I wish the market time was only confined to San Carlos. First off we have to remember, always always always that the price is set by the seller. Doesn’t matter what type of sale it is, the price is set by the seller. Even short sales, perhaps they are set unrealistic at first in order to get the pipeline for authorization full but in the end they get adjusted. Market time will be 100% dictated by price which of course is a reflection of the motivation of the seller.
San Carlos market time is in line with other communities. I took a few zip codes and looked at detached homes and found the following:
zip total active over 100d under 100d %
92119 44 14 30 31.8
92122 29 10 19 34.4
92129 76 22 54 28.9
92131 82 25 57 30.5
92128 126 36 90 28.6
A few comments:
One thing that usually holds true is that higher priced communities will always have a larger % of homes with large market times. While the data above does not confirm that I don’t think any of these communities qualifies as high priced compared to uber expensive areas in the county. Second, this time of year is the time of lower inventory and dead weight. We will see an increase in inventory starting pretty much today that will continue over the next few months. Some of it will be recycled crap that didn’t sell last year. Additionally some of the actives over 100 days could be short sales where the agent sent in an offer to the pipe but is keeping the listing active which technically they should not do but is still done to this day.
Getting back to your direct question about the properties you looked at, are they overpriced? Of course they are if they have not been repriced. However chances are that they have not been set at the same price for the entire listing period, you have to look at the time they have been currently priced at.
This also leads to an important note for sellers. Pricing at a premium usually leads to a loss of net profit because you usually don’t get your price. You end up getting less traffic, increasing your market time, then chasing the market down. No matter how many sellers you tell this to, they usually have to learn it for themselves. In some cases the home is really exceptional and warrants pricing above comps. Usually this is not the case though.
Scarlett as to why these individual homes or any other homes on the market for so long are sitting there are always reasons. Have your realtor run a comp analysis on their pricing first. Have your realtor call the agent and have a frank discussion with them. Have the agent look at the confidential remarks and such. Is the home on a busy street? Are the neighbors horrible? There are always reason and the answers are usually easy to find with some legwork which is what your agent is for.
FYI – From the homes above you asked about:
The home on Golfcrest is not active and is contingent and a short sale. Golfcrest is also an artery that alot of people use and is a fairly busy street.
The home on Lake Alturas is contingent and not active either.
The home on Cedar Lake is active but by looking at the pictures… yeesh…
Lake Apopka is poorly priced but the seller is in no rush to sell as indicated by no price change for 100 days.
