Sellers lowering their prices for a 10-day event
Coldwell Banker said yesterday that home sellers across the country will lower their asking prices by as much as 10 percent during a sales event running Oct. 10 through 19. In Baltimore and its five surrounding suburbs, more than 300 sellers have agreed to lower prices “significantly,” Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Greater Baltimore told me.
"This is a really neat, interesting, good opportunity if you've been waiting, watching prices," said Melissa Brever, marketing manager with the Greater Baltimore company.
The local breakdown, in case you're interested: 102 participating sellers in Anne Arundel, 79 in Baltimore City, 71 in Baltimore County, 14 in Carroll, 34 in Harford and 16 in Howard.
Once the event kicks off, buyers can see which properties are participating and how the prices have changed at cbmove.com. There's also supposed to be event information at coldwellbank.com/event.
Tip of the hat to Wonk reader John for giving me a heads-up about the announcement.
Coldwell Banker said three-quarters of its U.S. agents surveyed recently believe most sellers have “unrealistic expectations” about price, but an equal amount think a reduction of 10 percent or less would be enough to interest buyers. (Almost 80 percent "agreed that homes in their market that are priced appropriately are attracting more buyers and moving more quickly," the company says.)
So, potential buyers, here's an unscientific survey: What sort of reduction would it take for you to do a deal? Is it price or something else keeping you from signing on the dotted line?
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Comments
In my opinion - too little too late. We were house-hunting actively last summer, but most prices were 15-20% over what would be reasonable in this market. With present situation in economy, credit crisis, etc. we are not even looking to buy anymore. And I'm actually happy that we haven't bought anything.
Until the prices (or salaries) are back to the levels where a working family spends only 30% of income on housing, I don't think there will be a significant shift in interest. Or at least not until the economy is back on track.
Posted by: Jelena | October 7, 2008 2:03 PM
I think that it is a step in the right direction but with all of the economic problems right now, I think the sellers should be willing to negotiate further.
Posted by: James | October 7, 2008 2:52 PM
Jelena hit the nail on the head. I hope all buyers are using the same clear-headed reasoning to make their decisions, and that's coming from someone who would have to sell to buy too. Sanity in prices will be a bitter pill to swallow, but necessary if we all want to keep our shirts over the next century.
Posted by: dave | October 10, 2008 11:46 AM
I agree with both Jelena & Dave.
I did a quick count; in the Baltimore Metro area, there are 304 listed on the cbmove 10 day sale. According to MRIS there are 20,709 properties for sale in this same area. That's about 1.5% on "sale"!! And a lot of the houses on cbmove are not even the full 10% off. That's why I put sale in quotes.
These sellers are holding stock in Enron, good luck to them. They had better realize that if they don't price it right now, by next year, they will lose a good deal more.
Posted by: Anon | October 10, 2008 6:11 PM
So does this mean that when they can't sell the home for 10 percent off their original listing price, they will raise the price back to the original listing price.
Sounds to me that if they can't sell the home at 10 percent off, then they are still priced too high.
All this does is drive down prices. If the seller is ready to accept 10 percent discount today, just think what they will accept in a month if the home still hasn't sold.
Posted by: Yeah, sure | October 13, 2008 2:32 PM
Ditto to the comment posted by: Jelena | October 7, 2008 2:03 PM. My wife and I are in the market for a house. We are fortunate enough to have a nice down-payment but we're going to ride out the storm until we see signs of a bottom. That may be awhile but we'll sit tight and continue to watch the trends. It's about time we had some serious correction in Maryland. 10% isn't thrilling us in any way whatsoever.
Posted by: James | October 19, 2008 6:58 PM