Over a year ago, back when I was much more active on posting, I made a post about a home seller that was featured on a new show on The Learning Channel. Please read the the original post here (make sure you read the comments section):
Original Post on the TLC Show
In the post, I discussed the house in Plantation Acres that was listed for $649,000. I explained why the price was well overpriced and I made the following recommendation:
"The Bentals could drop their price down to $551,000 and could still walk away after paying the Realtor®’s commission and paying off their outstanding mortgage. Instead, the Bentals remain steadfast, paying nearly $5,000 every month to maintain an empty house. At the end of the show, Dan explained that he was going to hold out until the real estate market turned around."
The Bentals did not take my advice at the time (even thought they made comments to the post) and kept trying to sell their house at the inflated price. I watched this house for months after my original post and the price remained the same.
Recently, I was reviewing some old posts and decided to look up the house and see what happened. The Broward County Property Appraiser’s website shows that the Bentals ultimately ended up selling their house in August through a short sale for just $440,000.
While I am happy that the Bentals were able to finally sell their home, I think it's unfortunate that they were not more aggressive about their original approach to selling their house. Had they started off with a low price, in theory, they could have sold their house at price that would have covered their outstanding mortgages. This would have kept a short sale off their credit report and could have saved them some of those $5,000 monthly mortgage payments.
I'm not posting this to pile on the Bentals -- I truly empathize with their plight. Instead, I am posting this update to serve as a case study for those of you facing similar situations.
If you are in a similar situation where you must sell your house and you still equity in the house, you should be extremely aggressive in your pricing strategy. Based on the current inventory levels in South Florida, prices will only continue to fall. You have the option to sell quickly in an effort to preserve your falling equity and your credit standing or you can hold out for a turnaround that probably will not happen for a decade. It’s your choice. However, consider this particular case when you form your strategy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Stumble It!
2 comments:
Or they can refinance or get principle forgiven via lender programs or fannie/freddy.
In spite of all else, aggressively priced homes are selling.
I see it every month.
The ones who cut the price aggressively do get sold, and often quite fast, 30-60 days.
Then 6 months later, the prices are even lower and steeper cuts are needed.
Chase prices or lead them, that's the only options in this market.
Post a Comment