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[ranganathan]

Pry kindly redirected me here from the Moving thread; feel free to redirect me if there's a thread already that I missed.

We've been on the market for a little over a month and have a possible buyer.  Our property is fairly unusual so we don't have the largest pool of buyers, so fingers crossed that this one comes through.  But Mr. Potential Buyer (PB) has done just enough research to be dangerous. He is sure, simply sure, that he doesn't need his own realtor, so he keeps e-mailing ours with questions.  Great, except the questions are obviously aimed at lowering our price, which is understandable but annoying. For example, he has done his homework and knows exactly what % house prices in our area have dropped since 2007.  So, Mr. PB suggests, our price should be that % lower. But guess what?  We had done the same homework and so our price is NOT set for 2007, so no, we aren't going to lower our price by that percentage.  That's just one example of at least 20 (no exaggeration) questions/suggestions he has sent. 

The latest? He has listed all of the upgrades he plans to do if he buys the house- think new lighting fixtures, bathroom cabinets, etc.  How much you want to bet that he asks for the price reduced by the amount he plans to spend on those upgrades? 

But really, he can ask all the questions he wants if he just puts in a contract!!!  I thought buying a house was stressful, but this side of the equation is much worse.

Anyone else need to vent?

[anon99]

The latest? He has listed all of the upgrades he plans to do if he buys the house- think new lighting fixtures, bathroom cabinets, etc.  How much you want to bet that he asks for the price reduced by the amount he plans to spend on those upgrades? 

Hmmm and I wonder if you had done all of those upgrades to your house, what the 'new' list price would be?  Buyers don't get that it doesn't matter what upgrades they want to do to the house after they buy it.  The list price is based on what the house is like now.

[compdoc]

Ranganathan, I'm not where you are, but one of my friends here spent almost a year trying to sell her house. It was totally a starter home and priced incredibly low (below what she bought it for 11 years ago, before the bubble really came to where we are).

One couple came in, listed all the things they wanted changed, and told her to do them before they would buy the house. They wanted 50% of the price in upgrades done and then for my friend to sell the house for the same price. Crazy.

I doubt this is what you are talking about, but if your carpet is shredding or the walls have holes, the cost of repairing or replacing those will come out of offers. I know that people often set their prices with those things in mind, but unless it's explicit ("Seller offers carpet allowance of $X"), many people assume it is not done. Most of us love our home, know what we paid for it and how much more we've put into it, and want to get that price. Unfortunately, for many, that's more than the house is worth in today's market economy--at least in many places.

We expect to put our house on the market for about what it was on the market at over a decade ago. And we've put on a new roof, replaced the rotten siding with concrete siding, etc. There's just a glut of houses in our area. We are seriously considering a listing of improvements, so that folks know we've thought of that. "06 new a/c, 06 new heater, 07 wood floors added, 08 new water heater, 09 new stove, 10 new refrigerator"... Then when they see what we paid and that it's about the same price, they will (hopefully) know not to adjust for the bubble bursting.

[ranganathan]

I doubt this is what you are talking about, but if your carpet is shredding or the walls have holes, the cost of repairing or replacing those will come out of offers. I know that people often set their prices with those things in mind, but unless it's explicit ("Seller offers carpet allowance of $X"), many people assume it is not done. Most of us love our home, know what we paid for it and how much more we've put into it, and want to get that price. Unfortunately, for many, that's more than the house is worth in today's market economy--at least in many places.

We expect to put our house on the market for about what it was on the market at over a decade ago. And we've put on a new roof, replaced the rotten siding with concrete siding, etc. There's just a glut of houses in our area. We are seriously considering a listing of improvements, so that folks know we've thought of that. "06 new a/c, 06 new heater, 07 wood floors added, 08 new water heater, 09 new stove, 10 new refrigerator"... Then when they see what we paid and that it's about the same price, they will (hopefully) know not to adjust for the bubble bursting.

Yep, we worked extensively with our realtor on getting the house into the most-sellable condition: new carpet, new flooring in other places, etc. We figured it would be easier to sell if we replaced items rather than offering a discount or credit.  But things like adding chair rails in the dining room, or replacing the tile surround on a fireplace? um, no.

I think buyers have heard so much about it being a buyers' market, they assume all sellers are delusional and need the buyers to educate them.  Our realtor worked a lot with us to find a price that was realistic and competitive based on current comps, but Mr. PB keeps asking her over and over how our price is justifiable. 

Good luck to my fellow sellers out there!

[compdoc]

I will also say that some sellers aren't reasonable. They don't talk to their realtor or they don't have a good realtor and they set their house at what they "know" it should sell at. For instance, let's say I was putting my house on the market today.

Eleven years ago it sold for X. I have put in $38,000 of improvements and upgrades. I should AT LEAST make X + $38,000, right? And since I also kept up the landscape and my tax appraisal has increased, the house must be worth more; it should be X+$38,000+??some more.

