Zillow Advice: Finding a buy-side agent - Has the market changed that much since January 09?????

In a changing market, comps ...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:27:00 GMT

In a changing market, comps with-in 3-4 months should be very accurate. You can go up to 6 months, but factor in depreciation. Property value is priced based on what a buyer is willing to pay, and you find that out by what they have already bought.

Oddly enough, builders in ...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:53:00 GMT

Oddly enough, builders in South Bay are still putting up more inventory.
Does not seem they will stop anytime soon. Expect prices to continue
to decline even after the selling season.

What did they sell for before ...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:45:00 GMT

What did they sell for before 1997 in San Jose? then add inflation..30%.
Typical med price SFH were around 200-250k on 1700-2000 sq.

So your looking at around 260-280K or so.

Prior year comps are useless, they too are resetting as prices continue to decline.

If anything prices have gone ...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:38:00 GMT

If anything prices have gone lower since January and April comps are still quite reasonable, only 2-3 months old. I'm not from CA, but I highly doubt the market has changed all that much in the last few months.

As mentioned in the previous thread, if the comps are old in a declining market, for very similar houses I suggest bidding below the old comps by a decent amount (~10%?, maybe so maybe 270-300k?).

Either way, in this market I think bidding a little lower is safer than overpaying for a house that will probably lose value over the next few years. Worst case, you move on to the next house, it's not like there is a shortage of houses for sale.