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Cindy Hartman's Southern Maryland Real Estate news and views...

Southern Maryland Real Estate News and Views, maryland real estate information and maryland real estate market information

Credibility? Embarrassment?

By: Cindy Hartman
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 12:24 PM

Today one of my sellers reduced their price again, by about 24K.  This was the fourth reduction and the home has been on the market over 120 days.  We did our initial meeting and CMA over 2 years ago, but at that time they decided to rent for a year and see how they liked their new out of state location.  When I re-did the CMA a year later, it pointed to a much lower price than a year before due to the recent solds and we listed the home at 50K less that I recommended a year before.  They understood then, and do now thank goodness, that timing is everything.   Now it's 120 days later, and we are reduced to approx. 100K below their initial asking price of 120 days ago, due of course, to the price reductions in the area and the new home builder in their community slashing prices and offering incentives to get the new homes sold.  So now, we've slashed to the bottom line... I feel terrible for my sellers, and feel almost a sense of embarrassment and a lack of creditability although the numbers always were presented accurately and I've marketed their home extensively.  I logically understand the conditions of the market and the factors in my area right now, and of course, the tremendous increase in inventory coupled with the lack of buyers, (where ARE they?), but is it a "female" thing to wake up in the middle of the night feeling antsy, responsible and embarrassed about this stuff, or is it a "REALTOR" thing?

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Comments

Steven Burnett
Member Since '06

Steven Burnett said:

Don't feel alone.  I aquired a listing that had been on the market for 6 months prior to the sellers calling me.

The home was initially listed at $359K (with another agency).  Over 6 months, it was reduced to $280K.

I got the listing and we listed at $284K with seller offering to pay $8K towards closing costs.  THAT didn't work, so we lowered to $274K.

Yesterday, the seller calls me and says, "Lower to $249K... I want out of here.)

The home was a good value at $274K, but no one was even looking at the home.

They paid $267K for the home in Feb 2005 and it's in immaculate condition AND they did a bunch of upgrades in the bathrooms.  No buyers.

I have a BUNCH more horror stories, but not enough time to tell them...

November 14, 2007 12:42 PM
Mike Farmer
Member Since '03

Mike Farmer said:

How long have they owned the home? Is there still a fairly good difference between what they owe on the home and the present asking price?

November 14, 2007 12:55 PM
Sagine Morgan
Member Since '06

Sagine Morgan said:

It is a human thing, Cindy!

A few years ago, we had the same experience in reverse. I would do a presentation/CMA and before the ink was dried on the CMA, the house next door was sold for 10-20% more and that was sold without a realtor!!!! Remember those days????

Now, we are experiencing the opposite, a buyer's market without buyers!

I do a CMA and compare prices of homes that sold, those that are pending and also the ones currently on the market.

But you know Cindy, it is all about the motivation level of the seller. Obviously your seller and Steven's are motivated to sell........ My advice to them is to "Just Sell it", take your losses in 2007 taxes and move on, you will be able to negotiate what you think you lost on the sale on the purchase of the new house. That we know we can do!!!!

Good luck

Sagine

November 14, 2007 1:19 PM
Jana Davis & Virginia Houghton
Member Since '05

Jana Davis & Virginia Houghton said:

Cindy the only time we need to feel embarrassed or guilty is if we were not honest with our clients in the first place.  It seems that you have been straight forward with them and they are well educated on what is going on in this market place.  They must know you are doing every you can so don't feel bad.

Our short sale started out at $1.690 a year ago and that neighborhood has dropped $400K.  We have been chasing the market down.  I could not help but contemplate the what ifs and there aren't any.  

Sagine it is not so easy to just sell it in many neighborhoods.  We could have just sold it a year ago at $1.25 but the value was much higher than.  That would not have benefited our clients.  True in this market place you have to price a property right.  But when you get into the chase, it is not that easy to just sell it.

