Is ‘Priced to sell’ the dumbest sales pitch?
One would presume that if you offer something up for sale you’re interested in selling it.
That would mean that you have priced it at a point where you hope to make a sale, even if you’ve hopelessly overpriced it, you’re still dreaming that it’s ‘priced to sell’.
And yet not infrequently you’ll find listings that declare that they are ‘PRICED TO SELL!’.
Do these agent not price their other properties to sell? Are these the only properties that are priced at a point where they hope to sell?
Then there are the synonyms: “MUST SELL”, “WON’T LAST!” and “NOT A DRIVE BY!”.
They all really mean just one thing:
SELLER IS DESPERATE!
October 16th, 2012 at 1:40 am 1
Touching a nerve: Was a Richmond real estate agent forced to remove a graph plotting a potential 70% decline in housing prices?
http://whispersfromtheedgeoftherainforest.blogspot.ca/2012/10/touching-nerve-was-richmond-real-estate.html
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October 16th, 2012 at 4:17 am 2
My favourite is “Owner Says Sell”. Well duh, is the owner going to say “Buy”?
What they’re really trying to make you think with “Priced to Sell” is that the listed price is below market and you’d better act fast before someone else buys it. In the RE Bizarro world, this is not at odds with a historically high MOI.
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October 16th, 2012 at 4:20 am 3
This ad came up on the board and I think it’s worth a look:
http://www.kbhome.com/new-homes-orlando-area/?=105208QInt
New houses from $126K up. And they give you a free pumpkin too!
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October 16th, 2012 at 5:37 am 4
With some of the North Shore listings, it appears that the new catchphrase should be “Priced to Sit”…
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October 16th, 2012 at 6:40 am 5
@patriotz: when Vancouver houses start selling with free pumpkins instead of ‘free’ cars you’ll know we’re getting into more reasonable prices.
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October 16th, 2012 at 7:36 am 6
If the property is bad, describe the neighbourhood. If the neighbourhood is bad, describe the property. If they’re both bad, patter on about the price or the owner or something… Look! A seagull!
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October 16th, 2012 at 7:47 am 7
Another nondescript mediocre condo building sits 20% unsold and vacant:
OnQue, a small 30-unit development on the southwest corner of Broadway and Quebec (http://www.liveonque.com/neighbourhood.html) was completed many months ago, but there are still at least six units listed for sale by the developer. Ranging from 651 to 787 square feet, priced from $361,900 to $439,900, these are not moving. It is going to be another classic case of ‘chasing the market to the bottom.’ To sell these units and recoup any profit, the developer will discount the units to prices below what original purchasers paid, thus undermining their values and creating pressure on every unit in the building.
And, just blocks away, they are digging huge holes in the ground and pouring concrete for 2,192 more units in southeast False Creek.
Wall Center False Creek by Wall Financial————557 units
Residences at West by Exec. Group Dev.—————488 units
Pinnacle Living False Creek by Pinnacle Int.———155 units
Opsal by Bastion————————————-165 units
Meccanica by Cressey———————————170 units
Block 100 by Onni————————————160 units
Lido by Bosa Prop.———————————–173 units
Central by Onni————————————–324 units
Somebody’s gonna get hurt………………
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October 16th, 2012 at 8:20 am 8
Speaking of Realtor lingo, here’s a VMD post on vancouverpeak from a while ago. Feel free to add to the list, but I transcribed what’s there now.
http://vancouverpeak.com/groups/bubble-humour/forum/topic/mls-lingo-translation-compilation-input-needed/
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October 16th, 2012 at 8:41 am 9
@RFM
Re: OnQue – have you seem the condo fees there? Holy cow! Well over $500 – and for what? The extensive landscaping perhaps? Sheesh.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:17 am 10
Seeking Alpha recommends shorting Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto Dominion.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:36 am 11
Sidelines:
You may be looking at the wrong information regarding OnQue:
Condo fees are listed as ranging between $265 – $297 per month for the six listed properties. The purchase prices are between $553 – $584 psf.
