by Osman Parvez


About a month ago, I told you about a 5325 Hickory Avenue. I asked you to play a game: What It’s Worth.  

Here are the results.

17 people provided their best estimates of the eventual sale price. Estimates ranged from a low of $549,000 to a high of $698,700, a spread of nearly $150,000. The average estimate was $616,517.     


The house closed on January 8th. The actual sale price? $565,000 or about 6% BELOW the asking price. In a market with record low inventory and intense buyer demand, this is shocking. What happened?


A Couple of Possibilities


1. Structural Issues
As recommended in my original blog post, read the Seller’s Property Disclosure. Pay particular attention to Section A: Structural Conditions. The Seller checked YES to 4 of the 9 areas.   


Structural issues tend to scare buyers. Even though the seller provided a reassuring structural engineer’s report, most buyers are going to think twice about a house with known structural issues. 


2. Cold Hard Cash
Paying cash removes two key areas of uncertainty for the seller: the buyer’s credit risk and the home’s appraisal value.  


Paying cash is one way to strengthen an offer in a competitive bidding scenario. As was the case here, even in this crazy market, sellers may even be willing to accept less than asking if a buyer is paying cash.

We’ll be discussing this and other techniques for writing winning offers at our meetup this week. The topic: Best Practices for Bidding Wars. Space is limited. Sign up HERE. 


Back to the Contest 


Jeff H was the winner with a low ball of $549,000.   


Jeff, I owe you beer at the Southern Sun. Let’s call it a pitcher, shall we? If you can wait until Stout Month, I’ll join you. 


In case you forgot how much you bid, the rest are below.  

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