‘Double The Inventory And We Still Have A Shortage’
The Patriot Ledger reports they are still talking about a shortage in Massachusetts. “Where have all the buyers gone? A single-family home on the market now takes an average of 121 days to sell, compared with 96 days a year ago. Condo sales are almost as sluggish. Those trends have led to a record number of housing units on the market in Massachusetts for a second month in a row.”
“‘This trend is going to continue to a flattening-out of appreciation to the 3, 4, 5 percent range,’ said David Wluka, the president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. Wluka said more than two-thirds of the homes on the market are priced above what someone with a median income in the Bay State can comfortably afford.”
“‘The mismatch (between incomes and home prices) continues and it’s another concept that’s hard to get across to people,’ he said. ‘Here we have double the inventory we had last year and we still have a housing shortage.’”
“Richard Cahill, president of (a) Norwell-based real estate agency said he believes the market may actually be reaching its bottom. ‘People try to figure out where is the end and where is the beginning’ of a trend, he said. ‘The next thing people will be saying is, ‘Heck, I wish I bought when it was there.’”
The Needham Times has this report. “Needham’s median price fell from last year by $59,000 to $582,000. Many local real estate agennts consider the fall in prices an adjustment to the double-digit increases seen over the past few years.”
“‘Prices moderated slightly since late winter or early spring,’ said (agent) Rich Gatto. ‘It feels as if sellers are getting more realistic.’”
“Gatto said clients were trying to fetch prices as high as their neighbors received a year or two ago. But the properties were remaining on the market month after month. Eventually, sellers were convinced to lower their list prices.”
“A couple of years ago, an ‘all-time’ high for numbers of properties listed was 116, according to (broker) Louise Condon. As of last Sunday, 231 single-family homes were for sale in Needham. ‘The stock just doubled,’ Condon said. ‘People had their choice.’”
“Despite the price adjustments and plethora of options for buyers, though, (consultant) Harriet Lieb said properties just sit, unsold. ‘There are some really good buys out there, but they are just not going,’ Lieb said. ‘There should be a run on these houses, but there isn’t.’”
“The Needham Times has this report. “Needham’s median price fell from last year by $59,000 to $582,000. Many local real estate agennts consider the fall in prices an adjustment to the double-digit increases seen over the past few years.”
“‘Prices moderated slightly since late winter or early spring,’ said (agent) Rich Gatto.
They did NOT moderate. They DECLINED. Stopping using these misleading terms.
David
http://bubblemeter.blogspot.com
And the same type of talk will be rolling off Liar-eah’s lips when we see YoY declines for existing home prices on a national basis when the June numbers are released…the peak was June 2005, and May’s prices were only 0.4% above that level.
There is so much BS in this article I scarcely know where to start! So I’ll choose just one extra-big stinker to respond to:
I want to throttle this lying sack of shite.
Wluka’s own organization, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, just reported - and quoted in this same article! - that median prices of single-family homes in Massachusetts are 1.2% lower YOY (May ‘06 compared to May ‘05).
That’s right, lower, as in falling prices. (The Warren Group independently reported that the drop was over 4%!).
So what’s this steaming pile from Mr. Wluka about how appreciation is simply going to flatten out?! Appreciation has already gone bye-bye you lying idiot! Your own organization just said so!
Home prices in MA are falling right now. How does he get “flattening appreciation” from prices that are falling right now?
FALLING. RIGHT. NOW. YOU. LIAR.
It’s not just a self-serving lie, it’s a ridiculous self-serving lie, immediately provably false to anyone who’s paying any attention whatsoever. And the reported doesn’t exercise any critical thinking skills to point it out. I’m disgusted.
(Apologies if this posts twice… the first attempt went MIA)
There is so much BS in this article I scarcely know where to start! So I’ll choose just one extra-big stinker to respond to:
I want to throttle this lying sack of sh!te.
Wluka’s own organization, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, just reported - and quoted in this same article! - that median prices of single-family homes in Massachusetts are 1.2% lower YOY (May ‘06 compared to May ‘05).