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:41 am 12
@RFM – I was just about to write in to say, I’m an idiot, can’t read, and need coffee. Oh well, good thing I like coffee. Carry on everyone, nothing to see here…
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:43 am 13
Soon coming to Canada:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/201210156340797431.html
As the evidence keeps telling us, the basic story is about as simple as it gets. The housing bubbles were driving demand prior to the collapse both directly through building booms and indirectly from the consumption generated by bubble generated housing equity. When the bubbles burst the construction booms went bust. And when the bubble generated housing equity vanished so did the consumption for which it provided a basis.
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October 16th, 2012 at 11:21 am 14
Here’s one of my favorites:
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/rds/reb/3317081378.html
They’ve listed 10 times yesterday and 6 times the day before on CL.
If you look through they claim it’s been reduced by anywhere from 30-50k and they’ve got all your favorites:
“Come & Bring Your Offers”
“Sellers Open to All Offers- Just Try!”
You can smell the desperation…
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October 16th, 2012 at 12:19 pm 15
@Anonymous: What is a spice kitchen? Is it the Surrey equivalent to the West sides wok kitchen?
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October 16th, 2012 at 1:06 pm 16
To things I learned when it comes to buying and selling:
1. One who calls the price first always looses
2. One who sells first always wins
There is a third one too but its a bit of a mind breaker:
3. One who wins a bidding war always overpays
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October 16th, 2012 at 1:34 pm 17
@Anonymous:
“They’ve listed 10 times yesterday and 6 times the day before on CL.
About the same as some middle aged bald guy searching the personals for a 3 some. Probably a few inquiries, but it ain’t gonna happen.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 2:47 pm 18
Quick anecdote of the day.
One of my friend, currently on a 1-year long mat leave. Hubby is a realtor and has not closed a deal for quite some time now (and being very frustrated about it…). I don’t know if this is because they can no longer pay the mortgage or because he sees the writing on the wall (probably a bit of both), but they’ve just put up their 2-br-$800K condo for sale (good luck with that one in this market!).
It’s funny how quickly things change. Just a year ago, I was ridiculed during a conversation for just mentioning that maybe the RE market was over-inflated, that maybe a correction might eventually occur, and that flipping a property at this point might not be a good idea…
Oh well, I may not sound so stupid anymore, I guess…
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October 16th, 2012 at 2:52 pm 19
@Chem Guy:
“What is a spice kitchen?”
Maybe it’s a built-in tandoor oven. Good question though…
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October 16th, 2012 at 2:58 pm 20
Anyone saw the station square presale? It’s more expensive than solo and mc2. And they are doing 4 buildings
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 3:09 pm 21
What a fucking arrogant prick and a stunning level of haughtiness…
http://www.theprovince.com/life/Conservative+Alice+Wong+tucks+into+bowl+shark+soup+oppose/7386795/story.html
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October 16th, 2012 at 3:40 pm 22
lets read until G&M slap $20 fee
“The latest Census figures show that more than one in four (25.2 per cent) of young people age 25 to 29 are still living at home, up dramatically from just 11.3 per cent in 1981. And many baby boomers who can afford to do so are helping their children to avoid or minimize student debt.
We should focus more on issues like rising inequality, high unemployment and reduced income security which impact all Canadians, rather than think that one generation is winning at the expense of another.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/are-boomer-kids-really-getting-a-raw-deal/article4615091/
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October 16th, 2012 at 3:50 pm 23
“Canada Household Debt Approaches US Bubble Levels; Inane Housing Comments From Canadian Economist”
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.ca/2012/10/canada-household-debt-approaches-us.html
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October 16th, 2012 at 4:08 pm 24
@Chabar: Culturally insensitive??? You want to eat shark fin, go back to China just like I’d tell a Korowai person that if they want to eat people to go back to New Guinea
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October 16th, 2012 at 4:21 pm 25
@Chabar:
Chung said it’s people’s right to eat what they want and that any such ban is “culturally insensitive.”
In his culture, serving a dish such as shark fin soup to someone is necessary to show sincerity in your gratitude, he added.
In true locust fashion, they devour everything in sight until it’s all gone.
I’d like to slice an arm off Chung and Alice Wong and throw them into the ocean.
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October 16th, 2012 at 4:28 pm 26
“Seeking Alpha recommends shorting Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto Dominion”
They’ve been doing this since the bottom of 2009 resulting in a 100%+ loss incl being short the dividends for 3 years.
