Seller in Sarasota,

I know when you have a home on the market and people respond that they love the house, they often are saying that there is a similar home out there that has all the same amenities as yours, but they can purchase it for less money.

Our market in Boise, Idaho has leveled off since the large run up in values in 2005 and early 2006. Many sellers still think their homes are worth what they were "on paper" in 2005 or 2006, but we are in 2008 after sliding down in prices since mid-2006.

Advise that I once read in studies by the National Association of Realtors is paraphrased as "if a home has no showings in a ten-day period, it is overpriced." "If a home has ten showings and no offers, it is overpriced." So, if either applies to you, please check with your listing agent and ask them to provide recent sales data, current active data and recent pending sales and I am sure you will discover if you can re-position your house into the next lower price category you will sell and be able to buy.

When you are ready to buy, make sure you ask for the same market data and strike a "win-win" offer on your next house.

Good job Jeannie, looks like a bright summer.!

Hello Everyone:
I want to thank you for all of your comments and sugestions. We lowered our price and we got three offers in one week. We are under contract! We are selling it for what we bought it 3 years ago but at least we will be able to move to a bigger house. I guess we will make something on our next sell if the market gets better.
Thanks, Jeannie

Good point Richard,

Now is a very good time to shop for granite tops, especially this time of the year ... most builders have either dropped them from their build list or they're giving them away as a free option ..

Most "retailers" have seen a 30% drop in demand... which has meant a substantial price drop for the consumer.

from a prospective buyer's opinion only and please just respect the opinion.. Laminate floors are not an "upgrade".. its just a new name for " vinyl" . As for laminate counters..... they do not look like anything but formica and never will.... However as a buyer I will overlook the counter tops as I have all intention of replacing with granite and the laminate floors with tile or hardwoods.... Home sellers need to price realistically.. I am reading where they are still expecting a 10 - 15% drop in home values by year end.... maybe you need to considering droppinmg accordingly.. Sometimes breaking even is better then zero....

Have you tried heavy internet exposure? You should also consider having a property inspection, termite and floor plan done and posted for the public to see. In addition state that you will supple a Home Warranty with the purchase.

If you need to sell now, I suggest: Drop the price!
If everyone loves it, it shows great, you got 30+ showings...the listing price is over current market value.

Hi Jeannie,

There are 3 things that get a house sold: condition of the house, exposure to buyers and price. If you get showings, it means that your realtor is doing a great job at promoting your place. If everyone loves the house, it means that it's in great condition and shows well. Guess what? There must be an issue with the price. Drop it. The longer you wait, the more buyers you will turn away. I don't think that the market is going south. There is evidence in the Sarasota market that we have bottomed out. But there still are quite a few places that need to be sold before the prices go back up. My advice to you is to try all you can to become a buyer and make your profit up-front by buying low.

Michel

Jeannie,
There is a reason why you are not selling......it is probably directly related to the price!!
Lower the price again, and again, and......it will eventually sell.
Good luck,
The "Eckler Team"
Century 21 almar and Associates
Venice, Fl 34285
ecklerteam@comcast.net

Buyers are very apprehensive right now. People may love your home but obviously not enough to make an offer. I would suggest a price reduction. Most buyers are not jumping off the fence unless they feel a sense of value. They fear prices will continue to decline so most of them are waiting for a bottom. Before they get off their check book they need to feel like they are getting a deal.

Buyers are timid as they wait for better bargains. The Herald has to tell the Buyers it's OK to buy again.
I feel Sarasota is on the rebound and bouncing along bottom at this point. Just make sure you are at the right price! Properties ARE selling but pricing is critical. All Sellers need internet exposure and more International exposure. It also depends upon your location and your competition. You have to be FIRST at the lowest price if you truley intend to sell.
Jim Soda - Prudential Palms Realty
941-809-7759
Sarasota / Lakewood Ranch / Longboat Key / Siesta Key / Manatee

In my market, which is Southern VA we find offering Seller Concessions is helpful(paying the buyers closing costs, for example).

Yes! I have a great realtor. She has been very helpful.
Jeannie

For my friend Sylvia

The buyers now want garages more than carports or open parking. They will still park outside but wht the garage gives them is a replacement for the basement. Basements simply don't exist here for over 99% of the homes.

Jeannie:

Sounds like you must have a heck of an agent with 30 showings the agent must be marketing the heck out of that one. Sounds like your agent is golden!

JD “Dan” Weisenburger, GRI
Broker-Associate REALTOR®
Vanguard Realty, Inc. GMAC Real Estate

Thanks Tman. I did know it was Sarasota, FL after I saw the price for her nice SFR is $185K - learned that when I answered another Sarasota, FL question and had to quickly delete that after I realized fof the first time there is another saratosa in FL. :-)

That's why I said for certain things she'd need to get input from her local realtor.

