broker comments

wow...that's amazing. no kidding? game changer. thanks for letting everyone know. makes all the difference.

listen....im just relaying what the broker said....not my own opinion.....just want people to know what brokers are saying out there and getting feedback......dont need snide remarks...this website seems to be filled with juvenile adults who hide behind computer screens...would love to see people in person to see what they are really like.....ridiculous comment.....

A BROKER told you that. In Jan. '09 did s/he tell the potential buyers that you could've lowballed back in Sept. '08, but not now, in Jan. '09? You missed your big chance. This is a broker... SOME will say anything.

I think they are trying to ride the wave of positive news, turn it into something that they can use to prop up the market.

The bottom line is that there are far more people who need to sell than there are those who are willing to sign a contract.

I have some sympathy, actually, for brokers. I know a number I really like. But it's a game, and they like to be in control, and when they're not things like this get floated. I hope that broker's clients get lucky, or don't really need to sell.

i believe brokers will say anything....and i trust very few of them but you cant compare jan 09 and sep 08......its like night and day....pre crash and post crash./

Ok..my timing in the example might have been off...it was a conceptual question, not meant to be taking literally in terms of the timing. I'm just saying it might be something they're are saying so they don't sound like they're so out of touch with reality, but still trying to get the price they want.

"if you say it, they will pay"

Mhillqt: Which apartment?

Mhillqt: Good point.
I have lost count the number of apts I have seen in the last year. Very picky, havn't seen one yet that meets my specs, so hard to comment on how brokers and owners are reacting to lower bids. However, I recently did comment to a broker that I thought the apt we were viewing was worth about 60% of what the ask was and she didn't bat an eye. I then said if I felt like paying up and bidding 80% of ask I would feel like a fool. Broker seemed indifferent to my comments, like she had heard it before. I am getting the feeling from several brokers, that broker and owner are convincing(deluding) themselves that as the market attempts to stabilize, they are only in search of one buyer and they will eventually show up. I am also hearing that emotional response that brokers and owners feel that lower trades are occuring, but only by desperate or forced selling and that these trades will not impact overall market prices, but will just be outliers. I think that is a scary strategy to cement yourself to as an owner, but it is only my .02 worth.

i hate brokers SOOOOO much!

patient09, weird, isn't it. if 50% of the sales are outliers, do they cease to be outliers? I was having lunch the other day with a friend who bought a couple of years ago. She said that thankfully their property hadn't declined in value, because it had been a good deal at the time. I just nodded and had another piece of sushi.

Here is the thing - brokers are not economists (and for what its worth - economists don't even agree on what is going on right now). They are sales people. His/her only objective (and only expertise!) is to sell apartments.

this just serves as confirmation that we are still way early in the game. we are all great at dismissing facts and anecdotes that conflict with our overall version of reality. GM lost an entire generation of car buyers before being forced to the wall. one fact is that transaction volume is way down and inventory continues to increase. one group (myself included) sees this as clear evidence that prices will have to be lowered considerably to "reactivate" the market. the other side dismisses this point of view but (in my mind) does not provide any alternative thought as to what other ways the market can begin to function.

About:
its just silly spin. I would love to give some real life examples but it isn't fair to out the owners, brokers or myself. a few months from now when most is forgotten I may post a few. The comments I have heard are just downright hilarious. In a very cynical(honest) viewpoint, it just reinforces my view that a small percentage of the population has always figured out how to take all the jake from the larger percentage of the population. It's because they just aren't that smart. So let them say and do whatever they want, they will always lose in the long run.

not sure if this fit in here but i will tell it anyway:

when i put my apartment on the market (FSBO) in january i posted it in my building (http://web.me.com/seif69/11K/HOME.html). i am friendly with the owner of the same apartment on the opposite end of the hall. we started chatting after she saw my posting in the lobby. she was pretty much shocked at what i was offering my apartment for. she couldn't believe it. she had an appraiser (i know that appraisal means nothing, maybe she doesn't) in her place back in oct. 08 and they told her it was appraised at $1.05M. she is a lifer so she is not going anywhere but that number is insane. i started to get in to it but saw that it would be pointless. that was january. i close in about 1 month and i saw her the other day. we talked about the apartment and the sale. she was surprised that i sold so quickly "but your apartment was a steal at that price" was what she said. i think my apartment was priced well for that moment in time , as i tried to price ahead of the market. i am always up for a little debating but i didn't see the purpose here. she just doesn't believe that her apartment has lost much value. she still thinks it "was a steal," and a lot of owners out there just don't understand what is actually happening in the market. i think the brokers know but they are trying to convince themselves as much as they are the buyers. the market activity (lack of) and discounts don't lie.

i think this is exactly on topic. as our president keeps saying, "we didn't get into this mess in a few months, so its going to take time to get out of it." ironically, i think the ownership structure in manhattan which is so often touted as the reason why it can't happen here, is unfortunately perfectly set up to prolong the agony. yeah, foreclosures stink but the move the process along. yeah, not having to sell is better for an individual than having to sell but clogs up the market and doesn't allow it to function.

it fits, sniper. i even do it myself a bit regarding our place upstate (i.e., we bought in 2004, our area hadn't had much appreciation, we bought at 20% below OLP, I had looked at over 60 houses, and it was quite cheap at the time, seller had already moved and was carrying two mortgages). Bottom line is that if I had to sell right now I probably would be able for those reasons to do it without a short sale (i have 30% in it), but nothing better. And maybe something worse, but I'm not going to think about that right now.

well put, Sniper.

No foreclosures in NYC will likely make this a long slow leak until the tire is flat.

I've been working with a number of brokers and we've been lowballing things left and right with some positive results. in most cases, the sellers have been willing to negotiate 10% on average. Sometimes better. Lowballing is not dead by any means.

i dont consider 10% lowballing......more like 20%+...since apts are way overpriced to begin wtih...just my opinion....

>>i dont consider 10% lowballing......more like 20%+...since apts are way overpriced to begin wtih...just my opinion....<<

But not all apartments ARE overpriced, in fact, many are priced attractively and can expect to see solid activity because of it--see Sniper's post for a great example. Buyers have got to dump this idiotic idea that there's some percentage-specific formula for making offers. You need to judge each property individually, taking into account all the variables that make up value. If the asking price is already properly discounted and pegged to today's market then offering a 'lowball' price of 20% below ask won't get you anywhere.

Making a blanket statement that 'apartments are way overpriced to begin with' reeks of naivete and downright foolishness.

squid, unless they really need to sell and they are one of the 11,000 that don't find purchasers at that time. doesn't mean they aren't priced correctly, just that the market can suck for someone who truly needs to sell and quick.

if a broker said it, it must be true

Yes, the market sucks, if we take that to mean nobody wants to pay what you want to get.

From a brokers perspective it is ALWAYS better to transact this month, rather than next month. It does not matter if the market is going up, down or sideways.

sniper "No foreclosures in NYC will likely make this a long slow leak until the tire is flat."

Boy, did that NEED to be said. But I think it won't be true for all that much longer (the first part, nit the second).

There is a Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens quote which I have labeled "The Real Estate Broker's Credo" (yes, I am a broker):

"All you need in life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure".