview others and either confirm your suspicion or possibly come away feeling more respectful of that agents negotiating skills.
You can probably tell what I do for a living. Main thing be happy with your decision its pretty important that you make the right one. :) Good Luck
I suspect the realtor is starving. It’s not a good time to sell here in LA — homes are just sitting here. And ... I never do anything in a hurry if it is somebody else’s hurry. Act in haste/ repent in leisure, you know.
Sell, but don’t sell cheap.
If you have a 6% commission on a 500,000 house as an example, his/her cut is 7,500 (1/4 x 6% X 500,000). If she can get the seller to come down to 450,000 for a quick sale, she makes 6,750. Now that's 50,000 real dollars out of the sellers possible proceeds but only 750 from the realtor and believe me, she'll do it in a heart beat, EVERY time.
Whatever you listing price is, no matter how fair it is, I guarantee you it’s only the opening bargaining price as far as the realtor is concerned, especially in today’s market. It’s an ugly fact of today’s market.
Realtors have only one objective...sell quick and cheap.
They are the worst people in the world to get unbiased advice from
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I take offense to that comment. First of all, why is the woman selling her house? Is she behind on her mortgage? Has she considered other alternatives? To decide how to comment I would need all the facts. My information would definitely be unbiased as I am a resident and realtor from another state and have no skin in this game.
sell yesterday.
I can help you. Contact me privately if you wish. I’m in Florida and have been a realtor for over 20 years.
You really need to stop and think it through. If you sell your home or a home you inherited at a loss you can’t take the loss on your taxes.
It’s better to rent the house for a few years and if it’s been put in service as an investment you can take the loss. Plus you can take depreciation and write off all expenses if repairs are needed. All expenses include all the travel needed to visit and take care of the place. At approximately .50 a mile you can write off a lot for every mile you have to travel.
A good (I mean really good) tax person can save you much money. If you can try to explain the tax advantages to your siblings. They probably won’t listen so it may pay to buy them out.
She sounds like she is old, tired, and overwhelmed.
If you want to protect her you will probably have to take over.
Just offer to handle everything and get her ok before making any major decision.
She will probably be relieved.
She should take her time. The current lousy market will be waiting for her.
To take away stress, time and project planning is necessary. She needs to make lists of what she wants done and the scheduling of those activities. I hope she will hire some help. She will be sorry if she hurries and does not do things right for herself. Just sorting through the stuff and getting rid of what you can’t take in a move like that is stressful and takes time. It is a big move!
The realtor works to sell houses and they are hungry as heck right now. He/she should not be pressuring your mom in any way. There is no hurry as far as the market goes and that is all she needs to be concerned with. But he/she needs a quick sale to eat right now so he wants it to get listed yesterday. The realtor’s concerns are not for her.
When we sold our house in the Bay Area
Having lived in the house for 30 years, has it been updated or will it be a handyman’s special? With bay area prices sky high, even in this period, often buyers shelling out $500,000 or more aren’t going to get exited about an old house that needs work. The market narrows to fewer buyers.
Get several opinions for more complete advice and go over agent resumes and recent sales. Consider staging the house and clean out the 30 years of junk that has probably accumulated over the years.
We were in Sunnyvale, in an Eichler.
You are so correct, reduce what you have in the house 80% at least. Stage using common sense.
We sold four years ago at the peak, received an unbelievable price.
In Santa Barbara now, see adds for houses at 2.5mil that are fixers. Lucky to be buying a nice condo (short sale) never do that again.
Thanks for the advice/info. I sure hope the poster figures it out.
We sold four years ago at the peak, received an unbelievable price.
We sold in 2002 5 blocks from city hall in SF as the boom was getting started but made a killing also, making retirement possible. I feel so sorry for those who expected to do the same and are now stuck with this economy.
We moved down at retirement in Palm Springs when the prices were still dirt cheap compared to SF so it has worked out well for us
Here’s an idea, if you’re game for it... this is how I sold my house in 2000 during the dotcom crash
Hire a real estate agent for a fee to do a comparison for you. Pay them, say, $100 for 3 comparables in the neighborhood. Tell them that you want to list the house yourself for 60 days (or whatever), and if you don’t sell you’ll give them first shot at representing you, provided you can come to agreement. I would think most agents would accept this; I had no trouble finding one to do it.
Go to a sign shop and have a sign professionally made that says ‘FOR SALE (Phone Number) BY APPOINTMENT ONLY’. When I say a professional sign, I mean a realtor-looking sign, metal, printed. Use simple type, nothing fancy. That will cost about $75. If you’re clever, have them make a magnetized sign that you can attach to it that says, ‘Open House SAT/SUN 1-4’ or whatever. Put that up every other week and have a pleasant but disinterested person sit at the showings for you. Have any questions referred to your email address.
Have a graphic artist make a flyer. Supply him with photos and bullet points of the the best features of the house, including the asking price and an email address to write with questions. You can find an example of one of these outside of most properties that are for sale. Have a bunch of them printed, in color. You could do them two to a page, cut them in half, to save a few dollars. The idea is to have a professional presentation. Total cost, less than $100.
Place ads on Craigslist, in the paper; with permission put the flyers up at the grocery store, coffee shops, etc. Expect realtors to come by and offer advice and pressure you to sign with them. Politely tell them you have someone in mind if you don’t sell
Contact a real-estate lawyer up front and get copies of the proper offer and disclosure forms, and a little bit of advice on selling yourself. I got this for free by telling the lawyer I’d bring him my eventual sale. He was pessimistic, but gave me some free advice anyway (I had questions about what to put on the seller’s disclosure, how to talk about taxes, utilities, neighbors, etc).
When the time came we had our first open house. We got a half dozen offers the first day, all nearly on the money. Did we underprice? Maybe so, but we had a unique house for the neighborhood and were eager to sell so we could start construction elsewhere. With six offers in hand I called our original real estate agent and told her of my ‘dilemma’. She offered to coach me through it for a flat $500 fee. She earned it.
We ended up selling for 100% of the ask and getting 3 months to ‘rent’ back during construction.
Our attorney was very surprised when we called him to set up the sale; we closed in his office. I think he charged us ±$700
Your mileage may vary, but I’d do it this way again if I were a seller.
Having been in the business for over 30 years, I can’t tell you how many times I have told friends and relatives to NEVER go under contract to buy a house until you have SOLD and SETTLED the house you are in now. Rent an apartment for a few months if you have to, but NEVER put yourself in a position where you are pressured into selling below market. Real estate agents love that situation - - the clock is ticking, you need the funds to settle on your new house, but you still haven’t sold your old house, oh what to do, what to do, the clock keeps ticking, oh no..!!
...And I could revel you all night long with stories of people who didn’t listen and ended up having to sell their houses to waiting vultures (often, real estate agent/speculators!) for way-below market value.
It sounds like you mother, smartly, has no such pressure. Get several CMAs from a variety of agents (ie., make them compete for the listing) and then sit tight and wait for your price, with no pressure, screw the “hurry up” real estate agent. Also, do not sign any listing agreement that has a term of over 6 months.
Good luck!
If she gets those opinions from two other realtors then she will only hear more of the same.
I suggest that you find a very good appraiser and see what he has to say about value. If it is where you want, then sell. If not, hold.
BTW, do NOT ask the realtor for an appraiser, do some research and find a good one on your own.
I’m sure there’s always the exception to every rule and nothing personal was intended.
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