Cindy I am not sure what your board rules are, but you might take it off the market for a week or so and put it back in as new.  Even old listings brought out as new tend to bring more action.  Our MLS system sends out the auto emails to buyers whenever there is a new listing and if there are listings with changes.  If yours works the same way, it may be worth trying.

Jana

November 14, 2007 3:22 PM
Howard Arnoff
Member Since '03

Howard Arnoff said:

Oh Jana, don't play that game. The listing history is still available despite the withdrawal, refresh, relist.

November 14, 2007 6:28 PM
Gregory Bain
Member Since '03

Gregory Bain said:

Come on, Howard. I'm all for it. Staging is cool, too. Don't listen to Howard. He's just grumpy he's not in Vegas.

November 14, 2007 7:21 PM
Howard Arnoff
Member Since '03

Howard Arnoff said:

Gregory, I'm not sure which is worse, conventions or Vegas. I'll attend neither, thank you. I'm very happy, I'm going to the beach for a week for Thanksgiving.

November 14, 2007 7:35 PM
Gregory Bain
Member Since '03

Gregory Bain said:

I hear ya, Howard. Happy Turkey Day.

November 14, 2007 7:44 PM
Mipeco Realty, Inc -  Michaela Krestenic, Broker-Owner
Member Since '03

Mipeco Realty, Inc - Michaela Krestenic, Broker-Owner said:

Cindy, don't feel bad ... I have a listing that we put on the market almost 7 weeks ago ... at a price that we considered fair market value ... haven't got a single showing, so the sellers decided to go donw $25K about 3 weeks later ... with no result what so ever ... 7 weeks later now and we are still waiting even just for that 1st showing!!! And there is really no reason to go down with the price any lower at this point ... one of my other sellers did just that and after about 60K in price reductions, 9 months on the market and being at this point listed at a 2003/2004 price, we still have no contract. This is just the new "normal" that we all need to get used to.

November 14, 2007 10:08 PM
Tim and Susan Fennell
Member Since '06

Tim and Susan Fennell said:

Howard said, "Oh Jana, don't play that game. The listing history is still available despite the withdrawal, refresh, relist."

I'm glad to see someone else feels this way... especially someone I respect as much as you, Howard.

November 15, 2007 6:06 AM
Mary Welch
Member Since '04

Mary Welch said:

Cindy, the first few years in this business just about killed me because I was concerned about everything. I think we will always have some sympathy for buyers and sellers in some way.

The ones that should have that angst are the ones that advertise they sell quicker than any other agent and for higher dollar. How do they get by with that?

November 15, 2007 9:14 AM
Mipeco Realty, Inc -  Michaela Krestenic, Broker-Owner
Member Since '03

Mipeco Realty, Inc - Michaela Krestenic, Broker-Owner said:

you guys would be surprised how many agents in our area still don't know how to look up the history of a listing! We do have one good rule in place though ... if you take a listing off the market and relist it, you have to wait 90 days for the market time to clear up. Otherwise the listing will also show the cummulative market time of all the previous listings (unless taken off for 90 days).

November 15, 2007 9:25 AM
Howard Arnoff
Member Since '03

Howard Arnoff said:

Tim thanks for the high praise. I call the concept, relist, refresh, deceive and Michaela, if an agent can't figure it out, I feel sorry for their client.

November 15, 2007 9:33 AM
Cindy Hartman
Member Since '05

Cindy Hartman said:

What beach are you heading for Howard????   I want to go!

I understand what you're saying about the relist, refresh etc.  Our MLS has an easy way to pull up history, and it's easy to see that a home was withdrawn and relisted and I always check the history when my buyers are considering a home.  I don't think it really fools anyone.  

