At what point do you, dear fellow colleague and wonderful real estate companion, stop and say, “Okay, maybe I under-priced this property a bit, so I’ll just go ahead and raise the marketing price $100,000 now, so I don’t make a lot of agents and their buyers think they stand a snowball’s chance in hell of getting this property?”
Case in point, 139 Corbett, a Single Family Home in “Corona Heights” (we can just call this almost heart-center Castro), with three bedrooms, two baths, two car parking, expansion potential down, a yard, and big (nay, fantastic) VIEWS of Eureka Valley/Castro…asking $799,000:
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There were 30+ offers! My client offered $932,000 and wasn’t even close. It’s certainly going to sell over $1,000,000, and I’d even guess a sales price close to $1,100,000…but “comps supported” a $799,000 list price? Really? Do you need 30 offers? Wouldn’t 10, or even two, offers be just as good?
Maddening. Truly maddening.
Totally agree. My agent sent me to see this property a week after we lost out on a property in Diamond Heights (which got 10 bids and sold $100k+ over ask) and I immediately wrote him back saying it was a no-go; my guess also was 1.1 in its current state, but who knows what it’ll really go for. I can’t believe there were THIRTY (!!!) bids, though, that’s truly insane.
After losing on the Diamond Heights property (my second loss this year) I moved my downpayment fund into the stock market and effectively ended my search. I severely doubt I will be buying property in San Francisco for years, if ever, given the state of the market.
Jason,
Don’t give up man! I can suggest keeping an eye on things casually. Use Redfin. Do your own searching. Focus on things out of your price range, add them to your “favorites”, and track them. There are still over-priced properties that get reduced. Agents have the same service we can set you up on, but Redfin is just as good (if not better). Keep an eye on PocketListings.net too, and get on my radar. I know of off market stuff all the time. Even things not listed on PocketListings.net.net or MLS.
Matt, I’m pretty sure you heard right. Sometimes I have to bite my lip. ;-)
I heard the contract price was closer to $1.2.
What about the collusion between seller’s and buyer’s? Is that helping to drive prices up? It’s time we eliminated paying commissions on real estate. How about a flat rate? I think 10k is more than enough for what an agent actually does.
Lots of people feel that way, but you see what kind of trouble Redfin came across, and continues to come across to get major traction. This industry moves about as fast as a glacier when it comes to change. So maybe in about 50 years that will happen.