Anway, my comment about the garage is actually from Jeannie's reply that peopel wants garage rather than carport. Seems to be a concern in her case. I guess after people saw homes with garages, they want to have that even in an older area.

Thanks for pointing that out though.

Sylvia

Sylvia,

It's Sarasota Florida, not Sarasota California ...

Many homes in that area (and that age group) have no garage, and carports are SOP ..

Actually, once you get south of the Mason Dixon line, more and more homes have less and less garages unless it's newer construction ... these smaller CBS poured block homes are common from Destin to Miami Fl,...


: ^)


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Hi Jeannie:

Thanks for coming back and give us feedback. Looks like you pretty much know exactly what is going on and what you need to do to make the house move.

A couple of things you can't change easily - no garage - I just showed my clients two houses, great price, nice update - not the best, but good, but converted garage). With all the rooms for her, she still wants that garage. The other is the neighborhood. It is difficult to be the best house in the neighborhood.

Whether you want to take the house off the market and wait for another year is really your decision. Do you need to sell? Can you wait for not only one year but potentially a couple of years before the market gets better in your area? - a question Realtors in your area will need to answer. What's the bottom line for you in order to sell this house? Will you be living in there or will you rent it out. If renting, what kind of return do you need to do what you want to do?

Those are questions you need to sit down and think over (with your realtor and accountant) in order to make a sound decision on your next step. Just make sure you take time to make rational decision; don't rush into things is what we need to do in this (or other) market. .

Sylvia

It could be a number of things..maybe it is priced to high, could be something unattractive in the neighborhood,or too far out of town. One never knows what goes through buyers minds..don't worry..the right person always comes along...

Thanks! I think what I need to do is reduce the price.

My house is completly remodeled, new kitchen(maple wood cabinets, imported tile back splash and a new laminate counter that looks like granite), New flors(wood laminate and 18" tile in bathrooms) new bathrooms and new windows, freshly painted in warm neutral earthy colors inside and out. We keep it clean and we even decloter the house. I have a huge yard and it has pretty flowers and barb bq area.

It is a quiet neightborhood but not all the houses are kept as well as mine. The most common comments are that they do not like the area and they want a garage and I have a carport.

My main competition are foreclosures and shortsales. So sadly I think I need to lower the price.

Do you think I should take it out of the market and wait a year and then put it back on at a different price?
You can look at it if you like is 3136 Wilder Ave. and it is listed for 185,000.
Again, Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.
Jeannie

Lower the price more and it will sell! If it is priced right it always sells!

There are three things that control whether or not (or how quickly) a property sells: Condition, location, and price. You can't control the location, but you can control the condition and price.

If your home is in a less than desirable location, it must be priced accordingly. For instance, if your home backs up to a busy street or a shopping center, you probably won't be able to get the same price as the guy down the street who has the same floor plan, but backs up to a scenic creek.

As far as condition goes, is your home in good shape? Is it staged properly? Another turn-off for potential buyers are smells; try to eliminate all pet and cooking odors, but don't mask them with candles or other scented products. (The buyers will wonder what you're trying to cover up!) Ask a friend to be truly honest with you; ask if they've noticed any peculiar smells when the first come into your home. Also, speak with an experienced home stager and see what he or she could do for you. The cost to have your home staged is much less than a price reduction to get your home sold!

Lastly, are you sure it's priced correctly? A home must be priced correctly from the very beginning to eliminate long periods of "sitting" on the market. The longer it's been on the market, the least likely people are going to want to see it. If they see it's been on the market for 150 days, they may think something is wrong with it since no one has bought it yet. People want to see a "fresh" listing, not a "stale" one!

Re-visit your pricing again with your real estate agent. Keep up at least weekly with what the homes in your area are selling for. You may need a price reduction.

I hope this helps. Best of luck to you!

Susan Redding

You ARE getting showings. What is the feedback from agents and their clents who have seen the property? Is it price? What does it need or what does it lack? You need to hear what feedback is coming out of the Showings. What is your competition? Has any of the competition sold or went under contract? You need to know the above to help you make decisions... Jim Soda , Realtor Prudential Palms Realty Sarasota

Jeannie
The truth is that homes like yours have sold during the past five months, right?
So why did they sell before yours?
Buyers want value, so the listings offering the best value sell first.
Statistics consistently show that listings that sell in the first 30 days will sell closest to list price. That means the longer a listing sits, the greater the gap between asking price and selling price. at 120 days in my market that means 93.6%...that would be AFTER some price reductions.

Unless youl've got money and time to burn, I would revamp that listing, drop the price, and get it sold.

