Garbage, Cat Urine and the Low Offer

I had a short sale listing last year. The owners, who were filing bankruptcy, had some issues with pricing. It was 2800 sq feet, on a busy road and in an ok area. They had taken all the equity out of their home 5 years ago, did a major renovation and couldn't pay the monthly note. They owed almost 400k on it, but with a short sale, it is negotiated with the bank for less than what they own. I worked with the husband on the listing, as his wife had moved out west. The Seller stated that he felt my list price of 250k was adequate. I felt it was a good price to start out with after running comps in the area. His wife felt otherwise. She wanted me to list the house in the 300's, which I did, knowing that the number of house showings would not support a house of this cost.

The house was on the market for approximately 5 months before it generated some serious interest. I had worked hard for 5 months, carefully getting the sellers to agree to drop the price little by little. In a short sale, time is of the essence, and we don't have time to dilly dally with the price point.

There was also the condition of the home. The Sellers had moved out and left a ton of stuff behind. When it was finally at the price which warranted many showings, the Agent's feedback was all the same…."The place is a mess", "garbage is left everywhere" etc. I sighed, and shook my head. The Sellers had taken such a long time getting to the right price; they failed to mention that they moved out but left most of their junk. The house is an hour away from me, so I haven't been since they moved out. I had only the Agent's words to go by. I thought about paying for garbage removal, but with the lost time due to the pricing, I wasn't confident that it wouldn't get foreclosed on.

We ended up getting our offer a week after we dropped the price to somewhere that was appropriate. Only problem was that the offer was considerable less than asking price. We have forwarded it to the bank and are presently awaiting their answer.