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Homebuyers are wack

Sho'Nuff

Sho'Nuff

Diamond Member
1/17/10 UPDATE: I stand by my original opinion that buyers truly are wack. We lowered our price from $620k to $599k last week. Today, we have two offers on the table, both for $595k, and both from buyers that previously saw the house at the original price. "Rational" today's home buyer is not.

1/18/10 UPDATE: House is now effectively sold. Signed a contract with a seocnd buyer for $590k. $5k lower than the first buyer, but the second is paying cash (which means no problems with appraisers or banks). Only issue is that the buyer wants to close on Feburary 26 and we haven't picked out a new place yet. Anyone know of a good rental near Portsmouth NH?

Oh, and we had a ridiculous open house today. ~30 parties through the house in 2 hours.

CLIFFS: OP is selling home and amazed that buyers wouldn't even make an offer until a price drop of <3&#37; of the original asking price. Hookers and economics are discussed in the thread.

FULL: So my wife and I are selling our house. Don't ask me why we are selling in the worst real estate market in 30 years. We just are.

We have a pretty nice home, nothing spectacular, but nice. Center entrance colonial in a great neighborhood with a big yard (at least for a home within 9 miles of Boston). We originally listed the home on late October for $620k. Since that is what we paid for the house when we purchased several years ago we knew we were reaching, but we were hopeful nonetheless.

So, three months have passed, and we have had ~60 parties through the house. All say the home is nice, have some minor comments (our driveway is a little steep), and that they are still looking. No offers. Not one. Well, we had one come in three days after we listed, but the buyers had an internal meltdown and withdrew their offer.

Considering I am now commuting 60+ miles one way to work (new job), we decided we needed to take action to help sell the house more quickly. So we reduce the price 20k to $599,900. Wham. Same day, we receive an offer for 590k from buyers who saw the home several weeks ago! Blows my mind that people think of 20k as a make or break difference when you are talking about a 30 year mortgage for ~600k. It's roughly 3 percent, for cripes sake.

What surprises me further, however, is that the buyer's realtor said that his clients refused to make an offer on our home at its original price, because they couldn't fathom us being willing to negotiate into the sub 600's. That was after we told the realtor to tell his clients that we would give honest consideration to any offer! Sheesh.

That said, I am glad that we got an offer. There is only so much talk radio one can listen to in the morning and afternoon drive.
 
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You're only 9 miles from Boston and you sold for 590? Sheesh... I thought all the real estate within a 25 mile radius of Boston was 1m+.
 
House hunting myself.

I can relate to the buyer you describe. It's because the market has lots of hungry sellers so there's really no reason to fall in love with a house that you feel could be cheaper.
 
Funny you mention it, my wife and I are seriously considering moving up to southern NH. We really like Portsmouth, it's just work that stands in the way for now.
 
Home sellers are wacker. Most of them list the house way above what it's really worth. Case in point OP.
 
PaperclipGod said:
You're only 9 miles from Boston and you sold for 590? Sheesh... I thought all the real estate within a 25 mile radius of Boston was 1m+.
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Nah, there is plenty of stuff in the 300-700 range, and in decent neighborhoods. Just have to know where to look.

FWIW, our house is priced in the top 5% of homes in our town, primarily because of the neighborhood.
 
Not sure why you think they're whacked. They were probably on the fence and the price reduction was enough incentive for them to put down an offer.

On the market for 90 days without a single offer, I would have thought you'd drop the price sooner.

MagnusTheBrewer said:
Best of luck. Anything further away from Boston is a major plus.
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B/c you couldn't afford to live there, you shouldn't be a hater.
 
nerp said:
House hunting myself.

I can relate to the buyer you describe. It's because the market has lots of hungry sellers so there's really no reason to fall in love with a house that you feel could be cheaper.
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Yeah, but no one even making an offer? I would've figured at least one or two offers for 550-575, if not an outright lowball for sub 500.

OP, I don't think its just home buyers. People in general seem to be out of whack on buying stuff.

Oh, and did you have your own agent? Maybe they were giving bad vibes to the potential buyers? If you didn't, then that might be why, you came off as being cheap for going it yourself, and so people assumed you'd be stubborn on price.
 
JS80 said:
Home sellers are wacker. Most of them list the house way above what it's really worth. Case in point OP.
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A 3% price differential does not equal "way above."

Maybe a different example would help illustrate the point. Say you have your eye on a hooker. A really fine one. You know. Nice legs. No disease. Bangin body. And her pimp is a good friend who you know won't smack you around too much if you get fresh. Problem is, girlfriend is charging $100 bucks for a handy, and you don;t want to pay it. Now, if the chick decides to have a mid week discount and starts putting out for $97 smackeroos, are you honestly going to tell me that that $3 discount is gonna make a big difference in your decision making? Nah. Your gonna pony up the $100 and walk away with a happy ending, or your gonna negotiate to a mutually agreeable deal.
 
