SF: Have these Listing Agents Been Drinking?
Seems most readers agree that even SF’s real estate market is not immune to the economy’s downturn. With that sentiment in mind, I bring you a few listings that appear to be, frankly, delusional, harkening back to a time when living in (or near) San Francisco meant paying huge quantities of money, even in the crappiest neighborhood and even in the most falling down, sad hulk of a home.
Those days though, at least for now, are over.
So, are the agents for these homes overly optimistic, misinformed, clued in to a secret none of the rest of us know… or are they drunk?
To illustrate:
Here in Bayview, at 180 Orsi Court we have a 3/2.5 townhouse for $739K. Um, okay, but nearby 50 Lydia Ave, a 4/3 with more square footage, sold for $265K in June of this year. Further, 180 Orsi hasn’t changed price since it went on the market over 130 days ago.
In the same area, we have a 4/3 at 88 Orsi Circle. This one, at $700,888 is less than its neighbor above, but still seems awfully steep to me for one of the city’s most troubled districts. The owners bought the place in ‘97 for $269,500, but they may have missed the boat on tripling their money. At least this agent has had the sense to reduce the price (not once, but twice) since the listing hit the market in April.
For comparison sake, there is a 10/4 multi-family (rental income!) for $838K at 1453 Newcomb.
Moving on to Hunter’s Point, we find 2 condos in the same complex that show signs that someone has been tipping the bottle. At 114 Kirkwood, #2 is a 3/2 condo, 1300 square feet, offered at $448K. Yet here, at 126 Kirkwood Ave., #8, we have a 3/3 offered for $190K. To be fair, the latter property is listed as a fixer, but I’m thinking you could do a lot of fixing with more than $200,000 to play around with, not to mention the interest, taxes, etc.
In the Outer Mission, what but boozing explains the fact that this 2/1 at 41 Mt. Vernon is $705K while this rather attractive looking 2/1 at 41 Farragut is $525K. They both have in-laws. They both have garages. And incidently, they’ve both been on the market over 50 days…
So if not too many cocktails, what logic explains these listings?
Disclaimer: Agents, no disrespect intended. I’m just kidding. Love for any of you to comment with vitriolic and/or humorous thoughts which put my firmly in the corner.
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PHOTO: Media Canada
frank said:
Good laughs here, Anna
September 21, 2008 10:30 PM
MD Account said:
It’s not just SF. I recently bid on a property in a small town in the East Bay where the price was determined using year-old comps.
Two bids — incl. mine — both came in $100K under asking, which reflected realistic current market prices. The seller, enraged, rejected the second offer and countered mine by dropping his price $10K and refusing to pay any other costs.
I wanted the house badly, but not at any price. Trying to be fair, I countered by suggesting we split the cost of an independent appraisal, just so we could stop arguing about value and strike a deal. This evening my suggestion was flatly rejected and I was told not to bother with any additional counter-offer.
So tomorrow I’ll make an offer on a different house. The price-addled seller will have thrown away two serious buyers in a declining market, thanks to an agent who didn’t do her homework or educate her buyer. It’s been an amazing example of how much harm a bad agent can do.
September 21, 2008 11:31 PM
Anna said:
MD: I am struck dumb by your story here. What does the agent get out of this? The house won’t sell so no one wins? The market gets subsequently worse (it will!) and they all make even less money in the end? Then they’ll REALLY have a reason to drink!
September 21, 2008 11:34 PM
MD Account said:
Whoops. I meant the agent didn’t educate her seller!
As the buyer, I’ve been given a graduate-level course in pricing by my agent, who is having a superb year thanks to her knowledge of the market.
September 21, 2008 11:34 PM
MD Account said:
It actually gets worse. I made my counter-offer (in which I offered to split the cost of an appraisal) on Wednesday of last week, with a 72 hour limit. On Saturday, my agent called the seller’s agent, and finally got a callback around 4 pm.
The report? The seller’s agent hadn’t yet presented our now-expired counter-offer, because one of the sellers (the husband) works out of town and only comes home on weekends. Why the agent didn’t A) present it over the phone, B) contact us to tell us the schedule or C) present it first thing Saturday was never explained. She finally presented it Sunday at 5 pm — five days after it was made.
I’m now trying to figure out if there’s any way I can sue the seller’s agent for misrepresenting my offers. I doubt I can, but I’d love to do it. I really loved that house.
September 21, 2008 11:40 PM
anna.hibble said:
that’s a depressing, and enraging situation. If you can’t sue, can you at least lodge a complaint somewhere? Does not seem like something you want to just “let go.”
Glad though you, at least, have an agent on the ball.
September 22, 2008 12:03 AM
anon said:
MD, the agent is obliged to present the offer to the seller in a timely fashion, and you can send notice to the RE licensing board that this agent has been duly exercising their duty.
September 22, 2008 12:22 PM
anon said:
Correction: meant to say, “…has not been duly exercising their duty.”
September 22, 2008 12:23 PM
MDAccount said:
One last update: today my agent called the seller’s agent to see if there was any room for movement. In 20 years of working in real estate, my agent told me, she’s never been yelled at by another agent, until today.
The seller’s agent was so loud I could hear the whole conversation. She questioned my financial strength (I’m pre-approved), my agent’s ability (she’s award-winning), and our intent. She would cut off any response and begin to yell again. It was the most unprofessional conduct I’ve ever encountered.
She clearly didn’t understand the content of our counter-offer, and she repeated again and again that she had failed her clients by not telling them to reject our first offer completely. She was completely out of control, to the point where she told us her own colleagues were complaining about the shouting.
And, I swear by all that’s holy, I’m not making this up. It was just bizarre.
Not surprisingly, my response to all this was to put in an offer on a different house today. We’ll also being following up with the seller’s agent’s broker, to suggest he needs to do something about his agent’s mental health.
September 22, 2008 1:10 PM
Greg said:
Perhaps he/she needs AA? (In keeping with the theme of the blog)
September 22, 2008 3:15 PM
Shell said:
I enjoyed thi sblog. I often wonder the same after going to an open house for an 800K studio TIC.
September 29, 2008 6:05 PM