Estately Family Tree
Search Estately

Exact prices are better, except when they’re much, much worse

At for homes. The researchers think exact numbers are low (like Walmart) while rounded numbers are high. They’re totally wrong on one count though:

“A condo priced at say $153,122 might actually sell faster than one priced at 150″

They may be right about people’s feelings once they see the condo, but they’re 100% wrong about what is important; people and agents alike search for real estate based on fairly standardized price ranges and when you’re selling a $150,000 condo at $153,000 price tag (in a non-Seattle market where condos cost that much), you’re missing a lot of potential buyers.

If your home is near the top of a price range, you are up against a similar homes and lesser homes when people are searching. Say your home is worth around $400,000. You price it for $405,000 and searchers are going to be comparing it to $450,000 homes (and searchers with the $400,000 as their high-end cutoff won’t see it). Price it at $399 and you get an entirely new group of people seeing it and it’s one of the nicest homes in their price range. And the people who are considering homes at $405,000 will still spot it – don’t worry.

Power move if you’re a future home buyer using Estately: find the people who haven’t priced their home properly with operators in the full text box. You can search down to the dollar by typing “price < $408,000" (for homes under $408,000) into the Text Search box. Here’s an example of a custom search in Ballard.

Join the discussion »

Georgetown going upscale

Fears are probably a little overblown that Georgetown will ever be an upscale neighborhood; it is in a valley bounded by a polluted river, an airport and I-5, but residents are concerned.

Read our bit on Georgetown blogs.

Join the discussion »

What happened to the monorail?

Remember that dead project that car owners paid taxes on for 3 years only to have the plug pulled? The Seattle Transit blog covers what went wrong from a very pro-Sound Transit standpoint.

Join the discussion »

When your mortgage is over the hill

Yep, some of 40 year mortgages currently being handed out will simultaneously go over the hill and expire sometime around 2048. And what do 40 year mortgage holders save over a 30 year? Not a lot. You’re saving $100 a month on a $200,000 loan. It’s not like the difference between a 5 and 10 year mortgage or even a 10 and 30 year. My Money Blog charted up the numbers:

Fixed term
Source: My Money Blog

I’m not saying what kind of mortgage people should or shouldn’t get, I’m just saying that 40 year mortgages usually seem unwise to me.

Join the discussion »

Squatters renting from from squatters

Hot on the heels of the West African “missionary” leasing out a house that isn’t his (and is for sale, not rent) in Ballard (send your check now!), we spotted a story about squatters offering leases on bank-owned (foreclosed) properties they have “colonized.” I like that term. Sounds so much better than “breaking and entering.”

Here’s the deal: they break into the home, then they charge you monthly rent for the new locks they put on the doors. You, dear renter, are now technically a squatter too. You’re just a sucka-squatter who is paying for the privilege. You live in said home, paying rent, until the bank shows up and puts it on the market.

Seems like a nasty scam, but at least someone is home, right? A renter has to be no worse than a bank at doing upkeep on a foreclosure. Presumably they leave the pipes in place.

Join the discussion »
« Older Entries