<p>My parents are in a quandary about how to sell their house so that they can move to a retirement community. First they were going to sell at an auction, which is very common in our area. But then they decided to list it. It just so happens that the auctioneer is also a real estate agent, so he is listing the house for them.</p>
<p>My parents custom built their home 35 years ago, and it has tons of amenities that most people do not put in their homes. It also has a second kitchen in the basement which my mother used to do her freezing and canning. The house is well maintained and tastefully decorated. The landscaping is impeccable. Ok, it doesn’t have granite countertops and SS appliances, but neither do most of the homes in their area.</p>
<p>When they were talking about an auction, I looked on Zillow and noticed that their house value is listed as $x. I actually thought their house could easily bring $x + $10,000-$20,000 at an auction, but you never know.</p>
<p>After the changed their mind and decided to list it, the auctioneer put on his real estate agent hat, and discussed price. His price is $x - $30,000. In my parents price range, that is a significant amount of money to leave on the table. As I look at listings on Zillow that are in their school district, all homes are priced higher than the Zillow estimate.</p>
<p>Why do you think the agent is listing their house so low?</p>
<p>Zillow is entertaining if you like that sort of thing (and I do), but it isn’t very accurate.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t necessarily trust what one local agent tells me is an appropriate list price for my house. But if three local agents told me list prices that were close to each other’s, I’d believe that before I’d believe Zillow.</p>
<p>Adding amenities beyond what most people need is fine if you understand it is for your own enjoyment, not because you need to recoup the investment.</p>
<p>Get another agent fast. I would step away from this agent. Trust your gut when it comes to these things. 30k is enough to worry about. I used to be an agent years ago and believe me they are guessing themselves. When a house has extras sometimes no one wants to pay for them but sometimes they do. I think an extra kitchen in the basement is worth more to me. Start higher like you want and see how it goes.</p>
<p>Have you looked up your house on Zillow? Is it even close to accurate? I know our house isn’t even remotely close. First, all the stats are wrong, house is bigger, has more bedrooms, etc. and they have it “valued” at more than we paid for it 6 years ago, in my dreams that would be nice but I know it’s not the case.</p>
<p>The agent should be able to provide them with comparables in the area, both current listings and homes that have recently been sold. That will give them a better picture of what the listing price should be. Has the agent not done that? Usually, that would be part of the process before he/she even suggests a number.</p>
<p>The Zillow people haven’t walked around the house and seen it. </p>
<p>Your real estate agent may not be evaluating your house fairly, but I don’t think that disagreeing with Zillow is the sign of a bad agent per se.</p>
<p>As alwaysamom said, your RE agent should provide you with “comps” – other houses that have sold in the last six months and other homes that are currently for sale. Ideally, the comps are very similar to your parents’ house, but they are never exactly the same. Looking at what the comps have sold for in the recent past will give you the best idea of what houses like your parents’ are going for right now in your exact area.</p>
<p>And I agree with those who have said that Zillow is not the Bible.</p>
<p>Never heard of an area that is stable were auctions are that popular. Maybe realtor was trying to attract mulitple offers. Very common in other markets where asking price is the floor. In an active market you will get what it was worth.</p>
<p>Comps are really the only valid comparison-actual sales in your neighborhood. But even then, if your parents haven’t updated their baths and kitchens (yes, granite and SS) their house won’t be worth what the house down the street where they did that is.</p>
<p>With my parents, although the house was well kept and immaculate, we had to get out the dated colors, add that granite and some other contemporary touches to get a good price.</p>
<p>I had a realtor come back to me with a listing price I thought was too low so I said the heck with that and sold the house myself at a higher list price and since I sold it myself - no R/E commission to pay either. It took me less than a week to sell it.</p>
<p>Not all realtors are the same. There’s a huge variance in the experience and competence of realtors. Fortunately, with tools like Trulia, you can easily do a lot of checking on the comps yourself to sanity check the realtor. Also, don’t be afraid to challenge the realtor and have the person justify what they’re telling you. If you don’t like the realtor then get another one - there are lots of them out there.</p>
<p>Recently, GladGradDad? In 2003 or 2004, that would have been pretty easy to do. The hardest part would have been making sure the buyer could qualify for the enormous mortgage he’d need to pay the bloated prices that houses were fetching in those days. (I sold a house on 2004–had it on the market an entire weekend, and made a killing on it.) But in 2012, selling a house on your own may take a lot of patience and luck. JMO.</p>
<p>No, I’m not in the real estate business. I have no skin in this game. I just think this may not a good time to be a seller looking to get a sweet deal in real estate.</p>
<p>Our house might sell for the Zillow estimate, or even a bit more. But I also wouldn’t be surprised to see it sell for about 10% less. Its hard to say…especially in a weak market.</p>
<p>I am at a loss regarding why realtors want to go to an auction market in a lousy market. Auctions work when there are more than a couple of people who really want what is for sale. That’s the whole problem with this market. </p>
<p>Just list it where they (your parents) want to list it and be receptive to feedback from the realtors about people’s reactions to the house and price. After about 8-12 weeks, you ought to have a feel for what people think of the house.</p>
<p>If there are some sales over the past six to nine months, compare the purchase prices with the local tax assessment. That will at least give you some objective numbers. The realtors all want to quote sale prices as a % of listing price, but they all ignore that some of the last listing prices are down substantially from the original listing prices.</p>
<p>3 agents will give you 3 different prices. Good to get them all and make your own determination based on studying the market too. It’s all a guessing game but also it is entirely in a realtor’s interest to get you to list for as low as you can (goal is speed and less work as the difference in somewhat higher price doesn’t add anything worthwhile to their commission).</p>
<p>I’ve heard that some real estate agents just want a quick sale and their commission doesn’t change much with a higher sale price plus they don’t have to put in extra hours of work showing it, so they may under-price it.</p>