That’s right, lower, as in falling prices. (The Warren Group independently reported that the drop was over 4%!).
So what’s this steaming pile from Mr. Wluka about how appreciation is simply going to flatten out?! Appreciation has already gone bye-bye you lying idiot! Your own organization just said so!
Home prices in MA are falling right now. How does he get “flattening appreciation” from prices that are falling right now?
FALLING. RIGHT. NOW. YOU. LIAR.
It’s not just a self-serving lie, it’s a ridiculous self-serving lie, immediately provably false to anyone who’s paying any attention whatsoever. And the reported doesn’t exercise any critical thinking skills to point it out. I’m disgusted.
They can keep telling the “There is no Boogyman” story all they want, but one day soon he’s gonna spring from under the bed and start ripping limbs off people.
That is funny, and I miss Auction Heaven’s posts.
I love the dark humor.
prices falling, y-o-y, for FIVE months in a row. I wish reporters, when quoting a liar like this, would point the obvious lie out to readers.
I’m not sure they can. They are by and large financially illiterate. I think many most average reporters like most average Americans read the numbers but don’t extract the meaning out of them.
Then again, maybe that’s just my wishful thinking. Maybe I’m in denial because I would prefer to believe they don’t know any better than to believe they are intentionally and maliciously deceptive spin-doctor tools of the real estate machine.
As a former newspaper reporter, I can assure you that the avg business beat writer on your local newspaper knows next to nothing about business or real estate. Or at least no more than the avg Joe.
Here in San Francisco, the woman covering RE (”Surreal Estate” is her column) has a cute style of writing but is definitely light on insight and understanding. Throughout the boom, her basic meme was “Gee, prices sure is going up!”
To top it off, she finally bit the bullet herself and bought a home last year right at the top.
So much for savvy reporting.
The unwinding of the RE bubble will come as a great surprise to most of the reporters who have been covering RE for the past few years. You can be certain of that.
Thanks for the validation… I feel much better about the world now.
Don’t ascribe to malice what can be explained by stupidity.
Liar liar pants on fire!
Lia-reah Lia-reah, pants full of diarrhoea.
“Despite the price adjustments and plethora of options for buyers, though, (consultant) Harriet Lieb said properties just sit, unsold. ‘There are some really good buys out there, but they are just not going,’ Lieb said. ‘There should be a run on these houses, but there isn’t.’”
You’ve got to be kidding me. Your shocked that you can’t find a bigger fool. No buyers in this market says it all. We are no where the bottom. 30% +++++ corrections heading your way. About time.
30%+++++ corrections…..yep
“‘This trend is going to continue to a flattening-out of appreciation to the 3, 4, 5 percent range,’”
He got the numbers right, not the punctuation: -34.5 percent…try that
Lord, that’s good. You really are a rainman.
A classic quote.
Deflationary thinking is taking hold in many RE markets right now. Folks EXPECT lower prices, so they are waiting. That’s how it works.
In addition, you simply have a supply/demand thing going on. The last few years saw an enormous bump in home sales as many were convinced prices would continue ever higher and they either 1) didn’t want to get priced out, or 2) wanted to get on the gravy train.
In many of the hotter markets, this action simply borrowed demand from the future. So when a realtor writes “there should be a run on these houses, but there isn’t,” that should tell you something. The fact remains: those who would have bought in 2006 (and 2007 no doubt) already bought in 2004 and 2005. So we have reduced demand meeting up with ballooning supply.
This imbalance will take both lower prices and more time elapsed to rectify.
“Richard Cahill, president of (a) Norwell-based real estate agency said he believes the market may actually be reaching its bottom. ‘People try to figure out where is the end and where is the beginning’ of a trend, he said. ‘The next thing people will be saying is, ‘Heck, I wish I bought when it was there.’”
________________________________________________________
Translation = I have two house payments, two car payments, two kids in college and a wife who spends too much on the credit cards - so buy a dam house cuz I need the commissions!
Lol. A 10% haircut and he thinks it bottom. How about another 10% by the end of the year , than another 10% in 2007,than who knows .