I have another seller that asked if they should take their home off the market and then relist in the spring.  Honestly, I don't see the point.  They need to sell.  The market is slow of course, and not many buyers out there right now due to the season and the market.  But having the home on the market is not inconveniencing them in any way right now, who KNOWS when the right buyer is going to have an agent pull up their home to see and taking it off the market "takes them off the market".   I realize long days on the market used to be a detriment to the home, but I don't think that is the case right now, as all the homes generally have been on the market longer that a couple of years ago.  Do any of you much more experienced agents out there feel that there is a valid reason for taking a home off the market for 2 months or so and putting it back on that would increase it's sales potential?  (my MLS keeps adding to DOM unless the property had been out of the system for 6 months...)   I personally think they should leave it for sale.  Anything I'm not quite "getting" I'd appreciate greatly hearing about.

Also..CRAIG...where are you? :)  Do you have a buyer for my home here in Wildewood???? :)  It's a great home - come see it!

Thanks so much for the feedback!

Cindy

November 15, 2007 1:16 PM
Jana Davis & Virginia Houghton
Member Since '05

Jana Davis & Virginia Houghton said:

Oh I totally understand the game, but it does work.  Why does it work? I am thinking that agents just don't bother to take the time to check on the listing history.  Anything I can do to get more agents to look at a listing I will do, even making small changes to the MLS so it comes back out on buyers MLS lists.  Sorry guys be sometimes I do have to play those games.  Especially with a listing that is several months old.

Jana  

November 15, 2007 1:24 PM
Jana Davis & Virginia Houghton
Member Since '05

Jana Davis & Virginia Houghton said:

I don't see any reason to take the property off the market for a few months, other than they want to fix it up.  Many people don't want to be bothered over the holidays.  I think this is a shame as most of the buyers during the holidays are serious buyers.   Plus the emotion of the season, homes clean and nicely decorated, doesn't hurt.  Who knows where the prices will be in the spring, they might miss their opportunity.

Jana

November 15, 2007 1:35 PM
Howard Arnoff
Member Since '03

Howard Arnoff said:

Jana, I didn't spank you for playing games with your listings and I don't blame you in the least bit for doing whatever you can to bring listings to the attention of other agents in your market. Just realize that good agents can figure it out.

The interesting thing about the end of the year market is the fewer buyers looking now are extremely serious so it makes no sense to take a house off the market especially if there is little to no inconvenience to the sellers.

Cindy, we're off to Hilton Head tomorrow for Thanksgiving Week. Happy Turkey day everyone!

November 16, 2007 7:59 AM
Candice A Donofrio
Member Since '07

Candice A Donofrio said:

Welcome to real estate. Prices go up, prices come down. :)

No cause for any bad feelings. Our market has been volatile and everyone knows it.

Real estate's still dollar for dollar the best investment in the world.

Our MLS has a cute little feature called 'cumulative DOM' which will defeat the purpost of a refresh relist.

It also unfortunately looks really bad for people who buy and then sell (duh, just about everyone)

I have a triplex listed that shows 900+ CDOM. Since seller purchased it almost years ago. Just explain it and the buyer/buyer's agent gets it. Or not, LOL.

November 16, 2007 8:17 AM
Candice A Donofrio
Member Since '07

Candice A Donofrio said:

almost 3 years ago, lol

November 16, 2007 8:19 AM
Craig Barrett
Member Since '07

Craig Barrett said:

Hi Cindy, I am here.  I got your broadcast about your listing in Wildewood. What a fabulous house! I love that kitchen and the flag stone patio. It's a great location and a neat neighborhood. My thoughts on pulling a listing, if it's not on the market it won't sell.

I agree with Howard and Jana about end of year sales. Enjoy golf at Hilton Head Howard. We'll be in Pawleys this time next week.

November 16, 2007 8:23 AM
Howard Arnoff
Member Since '03

Howard Arnoff said:

Craig, drive down and play golf with Mike and me on Tuesday.

November 16, 2007 9:24 AM
Craig Barrett
Member Since '07

Craig Barrett said:

Howard that would be really cool to play golf with you and Mike, but I've got a closing in Leesburg, VA on Monday. I haven't played much golf since we've had kids. I probably wouldn't be much fun.

Cindy, I just sent you an email with some ideas for additional marketing on this home.

November 16, 2007 11:54 AM

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