I have an agent from redfin, I just took her suggestions. It was actually 1.07M but no offers so we had to lower the price to 999k
Ah yes...the agent! Learn your market so you can tell the agent what to list the price at. The Agent's #1 goal is to get the listing...so they have a tendency to promise the moon, and deliver a small star...which is what you should be listing it at in the first place.
The net result is you are going to be dropping your price a few more times before you get an offer...and that offer will probably be lower than you might have gotten had you listed the correct price from the start. Why? If you looked at a property that had to drop the price a number of times, what would your reaction be?
Look at the sold homes in the area that are within 10% of the sq ftg of your house and use those as your comps. Now, to set your price, look at the date when these property listings were removed...not when it says they sold it, but when it was removed (the removal just before it says "sold"). Count the number days back to when the previous price changed to the sold price...and those are your days on market to sell...at the correct listing price. The properties that have a short DOM this way, set your sale price based on those properties, and you'll sell much faster.
can i ask why you listed your sqft so expensive? its the most expensive price per sqft in the whole area and isn't the newest build or has a pool or anything drastically different from any other property within 2 or 3 streets diameter of the house??
I have an agent from redfin, I just took her suggestions. It was actually 1.07M but no offers so we had to lower the price to 999k
Ah yes...the agent! Learn your market so you can tell the agent what to list the price at. The Agent's #1 goal is to get the listing...so they have a tendency to promise the moon, and deliver a small star...which is what you should be listing it at in the first place.
The net result is you are going to be dropping your price a few more times before you get an offer...and that offer will probably be lower than you might have gotten had you listed the correct price from the start. Why? If you looked at a property that had to drop the price a number of times, what would your reaction be?
Look at the sold homes in the area that are within 10% of the sq ftg of your house and use those as your comps. Now, to set your price, look at the date when these property listings were removed...not when it says they sold it, but when it was removed (the removal just before it says "sold"). Count the number days back to when the previous price changed to the sold price...and those are your days on market to sell...at the correct listing price. The properties that have a short DOM this way, set your sale price based on those properties, and you'll sell much faster.
from just a minute research on the property your price seems to be really high in comparison to your area...Theres a house down the street larger and less expensive and newer build year.... ( if you listed under that guys house by a dollar you would steal every single one of his customers) your price per sqft is the highest listed price per sqft within a 2 street diameter from you without a pool....another point is that your recent price drop may (for investors let the house sit with the hopes the home owner will decrease more and more and then there frustrated and accept an offer they would not have even looked at 2...3... months ago) so my advice is that if you are not in a hurry at all to sell don't keep dropping the price because thats like dropping blood for a shark (investors being the sharks) so that may be why you haven't been getting any offers as they are just watching it.
If i wasnt in a hurry to sell i would probably leave it like that for a while and if nothing happens take it off the market and re list it later on
but most ppl will end up dropping price a bunch of times and someone swooping it up eventually
Fremont, CA · Member since 2016 · 48 posts · 5 votes
10y
Im new to BP, and REI btw. I wish I would have known all of this before even contacting redfin. The redfin alone already says Im new via google.
Can I reverse buyers negative assumption of price drop by fixing a couple of things in the house? that way I can 1. pull it off the market, 2. reno, 3. put it back to listing and having the price up (based on the cost of the upgrade?)
any thoughts?
also, should I change my agent and look for an agent with smaller commissions/fees?
Fremont, CA · Member since 2016 · 48 posts · 5 votes
10y
@Account Closed 1.07M because there was one house recently sold for that price, almost similar sq/ft. Then it was the reality check when we didnt get any offers, and low number of buyers during open house. so she suggested to lower the price.
Fremont, CA · Member since 2016 · 48 posts · 5 votes
10y
@Mark Choi I will. This is my second day here in bp, and really looking at REI. I have a small business (unrelated) for 7 years and Im ready to learn from here as well. So far, the comments above have been very helpful already, and I got one private message that was also helpful.
right now, i just want to get an advice on what next steps should I take
Rental Property Investor · Concord, CA · Member since 2016 · 499 posts · 219 votes
10y
I think the access ramp is also playing a role. I am in the market for a house as well and I will skip yours without even looking inside. That's my honest opinion
Is there something special about your place? Bonus Room? In Law Unit?
If not then you should strongly consider taking it off the market, doing some research on what it should actually be listed for and them listing it for about 5% UNDER that. Have an agent do a brokers tour, as well as an open house and have it on the MLS that offers are due by 5pm the first Tuesday after the open house. Also, make sure that it's advertised on Craigs List as well.
If your agent will not do this,.....then you know what you need to do sir.
Investor · Milpitas, CA · Member since 2016 · 14 posts · 0 votes
10y
Redfin does a very poor job in selling. In Milpitas 2 homes that redfin listed had price cuts and DOM was longer, they had to cut the price 2 times to sell.
You need to hire the listing agent who is an expert in your area, they ALWAYS list almost 5-10% than listing price ( this is for the bay area, ca market) and cash in on the bidding war. 12 days is the magic number is milpitas market as an example. If it stays longer, its not a good sign.
Fremont, CA · Member since 2016 · 48 posts · 5 votes
10y
@Avi Garg thanks for the honest opinion. do you think I should take it off the market and remove the ramps? If I remove it, who do I need to find, a landscaper? any idea how much would it cost me? and is it worth it?