I wish Mr Cahill would buy some houses if he really believes in what he says. I am so glad most of the fools appear to have jumped in in the last two years and now we have smart people waiting for the kill. May be 2007 June, I have timed my rental lease to run out at that time.
Yeah, hopefully he has some listings. The sellers can say, “But Dick — I can call you Dick, right? We’re friends? — But Dick, why don’t YOU just buy my house? If you don’t, the next thing you’ll be saying is that you wish you had. Dick.”
it’s nice to see that wluka has a soul mate to spout their babble with. geez.
While it’s entertaining to make fun of these bozos, it’s foolish to think they’d say anything else. They are, after all, salespeople. If you go to your Best Buy and ask the salesperson, “Is now a good time to buy a computer,” would you expect any other answer than a resounding, “YES!”
Actually, don’ t disparage Best Buy employees.
I was in there last week looking at computers. The salesguy advised me to wait for Windows Vista release to buy a new computer.
Funny. That reminds me when I use to work in electronic/computer sales. I always said the item you buy now will be obsolete in a few months. There was no commission (just like BB), so I had no incentive to lie.
BTW: I agree with waiting for Vista-based PCs if you care about DirectX 10 and HDCP compliance. If you’re just emailing, web surfing, and using standard apps, you probably don’t need to wait. Into PC gaming and/or HD videos, maybe you should.
really? you might be waiting a long time…
I didn’t say it was good advice. I would not wait.
Although now that Macs are on Intel chips that is an interesting angle.
I am really tired of random reboots due to driver conflicts.
“‘The mismatch (between incomes and home prices) continues and it’s another concept that’s hard to get across to people,’ he said. ‘Here we have double the inventory we had last year and we still have a housing shortage.’”
Hmmm…supply up…demand down…prices still high…concept hard….brain failing to understand…unnnh…
Is your real name Homer Simpson?
“The mismatch (between incomes and home prices) continues and it’s another concept that’s hard to get across to people.”
Says it all.
The boom was the result of single-minded group think - many decisions acting as one. The bust will be borne of many single decisions acting as many single decisions. Kinda like a manual tranny slapped into reverse at 90 - a grinding and gnashing of teeth.
” Wluka said more than two-thirds of the homes on the market are priced above what someone with a median income in the Bay State can comfortably afford.”
Mr. Wluka, this just didn’t happen overnight. You told us things were fine, that the Spring buying season would be great, prices would go up and to keep buying. Are you now telling us you and your cronies were damn liars.
“‘Here we have double the inventory we had last year and we still have a housing shortage.’” Another damn lie? If this were true, why aren’t these houses just jumping off the inventory lists?
“‘There are some really good buys out there, but they are just not going,’ Lieb said. ‘There should be a run on these houses, but there isn’t.’” Ah, Ms. Lieb, just what is a good buy? I’ll tell what a good buy is; just sit tight, watch prices go down, down, down and in about three years if you are still in the business you will discover what a good buy is.Hopefully in three years you’ll be driving the local school bus.
“‘Here we have double the inventory we had last year and we still have a housing shortage.’” Another damn lie? If this were true, why aren’t these houses just jumping off the inventory lists?
Well partially true, we have a shortage of properly priced homes. So we have lots of homes at totally unrealistic prices and more coming on line every day.
I see it all over in the OC, in the condo complex where my friend lives, we have the same condo’s with nearly the same views priced from $449K to $520k, with almost nothing to distinguish them from each other. Another neighboorhood has 2 SFH homes right next door, nearly identical, one is 850K, the other is 650K, the only difference is that one is 1650 sqft, and the other is 1900sqft, it basically has a small bonus room on the first floor. $800sqft for that bonus room. 2 homes, one isn’t really even on the market at that price.
We should use the term, there is a shortage of rationally priced homes.
may be he meant “shortage of buyers”
No. Shortage of brains.
‘People try to figure out where is the end and where is the beginning’ of a trend, he said. ‘The next thing people will be saying is, ‘Heck, I wish I bought when it was there.’”
