Seller woes

[Liz]

I do love this forum, but it seems sellers don't seem to have a lot to say here. Well, I'm one, and (ahem) probably one of the most negotiable ones. Have a few properties on the market, only because I want to retire.

We've had our values done which to me sets the value of the property against recent sales and the economic state. And gee....sensible buyers would do the same when they make an offer, wouldn't they?

What I'm finding is all these crazy contracts at (predictably) 20% below.

So......we've raised our price to meet your 20% off need.

Silly really. Please buyers. Do your market research.

 

[The Y-man]

So......we've raised our price to meet your 20% off need.

Which might result in no offers at all..... we found this last year when selling We would have actually sold to someone at 30% off our intial asking, but they pulled out!!

The Y-man

 

[Propertunity]

So......we've raised our price to meet your 20% off need.
Silly really. Please buyers. Do your market research.

I understand where you are coming from BUT just because buyers are offering 20% below your asking price does not mean they have not done any research. (now in saying that, they may not have done any research and I know many that just offer 20% below to guage a reaction), but if we were acting for a Buyer client of ours and negotiating to purchase one of your properties, we would know pretty much exactly what the market worth was, but that does not mean that we would offer it first up. You can always increase your offer but it is much harder to go the other way.

 

[Liz]

Y-man. We had our propery at the mid-lower end of the valuation and expected some negotiation movement, but not to the scale we were receiving. Now call me silly, but try any TV channel talking about the masses and the message is "you can get everything cheaper", from property right down to your toilet paper. Strong message......it's a consumer's/buyers world....and god knows "you little people out there deserve not to be screwed by business (any) and other people trying to profit from you". Big battle. We've decided to hold the fort. Our property is fairly unique in the area, hence the strong interest. (Gee, where have you heard THAT before.)

Propertunity - as a buyer's I agent I would expect you to know what property is valued at and still try for a cheeky 20% slide under. Worth a try Just hope you're well informed of property valuations in your area rather than have disappointed buyers and sellers. I could deal with that if you had the negotiation skills to get them up to speed. But then, you are not working for the seller are you?

Get this. Our first contract was signed up by an agent with people who had no income to support their buy. Jeez. How hard is that to investigate before you spend unprofitable time drawing up an unwinnable contract.

Some sellers, like me, are not emotionally attached and putting outlandish prices on their property through that. They just want to do a deal based on reasonable worth given all the factors.

 

[ger]

I

What I'm finding is all these crazy contracts at (predictably) 20% below.

So......we've raised our price to meet your 20% off need.

Silly really. Please buyers. Do your market research.

In any market the price of a property rellies to what a buyer is
willing to pay. My last property that I bought was well over
20% lower than the asking price. The owner gave me the valuation report when I would not increase my price. Finaly as there was not any more buyers he sold me the propertty at my price.

 

[Piston Broke]

"valued at" means nothing.
Maybe sellers need to do their market research, as it seems they read
too many API magazines and believe RE agents.
"unique" "strong interest"...obviously not enough of either.
As any market there is a bid & offer, when one is matched there is a transaction. Till then everybody twiddles.

 

[Liz]

Ah! The two sides of this coin....You win, they lose? Purely based on what the seller is willing to sell for. Who knows. Unbeknowns to you they may be grinning as well.

 

[Project1080]

Liz,
I wouldn't view it as a win/lose scenario. Would you continue a transaction if you knew you were going to lose?

I would call it a mutually satisfactory outcome. If the contract has been signed and all is done and dusted, then both parties must be happy with teh events thathave transpired, regardless what the price was.

"The market price" IS the price transacted between two agreeable parties.

A long settlement coz I'm a little short of funds? I may be prepared to pay more than advertised price as it suits my need at the time.

A desperate seller? I am assisting the seller solve their problem. A sale at less than advertised or possible bankruptcy.

Yes the media has a lot to answer for. But only if you're an uneducated muppet. The others do their own research and will pay what they beleive the property to be worth, all factors considered (including non financial).

Project 1080.

The project: 10 IPs in 80 mths.

 

[RightValue]

We had our propery at the mid-lower end of the valuation.

Was this a real estate agents appraisal or a valuation by a valuer??

