Where readers ask and we (the community) try to answer:
There is a new listing in my building, which if it sells will be a good comp for my condo. I like the price they are asking, and if it sells anywhere near that, I would be happy because my unit is a better one. Problem is that the area is wildly inaccurate, on the high side, which drives down the price per foot. So in the future will the comp be referred to on strictly price basis, or a price per foot basis? How do you call BS on a listing without interfering with a transaction? What do you do when you are looking at a listing that obviously overstates the area?
Damn good question. As for calling BS, that’s easy, tell us which property and we’ll throw it up on the site, take the heat (like always), and likely be asked by either the Realtor or Broker with the listing to pull it down.
When we do comps, we don’t just look at price per square foot. Some do, we don’t. Price per square foot is not the be-all-end-all. Price and amenities are much more important (at least to us). In San Francisco there are too many individual characteristics of each property to take into consideration than to simply look at price per square foot. Generally a higher sales price would help your unit if your unit is more desirable, especially if the unit is in the exact same building as this appears to be.
As for overstating an area, we have to first ask, was your statement “the area is widely inaccurate” stated correctly? Not quite following that. Generally, if it’s over-priced, it will not sell, and that will be bad for everyone in the building and possibly even the entire area. Give us a little clarification on that statement and we might be able to elaborate.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for writing in.
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