Sellers who let their house sit on the market for months without price adjustments

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes the sellers are warring heirs or divorced couple and someone is refusing to let go.

Or granny is in a nursing home and it has to be listed for the purpose of Medicaid qualification but there is no real desire to sell.

Not sure dumping $1m from the sale into Granny's bank account would help with Medicaid qualification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You couldn’t be more wrong.

About half my neighborhood is elderly people and half young families.

When the old people want to downsize they find a house they want to buy somewhere warm and slowly move. They can afford both because the family house has been paid off for years. Spending a year snowbirding in the warm climate and coming home a few more times is not unwelcome—it probably sounds kind of nice.

Realistically, the old people are not going to care of their house sits on the market for a year or two if there’s any chance that they could get top dollar for their property.

Only the young families relocating feel pressure to sell quickly so they can roll over equity into their new house.

Seeing a house that's on the market for over a year is a serious turn off. Most buyers will assume something is wrong with it or the sellers. If the property is vacant because the sellers have moved out already I would also not touch it because long vacant properties tend to develop problems that aren't addressed fast enough. I would never touch a property that was on the market for more than 3-4 months at this point.

+1. No one wants to deal with sellers who have an unrealistic idea of the value of their house. It just leads to wasted time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You couldn’t be more wrong.

About half my neighborhood is elderly people and half young families.

When the old people want to downsize they find a house they want to buy somewhere warm and slowly move. They can afford both because the family house has been paid off for years. Spending a year snowbirding in the warm climate and coming home a few more times is not unwelcome—it probably sounds kind of nice.

Realistically, the old people are not going to care of their house sits on the market for a year or two if there’s any chance that they could get top dollar for their property.

Only the young families relocating feel pressure to sell quickly so they can roll over equity into their new house.

Seeing a house that's on the market for over a year is a serious turn off. Most buyers will assume something is wrong with it or the sellers. If the property is vacant because the sellers have moved out already I would also not touch it because long vacant properties tend to develop problems that aren't addressed fast enough. I would never touch a property that was on the market for more than 3-4 months at this point.

+1. No one wants to deal with sellers who have an unrealistic idea of the value of their house. It just leads to wasted time.

You're wrong. Many people don't want to deal with those sellers, but not no one. Certainly they've cut down the buying pool, but when inventory is low (and we are at historically low levels of inventory), then you often have buyers who have a short fuse and need to be moved in who will buy as long as there are no major issues. So, if the house has no major issues that an inspector would find, then they an sit on an overpriced house looking for a desparate buyer.

[Anonymous]

"Sellers who don't need to sell" is such bullshit. If you didn't want to sell, you wouldn't be listing it (and doing all the work that goes along with that). If you talk to a few local agents, you'll get a very good idea of what your house is worth -- your house isn't some tech startup that can't be easily valued. If you're not going to list at that price (or at least be open to selling at that price if you choose to list higher), stop wasting everyone's time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can they afford to sit on a house assuming they must move? I’m seeing houses that are way overpriced sitting on the market and they have little to no price drops like the seller isn’t that serious about selling. No, a $2500 price drop on your 1.2m dollar home isn’t going to make me look at it. Given so many people have very low mortgage rates I would think sellers outside of flippers/investors are selling their house for a good reason with some urgency like a job relocation (why else sell the house?) but they let the house sit. Some even try to fudge the days on the market by delisting the house for 2 weeks and putting it right back on. Give me some insight please.

MYOB. You do not have to understand everything.

[Anonymous]

I'm also interested in the agents who agree to take on these listings. Why would you waste time having open houses where almost no one shows up because the house is overpriced and has been sitting for months?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm also interested in the agents who agree to take on these listings. Why would you waste time having open houses where almost no one shows up because the house is overpriced and has been sitting for months?

Because most realtors are unethical and lie to sellers to get the listing. Realtors ask what the seller is hoping to get, then magically the realtor agrees. Sellers tend to go with whoever tells them they can get their price. It's so stupid, because no realtor can forcibly extract a certain price from a buyer.

Then when it doesn't sell, the realtor assumes that the seller will lower their list price or take a lower offer. So the realtor is hedging their bets that they'll get a commission either way.