Man, I feel like going off on a rant, but I’ll contain myself.
For those of you that are reading this and truly wonder where this “bottom” might be, it’s when this market finally reaches a healthy equilibrium according to historical norms. Here we have this article stating that over 2/3 of homes are priced above what people can actually afford (which think is very conservative) and he thinks he’s reached a bottom. Unless we see a major increase in wages in a very short peroid of time, we’re no where near a bottom.
One of the terrible fears that has been pushed into peoples minds is the old “better buy now or be poriced out for ever.” People immediatly react on the fear side of the equation instead of stopping to ask themselves “Hmmmm, so what happens when everyone is priced out the market? Do people just stop buying homes? Will construction come to complete halt? Where will people live?” You see, if people would just question the idiocy and use their reasoning abilities they would see that this trend is UNSUSTAINABLE!
Boy, I could really eleborate along this line of thought, but time is not on my side right now. I’ll leave it to other posters.
Agree with you 100% . And if you presented your logic to the average realtor they would give you the “deer in the headlights stare”, and than they would proceed with sales pitch #2 which is ……..”but they are running out of land “,or sales pitch #3 ,”real estate is a good tax write off and your wasting your money renting .”
or pitch #4, we are on the “international radar” and “immigrants, wealthy foreign nationals, *insert name of any fairytale investor*”
#6, its different here because of the “weather, zoning rules, desirability, etc”
#7, 15% appreciation is “in the bag”
#8 - Okay, it looks like prices have stabilized, but Interest rates are going up, up and up. Buy now or be priced out for-ever-ever-ever!!!
“…if people would just question the idiocy and use their reasoning abilities…”
My opinion is that a lot of people (especially here in CA) have, somewhere along the line, lost their reasoning abilities.
I agree, and the truly tragic aspect is that they don’t even miss their absent reasoning abilities.
That makes me want to throttle ‘em.
Reasoning hasn’t been valued for a long time.
I think it’s really simple. The bottom will be when people stop looking for it and have a revulsion toward all things RE.
It’s like they always tell single people who are trying to hard to find a mate - you know that bs about how you’ll find someone when you stop looking.
…it’s when this market finally reaches a healthy equilibrium according to historical norms.
This may be where it ends up but I would argue that the true bottom will be the deepest trough of the overcorrection to the downside.
IOW, the Marianas Trench of the RE bubble
I’ve just been reading Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”. I know, I know… but I never got around to it in High School. Anyways, here is a quote from near the beginning of the book regarding buying a house.
“That evening the three made their report to the men – the thing was altogether as represented in the circular, or at any rate so the agent had said. The houses lay to the south, about a mile and a half from the yards; they were wonderful bargains, the gentleman had assured them – personally, and for their own good. He could do this, so he explained to them, for the reason that he had himself no interest in their sale – he was merely the agent for a company that had built them. These were the last, and the company was going out of business, so if any one wished to take advantage of this wonderful no-rent plan, he would have to be very quick. As a matter of fact there was just a little uncertainty as to whether there was a single house left; for the agent had taken so many people to see them, and for all he knew the company might have parted with the last. Seeing Teta Elzbieta’s evident grief at this news, he added, after some hesitation, that if they really intended to make a purchase, he would send a telephone message at his own expense, and have one of the houses kept. So it had finally been arranged – and they were to go and make an inspection the following Sunday morning.”
The parallels to today are AMAZING. The rest of the chapter is here.
It seems we have come full circle in many ways.
At least they were smart enough to realize that they MIGHT be getting swindled - unlike the FB’s of today, who never even consider the fact that something ’smells’ off.
I’ve never read The Jungle either, might be something fun to pick up.
From economics to Upton Sinclair. Beautiful, freepness. This english major stuck in the redwoods thanks his lucky stars for this blog everyday.
I can think of several adjectives for ‘The Jungle’ (and Sinclair’s reasons for writing it).
“Fun” is not one of them.
