Real estate advice!

[Flame On]

Hey all. Here's some background.
I'm currently selling a condo. It was listed before christmas when there was a bit of a lull in the market, as well as the natural Christmas lull.
It was priced very reasonably almost under priced to allow for a quicker sale. However that didn't happen.
Now there are several more units of the same floor plan in my development that have come online. One is 4 grand more, one 7, one is 10 and one is asking 14 grand more in asking price.
Also, we've just got our property tax assement through and it's much higher than our assessed listed price.
All of this leads us to wonder if we've left money on the table. To say nothing of the fact that we can't really take less than asking price now, and how many people will want to buy without getting anything off at all?
Finally, now we're getting closer to when we really do need to sell by, mid February for our new place.
So the question is.
Do we relist slightly higher, is that even possible?
Or do keep the price and use the lower price to our advantage?
(by the way we do have an agent but she's on holiday and of course they're always more inclined to reduce the price and certainly not raise it.)
If you've read all this and have advice, bless you!

[Stillman16]

If you decide to leave the price the way it is, you can use the prices of the other units to justify holding firm on the price, and not giving anything off. Having the cheapest unit will garner more interest, and may even get you more than asking price if you get enough interest.

You should be able to increase the price if you so choose, if it can go down, it should be able to go up. However, other realtors will likely be able to see the histroy of the price. I could be wrong, but the only way to hide the original price might be to take it off the market, and re-list.

Also consider how much more risk you want to take, if you raise it and don't sell in time, will it void any contracts? Is the original asking price enough? You don't want greed to jeopordize anything.

I'd talk with you realtor, ask her her about all your options, and her recommendation, that is what you are paying her for after all.

[Yellefan]

Originally Posted by Stillman16

However, other realtors will likely be able to see the histroy of the price. I could be wrong, but the only way to hide the original price might be to take it off the market, and re-list.

My mom is a realtor and I know that she can see the entire price history of listings that have been on the mls. So if a house is listed, taken off and re-listed she can see the entire price history so there's no way to really hide the price.

[Winsor_Pilates]

What floors are the other units on? what exposure do they have?
If they are significantly higher then yours and do they have a better view?

These things can make a pretty big difference in price, and might justify the increased price of other units.
I would also consider the fact that there are suddenly 5 of the same units on the market, and if demand isn't large, there may be a surplus in supply.

It's a tough call, but I wouldn't get too greedy. Especially since you have another possession date coming up. If you end up owning both at the same time, will the payments hurt you? or can you handle them.

I've seen alot of people get greedy with their real estate, and end up in a position where they can't sell and desperately need to. Don't be that guy!

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Yellefan

My mom is a realtor and I know that she can see the entire price history of listings that have been on the mls. So if a house is listed, taken off and re-listed she can see the entire price history so there's no way to really hide the price.

This is true, but if the market is increasing, a price increase won't really make you look bad. It will seem justified if the market warrants it.

[mac_gurl]

We listed our condo last May, right before things started to cool down. We listed high, and then realized we were maybe a little higher than some others, so dropped our price from $292K to $285. We had some people call after we dropped the price, and someone bought it, 3 days later, no questions asked. They knew we had dropped the price, so understood we weren't willing to negotiate. I'd say leave it as it is. If people want it, they will take it at the price you have, and the lower price will get more people looking at yours, as opposed to the others.
Good luck!

[urban1]

Ask a realtor whos been thru a down-turn in the market or a market crash. Advice from a realtor whos had 5 years or so experience in Calgary's market is pretty useless.

Originally Posted by mac_gurl

We listed our condo last May, right before things started to cool down. We listed high, and then realized we were maybe a little higher than some others, so dropped our price from $292K to $285. We had some people call after we dropped the price, and someone bought it, 3 days later, no questions asked. They knew we had dropped the price, so understood we weren't willing to negotiate. I'd say leave it as it is. If people want it, they will take it at the price you have, and the lower price will get more people looking at yours, as opposed to the others.
Good luck!

You werent willing to negoatiate because someone bought it. If you didnt get that buyer and the place sat for 3 months then what would you do? Again, live thru a down market and you have a different view of RE.

[Eric Vail]

My advice would be that the city of Calgary tax assessment is meaningless. Perhaps you could dispute their claim for how much your place is worth. You had trouble selling your place, and now their are additional identical places on the market. That just made it more difficult. I can't imagine raising your price now.

The best thing to do, in my opinion, is take it off the market completely, wait until some of the units sell, and wait until spring when prices normally go up. However, it doesn't sound like you can wait until March or April, so you may have to take your lumps now and sell in January.