Do sellers believe it if a potential buyer says too high priced?

Depends.  Was it just one person who said it - particularly the one person who came back and looked six time? - or was it a bunch of people who said it.

If it's a bunch, O.K.  I'll start to believe it.  If it's just one, and I've had plenty of other showings that have said the opposite, I might lean more toward lowballing.

As writeagain says, it does depend upon all of the feedback received. A good way to get objective opinions is to have your Realtor hold an agent/broker open with price opinion. Doing this allows the homeowner to get many opinions at once regarding price and condition of property as well as suggestions to enhance properties buyer appeal.

Depends if the buyer can justify the reasoning with facts .

A buyer might be clueless think he can buy a home on the oceanfront for the same price of the identical sized house his brother bought  in Landlockedville. Not gonna happen.

A buyer might look at a larger, prettier house on a different street that sold for lower and go "aha! - you're priced too high!" but not realize that the more expensive listing is because of the school district, or the lower one is in a lesser district.

A buyer can argue a case well if she or he has comps of recent sales prices for a home with that square footage, size of lot and number of bedrooms and bathrooms in the same school district.

Well can the potential buyer ask for comps to show the price is justified ( what if nothing is selling and the agent cant provide any recent sales at all) or is that not done for a buyer only the seller? How do they then justify a price that hasnt dropped in a long time in a market that has been dropping steadily? Do the agents even know these days what things are valued at ?Isnt the value really only what someone is still willing to pay?

Lisa

Lisa,

A seller doesn't need to justify the price to a buyer. If the seller doesn't want to sell for what you want to pay there is no deal. Just because you want the house for a certain price the seller does not have to agree with it. Your agent should be able to provide you with a CMA and if you are not willing to pay what the seller agrees to sell for after seeing the CMA then you have no deal.

Here is an interesting piece of info:

99% of buyers think that 99% of homes for sale are overpriced.

ok, I have no facts to support that, but you get the idea...

Exactly with what has been said above.  Comps are what determines if a house is priced fairly, not what some bubblehead buyer thinks he is entitled to buy the house for because it is a "buyer's market."

Time heals all wounds, and overpriced houses.

If the house is indeed priced too high but you are interested, offer what you think it is worth and put your earnest money out to see if you can convince the seller that it is indeed priced too high.

If you are unwilling to go that route, sit back and wait a few months (or years) and see where the price goes.

Every buyer wants the best price possible, with that said every seller wants the most for their home. So in any market condition homes are too high or not high enough depending on what side of the white picket fence you are standing on. Avenues to settle the argument involves the professionals, the agents should know or have a feeling of the market and guide the buyer or seller in the appropriate direction, along with a home appraisal by a certified professional will assist in determining the proper price for the current market in your area. Spending a little money now for an appraisel can be a great way to take the emotion out of the formula as well as provide a sales agent a great tool to close the deal.

The problem is i have read over and over that appraisals are fixed. And I dont yet have  realtor  I havent made an exact determination of which area I will stay definatley yet. Things have changed . My situation has changed. I need to look at  many areas. I just liked that house. Can zillow be used to decide comps? They show houses and prices of houses sold in the area do they include them all?  I feel certain that house was over priced... I was told that they would give a discount on closing costs that the seller pays for it but on here they have said many times that the seller pays nothing in a purchase of a home that the buyer pays not the seller.Anyway... I just replied that the house was overpriced and I wanted to see comps and got no reply. The whole area is not selling according to zillow and what does sell was priced much lower. I feel certain I am right.

Lisa

You should not rely solely on Zillow for assessing market value.  For any home you are interested in, a good pricing analysis using appropriate comps will flush out instantly if the home is overpriced.  The analysis is also a valuable tool to use in presenting your offer to the seller.  A  number than can be substantiated based on the facts of the market is far more compelling than one that it not.  It sounds to me Lisa as though a good agent could be of service - when you said that you had asked for comps - was that from the seller?  Remember the seller is invested in his number - you need someone working on your behalf to help you sort out the pricing.

I just wondered if the recently sold houses on zillow show All recently showed houses?Do they miss any?  And I do include foreclosures in that I know some realtors dont... I simply asked her to try and justify the price  of the house she was listing by showing me proof its was not too high( since I dont live in that are)  and she didnt. I felt if she really beleived her seller had a good fair price she should be able to proof it but she couldnt...

Lisa

sorry for the bad typing ...

Lisa

 stop wasting your time trying get someone to see the light, your not accomplishing anything by doing this other than wasting your time. What does it matter if they come down 20% if the home was 20% over market anyway? You have to let go of “just because something is on sale means it's a deal”. Move on to the ones that are priced right and then work them on price/ terms. Also don’t buy the home buy the area. Orlando is a difficult city to navigate if you are on the wrong side of town. Don’t make the mistake of shopping for price as if what’s around it doesn’t matter unless you’re a recluse who works from home. I have lived all over Orlando and can tell you there are areas that seem nice that I wouldn’t touch with a 10 ft pole. Take Vista Lakes for example, It’s a newer area with a fair amount of shopping and decent schools. Try to drive the 9 miles to downtown during rush hour and you will find it can take over an hour especially once UCF and Valencia resumes classes.

