Wow, I am so bummed. For the first time, I am unable to sell a normal listing. This is neither a short sale nor an REO—well, it is a probate and according to the attorney, the court won’t allow more than a 6% commission. This means if I were to lower the price again to a mere $75,000—though not convinced that it would sell at this price—my net commission would be less than $700!!!
Since I am now dating my company’s broker, he told the owner and she told me to cancel the listing. The reward isn’t worth the risk to them? Or me?
I find all of this difficult to believe for two reasons. First, when I sold real estate in Oregon 10-12 years ago, I sold many condos and land in the $50-70,000 range. My biggest sale was considerably less than $300,000. Despite the “nickels and dimes”, I was able to garner $3 million in volume to be an MMDP (the successor to the “Million Dollar Club, stands for Multi-Million Dollar Producer). At one time, selling a million dollars in real estate was a big deal. Now it’s not enough (volume and resulting commission) to rent a studio in the City.
The second reason is that this is a cute house. The land was worth more than $100,000 at one time. Yes, it needs work but the potential!!! This is a solid working class East Oakland neighborhood. Some original details are intact. The lot is deep.
Do I regret taking this listing? (You may recall my ambivalence in a previous post or two?
I know that with some REO’s—and desperate sellers—commissions are 3.5 to 5%--and sometimes a bonus--to the Buyer’s Agent. Somehow the probate court won’t allow this—despite the trustee and beneficiary being the same person? (I have a buddy who specializes in probate—maybe he can do battle with the judge and attorney better than I can.)
I guess that all of this begs the question: Are there really homes that will NOT sell in today’s market regardless of price???? It appears that way to me—what do you think?
P.S. In checking the recent MLS comps, two houses are pending under $50,000 and four recent sales were under $50,000. If my soon-to-former listing sold at this price, I would make $210. I am glad that that I didn’t waste $100 on a sign!
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