The slowing consumer will hurt earnings but the vast majority of their mortgages are CMHC or 25% down. They will skate the housing crash just fine.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 4:58 pm 27
New Listings 208
Price Changes 170
Sold Listings 99
TI:18963
http://www.paulboenisch.com
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October 16th, 2012 at 5:11 pm 28
@ Best place on meth
A new study by University of Miami (UM) scientists in the journal Marine Drugs has discovered high concentrations of BMAA in shark fins, a neurotoxin linked to neurodegenerative diseases….
Neurotoxins In Shark Fins: A Human Health Concern
I wonder if they know about this study?
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October 16th, 2012 at 5:22 pm 29
I’m gald the shark fin soup issue is being addressed on this blog. I’ve seen a documentary on shark fin soup so my views on the issue are well informed and sophisticated.
I can say, without a doubt, eating shark fin soup is barbaric and the practice should be banned.
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October 16th, 2012 at 5:23 pm 30
seems like some level of pickup in sales, but worth comparing to historicals
http://housing-analysis.blogspot.ca/2012/01/sell-list-ratios-in-vancouver.html
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October 16th, 2012 at 5:24 pm 31
@Makaya: Silly COCs. Will they ever learn?
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October 16th, 2012 at 5:25 pm 32
Looks like mid-month expiries took us under 19K which means…..
Yet another 19K party upcoming.
The good thing is though, the longer inventory hovers around 19K the less time there will be for it to fall into the end of the year before taking off like a rocket again beginning January 2.
We may be starting from a very high point next year.
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October 16th, 2012 at 6:51 pm 33
@Amy Whiteperson: I saw footage of Wong’s all-Asian press conference as she slurped-up the soup. A couple of the young Chinese reporters had looks on their faces that reminded me of the expression on an ex-girlfriend’s face when her drunken Mom said something ignorant about “the Joos”.
Wong will lose votes in her own community over this. Hopefully, her seat.
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October 16th, 2012 at 7:24 pm 34
@ McLovin,
The banks business will be hurt badly in a real RE-led downturn. For one thing, most of their HELOC exposure is unsecured. Second, even in the absence of a correction, a decline in VOLUMES of mortgages hurts their earnings. Third, the banks sell a lot of mutual funds that own, you guessed it, shares in Canadian banks. That was a virtuous circle on the way up, vicious circle on the way down. McLovin, I want you to keep holding your bank shares for the dividends (juicee!!) and anyone who wants to merely preserve their capital can cash out.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 7:27 pm 35
@Achilles HELOC: There is plenty of reason to SELL Canadian bank shares, they’re just flat out overpriced, and re-deploying your capital to an underpriced opportunity. But shorting is very risky business. Especially with high dividend paying stocks, you stand to lose a lot of money with poor timing. How far will bank common shares fall, and when?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 8:02 pm 36
I buy bank shares every month, month in month out, I have for years and years and years.
It’s made me rich enough to retire at 48 years old.
Still, I wouldn’t have sex in a million dollar Vancouver crack shack if you paid me!!!
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 8:07 pm 37
Looks like we’ll whimper into year end, probably down another 2% or so from here.
Should take us down 12-15% year over year by March.
Not as rapid as many of us had hoped, but with no external catalysts (ie. jump in interest rates), I think it’s going to slog down gradually, for years…
I don’t think we’ll fall 50%, more likely in the 35% range or so….and even that could take a few years.
Thoughts?
What’s all this about sex in crack shacks? At a million a pop, it sounds a tad steep to me – I’ll stick to Vegas.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 8:27 pm 38
@Best place on meth: “Yet another 19K party upcoming”
I don’t think another 19K party is likely for the rest of 2012. Daily sales are doing markedly better than September; this isn’t a weekend framing offset, sales have improved. I mentioned this last night, sales are still bad but not really bad.
I’ve been forecasting a -4% YOY drop by mid-March. I’m putting that on watch, it looks a better chance to be better than that by a small amount, maybe -3%, especially if sales remain robust through November. I’m still sticking to -4% though. (And really, what do I know!)
