Over priced real estate

[rockfan4]

Don't try to lowball me, I know what I got.

We're sort of hunting for a different place. Somewhere further out, with a few acres.
There's nothing that suits us for sale right now, except for two properties. The thing is, I think they're both overpriced.

Option one would be maybe further than my wife would hope for a commute time, but maybe still workable. It's been on the market 145 days as of today. Now I'm not going to claim Zillow gets it right with their Zestimate, but I find it amusing they raised their Zestimate when the property went on the market, and dropped it when they seller dropped the price.



Option two is a lot closer for the wife's commute. Not as nice of a house, and priced higher. This one has been on the market for 205 days, no price adjustments. Similar Zestimate graph.



Is there a way to negotiate with a seller who over-prices a property? From the photos, both are vacant. Maybe they don't need to sell, and are hoping for some sucker to come along. I could maybe work with numbers before the graphs shoot up.
I haven't toured either place.

[john70t]

Those are both "stale" as far sales go. Nobody wanted them the first time around so are sitting on shelf collecting taxes. You should also ask yourself why nobody wants them. There have been some crazy high sales in my neighborhood which has a decent and quiet location but was always working class-ish. There may be something major everybody else knows about, like the city being broke or a major local draw disappearing.

Being in the city vs a rural township might make a huge difference in terms of taxes. They add up over time. I've paid more in property taxes in one decade then I did for my house. And when things go bad they start first in the cities.

Buying closer in for the wife's commute might be convenient now, but times will change. Moving sucks.

You can always write an expiring contingency low-ball offer..with an easy escape clause such as "no problems found".
That might spark interest and negotiation. Or the realtor might toss it without notifying the owner.

See the house, research neighborhood sales first, and drive around on a Saturday night. Does it feel safe?

[Noah930]

Make an offer at a little lower than what you think you'd be willing to pay, and see what happens. If they've been sitting on the market for as long as you they've been, they've clearly been priced too high. What's the worst that happens? They say no?

[Chocaholic]

We are dealing with the same thing. It’s everywhere. Homes bought in 2020 for $550k hitting the market at $1.2M. Especially if water front. The hockey stick graphs are not unique to those properties. Do a random search and you’ll see they are everywhere. I think the market has realized that appraisals are no longer a thing. Value is simply the amount someone is willing to pay, no matter how ridiculous. And banks are happy to make those loans.

What could possibly go wrong?

[KFC911]

Where is McLovin? He would remember "THE" thread ...

RE is no longer "real"?
Equities share the same redonkulous valuations by earnings potential.

The private equity $$$ are behind a lot of generous cash offers in the past few years here.

Unsustainable.

My modest primary house virtually doubled in value in just a few years recently after 25 years of slow & steady modest gains.

Cheap and easy credit drove this madness nationwide for nearly 2 decades imo.

Wimpy wanted his hamburger... now it's Tuesday

Up, Up, Up....

[cabmandone]

The market time for both properties should tell the seller they're overpriced. A competitively priced home doesn't spend 100-200 days on the market. If you're working with a buyers agent, that agent SHOULD be able to produce an estimate of value on for the property that supports the offering price. If you're not working with an agent but know the market and what has sold, you can go online and print out the records for recent sales and present those with an offer.

[BK911]

You never pay too much, you just bought too soon.
I have overpaid for stuff I want.
After a couple years it all works out.
If you want/need it, and can afford it, don't worry about a few bucks.
Just my opinion of course.

I lost a 24.x acre lot that joined my 8 acre waterfront lot over 20k.
Now the value has doubled and I am kicking myself.

[rfuerst911sc]

It's been a while since I purchased a house , but isn't it true a bank will only lend $$$ for the appraised value minus the down payment ? Or has that changed ? Example: a house is appraised at 250k but the owner is asking 500k . I don't think any bank will give out a loan for the asking price . Am I wrong ?

Now if you have cash on hand to cover the over appraised value that's a different story . In my example above if you have the 500k and want the house bad enough then you buy it with cash .

[GH85Carrera]

There are several 1/4 sections of land that sit along I-35 a few miles from me. That corridor of I-35 has a lot of huge warehouses, truck stops and manufacturing facilities like Ditch Witch. Most of those unsold lots are owned by the same family since the land run, and have a one page abstract. They must want huge bucks for them as all around they are getting developed. It comes down to location location location for them. It is just tree covered non maintained land that the wildlife must love. Lots of deer and robins and bluebirds and every other critter. I really hope they never get developed.

[porsche tech]

Customer states to realtor what he wants and how much he wants to spend. Realtor says, “we had just what you’re looking for ten years ago.”

[jhynesrockmtn]

Dealing with a person who thinks their house/car/whatever is worth more than it is, is tough.

When my son graduated SF school a few years back they got stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma WA. They were in NC and could not travel to look at properties and the market was really difficult. He did find one, and ended up making an offer but was 4th or so on the list. His offer was full price, the others were more. Slowly they fell off and I got a call. Can you go look at the place for us and meet the inspector there?

The inspector turned out to be a retired SF soldier from the unit my son was joining. He pulled me aside before the inspection and said he'd been there before and the the place needed a lot of work. New roof and windows, some new siding, etc. Do you still want me to go through it? Sure, let's proceed.