Valuers rarely give ranges; they usually give a figure

Agents usually give a range and almost never give an exact figure; also I often find that the bottom of their range is usually closer to the true value - they do crunch vendors down on expectations once they have the listing

The others are right in saying that in a soft/falling market the buyers set the market price more so than the sellers

Last week I valued a house that had an initial listing price of $520k 3 months ago; it just sold for $400k which is what it was really worth based on the comparable evidence; in that price range the market is soft

good luck with your sales

cheers

RightValue

 

[handyandy]

So......we've raised our price to meet your 20% off need.

As already stated it makes 2 parties to make a transaction.

By upping your asking price you may find that you dramatically reduce buyer enquiries. Many buyers know the comparable price and are simply testing the market with their 20% discount, but by now asking a higher than market price you indicate to the market that you are unreasonable and the property is not even worth considering.

Another problem with upping the price after initial listing is the buyers memory. All current buyers may have already considered the property (even though not viewed) and will certainly not consider the same property with a higher price. So by upping the price you will have alienated those who may have looked but not had the time to date.

Cheers

 

[marg4000]

We sold our mother's house (inner city Brisbane) last month as she is in a nursing home.

I checked realestate.com.au for a few weeks to gauge prices etc and obtained estimates from a couple of local RE agents. We chose one we were comfortable with and had discussions as to prices being obtained for similar properties. We actually listed the property about 6 weeks after the first discussions and agreed that prices had softened somewhat.

We listed at a price we considered fair (and at the upper end of the range quoted) and sold within 3 days for $5,000 off the listed price. We agreed to a 3 month settlement, pest and building inspections only, no finance clause.

Advice?
Be realistic about the property's drawbacks as well as its advantages - in our case the position was fantastic, but the house was built in 1950 and, although well maintained was a little tired and needed money spent on it to bring it up to today's expectations.
When you set the price, look at properties in the same suburb/town on realestate.com.au and see that you are in the range of prices for the property's features. We checked properties priced higher than mum's but in all cases could see a reason why a buyer would prefer them.
Marg

 

[Liz]

"The market price" IS the price transacted between two agreeable parties.

I agree totally. What I'm saying is a responsible seller sets that price to meet the market, ie. what similar property's are being sold for, in the same area, at the same time. Surely that is the initial basis of what sets all processes to follow.

Valued fixed price? Really? I've not found that before. They usually offer a range as did this registered valuer. He gave us a a full report with a bottom, top range and a recommended price in the middle. That's the one we went for and prepared to negotiate down to the lower end of the valuation.

 

[Propertunity]

Propertunity - as a buyer's I agent I would expect you to know what property is valued at

Oh yeah - its my job. Lately a few of our clients have had to exchange contracts without formal bank approval (just waiting for a valuer). If I put forward my estimated buying price and the valuer later disagrees and finance is declined - I'm in deep doo doo. I make pretty damn sure I'm right.

and still try for a cheeky 20% slide under.

Absolutely, I'm trying to save the buyer both my fees + some - so I might try for more than the 20% if I think I can get away with it - all things considered. Does not always work in a sellers market though - which we have in some FHB price ranges.

Worth a try

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Just hope you're well informed of property valuations in your area

We always tell our buyer clients what we think they will have to pay to secure the property. And we tell them what strategies we plan to engage in to get it for them - so they are fully informed all the way. Buyers get nervous while we are doing that I'm sure - but we are cold and calculating

rather than have disappointed buyers

None so far.

and sellers.

Now I'm sure we have disappointed many many sellers but my buyers are not paying me to care

I could deal with that if you had the negotiation skills to get them up to speed.

Sure, we do find that we have to spend some time educating clients to the market prices and conditions, especially when a lot of them have exposure to dumb media stories of 40% falls - thank-you very much Mr Keen

But then, you are not working for the seller are you?

NO we work only for the buyer - and we are very upfront about that. The listing agent works for the seller - or at least is supposed to

Having said all that, I hope it goes well for you - but not if I'm buying your place. Cheers.

