Sometimes I receive something so awful, I just must post it as soon as I can.
I recieved just that something in the mail the other day.
Some of you who regularly read my blog know that flippers (or something like it) finally bought the home next to ours that had been for sale since we moved in. My wife and I have discussed this home sitting for more than 6 months as a sign that the market is in a freefall. The home is an average home, listing for an average price for the area; and yet it would not move.
We both knew it had been on the market for over 6 months; all of our neighbors knew it, and I am pretty confident that any realtor who sells homes in the area should know it.
Yet, why do we get information to the contrary? The simple truth is that you cannot trust anything that the Real Estate establishment tells you. It is a patently deceptive bunch who are disincentivized from telling the truth; the truth reduces sales.
I have posted the offending material I found stuffed in my mailbox here:
I have removed the addresses and neighborhood information so that I retain some anonymity. However, the house that sat, and sat, and sat, and sat and finally sold is listed as having sold in February (the only one in our neighborhood while at least 5 sit for sale (out of 50, that seems like a lot for me).
WE ALL IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD KNOW DAMN WELL THAT THE HOUSE DID NOT SELL IN 14 DAYS AS THE FLYER SAYS, IT WAS OVER 180 DAYS!
How should we know that any of the information that the MLS gives out when they can change the days on market at the drop of a hat? THE FACT IS WE CAN’T. THE LOCAL REALTOR’S ASSOCIATION AS WELL AS THE CAR AND NAR ARE THE WORST KIND OF MONOPOLY; DECEPTIVE TO THE CORE. Then, a friend of mine who was over at my house saw it sitting on my table picked it up, reads it and remarks, “Wow, houses really are flying off the shelves still! My neighborhood has really slowed down, but it looks like yours is still crazy.” This is how most people will read this mailer. Still, it’s not Mr. M’s [Name Removed] fault his organizations are corrupt and filled with deceitful people. Relisting a property should require an initial date of listing, listing history, and the Realtor’s association needs to have periodic peer reviews to ensure the integrity of their information and profession. This should not, and cannot continue to work for them! What leaves me the most surprised was that he sent it to exactly the people who know that the house was for sale for 6 months and would know that it was a lie. Will Carless recently reported that San Diego Real Estate reached it’s historic inventory figure and is in newly uncharted territory. This is the story of the Circus.
Peter Chinloy, the new chairman of San Diego State University’s real estate program, said there are plenty of people in the same boat as Fulhorst. He said the reason the high inventory levels haven’t translated into substantial price decreases is that sellers are not yet willing to let go of the equity they have built up in their property.
“What you have is a large number of people who are sort of sticking it out there and hoping that some accident will happen — that someone will offer them a high price for it, but they’re not sufficiently distressed that they’ll take the low offers that come along,” Chinloy said
Yet is the operative word. Wait until ARMs start resetting near the end of this year…
Of course, all we need to do is turn over the MLS every 30 days and we’ll for sure have Days On Market figures under 30, then huh?
If there has every been any question in your mind about the DOM figure being truthful, please kill that feeling now.
What an eye opener reading your Blog has been. When my wife and I bought our first house in North San Diego county 8 years ago, we got what I thought was a fair price ($140K), today these crazy tiny houses are going $400K plus. The real estate agent we worked with when we bought the house is a “neighborhood expert” and sells a lot around here. I was surprised just how dishonest this lady was when dealing with us. I can only assume that the local Coldwell Banker still lauds her sell rate.
Yes,
Listing history would have also told you that the owner originally listed the house at 679K and subsequently reduced it to 669, 659, 649, and 639 before finally settling at 629 and selling for 625 (and more likely with quite a few concessions to the buyer)
John
Central Anaheim, in Da O.C.
I get at least one of those as a mass-mailing in my mailbox every day. Not counting the full-color ones slipped under my front door and/or hung on my doorknob. I’ve phone-blocked real estate telemarketers, but occasionally one still leaks through.
The guy three doors down from me has been holding an “OPEN HOUSE – FOR SALE BY OWNER” for the past three weekends. Current asking price is now 10% down from when Zillow.com’s price-curves said local properties peaked in January. Curious to see if he drops the price further in the future.
It took almost a year to sell my house in San Diego County. During that time, I had the DOM reset 4 or 5 times. A house for sale is like a new movie, it only gets traffic in the first 30 days after release.
For the zip code I’m tracking, ZipRealty has about 5 or 6 new listings per day. Fully half of these “new” listings are properties being relisted, sometimes with a price drop, sometimes not, but always getting reset to “0 days on market!”
Absolutely shameless. This industry is going to burn.
I’ve seen at least three houses that have been sitting since October change agents and get a “New Listing”.
Houses in Woodland Hills are sitting and the inventory has increased from 277 houses in January to 371 in April. The inventory is way up compared to previous years. Listing prices are still ridiculous. The houses selling are those who prices have been reduced after languishing on the market.
Also noticed that a few houses recently listed are behind on one or both Property Tax installments. These houses were bought in ’04.
There have been a few of these sneaky delistings/relistings in the south bay area, but they are not epidemic yet as far as I can tell. One in 90278 is a “craftsman” style home they want $1.2 mil for, been on the market since last October and has been listed 3 times. Price reductions have been token amounts.
BTW have total real estate $$$ transacted for April for the south bay and surrounding zip codes up on my south bay blog. If you live near there be sure to go to the zip code tracker link at the end of the post about $$$ transacted for April.
I wish very much that ARM reset will bring the housing market down. But if you have bought the house just two years ago, can’t you refinance at a higher rate, get cash out, and get equity loan too, and pay then pay those monthly payments that you can never pay by using the cash proceeds from the cash out? I just called IndyMac bank a month ago, and they are still willing to do a 80% LTV loan + 20% home equity loan. How much I wish the housing market craters, but it is simply not happening.