That's how many folks think when they put their house on the market. I know my father did. He's going to end up losing a lot because he does want to sell it and he's eventually going to come down enough that someone will see it, realize it has been on the market for a year (or however long) and drop their offer another 30%. Whereas, if Dad had done what you did, gotten a good selling price from his realtor (which she did not offer), he would have listed it the 10% he's dropped it already and it might have sold much more quickly.

I doubt the buyer who is going crazy trying to get you to come down 50% is going to make an offer you can accept, so you could just tell your realtor to ignore his emails. Or she might be doing that already, throwing them in a folder and reading them every two or three days, to avoid pulling all her hair out.

[octoprof]

I will also say that some sellers aren't reasonable. They don't talk to their realtor or they don't have a good realtor and they set their house at what they "know" it should sell at.

This market is so nuts that it's impossible to know. Ours has been on the market at well below what we paid for it in 2009, for 15 months now. We have lowered the price three times. The realtors just don't know how low we'll have to go to get it sold and we are already below what we owe on it. We'd still consider any serious offer that would get us out of it without leaving us in the red on savings, that is, we'd empty out our savings if it would get it sold!

[prytania3]

As I said on other threads, the buyers out there now tend to be bargain hunters. The bargains around here move within days--sometimes hours--but most of the bargains are REOs and short sales.

Realtors make a mistake of listing prices too high and then reducing the price. It is better to price a proerty to sell at the beginning.

I don't think it's a particularly good market for buyers or sellers.

[spork]

OP, this is the same kind of person that showed up at the yard sale I was having after my father died. Some woman came into the living room of my father's house, where everything was tagged at yard sale prices, and said in a snotty tone that she would only buy anything if the price was further reduced by a factor of four. I almost told her loudly to get the f*** out of my sight.

Your prospective buyer should be communicating through your broker, if you have one. If not, line up some friends to pose as fake buyers and have this person come by "so you can answer all of his questions" at the same time your friend is scheduled to arrive for a "showing." Your friend demonstrates a lot of interest in your house and an ability to pay asking price.

[irhack]

We're listing our condo next week and I will probably return here often to vent. We're in the Boston area, in a Very Good School District, yet slightly off the beaten path. Our particular neighborhood has seen price losses, and slooooow movement. We will take a loss, but it's time to move on, can't keep two kids and a dog in a 2 bedroom condo any longer. So frankly I'm hoping for any offer. We just need to pay off the mortgage... To do so we just need our place to go for 4% more than the smaller unit downstairs went for 2 years ago... our place is assessed at 6% more, so that's reasonable, right? Right?

[parispundit]

Are the kids teenagers of opposite sex? Cause otherwise they CAN share a bedroom, you know. And the smaller place is an excellent way to cut down on unnecessary garbage around the house. In other words, you're gonna take a loss n***** than the place downstairs if you sell.

[spork]

We're listing our condo next week and I will probably return here often to vent. We're in the Boston area, in a Very Good School District, yet slightly off the beaten path. Our particular neighborhood has seen price losses, and slooooow movement. We will take a loss, but it's time to move on, can't keep two kids and a dog in a 2 bedroom condo any longer. So frankly I'm hoping for any offer. We just need to pay off the mortgage... To do so we just need our place to go for 4% more than the smaller unit downstairs went for 2 years ago... our place is assessed at 6% more, so that's reasonable, right? Right?

Yes.

You should PM hesitant. He/she might be interested in a condo as a temporary solution.

[irhack]

done... though he seemed pretty dead set on moving to bridgewater or something. Our place is actual very central, almost Boston, on the T, but good schools.

[afm_man]

So we had it the other way around.  We bought a house last year at a very good price.  I guess the seller was not happy with the price and they took everything when they moved out.  I mean everything that was no glued down - mirrors, ovens, light fixtures, shelves, even toilet paper holders.  We did have a bit of a fit with the realtor since the contract stated they would leave many of the things.

[ranganathan]

So we had it the other way around.  We bought a house last year at a very good price.  I guess the seller was not happy with the price and they took everything when they moved out.  I mean everything that was no glued down - mirrors, ovens, light fixtures, shelves, even toilet paper holders.  We did have a bit of a fit with the realtor since the contract stated they would leave many of the things.

When we moved into our current house, we had to have our realtor go tell the seller's realtor to have the seller return the lights at the end of the driveway, which he had chiseled/jackhammered out.  We noticed lots of other things missing as time went on, but at the time it was easier to replace them on our own.  Installing a new mailbox (including post) was a PITA, though.

Mr. Potential Buyer has resurfaced and has made a lowball offer.  Since we were considering dropping our price, we're considering it, but we fear that the actual contract will have a million costly contingencies.  I'm trying to remain optimistic while keeping Mr. R from hunting down Mr. PB and shaking the wishy-washy-ness out of him. 

[fishprof]

I have been NOT selling my house for three years now. 

Bought it in town A when I started at school X.  Now married to teacher at school Y, which is 1 hour the other way.  Have moved to Town B in the middle, but cannot sell the house b/c it is in a lovely, but remote town.  The economic downturn changed a rural bedroom community into the boondocks and the housing market dropped by 25%.

I don;t even care about making money, just need enough to get out of the mortgage and move on.