Go Big or Go Home: When It Doesn’t Work

[Juan Diaz]

You know what they say, go big or go home. Go with your bold and crazy ideas. Sometimes they’ll work and succeed spectacularly, and other times you’ll have to reassess. We just tried an experiment with our recent house in west Oakland, and it didn’t quite go the way that we wanted it to. We tried listing for a $1 (our goal price is around 510K), but we actually received very few offers, likely because it wasn’t within peoples’ search criteria. After some thought, we hiked the price up to 188K. We had a fabulous response in both cases, but ultimately, no offers were near what we were looking for.

So we tried to go big, but ultimately, it didn’t work out in this case, and we’re pretty sure why. You live, you learn, you adjust your strategy, and you do better next time. Thought I’d share my experience with you all, best of luck in the real estate world!

The house: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Oakland/927-33rd-St-94608/home/1562219

[Jana Cain]

Hi @Juan Diaz Cute updating! My guess is that your biggest hurdle is the location. I 100% get the turning/gentrifying of most of West, East and North Oakland which is lending itself to being able to demand higher prices. If you think about the buyer who would feel comfortable in that particular area, I don't know that your market price is realistic for them. For those that can afford that price tag, similar/equal/better deals (as a "retail" buyer) can be found in other neighborhoods. And by better deals I mean a slightly higher price tag for something that is completely updated throughout, or something a bit cheaper, but they have the cash to do a gut job. This listing doesn't strike me as in the same company as properties that have gone for $200k+ over asking. I only know these things because I have RedFin search agents set up for Oakland to give me a feel of what the market is doing (and I was quite sad to see a move-in ready property on the fringe of East Oakland that I *loved* go for $200k+ over asking).

Kudos to you, though, for even jumping in! I'm still on the sidelines trying to save up enough to do *something* in 2017. Best of luck to you!