TerritoryRE

... and here is the blog post i promised:

http://www.territoryre.com/blog/?p=453

Courtney, I gave your property some love for having to endure this nonsense. Hope it helps. - Yesterday, 18:48

And we have another commission chaser, folks ... You heard it hear first.

This is fantastic ... Please, keep it coming, because while i wasn't "pandering" before i will have absolutely no need to ever do so in the future as one by one agents shoot themselves in the foot , here, live on trulia. It's like a tv show.

Oh, Mr. Melby from Milton, get real.
Does stairmaster charge based on what county you live in or what street you live on? Does your neurosurgeon charge based on your height? There is no "discount" here. I simply charge what it costs me to due business plus a good profit margin all in the form of a flat fee. I don't gauge clients based on the number of bedrooms needed or the number of 0's on their purchase contract. I would be very careful mr melby from milton, you are about to be exposed. Or maybe you are comfortable being exposed, which, i guess in some strange twisted way I respect (?).

Regarding your FSBO rant ... Again, beee careful mr melby form milton, you are towing the line of generalization on FSBO's . And, the point is/was, as long as you are properly DISCLOSING to your buyer clients that there is a good portion of the market that you are not be showing them, it's fine. - Yesterday, 16:31

Jonathan, WRONG. My answer is honest - and i built a company around this honest model - which clearly can't be said for yours because by calling my honest answer "naive" you have now pigeon holed yourself as a commission chaser too.
Your answer:
"I usually show "Entry Only Listings," which your listing qualifies as, only when specifically requested by my buyers, as a last resort or when the commission is at least 2.5%. Otherwise, I would rather show a listing listed by an actual real estate firm with actual real estate agents."
Just curious if you disclose this to your buyers ahead of time (in writing) because i find it outrageous that you choose what to show your buyers based on your personal opinion and interests. If you were my agent i would be more than furious if you were intentionally not showing me properties without my knowledge. This might call for a blog post on my site. Incredible. - Yesterday, 12:27

This answer is disgusting:
"Fourth, many real estate brokers also skip showing listings that offer only 2%. Why waste a buyer on 2% if other properties are offering 2.5% or 3%? "

This is what is wrong with the RE industry ... Too many agents (admittedly) chasing commissions instead of helping their client find the right house. My agency does NOT steer based on who offers what commission and i find it repulsive that agents do such a thing.

To answer your question, Courtney, there are a couple alternatives to being FSBO. Some companies offer larger packages but still at a discounted price ... For example some marketing tools to go along with the MLS number. Keep searching on the internet. I bet you will find some.

I took a look at your place and it looks very nicely decorated/staged so perhaps it has more to do with the local market. I checked out what was going on in Wakefield and it seems the average days on market is 97 and the sale price to listing price ratio is 96% which means that on average things are being discounted at about 4% off asking price. 151 properties have sold over the last year - that's about 12/month absorption rate - and the price range that your property falls is the most active in this town. Right now there are 70 properties on the market including yours - about 6 months of inventory on the market - which means it isn't a buyers market or sellers market per se but rather somewhere in the middle. What you have to understand about buyers right now is they are willing to wait for that "perfect" property or that "perfect" deal so a lot of properties in the suburbs are sitting much longer than anticipated.

You may want to consider doing something drastic to get the buyers attention like pull it from the market for a week and come back with an aggressive price drop (say $340,000) and a disclosure saying all offers being reviewed by X date (a tactic that creates demand).

I hope that helps. Good luck! - Mon Jul 21 2008, 12:41

Wow, mike rafone (below) ... Does that kind of degradation actually get you business? Completely unnecessary.

Great responses below (minus mike the so called "real estate pro"). . - Yesterday, 07:19

For example this single family may not be affected as much to the train noise but it is close to 27 so that may be another issue:
http://www.territoryre.com/idx/listings/70796980/details.htm… - Yesterday, 07:13

Depends on the exact location on pleasant street. For instance if the property is located near Meadow or Sandy lanes you likely won't hear the train much, if at all, and in that case you have a property within "walking distance" to the train which can actually add some value. However if the property is located between Reed an Jeneva on pleasant the noise from the train will likely be an issue and therefore affect current and future value. But noise can be a personal thing ... Some people don't mind it at all but as the investor/home owner you just need to take into account that at resale time your pool of buyers will be smaller.

Good luck! - Yesterday, 07:10

Yes, the seller can legally pay the closing costs if they agree to it in the offer.

I took a look at the house you are considering and I am assuming you know all this information about its condition because of the disclosure report they gave you? Or perhaps you are considering using the sellers agent as your agent and they told you all this information. If that is the case, you might want to consider having a pre-inspection (before making a formal offer) to find out how much it is going to cost you to make all these fixes and then make an offer based on that number. It will probably save you a lot of time and effort for a project that might be out of your leagues. Plus Debbie is right your bank may not approve the loan on a place that needs this much work so knowing what you are getting into upfront might be best.

As a side note I highly recommend you don't use the sellers agent as your agent. Find yourself an exclusive buyers agent so you can be guaranteed your best interests are being protected.

Hope this helps! good luck. - Tue Jul 22 2008, 19:30

The value of singles families is really in the land, so if the second one has a larger and better (flat) yard that will always help with future value. In terms of old vs new, obviously it depends on the home. A lot of people praise new(er) homes but quite frankly "homes aren't built like they used to" and a lot of new construction isn't great quality so sometimes you will find that the older homes are actually stronger construction and with some upgrades can be great investments. An inspection will tell you if there are problems too big to handle or afford. There are other factors that also go into maintaining value, like location (for example, is either home on a busy street?).

I hope that helps ... It's always difficult to give advice without checking out the properties. If you feel comfortable giving the addresses we might be able to give you more direct advice. - Tue Jul 22 2008, 19:04