“Richard Cahill, president of (a) Norwell-based real estate agency said he believes the market may actually be reaching its bottom. ‘People try to figure out where is the end and where is the beginning’ of a trend, he said. ‘The next thing people will be saying is, ‘Heck, I wish I bought when it was there.’”
yeah right!
http://www.jackconway.com/index.asp
rcahill@jackconway.com
or
info@jackconway.com
When are these idiot realtors going to understand macroeconomic financial principals? Interest rates are RISING, it cost more per month now than it did two years ago to buy - when people were stretched to make the monthly payments. With liquidity in the mortgage market subsiding, reguatlory clamp downs on credit worthiness of borrowers and rising rates leads to NO BUYERS with properties priced as they are. You can’t talk the housing implosion from not happening !
No more first time buyers that can qualify. Even for those who are thinking to upsize, they may think twice. For example: a homeowner can sell his 400K home (with 200K outstanding loan on a 30 yr fix of 4.5%). Now he want to upsize to a 600K home. That means he would have to take out 400K loan on a 30 yr fix of nearly 7% now. In effect, he had to pay additional 2.5% more on his original principal of 200K. That’s easily extra $500/month not including the additional $200K on top.
everybody talks about the soft landing because rates are still at historical lows. great concept, but what they don’t grasp is that housing has doubled, so $400,000 at 7% is the same as $200,000 at 14%. writing is on the wall.
Good point!!! I can use that in my everyday conversations with colleagues and family.
Actually, it’s worse than that … it’s equivalent to $200k at 15.82%
Here is the scary part.
In previous RE downturns, lowering rates on the way down helped cushion the landing and probably prevented the late 80’s bubble from becoming a complete train wreck. This time around we won’t have falling rates to cushion the fall, so falling prices will need to shoulder all the weight by itself.
While the RE industry touts low rates as a positive, I see it as a liability. Affordability is dismal with low rates. At least if rates were high, one could argue that we could ease ourselves out of this mess by lowering rates, thus increasing affordability, and waiting for the fundamentals to catch up to prices, as was the case in some previous RE bubbles.
When the rates were dropping realtors told us that all that mattered was the monthly payment, so higher prices were justified by lower rates…so now that rates are rising they should be saying that prices should drop accordingly…no, wait, that’s not what they’re saying…uh, oh, another hard concept.
OT but question for nnvmtgbrkr:
There used to be a stockbroker in Bakersfield with a radio show that was telling everybody going into the dot.com bust and after to keep buying dot.com stocks all the way down. At the bottom he just buried his head in the sand and played like it never happened. Shortly after he moved his dog and pony show to Reno (jon sanchez, stocktalkamerica) and my question to you is he now a great promoter of RE interests in your area or did he just pack up and move on?
Yes!! What happened to Mr. Sanchez??? He was a pumper of B2B and .bombs. I wondered where he went. I know he lost people a lot of $$$.
His website says he has a Bachelor’s degree from University of Phoenix. http://tinyurl.com/gob8e
And the University of Phoenix isn’t even a real school, from what I understand. It’s essentially a business that sells mail-order degrees.
So that’s where that a**hole came from. Yeah, he’s a real beauty! Got his own little thing going with NBC local where he gets to spout his worthless advice on the morning news. The worst had to be last summer when he made a comment about refinancing your home for cash-out to invest in a retirement plan. It was early morning when I saw it and I just freaked! Woke my wife up and had the cats running for cover.
“‘The mismatch (between incomes and home prices) continues and it’s another concept that’s hard to get across to people,’ ”
Can someone explain to me who these people are this used car salesman, (oops, - I mean realtor) is trying to get this concept across to. Maybe if he continues to call the price changes an “adjustment”, people will be convincince to buy what they cant afford. If these people were smart, they would just wait for all the foreclosures happening on those no-interest loans that were dished out.
Class today we are going to brush up on our Realtorspeak. I want you all to complete this sentence. “The best time to buy is ___”.
“Now, because otherwise I’ll be priced out forever.”
or
“now, because they aren’t making any more land.”
Am I right?
Very good! Gold star for samk.
