A
Any home like yours that sells, regardless of reason for sale, is a comparable and affects the value of your home.

You need to ask your Realtor, since your home came on the market:
How many homes
1. Came onto the market
2. Lowered their price
3. went into escrow
4. Sold.

You problem is value. The homes with the most value sell first. If your home is not being shown, then Realtors are not on vacation, they are showing other homes that project more value.

A home, like yours, listed for $230,000, is not below market. That maybe market....if you are correct, that it is "just like yours".

Homes that are well-priced and prepared for sale, with good marketing, will be sold within one or two weeks in most markets. The longer a property sits, the more value it loses. Remember, it's not what you paid, how much your owe, or how much your need to net that affects the value.

Buyers decide market value.

Sat Jul 26 2008, 20:58

How many times do we see an offer on a short sale get rejected? The lenders who walk away from a nice (slightly short offer) opprotunity come back 6 months later and dump the REO at a ridiculous number! The lender won’t tell you the reason you’re prior offer was held up. It’s another example of deceptive but not illegal practices by a servicing agent on behalf of the lender.

For example, Mr. Free & Clear has lived in his home 10 years and the average neighbor is come and gone in 36 months. He has a short sale on the left of him and REO to the right (that they cannot give away). He now lost half the value of his home and did nothing to add to the mess created by lenders against his forgotten neighbors Thorny & Oz.

We handle borrower claims and audit the mess when a lender appears to violate RESPA and other federal legislation. You’re the guy who did everything right and has to suffer! We turn a short sale into a borrower "Reverse Purchase™" allowing them to buy back their home at half the existing loan. It's no impact on the neighborhood and treated like a “equity redemption”. But short sales or aged REO‘s are brutal....

You cannot differentiate a market sale from a distressed sale. Each is a comp and each can be bought at a MARKET PRICE established upon recording. We tell people EVERYONE (including the guy with a house free and clear) FILE A CLAIM...OR find a class suit and jump in. Just for this reason.

Oh, don't forget ABOUT THE FREE AND CLEAR HOMEOWNER. “He now gets to watch his taxes increase as we bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mertz.....”msoliman@borrowerhotline.com (not a solicitation)

Sat Jul 26 2008, 17:00

Thank you for your quick responses.

A little more detail. The home that is in foreclosure is the exact same model as our home. No difference in square footage or anything. THe only differences are that we upgraded our home and finished off the basement, the other home did not.

I dont know if there are any other home in our area in foreclosure. I do know that $230,000 is practically giving the home away. Homes in the area that are similar to ours have sold in the past few months between $270,00 and $310,000 (this information given to me via my agent).

We will leave it listed for now but our agent even said we are aggressively priced. If it doesnt sell, we will just pull it off the market and wait another year or two...we basically wanted to move to an area with a better school district for our children.

thank you again for your quick responses....

Sat Jul 26 2008, 16:24

VALID QUESTION: Welcome to Trulia, if there is only one home in your "local" area is foreclosure/ short sale, it should not have much impact on any value. Your statement regarding listing agent sounds as though realtor completed "homework on pricing your home correctly."

Are sq. ft. same for both homes OR other house has less sq. ft could be reason for a difference in price. Homes ~ preforeclosure/short sale/foreclosure status could also have other problems ie foundation issue, roof, and banks will price home based on BPO provided.

In some areas for instance "entire town can be foreclosures" difficult to comp a home sold thru a homeowner. http://www.lynn911.com http://www.homes-for-sale-dallas.com

Sat Jul 26 2008, 16:16

Yes foreclosure sale prices do affect the value of your property. Appraisers must consider these sales. However, the fewer of these foreclosures in your neighborhood the better because a sale or two at a higher sale price will help to reverse the trend. Moreover, your home appears to be worth more anyway because of the upgrades and additional finished space. The appraiser should also allow for those differences, especially if he/she is aware of them. Still the difference might not be equal to the $70k separation in pricing. Discuss the issue with your Realtor and consider a price reduction that balances your better features with the other builder grade price. This is a tough market. Hopefully, if you sell at a lower price, you will also be buying your next home at a lower price. Good luck.

Sat Jul 26 2008, 16:06