From sfgate.com:

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/SF-home-buying-insanity-means-paying-1-6347687.php

Bravo’s reality show “Million Dollar Listing San Francisco” debuts July 8, but I already have an idea for a spinoff — “Million Dollar Over Listing.” It would feature homes in the Bay Area that sold for at least $1 million more than the list price.

There were at least 10 such sales in San Francisco over the past year, 14 in Santa Clara County and five in San Mateo County, according to Multiple Listing Service data. They ranged from teardowns to mansions.

A home at 178 Sea Cliff Ave. in San Francisco, for example, sold in April for $11 million, which was $4.7 million or 75 percent over the $6,298,000 list price.

Patrick Carlisle, chief market analyst with Paragon Real Estate Group, chalks it up to the “general insanity of the overheated market,” which stems mainly from demand outstripping a long period of below-average inventory. In addition, “many agents have adopted a strategy of egregious underpricing,” he said.

In San Francisco especially, underpricing is so prevalent that most buyers search for homes well below their target price, knowing the sale price will be much higher.

“If you price (a home) where it should be, it will sit,” said Realtor Alan Canas.

Canas represented the sellers of a home at 44 Everson St. in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood. The four-bedroom, four-bathroom home was somewhat dated but had magnificent views, which were hard to value.

Canas priced it at $1.8 million in October, expecting it would sell for $2.3 million to $2.4 million.

“The offers we received, it was shocking,” he said. He made counter offers to the two highest — $2.65 million and $2.725 million — asking them to come up to $2.8 million. “One jumped, the other jumped too late,” he said.

What if he had listed it closer to his expected price? “If we had priced it at $2.2 million, I honestly don’t think it would have seen the play (it got) at $1.8 million,” Canas said. “It’s psychological, almost a game.”

The top two offers were both all cash, which is good because if the buyer had needed a loan, “I don’t think it would ever appraise at $2.8 million,” he said.

Read full article here:

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/SF-home-buying-insanity-means-paying-1-6347687.php

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