Am I expecting too much from a broker?

If you watch Million-Dollar Listing or similar shows, you know that pricing isn't an exact science. To a certain extent, what any expert is going to do is to come up with an gut number and then backfill in the data and anecdotes to justify it.

That said, we run comps constantly, both for our buyer customers and on a consulting basis for buyers who just want to "confirm" that their instinct about where to bid is right.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

There is a difference between 2 houses in Beverly Hills and an apartment in a NYC building. The house is unique, something that may have very different things than its neighbor. An aparment in a building will likely have the same layout, etc. as many other apartments in the building so I don't understand what a "gut number" would be in NYC. That seems completely arbitrary.

I am a buyer as well. I think that Ali gave you a very honest and accurate picture of what a good RE broker actually does. If you're dealing with an experienced broker who knows the buildings in the neighborhood, they should be able to walk into an apartment and give you a "gut number" at which the property should be listed or sell. Obviously, they check building comps to confirm their estimate.

babsie02- What info you want, is not what $x/sqft. apartments are on the market for, but what $x/sqft apartments have CLOSED for. This is the info you need before submitting an offer. Your broker should be able to supply you with this info. If not, then you need to find one that will.

Tim R.
Corcoran

I don't think you're asking for too much. The listing broker and your broker should be able to give you comps. It's not that hard. Dump him!

Trothman: Good point. I did ask for closed comps. He kept giving me something about an apartment that was FOR SALE, not that had closed. I kept saying, who cares what it's listed at....what have apartments closed for? I figured he could easily check on ACRIS for me, etc.

As Dan Savage is fond of saying: DTMFA.

babsie02, dump that cat. This is a huge decision for you, you need the facts.

{Manhattan real estate agent.}

babsie, while one apartment is more like another than one house in Beverly Hills is, they're not perfectly substitutable. It's an illiquid market, and price is determined NOT JUST by recent closed comps, but by on-market comps, the price of money as shown by interest rates, consumer confidence (agents look at things like how other buyers are functioning in that sub-market, what price properties are trading off list, and the employment rate), state of renovation, view, possible impingements etc.

And then there are sellers and there are sellers, and we have to look at seller motivation, because if the market clearance price of an apartment is $600K, and a seller's bottom line is $650K, we're not going to get a trade.

Like pricing in any other illiquid market (let's take art and antiques as an example) it's not an exact science. If it were, you could just hire an appraiser.

Market pricing not being exact is not something brokers have rigged to screw customers -- it's the function of there not being 100,000 exactly identical apartments.

So figuring market pricing is a complicated, constantly changing calculation. I'm not going to lie to you, I don't do it all consciously any more than when I walk to the corner I consciously think "I'm going to put my body weight on the ball of my right foot now and then push off."

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

babsie02, what I give my clients, and what your broker should be giving you, is a more complete picture of the recently closed comps -- not just $/sf, but helpful info such as condition of the apartments, views, layouts, etc. 2 apartments w/the same square footage can be dramatically different: one may have a great layout while the other has a lot of wasted space. Even if there is another apartment in the exact line of the building that closed recently, that doesn't tell you the whole story: maybe the one that closed was in estate condition and needed a complete renovation, and the one you are considering is in triple-mint condition -- those 2 apartments will not (and should not) sell for the same amount. Maybe one is on a low floor w/no views and the other is on a higher floor w/amazing views. And so on.

Beyond that, your broker should be discussing your offer with you in the context of what your goals are and how much you like this apartment. Is it an apartment that meets some of your critera, but not everything, and you would not be upset if it went to someone else? Or is this THE apartment you have been waiting for and you must have it? Are there other offers? How long has it been on the market? Have you had a sense of how motivated the seller is?

The discussion I have with my buyers around making an offer is much different than the discussion I have with my sellers around pricing an apartment. While we may look at the same information in both cases, the intepretation of that information, and how it directs the final decision, is different.

Renee F.
Halstead