Ridiculous Homes For Sale SLC

Today I was flipping through new listings on Craigslist and found SO MANY ridiculously priced homes, I had to start posting some of them here. This weeks home is nice enough, but its priced in Harvard/Yale territory at 179 sq/ft! It gets me thinking, who is falling for these OVERPRICED homes?




The home at 3332 S Santa Rosa Dr., (3275 E),has 2157 sq/ft and has been intermittently listed for sale from June 2006 to August 2008. It was first listed at $360,000 in 2006, until it expired in the fall 2007. It was relisted in February 2008, in a slowing market, for $387,000! It's listed for sale today on Craigslist for $387,000.

A couple negatives right off, the home has a carport, NO GARAGE, and a swamp cooler, no central AC. It fits the profile of many of the hundreds of homes I've been through in the last year. It's updated with modern touches to look good, but there's still heavy lifting to make this a truly remodeled home for todays buyer. I've not been through this home, but I'd bet dollars to donuts it has old school, single pane windows that would also need to be updated. The point, at $387,000, this home still need all kinds of work.

Compare this listing to a recently sold home, at 1975 S 1600 E, a 2148 sq/ft home, that's obviously well cared for, for $380,000. Not only is this home more modern with AC and a garage, its in a WAY better area, and you know what they say about location. Here's home 2.




Even home 2 is overpriced, it's at the HIGH end of rationality, home 1 is well....

Realtors, Get Some Empathy!

A recent real estate listing appointment re-reminded me how important it is to empathize with my clients. The three siblings were selling their mothers SLC home, their childhood home, after their mom passed away in her early nineties. You know the kind of place, neat as a pin, classic pink bathroom tile, shag carpet, and knotty pine paneling.

It's always a challenge to sell possessions filled with a lifetime of memories. Every corner, closet and alcove hold reminders and are unique. It's difficult to balance long term emotional attachments with the realities of a vastly slowing market. As a professional, it's my job to educate my clients into making wise buying and selling decisions. In today's market, these decisions are not easy.

When I'm speaking with a client who I think is not being wise, I try and put myself in their shoes. Imagine the homeowner who has witnessed neighbors sell at the top of the market in 2006-2007, walking away with a pocket full of cash. These homeowners are now faced with selling for 10%-20% less than anticipated. How frustrating this must be, and many home sellers (incorrectly) blame themselves...

I experienced many of these emotions making my own investing decisions. When I first started investing in stocks, I was terrified to leave ANY profit on the table, and as a result sold at the first hint of a profit. As an example, in 2002 I purchased shares of MFW, a small company that makes licorice extract. It sounds exotic, maybe a little weird, but I was jumping for joy when shares I purchased at $4.06 rose to over $6.00 a share. I sold....Over the next year, shares of MFW rose to over $13.00 a share! Even though I'd made a tidy profit, I felt miserable. How could I be so stupid!

None of us has a crystal ball, so its silly to BLAME ourselves for what in hindsight appears to be a bad decision. Even so, there's a difference between intellectual and emotional understanding. As a realtor, I remind myself of this reality and remember my investing mishaps, understanding and helping my clients make wise, if painful decisions. (realtor.com, real estate listings)