The Northern Virginia real estate market has stabilized nicely. It wasn't so long ago that our market value graphs year to year looked like the path of the Titanic to the bottom of the ocean. But even though we've gotten through the worst of it, home values are still not what they were during the boom and it will be a long time before they are....IF....they ever get there again.
This is a great post by J. Philip Faranda, a Broker/Owner in Westchester County, NY. My Mom has a saying that could sum up this post. Wish in one hand, spit in the other. See which one gets full first.
It is vital to consult a local agent about market value if you want a true and accurate representation of your home's value in today's market. If you want to know what your Northern Virginia home is worth, give me a call and I'll be happy to go over the figures with you.
Via
J. Philip Faranda (J. Philip R.E. LLC) Westchester County NY:
I had an appointment this morning where I was reminded of two cornerstone laws of real estate:
- Unrealistic people tend to remain unrealistic no matter what evidence is brought before them.
- The price one asks for their house and the price one gets are two entirely different animals.
As for part 1, my colleagues know the drill: you walk into a home that was, at one time, a show stopper. It's like a Jane Russell house- amazing 60 years ago, today, not so amazing. But the owners, who bought it when I was in high school, insisted that it appraised for $1 million in recent years, and they turned down an offer for $850,000 a few years prior. Today it is hardly worth half a million. When I opened my laptop and showed them market data putting their home's value so much lower than their expectations, I was met with a chorus of disagreement.
I no longer argue; it isn't worth the stress. So I asked the folks where they got their value opinion from. The answer was a passionate rendition of all the neighborhood homes currently on the market, some for hundreds of days, for vastly higher prices.
None of these homes were sold or reported under contract. The actual highest closed sale was under $400,000.
Market value is what the buying public is willing to spend. Just because a neighbor -or three- are asking inflated prices for their homes doesn't add a cent of value to your home. The same goes for when you log online or look at print ads (!) for homes with high asking prices. They can ask for a billion trillion gazillion. It doesn't mean they are going to get it. The only numbers that matter are those that closed with ready, willing and able buyers.
The high bidder gets the house. All too often, the highest bid comes from those who already own it.
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Chris Ann Cleland, Associate Broker- Licensed in Virginia, GRI, SFR, Northern Virginia Short Sale Specialist. Affiliated with Long & Foster, 7526 Limestone Drive, Gainesville, VA 20155. To contact Chris Ann, call 703-402-0037 or email chrisann@LNF.com. Or you can visit her website: www.nvarealestate.net.
Header photos taken by Chris Ann Cleland.
The opinions expressed in this post are those of Chris Ann Cleland, not those of Long & Foster REALTORS®.
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8 Comments on Just Because Your Neighbor...
Thanks for sharing J. Philip's wonderful post...I might have otherwise missed it, and I would've hated to have missed his closing lines: The high bidder gets the house. All too often, the highest bid comes from those who already own it. Now I'm off to his page to tell him the same...
Good evening Chris Ann,
How did I miss this post! It's great..thanks for the re-blog..running over to comment!
I totally agree with the managing of unrealistic expectations. I just fired a client who, after months, didn't "get it" and refused to realize what they needed to do to get a house.
As for sellers, I've had listings where the expectations were so far off the mark that it took over a year to get the price where it needed to be. If they had listened up front, we would have had it sold at a much higher price.
Lisa: Philip is a great contributor here. I love reading his posts.
Dorie: I'm sure he'll be pleased.
Bryan: I saw that play out with another agent's listing my neighborhood. Being unrealistic cost the Seller's a year and a half on the market and $100,000 of lost equity.
Great post.
The way to deal with sellers like that is to involve them in the process and educate them. Once they know how sales prices work, they can't help but pick a realistic price. I show them how to read the comparable sales and decipher that information. I make them put themselves into the shoes of a buyer. When they look at from a buyer's point of view, their tune changes.
Elizabeth: That's the way the folks that sell listings work. I do the same thing.
This is a great post and expresses so much of the frustration I felt as an agent. Unrealistic expectations are hard to overcome.
Anne: Unrealistic expectations are indeed hard to overcome, if not impossible.