But this was a short sale and should have been done in an open market bidding system that is transparent to all buyers. You been on that diatribe many times. This was as far from transparent as a deal could be. Change of heart?
If you saw a 1.15M short sale in contingent status would you bother to go look at it if you were looking to spend 900K? I’m guessing you arent running around looking at short sales in contingent status with accepted offers at asking prices $250K more than you are willing to spend. I cant imagine that the percentage of buyers who would do that even approaches 1%.[/quote]
It was first listed in Jan 2009, delisted the next day – then put back on with a new MLS in Feb 09. rinse and repeat – list/delist… but basically on the market the whole time… until Jan 2010 when it’s marked contingent. That must not have worked – because in Aug 2010 it’s relisted.
Later that month – it’s listed again (7th MLS since Jan 09) at $1,050,000. A couple price changes upward… then it’s contingent in Oct and then Dec 09. It’s relisted Feb 16, 11, with a price change to 1,130,000. 2 days later it’s marked contingent.
It seems like anyone who wanted to make an offer on this could. And that at least 3 offers had occurred previously (3 contingents before the final one.)
How was this not transparent?[/quote]
Agree, UCGal. From the photos on Redfin (more realistic than SDL’s “glamorous ones”) showing the condition of floors/kitchen and work needed (drywall/insulation, flooring etc) and the fact that the property is listed “as-is” would scare off a lot of buyers, I could easily believe that one or more previous buyers in escrow backed out. These partial hillside “mid-century” modern homes are not for everyone. It is very possible this one had problems with structural supports and did not pass engineering tests. I think $900K was a fair price for a buyer with addt’l resources to complete the work on it and knows how (and who to use) to get that work done. The LA may have contacted someone they knew who had this knowledge and experience and told them about this once-in-a-lifetime listing after the repeated escrow fallouts. I certainly know a few of these contractor-types.