Fremont, CA · Member since 2015 · 289 posts · 63 votes
10y
if I would you I would first delist home from the market and fire the agent. Unless you are pro selling agent us most important person in the whole transaction. Get a good one.f following things to consider
1. Ramp and curb appeal
2. If you go pending now people might negotiate more.
3. I think always a good idea to list home less than 10% in bay area. People will pay the market price.
4.be in the open house your self and see if less turn out or it is condition of the home.
5. Marketing is the issue I think following are good things about the house not mention in bold letters like court location corner lot
Please let me know if you need some assistance. I am local to Fremont and would be happy to help anyway. I am not a real estate agent
Agent/Investor · Murphy, TX · Member since 2013 · 542 posts · 304 votes
10y
As @Avi Garg and @Rahul Bhatt mentioned, that ramp has to go. It crushes the curb appeal and nobody want to feel like their are going through a line at Disneyland every time they want to get into the front door. Listing lower and getting a bidding war going it going to boost the sales price up.
Flipper/Rehabber · Emeryville, CA · Member since 2015 · 158 posts · 124 votes
10y
I work in the East Bay, so I'm pretty familiar with the area, and I think you're doing a couple things wrong:
1) Your price is way too high. In the Bay, if you want to get $1.07 million, you don't list at $1.07 million. You price it low, and get the bid over sales price. We work primarily in Oakland => Hayward, but we rarely see a house go for list, it's usually way above, and sometimes way below.
2) Your realtor does not sound good. Do a little bit of Yelp research and find a superstar realtor to list your property. I can recommend Daniel Winkler in Oakland, but I'm not sure if he goes all the way down to Fremont.
3) That handicap accessible ramp is probably costing you some money. It lessens the curb appeal.
4) Get rid of that toilet seat cover.
5) Put in sod--landscaping looks patchy.
It seems like a decent property, but I think you went with the wrong realtor. The fact that the realtor didn't understand basic Bay Area pricing strategy is a huge red flag. Since it's on the market, I would recommend taking it off, doing extensive research to find a butt-kicker of a realtor who'll market the crap out of your property. While you've got the property off-market, do the new sod (under 1k), and probably the wheelchair ramp (you might ask your new realtor about the ramp), so it looks like you did work that would justify taking the property off the market. Don't let it sit, because it'll make it look bad on the MLS.
Other than the realtor, you did a good job with the house. It looks pretty nice on the interior.
Prosper, TX · Member since 2016 · 20 posts · 16 votes
10y
Try to find a local charity that installs those wheelchair ramps for people in need. They may come remove it at no cost in return for you donating all the materials to them to use on their next project. You may even be able to write it off as a charitable donation when all said and done.
(1) When you list at $1.07M, you've eliminated the group of people who have set their searches for under $1M who have the financial ability to go above $1M if they fall in love with a house. This is not my opinion of the house value, just a general thought on the strategy to attract a buyer.
(2) The access ramp is a bit of a hindrance. Mainly because your home is pretty much ready to move in, but that's (a) the first thing they see when they drive up and (b) an immediate expense - in addition to buying the place - that they'll have to incur. Might be cheaper for you to remove it.
(3) I noticed it's not located on my MLS listings here in Santa Clara county. Since it's listed by Redfin, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't cross promote it to our agents as well. We have 20000+ total - many of whom have strong relationships to Fremont searching buyers. Heck, I just picked up a Fremont searching buyer yesterday. Seems odd they didn't cross promote you. Wouldn't hurt, at least.
Anyways, not to bash on Redfin but I've heard from agents in my office that they avoid working with them for a variety of reasons. I don't ascribe to that philosophy, but it's possible that could be hurting you too.
I know you're already listed, so I'm being cautious as I say this but feel free to reach out if you have any general questions. Like the rest of the community, I'm here to offer some help.
@Sigmund Reboquio get an actual, full-price agent who will do all the things like list on the MLS. Cut-rate prices = cut-rate service. The only time it works for us to use cut-rate realtors is when we are personally able to provide the quality, A+ knowledge & service to make up for the cut-rate realtor.
Rehabber · Gilroy, CA · Member since 2012 · 18 posts · 16 votes
10y
Is it on the MLS aka mlslistings.com? If your agent only had it in Redfin than most buyers agents are not going to see it. If your agent doesn't use the MLS, get rid of them. They do not have enough experience to get your property in front of enough eyes.
Flipper/Rehabber · Rochester, NY · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
10y
I'll jump on the bandwagon and agree with the access ramp thing and price being too high. And it is not on the MLS?!? How many visits are you getting? Don't play around. The one that sold for 1.07M was listed at 948K. And was slightly bigger. And had a pool.
Besides getting it listed on the MLS asap, I'd consider listing it as low as 899K while it is still fresh.
Real Estate Agent · San Jose, CA · Member since 2016 · 12 posts · 4 votes
10y
Right now you're not in bad shape with DOM seeing you're a $1M home, but much longer and you WILL have an issue selling it. I agree with most of the posts. Listing the property must be strategic. If it sits for too long before a price reduction, most of YOUR buyers have already seen and passed on your home. New buyers coming in will see how long it's been on the market and try to lowball you. DOM is a great bargaining tool!
Contact me if it doesn't sell, or if you need more comps, or advice, as I work in that area as well.
If you DO attend the open house Do NOT let anyone except the Realtor know that you are the owner.
Nothing screams "desperate" and "control freak" than an owner being at their own open house unless you are doing a FSBO.
I actually know many agents that expressly tell the homeowner not to be at the open house, but I know how it can be with a property you love. If you hang out there just walk around like you are checking out the property and if anyone asks you about the property have a "conversation" but do not tell anyone there you are the owner (Except of course the showing agent)