Coastal Florida Real Estate

Recently, I had the good fortune to talk with a man about selling his home in an upscale community.

The home had been listed with 2 other agents for a long time without selling.  Now, the interesting part.  He purchased the home at the absolute top of the market here, late spring 2006 and has been trying to sell it for more than he paid for it without making any substantial changes.  And, he told me there were very few showings.

OK, if you've been following me on this blog or over at my other blog, http://www.coastalfloridarealestate.wordpress.com you know that I am constantly talking about the value of a statistical analysis of the market in order to determine correct pricings.  And without question a quick sale is the key to the most net income.

For example:  A home I priced at $ 620-635,000 was listed with another agent at $ 699,000 (just what they paid for it) and sold 9 months later for $ 630,000.  What were the carrying costs of a home that size for 9 months?  If he had started at $ 650,000 he certainly would have walked away with more money.

A home in Jupiter Farms agreed with my pricing then refused a cash offer.  I pleaded with the to accept the offer. 18 months later, they took $ 58,000 less...oh yeah with another agent.

A "very special" home which I told the man who bring the upper $ 700's is still on the market 3 years later and is now down to $ 729,000 and falling.  But, its a special house...too bad the buyers don't know this.

A home in an exclusive community had a severe problem that we quickly discovered was keeping buyers from making an offer even though we had lots of showings.  When the stubborn seller addressed the problem after 9 months, the house sold almost immediately.

A "For Sale By Owner" in The Shores of Jupiter called to get my opinion on why is house wasn't selling.  Upon arriving, the problem is so obvious you could have tripped over it and the solution would have cost maybe $ 300.  Oh yeah, he was so sure that the house as special, he went ahead and bought another.  So, he has owned 2 homes for the last 3 years.

When the doctor gives you a dianogsis, he doesn't have to plead with you to follow a course of treatment.  Why in real estate is there a need to plead?

So let's get back to the story at the top.  His house had been priced at nearly $ 500/foot and the only sale of houses like his in size or price was sold at $ 307 a foot and those in his community are priced at a median of $ 355 per foot.  OK, so I didn't get the listing.  When the new listing comes out, I'll post what the listing price is.  I've got a quarter riding on this that I can tell where it will be priced.