How Much Over Asking?
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers
The question of the day is “how much over asking do I have to bid” when there are multiple offers. My answer is always the same. You should pay one dollar less than the amount where you don’t care if the other guy gets the property instead of you.
We agents have no way of knowing which properties receive multiple offers or how many they receive. When there are multiple offers, we don’t know what the other offers are even when our buyers are involved. We don’t know why the seller picks one buyer over another (though it is often a combination of price and terms like deposit amount and closing date). But I can tell you this – multiple offers have become the norm today.
I looked at all 2 bedroom or bigger properties on the MLS that closed since June of 2013. Of 181 closings here are the stats:
- 181 Total sales
- 76 sales for at or over asking
- 44 sales over asking
- Amount paid over asking ranged from $1 to $45,000.
Now, keep in mind that not all of those 76 necessarily involved multiple bidders. I often advise buyers that if they really want a property, and come in first with a strong (i.e., full price) offer, they may put off other buyers. But I found it interesting, nonetheless, at how many deals were over asking. I suspect if I were to repeat this exercise in 6 months, which I will, the results would be even more startling.
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The Hoboken & Downtown JC Open House Google Map for Saturday, March 8th & Sunday, March 9th, 2014
Categories: For Buyers, Hoboken Brownstones, Hoboken Condos, Hoboken New Construction, Neighborhoods, Open House
The Original and Best Open House Google Map!
Courtesy of the Turoff Realty Team
No need to register! No form to fill out!
Just click on the map below to see every Open House in Hoboken this weekend:
Click HERE to see the Downtown Jersey City Open House Map
When you look at the maps, place markers are color coded:
- Studios & 1BRs are red
- 2BRs are green
- 3BRs & Bigger are yellow
- New listings are marked with a Push Pin icon (in the same color scheme.)
Click the “Address”, “Price” “Bed” or “Details” columns to sort the list of open houses in ascending or descending order.
Click on the location marker for:
- open house date
- time
- unit size
- asking price
- link to all the info found on the MLS and more (from ourHobokensBestHomes.com IDX feed.)
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Is Honesty the Best Policy when Selling Hoboken Condos?
Categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Hoboken Condos
I saw in interesting listing pop up on the MLS the other day. It was for a property at the SkyClub. For those of you not familiar, the complex is comprised of two tower buildings with a lobby that connects the towers. This particular listing was in the western building and the windows faced due west. The photos showed a bright sunny apartment, looking out on open blue sky. But if you look really carefully at the picture of the sunny terrace, you can see a yellow tractor down below.
Now, the tractor is there (or was there) because a 12-story rental building was constructed on that spot – right across the street from this terrace. The new building is close that you can ‘reach out and touch someone’. That open, sunny view you see in the photos is gone. Nothing in the remarks mentions that the view is gone or that the light is blocked or that the photos are from before the building was constructed.
Personally, if I were a buyer and walked into a property based on having seen photos of it portrayed a certain way and the property was in reality nothing like the photos I would be very disappointed. I’d also have some issues with the credibility of that listing agent. If they “forgot” to mention that the property is now directly across from a 12 story tower, what else might they have forgotten?
I’ve seen this sort of think happen quite a bit in Hoboken. Sometimes, there is a tenant living in the property so the agent uses photos from when it was previously owner occupied. Sometimes the owners have moved out so the agent uses photos from when it was furnished. I’ve even seen “virtual staging” where the furniture and decor are computer generated into an empty unit. I can’t help but feel that when these changes from reality are portrayed, it ought to be disclosed. After all, isn’t that truth in advertising? Don’t consumers want to know what they are looking at is not the real deal? I certainly do! What do you all think?
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