Capt Caveman said:
Not sure why you think they're whacked. They were probably on the fence and the price reduction was enough incentive for them to put down an offer.

On the market for 90 days without a single offer, I would have thought you'd drop the price sooner.
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That could be an issue as well. No change in price while on the market for months could give an indication that you're firm on price or not serious about selling.
 
soxfan said:
A 3% price differential does not equal "way above."

Maybe a different example would help illustrate the point. Say you have your eye on a hooker. A really fine one. You know. Nice legs. No disease. Bangin body. And her pimp is a good friend who you know won't smack you around too much if you get fresh. Problem is, girlfriend is charging $100 bucks for a handy, and you don;t want to pay it. Now, if the chick decides to have a mid week discount and starts putting out for $97 smackeroos, are you honestly going to tell me that that $3 discount is gonna make a big difference in your decision making? Nah. Your gonna pony up the $100 and walk away with a happy ending, or your gonna negotiate to a mutually agreeable deal.
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Clearly, pricing dynamics of home = hookers.

If you wanted 100 offers you would have priced it at 550. If you wanted 0, 620. You chose 620. 3% is a big difference when you're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars and budget on a home. Down payment can change, PMI, closing costs, too many variables.
 
I would had offer 560-575k and work my way up. =)

Looking myself as well, so many to choose from. Keep on looking until we find our perfect home.

Congrats and Good Luck.
 
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darkswordsman17 said:
Yeah, but no one even making an offer? I would've figured at least one or two offers for 550-575, if not an outright lowball for sub 500.

OP, I don't think its just home buyers. People in general seem to be out of whack on buying stuff.

Oh, and did you have your own agent? Maybe they were giving bad vibes to the potential buyers? If you didn't, then that might be why, you came off as being cheap for going it yourself, and so people assumed you'd be stubborn on price.
Click to expand...

We have our own agent. No bad vibes as far as I can tell. Funny thing is, we have a question on our feedback form that specifically inquires about the buyers feelings re: price. All the forms we have received have said either that te home was reasonably priced, or a tad over priced relative to other homes in the market.

One nit might be that we are competing with homes in a couple of towns that are arguably nicer than our town. Problem is, a 600k house in those towns will buy you a 1910 era home. While it might be bigger,. it will be drafty as hell and require a crapload of maintenance. Our 1990's era place is just entering puberty in comparison, and has quite a few energy efficient upgrades.
 
JS80 said:
Clearly, pricing dynamics of home = hookers.
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Both are irrational purchases. At least in some cases.

Regardless, the point of my OP is that 3% is negotiating territory. If a buyer would purchase a $590k, why did they require a 20k price reduction to "prompt" them to make the offer. Why not simply float the offer and see what happens? Worst comes to worst the owner tells you to screw off.
 
darkswordsman17 said:
That could be an issue as well. No change in price while on the market for months could give an indication that you're firm on price or not serious about selling.
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This is a reasonable point. But our agent follows up with all parties entering the home and assures all of them that we are willing to negotiate on price. I think this is just a weird psychological thing. Similar to why marketers price something at 99c instead of simply charging $1.
 
soxfan said:
Problem is, a 600k house in those towns will buy you a 1910 era home. While it might be bigger,. it will be drafty as hell and require a crapload of maintenance. Our 1990's era place is just entering puberty in comparison, and has quite a few energy efficient upgrades.
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Hmm... I'd rather have the 1910 house. Older would be even better. I like old houses.
 
soxfan said:
We have our own agent. No bad vibes as far as I can tell. Funny thing is, we have a question on our feedback form that specifically inquires about the buyers feelings re: price. All the forms we have received have said either that te home was reasonably priced, or a tad over priced relative to other homes in the market.

One nit might be that we are competing with homes in a couple of towns that are arguably nicer than our town. Problem is, a 600k house in those towns will buy you a 1910 era home. While it might be bigger,. it will be drafty as hell and require a crapload of maintenance. Our 1990's era place is just entering puberty in comparison, and has quite a few energy efficient upgrades.
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What town are we talking about? School systems and access to highways/public transportation are big draws for people in this price range. Also, nicer towns will always be in higher demand.

In this price range, people are also more willing to remodel an older home in a nicer town b/c it will return a lot more on their investment.
 
sjwaste said:
Funny you mention it, my wife and I are seriously considering moving up to southern NH. We really like Portsmouth, it's just work that stands in the way for now.
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Yep. Portsmouth is an awesome town. Great eats. nice downtown. Kittery outlets just over the bridge. And the people are actually nice! Not to mention that real estate around Portsmouth is priced ~50% less than Boston.
 
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