Selling Real Estate in NYC

Is not fun.

Really, it's not.

One Realtor gave us an appraisal and set the asking price at $549,000.

Four weeks later 12 people have been through to see the place. We close on our new house in a week. There is no buyer in sight. Panic is beginning to settle in.

This weekend, three new Realtors came by and gave us appraisals. Guess what? $30k less than what we had it listed for. Oh yes...$30k.

Today we spent all day going to open houses in Brooklyn. Comparable prices. Crappier apartments. Seems that for the money, at $30k less than the current asking price, our apartment can't really be beat. The issue lies in the neighborhood which is still undergoing change. The old adage "location, location, location" has never been more evident. If this place was a few blocks to the West we would have had 3 offers by now.

Then we get four realtors to agree to a non-exclusive listing agreement at 4% commission. The fifth one wants a one month exclusive at 6% and won't budge. She also wants to list it a tad lower than the $30k discounted price, thinking it will cause a bidding war. Problem is, if we go with her plan our Net income will be less than if we go with the other guys. Of course she is from the biggest conglomerate in NYC - Corcoran. And so thinks she can outsell any other "local" realtor, making her worth the extra $10k commission. Well, we disagree.

So now I am going to try to host another open house of my own tomorrow night at the new asking price of $519,000. We'll see how it goes. After tomorrow we will open it up to our three new realtors and give the new price to the original guy who set the price too high to begin with. Hopefully this price reduction will create a "feeding frenzy" as they like to say around here. Maybe next weekend we will have a buyer. Let's hope so.

If you know anyone interested in a great 1+ bedroom Condo in Prospect Heights Brooklyn, please send them my way. Thanks.