February 25, 2009 – Final Update

This property finally sold at $425,000.  It took almost 1 year from start to finish.  I believe strongly that had these sellers moved into the marketplace with the abundance of market data I presented to them, they would have enjoyed a quick sale, and most likely netted tens of thousands more on the property.

Why would I say that?  Well . . . because while they were “fooling around” trying to test the market, the market was declining.  They were “chasing down” the market.  You can not out run the market.  It cost them dearly.  The proof is in the graphic below.  Obviously for privacy reasons I have blocked out realtor names and property address.  I highly recommend Greg Swann’s article here.  

(Excerpt from Greg Swann’s blog) Typically, the seller starts out with the price too high, then tries to chase the market down with a series of price reductions — usually too little and too late.

Greg serves in the Arizona market, but his comments are relevant to our local market as well, and it is very well written.  It will give you a wonderful education and insight into what we now deal with as seller’s agents.

February 4, 2009 – still unsold
December 3, 2008 – still unsold
November 3, 2008 – still unsold
October 3, 2008 – still unsold
September 3, 2008 – still unsold
August 2, 2008 -still unsold
July 2, 2008 – still unsold
June 20, 2008 – still unsold

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Below is a update of my recent article on the importance of properly pricing your Rockland County NY property for sale. At this writing (8.2.08) the sellers have now reduced their property by $90,000 and the property is STILL sitting there, and we are now in August, one of the slowest market times of the year, plus after that fast approaching the fall market leading up to the winter months (another slower time). The agent who listed that property so high did a grave disservice to the seller. This is one of my biggest pet peeves about our industry. Agents who knowingly take an overpriced listing just to have inventory. It’s so wrong.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t take a listing and test market it for a couple of weeks at a particular price point, but my job is to DAILY monitor the market to see how my client’s properly is positioned and advise them accordingly. If we don’t see 2-3 showings each week for the 1st 2 weeks, and certainly if no offers are on the table, the price is usually the culprit. [Read more...]