According to the NAR ,after the speculators are weeded out of Florida will be a good time to buy ,(Ist quarter 2007 )LOL.
Am I right ?
Ahn!! Wrong answer. Go to the back of the class Housing Wizard. I can see that I will be grading papers all day. Alas, the correct answer is a) now!
Always now! (If you wait - the payment on my Lexus will be late!)
In San Francisco, quoting directly:
“It’s always a good time to buy!”
…any time you can, anywhere, and with any type of financing because real estate always goes up!
nothing always goes up, and everything goes down. It is reality. If a drink that cured death was invented prices would go up, but eventually they would go down. Not because people would want to die, but because of market fluctuations.
Some nice graphy goodies here showing the state of the Mass house market:
http://masshousemarket.blogspot.com/
“‘The mismatch (between incomes and home prices) continues and it’s another concept that’s hard to get across to people,’ he said. ‘Here we have double the inventory we had last year and we still have a housing shortage.’”
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
Buyers, take heart, as the supply glut will eventually lead to price reductions. And sorry, sellers — the albatross around your neck has already dropped in value, and you would be wise to sell it sooner than to wait until later, when its value will have dropped by lots more.
The next thing people will be saying is, ‘Heck, I wish I sold when it was there.’
UK holding steady 2 years after the start of their “crash”
kinda slow ain’t it ?
Ever seen the chart of a stock that has a big down move and then goes sideways for awhile while that move is digested.
Then the next leg down starts.
Then the next leg down starts.
Or it doesn’t. Sometimes a move up happens.
UK is a bit more built out than the American west, neh?
Here’s why no one is “snapping up” these bargains in Mass.:
Bracketed Italianate on the Cambridge/Somerville line located within a half block to the shops, restaurants, and public transportation at Porter Square. Wood floors. Basement laundry hookups. Currently no heat or water service to the house; property is uninhabitable and is being sold “as is”. Although the house is in need of a total rehab, it offers numerous possibilities to a buyer with vision.
List Price: $599,000
MLS # 70415126
You can get by without heat or water in Cambridge. Actually, I’ve been noticing more listings that say things like “bring a flashlight” or “enter at your own risk” (my favorite). And also at prices nearly equal to a fully rehabbed house. I guess if the flippers aren’t buying these up anymore, the sellers feel they should get the flipper’s profits.
here in arizona the adds read, high profile 4×4 recomended, water haul,solar,septic.
Reminds me one of the places I saw for sale on the MarinPOS blog. “Enter at own risk”, etc. Pretty hilarious, an absolute falling apart shack for $290K.
Check it out here.
http://tinyurl.com/jvew9
Please stop , Mr Bernanke! Please! We need that easy credit!
Americans opposed additional credit tightening by an almost 3-to-1 margin, nearly identical to the current findings.
Wow! There are a lot more whiney bottle babies out there than I thought. Waa!! I’m in debt up to my eyeballs and I need low rates. Waa! We want Greedscam, we want Greedscam…
Given our negative savings rate and addiction to credit cards and home-equity-ATM financing of consumption expenditures, is it any surprise that a majority of Americans want the Fed to keep spiking the punch bowl?
I’m tired of this “buyer’s market” stuff. I few percentage points off of incredible highs is not a bargain or a buyer’s market. Was the NASFAQ falling to 4600 after its peak a bargain? That’s a few percentage points also. I drive around town for my job its not my imagination, there are tons of added homes for sale.
Talked to an agent back in Jan. in SF Bay Area for kicks and giggles. She assured us then that it was a “buyer’s market” because there was oh, 2-3 months worth of inventory in the county in which we were looking. (Supposedly a market is “balanced” at 6 months worth of inventory and in a buyer’s market at 7+ months). She was a font of priceless quotes. One was that we could roll over our newfound equity in a year’s time–at least $100,000 by her estimation–into a bigger house. So let’s see, a buyer’s market means house prices are going up by double digits percentages in year? (Not to mention her transparent attempt to bag not just one commission out of us, but–if she could brainwash us–two commissions in about a year’s time!) She also believed the governments of the world would never let the housing market burst–because what’s good for people who bought in 2001 or earlier is clearly best for everyone. When she started in on these theories, she had that crazed fire-and-brimstone evangelist look in her eye. In the Bay Area, real estate agents are scary, scary folk.