[Anonymous]

These are my neighbors. They bought their house 20 years ago, they refied their remaining mortgage @ 2.8% a few years back. They are sitting on a mountain of equity and a small PITI.
They don't have to sell or move. They will not price cut, they will take it off market in October.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Sellers who don't need to sell" is such bullshit. If you didn't want to sell, you wouldn't be listing it (and doing all the work that goes along with that). If you talk to a few local agents, you'll get a very good idea of what your house is worth -- your house isn't some tech startup that can't be easily valued. If you're not going to list at that price (or at least be open to selling at that price if you choose to list higher), stop wasting everyone's time!

They are not wasting your time, you can scroll past their house on Redfin. Sounds like you like their house but can't afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You couldn’t be more wrong.

About half my neighborhood is elderly people and half young families.

When the old people want to downsize they find a house they want to buy somewhere warm and slowly move. They can afford both because the family house has been paid off for years. Spending a year snowbirding in the warm climate and coming home a few more times is not unwelcome—it probably sounds kind of nice.

Realistically, the old people are not going to care of their house sits on the market for a year or two if there’s any chance that they could get top dollar for their property.

Only the young families relocating feel pressure to sell quickly so they can roll over equity into their new house.

Seeing a house that's on the market for over a year is a serious turn off. Most buyers will assume something is wrong with it or the sellers. If the property is vacant because the sellers have moved out already I would also not touch it because long vacant properties tend to develop problems that aren't addressed fast enough. I would never touch a property that was on the market for more than 3-4 months at this point.

Or it has a renter that is not cooperative with showing the house, or the price is too high. People think they can make more money off of real estate than the market supports, sometimes. We have done very well by bidding on houses (that are maintained well) that have been sitting, sometimes for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they afford to sit on a house assuming they must move? I’m seeing houses that are way overpriced sitting on the market and they have little to no price drops like the seller isn’t that serious about selling. No, a $2500 price drop on your 1.2m dollar home isn’t going to make me look at it. Given so many people have very low mortgage rates I would think sellers outside of flippers/investors are selling their house for a good reason with some urgency like a job relocation (why else sell the house?) but they let the house sit. Some even try to fudge the days on the market by delisting the house for 2 weeks and putting it right back on. Give me some insight please.

MYOB. You do not have to understand everything.

Sorry nobody wanted to buy your house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Sellers who don't need to sell" is such bullshit. If you didn't want to sell, you wouldn't be listing it (and doing all the work that goes along with that). If you talk to a few local agents, you'll get a very good idea of what your house is worth -- your house isn't some tech startup that can't be easily valued. If you're not going to list at that price (or at least be open to selling at that price if you choose to list higher), stop wasting everyone's time!

They want a certain price and are willing to wait. How much of your time is this strategy taking up? Move on to another listing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Sellers who don't need to sell" is such bullshit. If you didn't want to sell, you wouldn't be listing it (and doing all the work that goes along with that). If you talk to a few local agents, you'll get a very good idea of what your house is worth -- your house isn't some tech startup that can't be easily valued. If you're not going to list at that price (or at least be open to selling at that price if you choose to list higher), stop wasting everyone's time!

They are not wasting your time, you can scroll past their house on Redfin. Sounds like you like their house but can't afford it.

Nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also interested in the agents who agree to take on these listings. Why would you waste time having open houses where almost no one shows up because the house is overpriced and has been sitting for months?

Because most realtors are unethical and lie to sellers to get the listing. Realtors ask what the seller is hoping to get, then magically the realtor agrees. Sellers tend to go with whoever tells them they can get their price. It's so stupid, because no realtor can forcibly extract a certain price from a buyer.

Then when it doesn't sell, the realtor assumes that the seller will lower their list price or take a lower offer. So the realtor is hedging their bets that they'll get a commission either way.

Realtors also use open houses to find new clients and direct them to other homes in their portfolio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or, house is paid off, relatives of owner (maybe passed away?) are in no rush and want to get a certain amount of money.

Or, like one of my relatives with 4 homes, they can wait it out to get the number they want

OK, but this doesn’t work! The longer a house sits, the less attractive it becomes to buyers because they correctly assume there’s something wrong with it or others have deemed it to be overpriced.

A. I think this is dramatically less true as the price of the house increases, and Washington Monthly home sale data backs me up on this.

B. I think to the extent that it’s true, it’s true of first-time buyers who are straining their budgets, stressed about whether they made a good choice, etc. That’s not all of us.