4 wheel drive pickups are not selling right now.  I need a new one.  Perhaps I should go to the local Ford dealership and demand lower the price 50% since they have had the same one I like on the lot for 6 months now.  If they refuse my reasoning then I will just point them a website that says trucks are selling to further my point.  And if they still won't listen I can get on a message board and complain about it.  Yeah that will work..........

Those damn truck sellers, trying to rip me off!!  I will show them.

If those pickups have been dropping in value every month as houses have in Florida wait a little while and you may get one :).

Lisa

But I don't want to wait.  I want them to lower the price now.  And lower it to what I want to pay.

Then buy one used after two years they drop in value a great deal but dont have much mileage yet :).

Lisa

Hee, hee.

You can use zillow for comps in terms of sale price if and that's a big if, you know the house is comperable.  The "comps" zillow pulls for my house are always way off.  They just use stuff that's sold recently, not something that's comperable to my property.  By that, I mean, they pull things from the next town over (O.K., city of Chicago, but still) that's in a far worse school district.  They pull things that have smaller and larger square footage, different amount of bedrooms, and so on.  It's not a great resource unless you live in a cookie cutter, and still, it's not so great.

In my case, I don't think our appraisal was fixed. We had our home listed 25K higher than our home appraised and the appraiser was aware of our list price.

They do. To the same extent that buyers believe when sellers claim that the property in question is, in fact, underpiced ;-)

Sellers are going to have a bias towards overpricing their home, and most RE agents I've met seem willing to go along with this (losing) strategy until the house has been sitting for a while (and the owner is feeling less confident).

Neighbors who are selling near us seem to consistently overvalue the "improvements" they have made to their houses, whether it's a crazy paint/decor scheme or an over-the-top kitchen done to their personal taste.  Somewhere over the past several years we lost sight of the old rule that even genuine upgrades can only be expected to return a fraction of their cost at time of resale.  Now people seem to want to break even or even profit. 

I'm not wasting my breath trying to persuade sellers of the real situation, not this year, and maybe not next year.  They can hold tight to their asking prices and their meaningless appraisals, and follow the market down. I'm a buyer-in-waiting, and time is my friend.

Somewhere over the past several years we lost sight of the old rule that even genuine upgrades can only be expected to return a fraction of their cost at time of resale. Now people seem to want to break even or even profit.

Oh, blame HGTV for that.  With flipping shows and My House is Worth What? viewer (and there are many) keep hearing that a $20,000 remodel will yield $30,000 and so on.  Never have I heard them say something like, "Beautiful job.  You'll only lose about 5% on this kitchen."  Which is the truth if one recoups only 95% of value.  (My percentage is not based on actual fact, but to make a point.)  I think those shows have changed people's perception on how to make money through housing and so expectations are now so out of whack.  After reading through this forum, I KNOW that the money we are spending to fix our driveway should not be added to any listing price.  Anyway, this is getting off-topic, sorry.

Those upgrades in this market will only make the house stand out from the crowd as best house if its priced the same as the others. They will not break even they will stand a better chance of selling however if they keep their price , that is a good thing right now in a market of no sales.

Lisa

Most sellers do not think their home is ever over priced, even if it is. A lot of the time the buyer's are right. They've probably already seen a lot of the competition and the condition of the homes on the inside, and their list prices. When homes are on the market as long as they are today you need to be constantly checking out the market. Take into consideration the other homes on the market that are comparable to yours and price it competitively. Make your home the best home in its price range, stage it, and it will sell.

Just do the comps and show the seller waht has been sold in the area over the last few month. this is the pricetag or sometimes below this, NOT above it.

As for feedback..think about the process. Agents who have sold a lot of real estate for a long time, will tell you that buyers will know when they walk through the front door if this is the house for them. In fact, if dealing with a married couple and they both have that "gut" feeling...it is probably the right home for them.

When an agent gets feedback think about the process. If a buyer does not get that "gut" feeling when they walk through a home, and an agent asks them what they don't like...of course they will comment on carpet, wallpaper, etc.

Where many of these posts are correct is that you want to look for similar, consistent feedback. One time is not enough to change carpet, wallpaper, etc. when you have only received that type of feedback once. When you see it over and over again...then you really want to start to listen to what the buyers are saying.

If you have a competent agent with experience, they can help you truly determine what the market is saying about your home.

In many markets right now, it is a Beauty Contest AND a Price War. Stay tuned in to your local market conditions.

I would try to get more info.  What are they basing this on?  Do they think the house needs work, is it the neighborhood? etc.  If the only thing they have to say is that is priced too high with no reasons, then they are fishing and you should dismiss it.

I do agree with the suggestions though that a broker open would be a great way to find out about the price. 

good luck to you!