AS for Norwell, MA, for the worst 30 mile commute in the metro area, you get this:
Norwell, MA� 02061
MLS ID#: 70391021
$309,900
2 Bed, 1 Bath
768 Sq. Ft.
0.5 Acres
No bubble here…
Good link:
http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/articles/2006/06/29/in_slumping_house_market_creative_thinking_required/
When I read an article about renting versus buying by a journal, they always seem to include the quote from realators: Since house go up in the long term, now is always a good time to buy. Such a conclusion was even reached by a journalist posting on “The Street.com.
We will know that the convential wisdom has changed when journalists starting adding something like: “but if the value of your home goes down by $100,000 and your downpayment is $20,000 you now have an $80,000 liability. Maybe you will break even in 5-10 years, especially if you have a 20 year loan. In this scenario, waiting a few years makes sense.
Richard Cahill, president of (a) Norwell-based real estate agency said he believes the market may actually be reaching its bottom. ‘People try to figure out where is the end and where is the beginning’ of a trend, he said. ‘The next thing people will be saying is, ‘Heck, I wish I bought when it was there.’”
Wow, Richard go ahead and some houses yourself and stop BSing the rest of us. At least you can save on the commissions.
talked to my real estate agent last night about putting in 20% low-ball offers (in Redondo Beach)..and this is how the conversation basically went:
1) 10% of list price is now a no-brainer…its a good place to start the negogiation process..and with counter offers, expect to pay around 5 - 7% less the listed price.
2) Can go 15% below listed price is the seller is motivated..and with counter offers, expect to pay around 8 to 10% less than listed price. (keep in mind, seller motivated properites in Redondo Beach are usually $hit boxes or WAY overpriced.
3) As for 20% of listed properties..she said the market is slowing down but not to that level..thinks prices will not come down in that area…and blah blah blah..this is a great time to buy now blah blah blah..
BTW..all I could think about were how great her boobs were when she was talking about point #3. I meet her last weekend with my wife..and in talking to her for 15 mins in front of my wife..I DID NOT ONCE LOOK AT HER CHEST…NOT ONCE. The least she can do is put low ball offers for me.
I’ve wondered for a while if attractive women as RE agents helps sell a property, particularly if it’s a ‘family home’. In many areas, an attractive salesperson (e.g. IT equipment sales) helps tremendously. Does it in RE? How many wives get pissed off at their husband’s oggling the agent? Or does the desire of the man to see the attractive woman again outweigh that?
My wife and I were looking at a small home around the corner from us, just gone on the market with an agent (has been FSBO since March 2005). She was a very cute girl, maybe 23 or 24, and we couldn’t decide if that was going to help her or not. She needs all the help she can get, given the price she’s asking.
This was a 3bed/1bath 900sqft house, with very small yard and detached single car garage, limited potential for expansion. Good area in Mountain View, CA. Bought early 2005 for $560k, a moderate amount of work done to the house to a high standard. Sat on market from March 2005 to Sept 2005 as FSBO, then For Rent at $2k per month, then FSBO again in Dec 2005, then by an agent last month. Asking price $790k. No reductions yet.
Oh, and I rent a larger 3 bed/2 bath 2 minutes walk away for $1700/month.
“I DID NOT ONCE LOOK AT HER CHEST…NOT ONCE. The least she can do is put low ball offers for me.”
Your post gives new meaning to the term “property bust.”
Not to mention “low ball” :twisted:.
The Patriot Ledger reports they are still talking about a shortage in Massachusetts. “Where have all the buyers gone? A single-family home on the market now takes an average of 121 days to sell, compared with 96 days a year ago. Condo sales are almost as sluggish. Those trends have led to a record number of housing units on the market in Massachusetts for a second month in a row.”
Sounds like a pretty serious buyer shortage, all right.