Keeping Your (Price Cut) Powder Dry If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” –Ancient Riddle If you have to take a price cut, when is the best time to do it? (See also, “Nurse, I Need a Price Reduction, Stat!”). Put it...Read More
(Over)identifying with Home Sellers “Stockholm Syndrome”: a paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express adulation and have positive feelings towards their captors that appear irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, essentially mistaking a lack of abuse from their captors as an act of kindness. –Wikipedia What’s potentially more harmful to...Read More
One Less Holdover in Fern Hill What characterizes a weakening housing market? Currently “For Sale” properties linger inordinately, creating a backlog that undercuts pricing for successive, new listings. What characterizes a firming market? Long-time, “carryover” listings get absorbed, tightening supply and setting the stage for more aggressive listing prices prospectively. Category #2: Exhibit A You...Read More
Watching Too Much “Breaking Bad?” It could just be that I’ve been watching too much “Breaking Bad,” a superb series on AMC whose main character makes methamphetamine, and whose brother-in-law just happens to be an Albuquerque DEA agent. But, my listings’ online traffic — and my own anecdotal observations — tell me that it’s not just my imagination....Read More
$50,000 Price Reduction What’s the big deal about a $50,000 price reduction? They’re practically run-of-the mill these days, especially in the upper price brackets. What you don’t often see is a $50,000 price reduction off of a home listed for $250,000, like the one shown above. For the math impaired, that’s a whopping 20% (vs....Read More
Keys: Price — and Price Reductions How do you identify a motivated seller? No, it’s not because they scream on MLS that they’re “motivated,” “priced to sell,” “won’t last,” etc. Rather, the home is priced aggressively — and, if it doesn’t sell, is reduced at regular intervals thereafter. A good example of a home meeting...Read More
