still selling

[socalarm]

i posted a few times before about my intent to sell (starting July). An SFR in metropolitan LA, near Hollywood. From what I observed, the market probably peaked May ’06 and has been sliding since. We decided to sell in July and after listening to our agent, waited until the labor day weekend to list. He said the difference was major. I posted on this plan before, and I remember PS and few others thought it was complete stupidity (I thought they were right but couldn’t do anything about the plan by then).
Anyway, I promised to update as things unfold. The results of the two competing opinions are mixed. The market was dead, absolutely stone cold in July-August and has recently picked up. So waiting did help. But just about.
We have received a lot of ‘interest’ but one offer so far (It was 20% below not unlike prevailing opinions here, and came with a 24 hour expiration clause. We passed, because we can afford to stay if needed). There’s also a chance two others might bid on it judging by their frequent calls to our listing agent. I agree, it’s all academic and some of you might scream at me, but I’m the guinea pig here and I think I might have made the right decision passing such a lowball offer. A lot of the discussion seems to be about what happened or what will happen, so I thought I’d share the situation as it unfolds…

[VCJIM]

I remember your situation and appreciate the update!

[Daniel]

Thanks for posting your experience, socalarm. Much appreciated.

A bit off-topic (but still in the “trying to move a house” category), here is an e-mail I received today from the sales office at Del Sur (that’s a new place NE of Carmel Valley that’s been mentioned here before):
—————————
Great news from Cassero @ Del Sur!
If you are non contingent and able to close escrow by November 24, 2006, we have some fantastic values for you. In addition to our price adjustments we are including flooring (up to $25,000) as well as a lender incentive of $15,000. The lender incentive can be used to buy down the interest rates, closing costs or some options like epoxy flooring. Our homes have lots of upgrades already included in the prices.

These are some of the exceptional values we are offering for our paired Cassero homes.

Homesite 173-4 Plan 2 Spanish Exterior – Was priced at $781,900 New Price $630,900!
Homesite 174-5 Plan 1 Prairie Exterior – Was priced at $767,900 New Price $594,900! Extra large Yard!
Homesite 175-8 Plan 1 Monterrey Exterior – Was priced at $749,900 New Price $581,900!
—————————-
I’d say that they’re pretty aggressive.

[lendingbubblecontinues]

Interesting Daniel…

Very agressive indeed. Still, though, paying $581K for a “paired” home is absolutely ridiculous!!! You’d better hope you like the guy who buys nexts door to you, and hope he doesn’t resort to starting a meth lab in his bathtub to pay his bills when the ARM adjusts.

They should probably rename the development from “Cassero” to “Problemo”….same number of syllables, same POS over-priced houses….

[waiting hawk]

Good luck. Thanks for the update.

My website tracking Temecula and South Riverside County

[socalarm]

the strategy is a little poker-like right now, and not something i’m keen on. lowball man sent in the offer friday, just before my second, well-publicized open house. his agent is known to be a very aggressive person from beverly hills and has (correctly) advised him to come in really low.
i’m humble and not stupid enough to avoid feeling “insulted”. it’s a game in many ways.
my initial gamble was to list the house low – consensus opinion – and anticipate the drop. but price of course, is relative and if i’d priced it even a 100k lower i suspect his approach would’ve been the same. damned if you do…
in the current round, if i counter at a high price (just 5k lower than listing) i can try to “insult” him. he will probably walk. but if i counter low, he will have figured his hunch was correct and he will never raise. my only basis for this idea is that he came back with his offer today and has removed the 24 hr clause.
i feel like i’m bluffing and i’m not too pleased with the concept, but my hunch is to head this way. guinea pig update…

[sdcellar]

Daniel– The Casseros are the same ones I posted about here this morning.

I’m curious why some of these builders aren’t listing their better prices on the MLS? It’s like they need to sell these places so they need to price them more agressively, but they don’t want people to find out? The more I learn about builders, the more I think “weird”.

socalalarm– I don’t mean to highjack your thread because I’m very interested in your dealings. I’m sorry to say I don’t have any advice for you, but I do think you’re handling things reasonably. I’ve been through the process myself and it’s just real hard to say how things will work out when it comes to dealing with individuals. Good luck.

[desmoJ]

Re: Cassero & Del Sur………..MelloRoos

http://bubbletracking.blogspot.com/

[PerryChase]

socalalarm, much of the discussion here is about the San Diego market. LA and Orange County don’t seem to have dropped as much as San Diego yet. So you may still get lucky and get the price that you want to your house near Hollywood.

Please let us know what happens as time goes by.

[lindismith]

Yeah, I love the play by play, Socalalarm. Definitely keep us posted!

[Bugs]

SoCalAlarm,

If you really are priced well you can probably get your price, but it may take some patience. I hope it works out for you.

———-

Those price cuts in Del Sur are pretty big, like on the order of 20%+. Considering it hasn’t even been a year yet since that area peaked the rate of decline is pretty steep. They probably aren’t advertising it in the MLS yet because they don’t want to get lynched by their prior buyers; or their pending sales either. A PO’d owner in that neighborhood can do a lot of damage by posting a couple signs of protest in their front yard.

[socalarm]

So the poker move helped it seems…
As I’d posted earlier, I dropped the price by $5000, though the buyer’s offer had come in $100k lower than our listing.
If I’d matched his offer he would’ve felt his aggressiveness was well-founded. I’m sure he would’ve then gone on to demand all kinds of credits (repairs, maintenance).
I guess my resistance to drop the price more than a token was well-taken by him. My house has been fastiduously well-maintained and is still the nicest house in the neighborhood.
He signed the offer recently. His inspections are in and he’s satisfied enough to remove contingencies.
Now I hope the appraisal comes in ok.
I’m also selling him my furniture. I want to leave with a couch and all my books. It’s time to sketch, write and travel.
I signed a rental lease with an artist loft.

Absurd thought for the day: It struck me people buy cars all the time. That’s a known depreciating asset but the majority of the population buys a depreciating asset. Despite subscribing to most of the doom and gloom here, I hate to roll up the blinds, but unless the pivotal idea of ownership changes in a society, people will always buy something of value…it’s not all a scam

[Chrispy]

Comparing a car to a house – cars get a lot more use and abuse than a house – hence their depreciation.

[socalarm]

i agree. just being tongue in cheek about buyer psychology. having gone through a stressful month of selling, waiting, negotiating, listening to my agent, that single factor emerged the strongest.

i hope to close this week.

[Diego Mamani]

I think socalarm has a very interesting point here (the car vs house comparison). It is true that cars have lots of wear and tear. However, people don’t just buy them for transportation. If that were that case, people would buy a car, take good care of it, and keep it for over 150,000 miles or over 12 years. Most people change cars more often than that though. And that’s really dumb, from a financial perspective. We change cars more often than necessary, which means we are buying expensive, depreciating assets more often than what usual wear and tear would justify.

[Author]

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