Economy not only reason properties linger in listings | The Columbus Dispatch

Newsflash - the market decides what property is worth, not sellers.

"I have a half-million property in the best location in town," Vitt said. "My house needs work in the kitchen and baths, but I have an exotic interior. It's worth half a million."

Maybe 5 or 6 years ago, Mr. Vitt. Not now. If you put it up for auction, it might only bring $250,000 or less. Supply and demand. It's as simple as that. Houses are for sale everywhere and they keep dropping in price. If you don't accept the buyer's offer, they will get someone else to accept it elsewhere.

John wrote:

"I have a half-million property in the best location in town," Vitt said. "My house needs work in the kitchen and baths, but I have an exotic interior. It's worth half a million."

Maybe 5 or 6 years ago, Mr. Vitt. Not now. If you put it up for auction, it might only bring $250,000 or less. Supply and demand. It's as simple as that. Houses are for sale everywhere and they keep dropping in price. If you don't accept the buyer's offer, they will get someone else to accept it elsewhere.

I was wondering what exactly "Exotic interior" means or if the seller misquoted / misspoke / used the wrong word to describe his home. UA buyers tend to be very J.Crew-Volvo Wagon-PBS-WSJ oriented people. I don't see exotic doing well anywhere in this town, much less UA.

Florida Realtor wrote:

You all need to come down to Florida and buy your retirement home while its a buyers market! You'll be glad you did.

If people in Ohio and Michigan could sell their houses, there wouldn't be such a slump in Florida.

But then Florida has it's issues nowadays. Super high property taxes, super high insurance rates,... Not exactly the Land-o-Cheap paradise it used to be.

The "starting and stopping a listing" and how it "resets the clock" is an interesting component of this story. I wonder what exactly the criteria is for a listing's clock to be reset ???

In many parts of the US, the listing has to be stopped for 90-120 days before the clock can reset on any given listing. The 90-120 day rule is meant to prevent buyers from being misled about the true nature of a listing.

I had property on the market that is impeccable. Have had 2 low ball offers or buyers that half to sell thier home to come up with enough and wathched agents use my property to convince the buyers to spend more on another property in order to stop low balling sellers. The media keeps telling buyers to wait and that prices are falling and even to walk away from mortgages.

To all those walk aways remember that the IRS can come after you for that walk away debt as a profit.

In 10 yeras you will look back and say - I should have bought then.

Just Another Rip Off wrote:

I had property on the market that is impeccable. Have had 2 low ball offers or buyers that half to sell thier home to come up with enough and wathched agents use my property to convince the buyers to spend more on another property in order to stop low balling sellers. The media keeps telling buyers to wait and that prices are falling and even to walk away from mortgages.

To all those walk aways remember that the IRS can come after you for that walk away debt as a profit.

In 10 yeras you will look back and say - I should have bought then.

Or maybe in 10 years, people will look back at McMansions in West Chester and say "what were they thinking when they built those things???"

By that time, West Chester will resemble Western Hills.

Seriously. Lower your price. Your house is not worth what you think it's worth.

"I have a half-million property in the best location in town," Vitt said. "My house needs work in the kitchen and baths, but I have an exotic interior. It's worth half a million.

LMAO. Dude......your in Ohio. Wake up from your dream.

This problem is EPIDEMIC in Upper Arlington. For some reason, in UA, sellers are desperately clinging to the $210K to $290K price point for YEARS on homes that--in this market--should be valued at between $140K to 230K if they really expect to sell. Is it greed? Or is that that UA residents are 'typically' in a better financial position to weather the market downturn? Who knows.

Florida Realtor wrote:

You all need to come down to Florida and buy your retirement home while its a buyers market! You'll be glad you did.

I heard my sister in law bought a 3 bedroom house for 60,000 by tampa

In America, there is a permanent decline in the number of jobs available. I doubt that home prices will increase in the lifetime of any adults in Columbus. I think you can safely say that a $150,000 house in 2011 will be a $150,000 house in 2040. For the reason alone, renting makes more financial sense for many people.

Just Another Rip Off wrote:

I had property on the market that is impeccable. Have had 2 low ball offers or buyers that half to sell thier home to come up with enough and wathched agents use my property to convince the buyers to spend more on another property in order to stop low balling sellers. The media keeps telling buyers to wait and that prices are falling and even to walk away from mortgages.
To all those walk aways remember that the IRS can come after you for that walk away debt as a profit.
In 10 yeras you will look back and say - I should have bought then.

Real Estate agents have a saying: "Price fixes everything." As for the macro economic problems that you blame, accept that they are here to stay. Foreclosures will be dragging down home prices for the rest of our adult lives. High unemployment is now a permanent situation in Ohio, and Ohio will continue to lose population over the next 50 years. Housing appreciation is over. Let me repeat that ... homes will no longer appreciate in value.

