I'm recently back from being in New York City for meetings, and one of the pleasures of being there is to read the New York Times business section on Sunday, particularly when it's your host who has spent the $4 to buy it from his usual news vendor.
While I was in NYC, the Times had an article entitled "A Reality Check for Home Sellers." The thrust of the article was that typical economic theory; "stuff is worth what it's worth" doesn't seem to apply in the housing sector. A study done of the Boston housing market for the period 1991 to 1997, by two eminent economists/professors, showed that "for essentially identical condominiums people who had bought at the peak of the market and were facing a loss generally listed their properties for significantly more than those who had bought at a time when prices were lower." The professors found that the overpriced properties were listed for an average of more the 35% above the expected sales price. The results were as to be expected. Less than 30% of those properties sold in fewer than 180 days.
What's the lesson for us here in North County? Want to avoid having to clean up your house every day, or putting your valuables away, or cleaning out your medicine cabinet in the hope that a Buyer will come through even though your property is priced above the market? Decide in advance whether you really want to sell, and then set a realistic market price or don't put it on the market and go through the pain of having strangers walking through your living room to see how you did your decorating. The article ended with just two words: "Get real."
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