 

[pennyk]

In the market I'm looking at buying in, I've been following the prices for over 12 months, so I have a pretty good idea of what properties are selling for.
There is one RE agent who consistently puts properties on the market at 10-20% over what the other RE agents do, and these properties sit on the market for ages. Some of them have been on the market for over 12 months. The problem is that when buyers do know what the house prices are going for, and you put the price too high, the property becomes stale, and it becomes harder and harder to sell. So, while you can put a slight premium on your pricing in order to negotiate, I wouldn't put 20% on.... because the first offers you get are generally the best ones, and if people see the property has been on the market for some time, then they begin putting in lower and lower offers.

Pen

 

[RumpledElf]

In the market I'll be listing in my house will be a solid 30-40% above all the other houses that just sold, and there's no way I'm going to come down as the house is pretty damn nice, bathroom notwithstanding.

The same price I'll be listing mine for gets you a 2br fibro dump in a bigger town, or a 50sqm block in Sydney. Must get back to that agent ...

 

[Propertunity]

There is one RE agent who consistently puts properties on the market at 10-20% over what the other RE agents do, and these properties sit on the market for ages.

Yes, so the REA is obviously 'buying' listings and then hoping to 'crunch' their vendors down so they can sell and claim their comms

The problem is that when buyers do know what the house prices are going for, and you put the price too high, the property becomes stale, and it becomes harder and harder to sell.

That's exactly right Pen and ppl start to think that there is something wrong with the property and that makes it harder to sell too.

 

[Perp]

What I'm finding is all these crazy contracts at (predictably) 20% below.

So......we've raised our price to meet your 20% off need.

Silly really. Please buyers. Do your market research.

Who says they don't know the market value? Of course they're going to initially offer less than their perception of the value, rather than start at that figure and be negotiated up.

A buyer trying to snag a bargain sounds a lot less silly to me than a vendor getting emotional about "cheeky" offers and then deliberately over-pricing their property in a petulant huff. Talk about "cutting off your nose..."

 

[willair]

What I'm finding is all these crazy contracts at (predictably) 20% below.

So......we've raised our price to meet your 20% off need.

Silly really. Please buyers. Do your market research.

Why not as no one knows what sort of buyer will buy your home it depends on what key marketing features the properties have ,land or house value,you will always get the 20-30% offers just resign the contracts in the price range you want,and give it back to the agent the more competition between buyers and agents the better, but the question you have to ask yourself is if,the market is telling you the properties are worth 20%less than the listed price,and you have just gone up 20%, you may well sit on those ip's till the for sale signs fade into a blank sign..imho..
willair..

 

[kum yin lau]

Hi Liz, agree with you wholeheartedly.

My recent experience with selling : I increased the asking price ten thousand and got exactly the price we originally advertised.

My long ago experience with selling my sister's house: advertised at the price we'd take, didn't factor in discount rate. Of course, the buyer wants 10% off. The longer the house stayed on the market, the more buyers thought we'd take a pasting. It was the exact reverse. We didn't need to sell. Ended up with me buying it off my sister after the agency lapsed. My sister could give me that price because she didn't have to pay agent commision.

That actually was the beginning of my buying spree. Thank god I bought something I couldn't afford.

Good luck with your selling,
KY

 

[Liz]

Well, this was an interesting exercise.

Will-Air, our property was originally listed at $550,000 based on comparable sales in the area in the last few months. We reduced it to $450,000 based on the continuing economic downturn and at it's mid/low valuation price. Plus we know higher priced properties are really struggling. Plus it really is unique...180 ocean views no less. And the last one available.

So, I would call me an enlightened seller, unemotional, and not petulant. Really unwarranted comments, Ozpup. Please read the whole of my responses before you get your buyer's knickers in a knot. Just for the record 2 of our 3 agents think we are nuts!. But....could be Agent-Speak.

When I originally posted, I was fed up with the desperate investors seeking to build their portfolio by screwing you with their 20% under offers. Clearly these people HAVE NOT done their research. It was blind, repetitive, and predictable. But I'm sure a lot of buyers do. If I was buying. I would investigate thoroughly, go for a lower price, and negotiate up.

Handy-Andy that's great advice. And I shall take it on board. I'm wondering now whether to pull it off the market for 6 months.