Pricing a Home When the Comp’s are Tough “You have to know the rules before you know when you can break them.” Normally, the standard way of doing a CMA (“Comparative Market Analysis”) is to limit your focus to three Comp’s, or “Comparable Sold Properties.” By definition, those are the nearby homes most similar in...Read More
Commission Saved: $8,000 Hit to Sales Price: $20,000 In FSBO Mistake #4, I chronicled the case of the hapless For Sale By Owner (“FSBO”) in Golden Valley who wasted their first — and best — month of market exposure incorrectly classified as a “Foreclosure” on MLS. Hit to their bottom line? I’d estimate 3% to 5%....Read More
How Many Make a “Meteor Shower?” What’s a “housing market meteorite?” Like the celestial kind, they burst onto the scene in a brilliant flash of light; descend (in price) through the night sky (housing market) quickly; then just as quickly disappear (they’re sold). They often have these three additional attributes: One. They’re top-to-bottom (bottom-to-top?) rehab’s;...Read More
Testing an Unrealistic Seller It seems to be happening a lot in today’s housing market: Buyers find something they like, but — based on the Comp’s — the Seller’s price appears to be high. What to do? One option is to simply wait. Overpriced listings have a way of coming down to earth, and Buyers...Read More
When Hovering is a Good Thing 90% of life is just showing up. –Woody Allen “Helicopter parent?” Not so good. “Helicopter Realtor?” The best kind. So, what does a “helicopter Realtor” do? Umm, well, they . . . hover. Not just during the initial stage(s) of the listing, when the marketing is coming together, but at key,...Read More
Padded List Prices What do you do if you’re a Seller in a Buyer’s market who’s worried about lowball offers? At least a few succumb to the temptation to pad their asking (“list”) price. Their logic? The higher their initial price, “the more room they have to negotiate.” Flawed Logic Well, yes. But that presumes...Read More
