February 29, 2008

Dare I Say “Stubborn”?

That was the first question I asked myself when I saw one of today’s Daily Stat leaders. A 645 square foot 2/1 on a 2500 sf lot in Oakland, it has been on Redfin 115 days and has not received one price reduction. Not one! While the listing states that the owner (a bank?) will look at all offers, it is very unusual for a home to sit this long without cutting at least 3-5% off the price. Even at $290,000.

Love to tell you more about the house, but the agent, William Smith with Prudential California, has not put up any pictures, save the front of the house, and left me thoroughly confused as to the number of bedrooms. The home details show it as a 2/1. The listing description says it is a 3/1. The further information, shown below the description, lists 3 bedrooms on street level and 1 bedroom on lower level (making 4 by my calculations). Same confusion on baths. One in home details, one on description, but two down in the further information section. What the *&^%$#? Someone is having trouble counting on one hand.

According to the comps, both listing and sales, it is priced $50/sf too high, unless of course the square footage is wrong, which is most likely it. My guess is that the finished basement has a bedroom and bath, but maybe was not done with permits, so doesn’t add into the sf equation. Be nice if the agent told us this, or explain how the # of bedrooms varies so much.

Recent Sweet Digs Posts:
Put a Condo On: Glut, Freeze, Drop and Affordable Housing
Meet Me in Larkspur
Making Lending More Honest (and Some New Listings)
Along the Way…