If you have had more than 30 showings since November, you must be doing something right. There are many listings in Sarasota that are not being shown that frequently. Still, while you're doing something right you must be doing something wrong. Let's examine the possible issues:
1. PRICE. Are you confident that your home is competitively and realistically priced to attract a buyer? This doesn't mean " A home like mine sold for $xxx six months ago, so mine should be worth that much today." You need to keep constantly on top of list prices and actual sale prices in your neighborhood, to be sure that you are priced correctly vs. your competition. When you check prices, go beyond your immediate neighborhood, because in reality you may also be competing with similar homes in similar neighborhoods that may be as much as 5 miles away. If you have had 30 showings, you must have gotten some feedback from those potential buyers or their Realtors - what have they said about your price?
2. CONDITION AND APPEARANCE. It's often difficult to look at your home objectively, so you'll need some feedback here, too. Is your home "perfect?" In this difficult market, it must be if you want to get it sold. If you have a Realtor, ask them what you need to do to improve the appearance of your home. Hire a home staging expert if necessary. You might have to spend some money, but you want your home to be better than any of your competitors' homes.
3. LOCATION. You can't do much to change this, unfortunately. In this market, with so many homes offered for sale, buyers have to many choices. They may think that your home is great, but there is always another one that is also great, and maybe it has a better view than your home or maybe the traffic noise isn't as loud as it is at your home. Since you can't change location, you might have to change the price.
4. THE MARKET. Let's face it, times are difficult. Buyers are out there shopping, but thay are taking much longer to decide what they want and actually make an offer. They have to many choices, and they are confused. Some of them are also confused by what is going on in the mortgage market, and they may be waiting for things to settle down before they take the leap. If you have had 30 showings and buyers seem to genuinely like your home, I would not be too surprised if one of those 30 comes back some day to present an offer. I have had people write offers on some of my listings months after they first saw them.
4. THE SEASON. In Sarasota we have a tendency to think of the winter as our peak selling season. Well, that might not be true for your particular neighborhood. If your neighborhood is not primarily vacation residences, your peak selling season might actually be late spring and early summer, just as it is "up north." This may be related to the fact that families like to move when school is not in session. If your neighborhood does tend to appeal to seasonal residents, you may be experiencing a different phenomenon: I am finding that there are a lot of snowbirds who are looking right now, but they really have no intention of buying right now. They don't want to pay for a home now, when they don't expect to use it until next winter. Why pay taxes, insurance, and maintenance fees for 6 months before they even plan to use the house?
5. REALTOR. Are you confident that your Realtor is following up after each showing, to get feedback and to answer questions concerning your home? They might be doing this very well, but perhaps they are not sharing enough information with you. Again, I point to the fact that you have had 30 showings since November, and that really isn't too bad, so apparently your Realtor is doing something right.

If you carefully examine all of these issues, you may find things that you can do to improve your situation and to find a buyer. I think that you will find that the "easiest" thing to change is also the most painful, and that is to lower your price. You can choose to set your price at a level that you know is far more attractive than your competition, almost "too good for buyers to resist." On the other hand, with a little work and cash outlay you can improve your home so that its appearance is outstanding, which will perhaps also make it the most appealing option for buyers. If you make significant improvements, you might not have to dramatically lower your price. Please consult with your Realtor for his or her opinion on necesary improvements and pricing.

If you are truly motivated and must sell your home soon, the best idea would be to combine a new lower price with some attractive improvements. This might be enough to bring back some of those 30 groups of people who have already seen your home, and it will also help to convince other buyers that your home is the right choice for them.

Charles Offer
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
(941) 321-9664 http://www.CharlesOffer.com

The best advice I have heard in a long time regarding the current market was from an agent that does over $100 million in a year. (Tops in my market-mostly listings.) She says she tells her listings now "They are in a price war and a beauty contest." You have to be the best looking least expensive house in your neighborhood.

Jeannie,

I completely agree with Larree. You only have control over two factors regarding the sale of your home, condition and price. You have already noted that the condition is not the problem. The only other factor you can control is the price. There are plenty of buyers in our market, but they are only making offers on those homes that represent the best value. The incredible amount of inventory in our area dictates that your home must be appealing and priced right. This is the only way to get buyers to start making offers. If anything, a competitive price will allow you to see what buyers are willing to pay for your home in today's market.

Adam Hong
Keller Williams Realty
(941) 447-4253

Hi Jeannie:

Did you check with your Realtor on what he/she says as the reason?

How long has the house being on the market? How many other similar ones are on the market at present time? What's their condition and prices compared to yours? What's the local market trend and market absorption rate in your local area by price range - so you know how many buyers are out there for what price range. What's the specific feedback from the visitors (yes, they might love the house, but why does it not fit their purpose? Is this a two story home while everybody wants a single story? Is this a condo with high HOA? Is this a hosue with small yard and people wants big lot?) or are people just starting to look and not ready to buy?

Price is a big factor in today's market. You want to stay ahead of the curve, not behind and chasing the market.

Your Realtor should be able to give you specifics. From there, you should be able to decide the direction.

Sylvia .

You need to get the home priced at current competitive value. It will sell quicker, at a higher price and you will avoid any further price declines. Get 3 experienced Realtors market values for a 30 day sale and use it.