Zillow Advice: Home Selling - Sellers ... don't do this!!!

Hit submit too soon... Rarely ...

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:59:00 GMT

Hit submit too soon...

Rarely does a buyer get everything in a home for a price he or she wishes to pay. That's true even in this market. The prices of the great homes will remain higher than the not-as-great homes.

The difficult part for a ...

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:56:00 GMT

The difficult part for a non-rich buyer is to decide what compromises he/she will accept. I think this is where the programs like House Hunters have some value beyond entertainment. On these shows, a buyer will have a choice between the house with the great kitchen and walk-in closet - with a freeway nearby and noise an issue.

Or the home in a great location with the small galley kitchen, sliding door closets.

Like others said before. ...

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:16:00 GMT

Like others said before. The price the owner paid for the property means little. It sounds like you are trying to justify an argument. Also, I don't believe anyone has mentioned tax situations in many states. California froze taxes on the purchase price. So the value today versus purchase price is not really reflective because of the grandfathered taxes. I'm not wasting any energy to look and see where the property you want is located. It seems like you need to shift your attention to a cheaper area.

Cincinnati, It would ...

Mon, 05 May 2008 01:40:00 GMT

Cincinnati,

It would be nice to be able to walk into a house and state what you would pay to live there. The problem is that on my salary, there is NOTHING in Los Angeles that I would like to live in. It's one reason my husband turned down a job at a prestigious place and we left California. Even in 1992, the income / housing cost ratio would have put us in a rental or rundown piece of crap.

While it would be cool to walk inside a restore Victorian in the heart of San Francisco and say "By Jove! I'll pay $195k to live here in Danielle Steel's pink mansion!" it just won't work.

That's why buyers look at comps and sold prices before we go shopping, which is to learn what we can afford. This is also why sellers should look at the income levels around them in the neighborhood when setting a price to understand who is most likely to buy in a neighborhood, what they generally earn (teacher pay grades, social workers, Blue Collar tradesmen) and not price your home out of their range.

Too many sellers seem to fantasize about the CEO and heart surgeon who want to live in 1800 square foot homes in Worker Bee Subdivision instead of in 3000 square foot homes in Gated Community Ville.

Again it all falls back to ...

Sun, 04 May 2008 14:45:00 GMT

Again it all falls back to what can someone ACTUALLY afford these days. The financial game has changed the playing field, you actually have to have a decent income to afford a decent house, suicide loans are no longer the norm, so what you could (fake) afforded 3 years ago no longer applies. My income says I can afford over $400K but my rent that I pay now equals a $300K home......why would I pay $500K++ for a similar home to buy now when I can rent for so much less? Even with the whole tax benefit argument or paying into my future still doesn't make buying at a still inflated amount worth it. Add rising fuel, food, and health care costs into the equation and the pressure for housing prices to fall further is even higher......something has to give, either everything gets cheaper and incomes stays the same or the reverse.....we are all in the middle of town square at high noon......who will shoot off first and start the process and which side will "win" is still hard to predict or see.

As much as we would all love ...

Sun, 04 May 2008 00:04:00 GMT

As much as we would all love for there to be a magic formula for home prices it never really works out. I really like fouriers SOB comment I walk into (or around) a house and try to decide what I would pay to live there. I am a Selective Objective Buyer. I will not pay more than I can afford. But what really matters is if a seller and I can agree on a mutually benificial transaction. It hasn't happened yet but I can wait.

AliG hit it right on.........I ...

Sat, 03 May 2008 14:09:00 GMT

AliG hit it right on.........I take the 2001 house prices and add in avg appreciation to get what the house should realistically be, if it is higher than that then I know it ain't the time for me to buy.

Zillow is great for looking ...

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:04:00 GMT

Zillow is great for looking at "Historic" prices. I then also looked at TaxRecords.com and the County website. 2001 prices are a great indication of what the true prices should be. Unless there were legitimate factor that changed between 2000 and 2007. By legitimate I mean, major improvements, area job growth, area revitalization etc. Where I live, there are economic factors that will sustain the growth. Where I want to buy it was purely on speculation and is tanking. If there isn't economic factors that caused the appreciation, then it will go back to its normal price point. It may happen slowly, but it will happen. This is how Buyers are thinking, Sellers will be too, when they are Buyers again.

Relying on Zillow for a value ...

Sat, 03 May 2008 03:00:00 GMT

Relying on Zillow for a value is not always wise. I was working on a loan for a client of mine today and just for kicks we looked up the address on Zillow. Her purchase price is $670,000 and according to Zillow the value is $998,000. Usually it is in reverse and I see a lower value than the appraisal I get. There are so many factors that go into the value of a property, you can not judge by what someone paid prior. I know that the internet is a wonderful tool but do not underestimate a good Realtor that can preview homes for you ahead of time and weed out the duds. They are in the trenches and know what moves and was doesnt. In my neck of the woods I am being told that alot of REOs are being listed pretty low and we are having multiple offers all over the place pushing the sales price higher. So just because you see something listed at a certain price means that is what they are really expecting to get. I have a borrower right now that made a full price offer 20% down and was beat out and the home she did get had 7 other offers behind her. Her final offer was $20,000 over asking.

reason to look at what selling ...

Sat, 03 May 2008 01:26:00 GMT

reason to look at what selling history is: some ppl are taking pre-bubble price, adding 4%/year appreciation and saying *that* is a good offer price, whatever the seller's asking price is.