Hat tip to Susie for sending in this great article from SFGate:

Houses  deluged with offers way above their asking price are common stories nowadays. But there remain a significant minority of wallflowers. They could be challenged in some way — awkward layout, unpermitted work, problematic location — or there could be an issue with the pricing.

Here’s a tale of two recent for-sale houses, located side by side in Oakland’s popular Rockridge neighborhood — an easy stroll to BART, coffee, lots of chi-chi shops –  that underscore how real estate remains as much an art as a science.

One triggered a bidding war and sold last month for $146,000 over asking, a 20% premium. Right next door, the other house sat..and sat…and sat, and this month was withdrawn from the market, having failed to win a satisfactory bid.

“When a property is priced below the comparables, such as (the house that sold), it attracts multiple offers and often times sells for well above what the market supports,” he said. “This of course is what drives a rising market. When a property is priced at the top end of the range of value, or above, it does not garner as much interest and ends up sitting.  The longer it sits the more stagnant it gets and will end up selling for less than what the comps indicate as market value or being pulled from the market.”

Read the full article here:

http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2013/07/19/rockridge-house-incites-bidding-war-next-door-neighbor-remains-wallflower/

Pin It on Pinterest