New sales tactics?

[sakina96]

There are two houses on the same street in North County. Both have been on the market for at least 4 months and had a variable asking price of 840,000-950,000. Recently both have increased the low end of their asking price range to 875,000.

I can only think that they have been getting lowball offers and that they have decided to increase the low end of the asking price in hopes of getting a “higher” lowball offer.

Any other insights.

[JJGittes]

I think I know the ones you are talking about. (Isn’t there another 4 doors or so down for $799k thats been sitting for a year –serioulsy, a year– on the market?) Your guess is as good as mine as far as the tactic. But I can’t imagine the it will work since even ZIP realty’s site shows the price history, which looks exactly how it is….divorced from reality. Note to the agent and sellers of these and similar houses: if you want to sell you should immediately lop $75k off the prices, and be prepared to negotiate down from there. The mojo in SD HAS changed….and buyers smell blood in the water, as they should.

[sakina96]

You hit the nail on the head. How about the house on the next street over for a mere 1,050,000 to 1.2. Crazy.

[JJGittes]

Yeah, way crazy. But no crazier than $700-800 for all the junk in San Elijo (with hundreds more new ones on deck), or the same pricing for houses that are on top of each other in R Carillo east of melrose that have been sitting for 4-8 months. Really, its crazy everywhere, even before you factor in taxes and m-roos(total rates of 1.75% in Elijo developments). I used to like doing internet searches occassionally just to see what is out there. Now, all I see is the same way overpriced junk sitting month after month….with the occasional new one popping up with the same pricing. These people need to get a friggin clue, six figure price adjuctments are in order if they actually want to sell their tan stucco boxes.

[rankandfile]

It’s a staring contest at this point. Not buying at these outrageous prices is the best way to reduce the price. The problem is that the price has pushed so high so fast, that owners (with some leverage) can stand to wait a while. Even if prices drop by 50% they will still make money.

[JJGittes]

Ha, want more evidence of divorced-from-reality-wackiness, check out the 2392sf house for sale on Turnstone in 92011 for $900-950k. The EXACT same model on Merlin just closed on June 1 for $777k. Wait, let me guess, the plumbing fixtures on the $900k+ one are gold, thus calling for the $123-183k differential. Also, all the “reduced” banners on the pics in today’s UT crack me up. When you look at the original prices, most have been reduced maybe $15-25k on houses in the $750-950 range. Silly. Hey Dorothy, you are not in 2004-2005 anymore.

[sdrealtor]

While the turnstone house is overpriced I dont believe its as much as you suspect. The house on merlin backed up to a busy street. It a good market that can make a difference of $50K to $100K. In a buyers market it can make a house extremely difficult to sell. My guess is the house on Turnstone eventually sells around 825. If it was on the market 6 months ago they might have gotten closer to 850.

[JJGittes]

Busy street? Merlin is in the interior of the community and the merlin house backs to the west. There is no busy road behind it. Look at google maps and satellite picture, the merlin house backs up to another house, not a street. The turnstone house conversely is on the busiest street in the community, has no landscaping (I drove by) and most of the backyard is actually on the left side of the house behind an unusually long fence. The neighbors on both sides have 2 story houses and they look directly down into the yard of the house. It does face the park though, so I’ll give it that, for what its worth. The market is even worse now than when merlin sold, imo. But, I suppose when it comes to real estate there are plenty of fools in SD county, so maybe they will get over $800k (ie a 100K lower than what they are currently asking) sometime in the next 3, 6, 9 or whatever months.

[rankandfile]

Reducing these prices by $25K, $50K, or even $100K is a joke because they will still be overpriced. Yet, people will bite. It’s like when my wife comes home and tells me that she bought a shirt for $85 from Nordstrom’s. She justifies the purchase by noting that it was on sale and reduced from $160…for a shirt no less. I could’ve sworn I’ve seen that same (or eerily similar) shirt selling at Costco for $12.99.

[sdrealtor]

You are correct. I made the assumption that odd numbered streets are on the east side of the road as they are in most places around here. If that was the case, Merlin would have backed up to Hidden Valley. With that piece of information, Turnstone now has a best case of 800, probably less. And yes the market is worse now. Things really seemed to have slowed considerably the last 2 weeks. I think we can both agree that the house on Turnstone has little chance of selling anywhere close to what they are asking.

[JJGittes]

agreed. didn’t mean to sound snippy.

[sdrealtor]

No problem, it was my mistake for not taking the extra step the first time around to check the plat map on the assesors market. I deserved it.

BTW, my wife would look at the 50% off sale and buy it in 2 colors. Fortunately, she stays away from Nordy’s.

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