Yes, it really is that small POS house in Mill Valley, on Shoreline Hwy, across the street from the 7-11 (699 sq ft, 2 br 1 ba, built 1923). The reason why I am bothering to mention this one again is two-fold:First, the listing agent's write-up now starts off with "Motivated sellers are considering all offers!" (well, maybe that line has been there for a while but I've just noticed it) which is ironic considering it is quite obvious that this house is a flip-gone-bad (the sellers had first tried to sell it about five months after purchase) and the sellers have already reduced the price to their break-even point. Given how long this house has languished on the market at the current break-even asking price, the sellers have implicitly indicated that they will not sell for less than what they owe. So what does it really mean when the listing agent says that the sellers are "motivated" and "considering all offers"? What it means is that the sellers have not been receiving any offers above their asking price. If they have received any offers at all those offers must have been below their asking price. Such offers were rejected as the sellers would have to take a loss. So "motivated" simply means that the sellers still believe that they can screw over an ignorant buyer.
Second, the DOM statistic for this listing now reads 94 days. I first started blogging this house back in December of 2005 (because at that time it was such an obvious flip and that was a time on this blog when certain readers were desperately trying to make the case that there was no flipping going on in Marin because we're just too damn special, etc.)! So the real DOM statistic for this crappy little yellow house should read closer to 365 freaking days on the market!
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For the record, my first post on this tiny house was here. I then dug deeper into the financials of the sellers here and was able to surmise that their then (and now) current asking price is in fact their break-even point whereas the fair value for this house is about $100k less than their break-even point. I then included it in this post here.
12 comments:
I agree. And, it's too bad that it is so difficult to track these "shenanigans". The few examples that I focus on are just indications of a much wider practice.
It's hard to believe that a great looking house like that with not only a detached one car garage in the front, but a detached out house in the back has not sold for $1mm...
Someone should go to ziprealty and document the actual DOM in the comments for this property. If I can find time, I'll do that myself.
As this home been on the market with the same real estate agentt the whole time? Or just the past 94 days? Our mls gives the DOM since it was first listed. The only way to get a break is to take it off the market 75 days.
I know for a fact that it has not been off the market for > 75 days.
That dog house has been on sale for years.
It is the (poster child/canary in a coal mine) for the sad ethics and greed here in lovely Marin.
Who will buy this POS?
Hey dowell taggert, what would you pay?
A local agent told me recently that places just need to be off the market for 30 days and they get a new listing, with new DOM figures. I think that's what happened here - I remember it was off the market for about a month...
"A local agent told me recently that places just need to be off the market for 30 days".
You are probably right but doesn't this one make the case that such rules are bogus? I mean, 30 days off the market or not, this is the same house that is still trying to get sold. With respecdt of the DOM statistic, does the buyer care that it was taken off the market for 30 days? Wouldn't the buyer consider this house to have been on the market for a year even though it might have been delisted for a month?
I was thinking about this issue over the weekend and it seems to me that if the house is taken off the market for 30 days or so and if during that time some serious attempt was taken to remedy its lack of sale-ability (e.g., a leaky roof fixed, new carpets put it, etc...whatever the problem was) then the DOM should reset. Otherwise, for the DOM to reset it should be off the market for at least 6 months. But as far as I know, nothing has been done to this house other than the original updating.
I totally agree with you. It's borderline deceptive and I know of many places, as I'm sure you do too, where they've probably intentionally taken it off for a month just for this reason. DOM figures are huge for realtors and for them to be able to purposefully adjust the averages like this is, I think, wrong. As for each individual property, this tactic misleads buyers who haven't had the luck/luxury of watching the market for awhile. If you haven't been watching for at least 9 months, you wouldn't catch a lot of this crap. Caveat emptor.
Deception is all over the California market. Fortunetly, there are a few normal markets around.
Today’s FREE report on Chicago is such a market! It joins prior FREE reports on Boston, Bakersfield, San Francisco, Seattle & Los Angeles.
thebubblebuster.com
Hey Marinite! Guess what? Picked up the kids from school today and passed this POS as I do every day. The sign is down again. Perhaps another 30-day break?.......
I think its important to point out WHY this listing is such a PoS - this house is ON Shoreline, directly across the street from a 7-11 store and less than a block from the fire station. Talk about non-stop noise & traffic. I've tried hard - but I can't think of worse location in Mill Valley than this house. Price or DOM shouldn't even be a factor - there is NO price low enough to make this desirable.
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