My wife and I have been looking for over one year for a house. We have looked at well over 100 homes in the Columbus area, and have made offers on a dozen or so, two of which have gone into foreclosure and sold for less than my offer. I'm not going to pay $250,000 for a house that's only worth $150,000. In the mean time we will keep renting.

Besides when you take into account how much a home costs, how much it will cost to live in that home (power, water, ins, etc...), upkeep of the home over time, is it really intended to be an investment with the expectation of a large return? My landlord didn't even make any money this year off me because of all the improvements that updates that had to be made.

probably Pacific Islander wrote:

STOP IGNORING THE 800lb GORILLA IN THE ROOM!!
One thing that people tiptoe around and never mention is the effect of minorities on a neighborhood's property values. A family or two of Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders in the 'hood and the desirability takes an enormous tumble. Call me a bigot, a racist, ignorant or anything you want, but the truth is still the truth.
The Polynesian Fog is a reality and it's coming to your town!!!

Sorry, but you have your races and racism issues mixed up with another state. Pacific Islanders and Hawaiians might be a known target of bigotry and racism on the west coast.

But outside the world of football very few people in Ohio know who or what Pacific Islanders or Hawaiians are. Here in Ohio, they'd probably confuse a Poly with an Asian or Mexican. Racism in Ohio is very 1970's, with most issues being "black vs. white" and increasingly "everybody vs. latinos." .

The closest established race to resemble Pacific Islanders here in Ohio are probably Phillipinos, and I have NEVER heard of Phillipinos being treated badly in suburban Ohio.

Balls Deep wrote:

This problem is EPIDEMIC in Upper Arlington. For some reason, in UA, sellers are desperately clinging to the $210K to $290K price point for YEARS on homes that--in this market--should be valued at between $140K to 230K if they really expect to sell. Is it greed? Or is that that UA residents are 'typically' in a better financial position to weather the market downturn? Who knows.

The [most likely] reason is that UA residents are in a better position to weather the downturn.

* Desperate sellers sell at deep discounts because they have no other choice.

* Banks dump houses at deep discounts because they want the houses off the books and they probably don't even have a vested interest in the houses beyond the transaction fees for dumping the house (since the bad mortgage was sold off as a stock long ago)

In UA, sellers have $400K-$4M in retirement savings and not selling today means they might stick around awhile and install a $50K-$100K kitchen.

beets wrote:

<quoted text>
Sorry, but you have your races and racism issues mixed up with another state. Pacific Islanders and Hawaiians might be a known target of bigotry and racism on the west coast.
But outside the world of football very few people in Ohio know who or what Pacific Islanders or Hawaiians are. Here in Ohio, they'd probably confuse a Poly with an Asian or Mexican. Racism in Ohio is very 1970's, with most issues being "black vs. white" and increasingly "everybody vs. latinos." .
The closest established race to resemble Pacific Islanders here in Ohio are probably Phillipinos, and I have NEVER heard of Phillipinos being treated badly in suburban Ohio.

Me thinks the troll is being trolled.

beets wrote:

<quoted text>
Sorry, but you have your races and racism issues mixed up with another state. Pacific Islanders and Hawaiians might be a known target of bigotry and racism on the west coast.
But outside the world of football very few people in Ohio know who or what Pacific Islanders or Hawaiians are. Here in Ohio, they'd probably confuse a Poly with an Asian or Mexican. Racism in Ohio is very 1970's, with most issues being "black vs. white" and increasingly "everybody vs. latinos." .
The closest established race to resemble Pacific Islanders here in Ohio are probably Phillipinos, and I have NEVER heard of Phillipinos being treated badly in suburban Ohio.

I do recall when looking at a house on the north side how my real estate agent almost had a coronary when an African American came out of one of the neighboring houses ... my realtor was a nice guy in most respects, but his latent racism was obvious and disgusting.

CollegeProf wrote:

<quoted text>I do recall when looking at a house on the north side how my real estate agent almost had a coronary when an African American came out of one of the neighboring houses ... my realtor was a nice guy in most respects, but his latent racism was obvious and disgusting.

Did you not buy the house?

bloom wrote:

<quoted text>
If people in Ohio and Michigan could sell their houses, there wouldn't be such a slump in Florida.
But then Florida has it's issues nowadays. Super high property taxes, super high insurance rates,... Not exactly the Land-o-Cheap paradise it used to be.

never was cheap for a quality home - but its 84 degrees here right now.....

bloom wrote:

<quoted text>
If people in Ohio and Michigan could sell their houses, there wouldn't be such a slump in Florida.
But then Florida has it's issues nowadays. Super high property taxes, super high insurance rates,... Not exactly the Land-o-Cheap paradise it used to be.

and my taxes are about 1/4 what the were in Worthingon, and my insurance is about the same. So what are you waiting for?