How bad is it out there?

Have you noticed that it is a 100 degrees outside? Your broker and potential buyers are out of town every weekend partying at the Hamptons, Jersey Shore, or the Berkshires.

busing tables, more likely

Oh, I thought you were talking about the weather, in which case my response was going to be: effing awful. Don't leave the house. You'll roast.

Summer is slow. Vacations, horrible heat waves, etc. Hang in there for fall.

hahaha alan. by the way i met someone i like almost as much as you.. his name is alanbran

I'm a part-time real estate agent and am basically working only every other weekend in the summer -- OH traffic is pretty light, and the serious buyers can be accommodated during the week anyway.

However, that's no excuse for your broker to not be giving you frequent updates -- "having an OH next weekend, advertising it in the Times"/"sent an email to ten brokers who I thought might have good clients for this"/"checked in with the broker of this competing listing and she says it's slow too" -- etc.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Devan: Go with Ali r. She will take good care of you and your listing.

Is the apartment priced properly for the area and building in this market? If it is priced right, maybe not the price you expect, it should sell without a problem.

DevanM, If you are pricing above early 2005 price level for a comparable property, it will be hard to sell unless it is a unique property.

welcome to seasonality

Summer is never a good time to sell. Now multiply that by the media effect.....
Fall will undoubtedly offer a seasonal bounce.

thanks truth!

ali

If you really want to know, let's see your listing...

if you are getting zero interest, the asking price is to high IMO....

no, don't post your listing. The 407 PAS thread should serve as a warning of what happens when you post your listing. You will get very nasty and harsh comments.

There is no 407 PAS thread.

Winter is a horrible time to sell, wait for the spring, wait - no wait for the summer - wait no - fall is better, no- winter no - its too cold - oh wait... are you asking too much? oh yeah, that's the problem. You're asking too much. That I can assure you. The temperature will go up and down, people will always have a place to party, you will only have one opportunity to sell you apartment at 25% below all time highs while the rest of the world sells at 40-50% below peak values. Humble yourself and sell the place. The market owes you nothing.

I like dmag2020's response :) I would add that many experts say prices are heading down in NYC; if they're right, then time is the friend of buyers and the enemy of sellers.

If you post your ad here on SE Talk here you will probably get attacked. You might also get some good intel.

I don't agree that summer is dead. I'm hearing from buyers on a daily basis, and I just signed a new listing.

Your price is too high, almost certainly, and/or your broker has a weak advertising campaign. The action is on the Internet, it's not in print ads, so don't be impressed by glossy mass ads in magazines.

If you need to get this thing sold, I would contact the broker and ask the broker for an honest opinion. The broker has an opinion and will tell you if you give her or him the space to be frank with you.

And I don't know why brokers don't send weekly reports, at a minimum. That's a fun part of the job. Master broker Doug Heddings sends an email message to his client immediately after every open house, while he's still standing in the lobby, and tells them what happened. That's how it should be.

If you're home for the open house--and you should NOT be, get outta there, go out for an iced tea!--your broker should tell you what potential buyers had to say when speaking with the broker privately.

Karla Harby, VP
Charles Rutenberg Realty
kharby@crrnyc.com

seconding the suggestion to go with ali r. this board is VERY anti-broker, but she is great.

Where are you located? I like Doug Heddings for UWS. At least get him in to give you an opinion of the pricing & marketing efforts thus far.