I’m going against what I usually do and actually talking about one of my listings. Why? Because there is a good story.
Two years ago, I had this listing at 2185 Bush #315.
I put this place on the market literally a few weeks prior to the peak we experienced in 2005. It hit MLS, the phone was blazing, emails were flying, and the open houses (all two of them) were packed, as were the broker tours. Granted, this property was completely remodeled to the studs and totally out of character for this building, but it is the activity I’m focused on. Long story short, we had multiple offers and it went way over the $799,000 asking and sold for $930,000.
I just had this listing at 2185 Bush #311.
We put it on the market the week before Labor Day, in other words just as the Mortgage Crisis was brewing. Also a very great home, it had been updated, has tons of natural light, parking, two beds, two baths, the whole bit. There had been nothing but positive feedback, and no qualms about the price, four serious buyers circling, but nobody was stepping up.
Right about the time I was starting to wonder, the phone rang, which was right smack dab in the middle of the frenzied reports about the mortgage crisis. But, an offer was on the way. Then, the phone rang again from an agent who also had clients that wanted to write an offer, but wanted to see the condo again, and then the phone rang again from a third party with the same request. So now there were three serious buyers on tap, but only one offer for sure.
Long story short, the two other buyers decided they did not want to rush things and write an offer given the media crisis, so we were left with one.
It was a great solid offer with tight financing and a quick close at $795,000, $44k below asking, and my clients took it.
The buyers did inspections, wanted my client to fix some dry-rot, which they did. We were planned to close in 30 days, and we closed in much less. I think it was 20. No problems for the buyer whatsoever on their loan, and the place sold right along with the comps for the building, which worked out fine for the sellers who felt they got a fair deal. In all, it was just over two months from when my client moved out to when we closed. Not too shabby.
So, we had a happy buyer, a happy seller and a quick close. The market is still good. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
44K below asking and the market is good? I don’t know that those two statements go hand in hand. Also not trying to flame on realtors but they always say the market is good. The most I’ve heard a realtor say in terms of the market being bad is, “the markets not too bad right now”. Seriously.
Whether something sells over or under asking is not indicative of whether the market is good or bad. This site tends to highlight the ones that sell over, but most of those are under-priced. I think what the editor is going for here is that the place sold at all. It actually sold pretty quickly and in a time when “the market” was supposed to be reeling from the mortgage crisis. I have to agree with the editor that the market is still really good. And I’m not a Realtor. I’m a buyer, and we’re competing on almost every property we write offers on. So it is not fair to point the finger at realtors, I think it’d be better to point the finger at all the people trying to make the market crash and be the ones who can claim they predicted it, when in fact it seems to be doing just fine.
Alex, the key question now is what your seller bought the unit for and when?
thnx
The good thing though, is that everybody is happy. I am also looking to buy again next Spring, and I love getting a ‘deal’. This is one of the best downturns for working people who have cash, b/c we are in a “boom time” now, and people have gotten very rich recently, not just from real estate.
In my opinion, the market was good when even overpriced houses were selling for over-the-asking price. Right now, there are perfectly good properties in SF that aren’t selling even at a reasonable asking price. No the market hasn’t crashed in terms of getting a steal deal in SF – not sure where you are buying boomtime – but the market in SF has definitely plateaued and I think it’s heading South slowly. Will it ever get as bad as the rest of the country – no. But it’s all relative and relative to what the market was, I think it’s bad right now in SF and only getting worse. And no, I’m not a bubblehead.
Too many properties are languishing in District 5 and 7, since the past few weeks.
District 7 languishing? Look again.