I had an agent do a walk through of the house, outbuildings and property Monday. The plan was that he'd get back to us with an idea of what we should list the place for.

When he came to do the walk through, he had been to the town office and looked at the plat maps and the tax records which indicates, at least to me, that he's serious about this.

What would you think would be a reasonable amount of time for us to wait for him to get back to us with a ballpark number?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PHPaul,

Sadly, it depends.

Let me qualify that:
Is the realtor swamped or slow?
Are there similar comps close by?
What are the sales histories of similar comps like?


So, you could get an answer in a day or a week. Either could be good or bad depending on the perspective.

I hope it is a smooth transaction for you.

He's a part-timer, owns a "5 and 10" store in the next village over.

I'll give him until Friday, if I don't hear by then I'll call him Monday. Trying to be patient, but the more we (wife and I) think about this, the more we like it. Need to know if it's doable financially, and if so, need to get things moving. If not, we can get on with our lives.

Sorta in limbo at the moment.

Some markets are harder to price, maybe too few transactions, not really comparable property sales, not enough info to verify, etc.

Act in haste, repent at leisure.

I would want agent/broker that's in the business full time, not as a sideline. You're at the part where he should be selling you on himself to get the listing. This should tell you something about how he will market your property. If he's not doing that, drive on now.

The best way to get an accurate price is to pay a few hundred dollars to a real estate appraiser. Too low and you'll be loosing money, too high and nobody will look. Even if someone signed a contract, the appraisal would kill the deal and you've wasted time and other opportunities to sell.

This is prime time to sell in most markets because the school year is about to end and that's when most families want to do a move. In Maine, probably even more so. If you're serious about doing something, I'd get on it.

Appraisals are opinions, sometimes realistic.

It might sell for the full appraisal amount, or not. If you list it and get full price offers right away, you know your price was too low. If you get none for months, maybe your ask price is too high.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
... You're at the part where he should be selling you on himself to get the listing. ...

Not picking on any specific realtor, but some (many?) will attempt to sell you by being overly optimistic on the price you can expect.

While JALLEN is right (of course) that paying for an appraisal is no guarantee of getting the right price number, I feel a lot better about a realtor who provides listings for several comps, explains how he adjusted them (bigger or smaller lot, condition, location, whatever...) to arrive at his suggested price. Bonus points to the guy or gal who provides a "It should sell right quick for X, if we stage it and are willing to spend a few months, Y is a reasonable price." type of approach.

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
... You're at the part where he should be selling you on himself to get the listing. ...

Not picking on any specific realtor, but some (many?) will attempt to sell you by being overly optimistic on the price you can expect.

While JALLEN is right (of course) that paying for an appraisal is no guarantee of getting the right price number, I feel a lot better about a realtor who provides listings for several comps, explains how he adjusted them (bigger or smaller lot, condition, location, whatever...) to arrive at his suggested price. Bonus points to the guy or gal who provides a "It should sell right quick for X, if we stage it and are willing to spend a few months, Y is a reasonable price." type of approach.

That's exactly how he should form his opinion and explain it.

Some brokers try to list high and let reality sink in slowly. This is thought to be better than guessing too low, having multiple offerors writing offers on the hoods of their cars the first day the listing is publicized, a sure sign you've messed up. Except you get a fast, albeit somewhat lower, commission.

Anyway, having the facts on recent sales to justify an opinion is about the best you can do.

my expectation would be a week. Or at least some communication about the process. Like getting comparables, etc. in the first week.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
I would want agent/broker that's in the business full time, not as a sideline. You're at the part where he should be selling you on himself to get the listing. This should tell you something about how he will market your property. If he's not doing that, drive on now.

The best way to get an accurate price is to pay a few hundred dollars to a real estate appraiser. Too low and you'll be loosing money, too high and nobody will look. Even if someone signed a contract, the appraisal would kill the deal and you've wasted time and other opportunities to sell.

This is prime time to sell in most markets because the school year is about to end and that's when most families want to do a move. In Maine, probably even more so. If you're serious about doing something, I'd get on it.

I guess I'm suffering from "an abundance of caution". As I've stated before, I'm stuck in the 50's and have no freaking clue about prices in general and real estate in particular. I asked this guy to render his opinion so that I would have some sort of starting point.

My plan goes like this: If his number indicates a decent likelihood that I can sell this place for enough to fund a new, smaller place without going into debt, I will move forward. The next step would be an official appraisal. I didn't want to fork over $X00 for an appraisal until I had at least some indication that this whole idea was feasible.

The cautions about his part timer status are well taken. If we list the place, I'll have a very frank talk with him about his expected level of effort.

Pricing-wise, I have a concrete number I need to bank after all expenses. If his estimate of market value is significantly higher than that (and frankly I have no idea a reasonable value is for this place) then we can tweak the price with an eye toward speeding up the sale.

If his price is borderline, the only urgency involved is my lack of patience and we can wait for our price if needed.

If his price indicates that my net won't allow us to move without borrowing money, we'll scrap the whole idea.

I recommend contacting someone who does it full-time, to get another viewpoint. Maybe work with someone from the most prominent real estate office in your local area.

Well, Good News I guess. The agent called and came by today, showed us a dozen or so comparable properties with their list and sell prices and then proposed a price for our property that's right in my sweet spot. If we can sell within $20K of his price, we're good to go.

I'm going to go ahead and list with him at least initially, and we'll see what we see.

Negotiate the listing terms. You do not have to just agree with their standard agreement. Make sure you are comfortable with the agreement.
You generally can add things like no commission if you find the buyer. The length of time he has the listing, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Appraisals are opinions, sometimes realistic.

Appraisals are educated, researched...and quantified opinions. Not to say there aren't bad appraisers out there. There are a lot of them in the residential world.

As opposed to BPO's....which is a very mildly qualified opinion. Often overstated in it's potential accuracy by the sales agent offering it.

agents/brokers (terminology varies widely by state) performing "adjustments" to value opinions is laughable. At least in my local, I've yet to meet a real estate agent qualified (legally) and educated/experienced enough to have any clue how to adjust a comparable for a sales approach to value.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Well, Good News I guess. The agent called and came by today, showed us a dozen or so comparable properties with their list and sell prices and then proposed a price for our property that's right in my sweet spot. If we can sell within $20K of his price, we're good to go.

I'm going to go ahead and list with him at least initially, and we'll see what we see.

He's pitching a service to you. Good on him for bringing some homework to qualify his plan. I wish you well in this! I think the fact that the realtor took your listing serious, and did some research to develop a plan...is a good sign.