Bidding Skirmish

• Tweet

• Tweet

It’s a week later, and the dust has settled on Barnaby Street. Well, there wasn’t much dust to settle, at least not compared to what would have happened a few months ago.

Of the two houses, one was that was actually worth $849,000 got withdrawn from the market after the seller’s deal to buy their new house fell apart. The second, the one that we all thought was gorgeous and amazing is under contract. So, what happened? We have only third hand gossip and will have to wait until the house settles. The listing agent isn’t talking – she’s not supposed to talk – and no one else is certain what happened.

When I showed this house, my buyer thought it was lovely. She thought it was worth far more than the asking price of $849,000, and she ruled it out. It could have been the big yard (she and her husband want a minimum maintenance yard), although they had made offers on at least one other house that would have required a lawn mower. Or it could have been the thought of yet another bidding war.

How many offers did they get? It was either four or five rather than the double digit frenzy most of the agents expected. Did it go for more than a million? No one is certain, but the most reliable third hand rumor has the first number at a 9.

This was the house that people where talking about at yesterday’s Tuesday business meeting at my office like it was the canary in the coalmine.

If it didn’t attract a gazillion offers, are the days of nasty, bloody bidding wars over? Are we serving our sellers well by suggesting that they set their asking prices below market? Is there anything wrong with pricing a house or apartment to sell in a month instead of a week?

So, is this the bubble burst? I don’t think so. But a little more air might be seeping out of the old basketball.

Popularity: 2% [?]