Stale Listings

One home you are interested in has been on the market 7 days, the other 190 days. They are about the same size. The seven day old listing has some deferred maintenance and is in a pleasant but average neighborhood. The other is closer the downtown and priced 5 thousand less at 139. It should be a slam dunk, buy closer to downtown in a nicer area and a nicer home. The 2 bedrooms are a bit smaller but the 2 car garage, new finishes and price should make this an easy decision. But why has the home most would agree the "nicer" one, some would argue the "better investment" have been on the market for so long.

What must be wrong with the home? There may very well be something wrong, an inspection will tell us that. Why though has it not sold? Is the age of the listing a reason not to buy?

Try your best to figure out why it has not sold and decide if those things are important to you and your potential buyers a few years from now. One, it was overpriced at the get go. The first few weeks and months of the listing are the homes best chances of selling, did they make an adjustment too late. It was listed in October, what was the market like then? Did it have the chance it deserved? Has it been in the same condition for the duration of the listing or did they waste the first month of the listing, and then out in new carpet and paint? Do your homework and you will be able to move forward comfortably to an offer or to another home.

And now for my next Cliche...

I recently had 3 deals working that I felt challenged me in every way they could. In one deal there were unhappy tenants that felt I would lie, cheat and steal to make a sale and as such felt it their duty to make certain I would not succeed. Another deal hung in the balance waiting for a municipality to purchase a large parcel of land from a gentleman who needed those proceeds to purchase a listing I was trying to sell. The third was the owner of that listing, purchasing a new home, a deal contingent upon the close of the sale of his home .
I could have never anticipated the challenges that my clients and I faced in moving these deals to closing. Enter Cliché #1 Expect the unexpected. I did not expect the tenant making demands, believing incorrectly that the home they were renting was not up to code, threatening to call the building inspector in an attempt to foul the sale. I also did not expect that after a completed inspection and delivery of notice of the defects that a buyer would attempt, at the risk of being sued for breach of contract, to re-negotiate the sales price at closing as in his opinion the roof was going to be more costly repair than he anticipated. Cliché #2 Either you are with me or again me. This buyer was clearly again me and had disguised his intentions with what I call a "Stupid like a fox" demeanor, chummy, friendly, even simple minded until they want to put the screws to you or get their way. Cliché #3 Trust no one/Get it in writing. Verbal agreements or simple omissions of even the most minor change can give the conniver the perception that a window has been opened to them. All they need is the belief they can screw you to try to do it.
I would hate to think I could squeeze 4 cliche's into one entry so I will take my leave.

The other young couple with the Baby

So now I am the young couple with the baby, as evidenced by one month of silence on the blog front. For a peek at what my wife Sandy and I have been up to have a look at Baby Lola's blog. This last month even without the birth of a child has been one of my busiest ever. The third week in January held 3 closing for me. Those 3 closings meant a long awaited payday for a listing I had been marketing since August 07 and the relatively speedy sale of the aforementioned Fitchburg Flipper.