A Tale of Two Units

[Doofrat]

I’ve posted about this unit before, and here’s an update and a question:

A tale of two units (which are attached to each other):

One unit is 1300 sq ft and one is 1600 sq ft.

the 1300 sq ft unit sold for $485,000 recently.

The 1600 sq ft unit was bought several years ago for $649,000. It has been listed for $669,000 for awhile (This is what they paid plus 3% commission, so that they will break even I’m speculating)

I had thought they would give up and take the unit off the market, but I was wrong. They have lowered the price to a range of about $557,000 to $649,000.

My question is, where do you think they will come up with the over $100,000 they stand to lose (sale price and commission) if they sell for $557,000?

[sdcellar]

When I see a range listing like that, I’m still pretty sure they want the $649K and have the low range there just to attract offers (ahh the idiotic brilliance of range pricing).

Since it’s possible that they put down $30-120K in the first place (probably the lower of the two), they might have some room to avoid bringing cash to closing. Even so, a tough loss to swallow.

If they really had to come up with $100K, that would sound tough, but I guess it depends on their circumstances. They might or might not have that kind of cash (or equity) somewhere. This listing seems to have signs of RE “investor” idiocy, but there could be more to it.

[Andrast]

Another thing to know about value range pricing is that it allows this listing to appear in a wider range of MLS searches. Technically, the asking price is still $649K but having the range allows the listing to appear when a maximum $$ search range is lower. In your scenario if someone searched for units between $500K and $600K this listing would not have appeared before the range was entered. Now that the lower end of their range is below $600K, this listing would show up in that same search. The idea being if someone is searching close to $600K, they may be interested to see something at $649K.

[no_such_reality]

And basically, if you have no intention of accepting an offer at the low end of the range, it’s deceitful.

[Reality]

If they sell for $557,000? How about if they sell for $357,000 in a few years?

Who cares where they do or don’t come up with the money? Let them go bankrupt. They bought at the height of the bubble. They can stay put for many years or take their medicine, which will taste worse later.

And they won’t be alone.

[Author]

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