Long story short, my son came back with a list of items that included fixing everything at their same price. It was all timing. They got the house. The seller had rejected several prior deals but they were out of time and relocating and needed to sell. They just moved from that place as a matter of fact.

Make an offer that makes sense to you. The rest is up to the seller and the universe.

[masraum]

I've seen this behavior many times. Lots of folks think their stuff is amazing. I've seen folks at garage sales, FBMP, craigslist, etc... selling old used crap at retail prices. Ordinary cars listed as if they were time capsule collector cars, and yeah, I've seen houses listed at crazy prices. I often wonder if the agent is OK with that or if they tried to explain to the seller that the prices is unrealistic.

It seems like what often happens is that they hold firm on their unrealistic price for a long time, and then eventually they reach a breaking point and take something much, much lower, but they don't accept higher offers earlier on.

[Rick Lee]

We're going to open houses every weekend now. A neighbor's house recently went on the market for about $200k more than I think it's worth. It's the same model as our house, but they've poured a ton of money in updates into it. But it's three rows of houses closer than ours to a noisy road. The listing agent was nice, but seemed a little smug, had gotten an offer minutes before we walked in. I got talking with the prospective buyers when we walked out and they were outside having a smoke. (Sheesh, that house was too nice to smoke in.). Now the house is back on the market and they're holding open house about five days per week. If they need to hold an house five days per week, why don't they just lower the price to the point that competing offers start rolling in?

I think every place we've looked at in the last month has had price drops before going under contract.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by jhynesrockmtn

Dealing with a person who thinks their house/car/whatever is worth more than it is, is tough.

When my son graduated SF school a few years back they got stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma WA. They were in NC and could not travel to look at properties and the market was really difficult. He did find one, and ended up making an offer but was 4th or so on the list. His offer was full price, the others were more. Slowly they fell off and I got a call. Can you go look at the place for us and meet the inspector there?

The inspector turned out to be a retired SF soldier from the unit my son was joining. He pulled me aside before the inspection and said he'd been there before and the the place needed a lot of work. New roof and windows, some new siding, etc. Do you still want me to go through it? Sure, let's proceed.

Long story short, my son came back with a list of items that included fixing everything at their same price. It was all timing. They got the house. The seller had rejected several prior deals but they were out of time and relocating and needed to sell. They just moved from that place as a matter of fact.

Make an offer that makes sense to you. The rest is up to the seller and the universe.

Don't you love it when the universe smiles on you (and your son in this case)? Good stuff!

[jhynesrockmtn]

Originally Posted by masraum

I've seen this behavior many times. Lots of folks think their stuff is amazing. I've seen folks at garage sales, FBMP, craigslist, etc... selling old used crap at retail prices. Ordinary cars listed as if they were time capsule collector cars, and yeah, I've seen houses listed at crazy prices. I often wonder if the agent is OK with that or if they tried to explain to the seller that the prices is unrealistic.

It seems like what often happens is that they hold firm on their unrealistic price for a long time, and then eventually they reach a breaking point and take something much, much lower, but they don't accept higher offers earlier on.

A house in our neighborhood sold a few years back to a teacher that I work with. It had been on the market for several months, which is very unusual for our area. Turns out the folks across the street had offered to buy it for the price it ended up selling for in the end. The sellers thought the offer was too low. They ended up selling for the same price and paying the realtors their 6%, therefore getting $40,000 less.

[cabmandone]

The interesting thing about open houses is, while I was in Real Estate, I rarely sold a home as the result of an open house. My broker once told me they're little more than an appeasement for the seller.
Another "rule"... the first offer is typically one of the better offers a seller will receive.

[speeder]

Wait...houses in WI. have gone from $200k to ~$800k since 2022, all while interest rates have doubled?? Wtf? Who is buying them now, Chinese tech bros? Doesn't the average American have LESS money than 3 years ago due to inflation, etc.? What am I missing here?

[BK911]

Originally Posted by speeder

Wait...houses in WI. have gone from $200k to ~$800k since 2022, all while interest rates have doubled?? Wtf? Who is buying them now, Chinese tech bros? Doesn't the average American have LESS money than 3 years ago due to inflation, etc.? What am I missing here?

A lot of houses are being bought up by corporations.
These corporations are buying up zip codes then dictating rental and sales value.
Soon you will own nothing and be happy.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by BK911

A lot of houses are being bought up by corporations.
These corporations are buying up zip codes then dictating rental and sales value.
Soon you will own nothing and be happy.

It sounds like all Americans who own homes have gotten a lot wealthier due to astronomic gains in RE values. And no one has to sell to a corporation, in fact I never would. Are you claiming that all home sales in 2025 are to corporations?

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by speeder

Wait...houses in WI. have gone from $200k to ~$800k since 2022, all while interest rates have doubled?? Wtf? Who is buying them now, Chinese tech bros? Doesn't the average American have LESS money than 3 years ago due to inflation, etc.? What am I missing here?

With the second one being 205 days on the market, seems no one is buying... The realtor that has the listing either likes wasting their time or is simply keeping it listed for inventory and not working the listing very hard.