Prices in the fourth quarter of 2011 were weak compared to the previous quarters in that year, as they are most years, so to produce larger YOY drops in Q1 of 2013 requires sustained weakness through Q4’12. It will be weak but not weak enough to diverge significantly.
If anything, if it’s true that there’s been no such thing as a “soft landing” in housing, it gives us some good clues as to how ugly sales must necessarily become to revert prices. I think 2012 will be ugly when Realtors submit their taxes next year but won’t be anything like it would get under a 5 year reversion.
For those interested I would have a look over at http://househuntvictoria.blogspot.com for some interesting analysis on their market. The MOI relationship we are seeing in Vancouver is holding there as well. They have AVERAGED MOI of 8 for the past few years and prices are drifting lower at about -2% YOY. (Vancouver’s MOI for 2012 is averaging about 8 with 2 months to go.) It will be interesting to see how long that market can sustain those conditions.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 8:41 pm 39
@mclovin: “The slowing consumer will hurt earnings but the vast majority of their mortgages are CMHC or 25% down. They will skate the housing crash just fine.”
But the credit card debt, lines of credit are unsecured and people stop paying those first. How did the US banks make out with government backed mortgages?
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October 16th, 2012 at 8:45 pm 40
@Jennette Mclandon: “I buy bank shares every month, month in month out, I have for years and years and years. It’s made me rich enough to retire at 48 years old.”
If your money is in bank shares you will be back to work by the time you hit 50.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 8:49 pm 41
@Anonymous: “How did the US banks make out with government backed mortgages?”
Actually how did the Canadian banks make out when the US housing market crashed with little or no exposure? They took a 40% hair cut. You somehow think a housing crash in Canada and all of its fall out in the general economy where the banks are fully exposed with result in no correction for the banks? Good luck with that.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:00 pm 42
@Amy Whiteperson:
foie gras is just as cruel as shark fin, but why the media is bashing only shark fin?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:07 pm 43
@fatso:
If the Globe is going with the same system as the Sun and the NY Times, you can just open it in a private browsing or incognito window. If it can’t see your cookies it doesn’t know how much you’ve read and just lets you in. Kind of scuzzy I know, but geez.
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:09 pm 44
@G:
Because you can make as many ducks as you want for fucks sakes – and you don’t throw 99.9% of the duck away like these assholes do with sharks.
That’s why nobody gives a shit about ducks.
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:26 pm 45
Funny story. And this by no means is a shot at Chinese Canadians, as I have a few Chinese Canadian buddies and love these guys.
I’m rooming with a buddy, from Shanghai, and I told him that I thought the house was haunted. He asked, “How do you figure?” I told him that while I was getting out of the shower the other day I noticed that the steamed up bathroom mirror had the number 4 finger written all over it…
Don’t think there’s been a night since that he has turned off his bedroom light to sleep
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:27 pm 46
@jesse: Jesse how can you predict the effects of what is and has obviously been for some time irrational exuberance? Calibrating what has been and projecting this forward is what our locally vested “Economists” have been doing. As I think you know better than most, there is much more at play here than meets the eye to date – statistically or otherwise.
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:43 pm 47
@Best place on meth:
But ducks are cute…
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:49 pm 48
@G: And tasty but most importantly, domesticated for human consumption so eating foie GRAS does not fuck with the oceans ecosystems
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 9:53 pm 49
@jesse:
One more to your collection:
Low maintenance backyard – covered by either concrete or ashphalt, no grass or trees
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October 16th, 2012 at 10:02 pm 50
@Hairy Gerry:
“And this by no means is a shot at Chinese Canadians, as I have a few Chinese Canadian buddies and love these guys.”
Why would a story about a superstitious person be perceived as a shot at Chinese?
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October 16th, 2012 at 10:38 pm 51
@YLTNboomerang: “And tasty but most importantly, domesticated for human consumption so eating foie GRAS does not fuck with the oceans ecosystems”
Do you eat salmon or sushi?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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October 16th, 2012 at 10:58 pm 52
@Why:
you tell me. I’m covering my basis knowing full well that there’s likely someone that would take offense being the untra sensitive society we currently live in…
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October 17th, 2012 at 10:20 am 53
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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