Seattle Price Drops Galore!

I have been showing high-end homes in Seattle’s best neighborhoods (Madison park, Madrona, Montlake, Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Magnolia, etc…) this summer. The prices are dropping like leaves in October!

In the $1-2 million range, I see anywhere from 50k-400k reductions! In the $500k-1 million range, I see 25K-150K reductions. In some cases, they had been on the market for longer than 365 days. Ouch!

The AVERAGE high-end seller in 2008 has a lot of competition. There are a lot of great homes on the market and a lot of motivated sellers. Short sale pricing, distressed sale pricing, and builders (who will do just about anything to make a sale) are hard to compete with. Sellers should stay as flexible as possible and get creative.

I was looking at comps, and these sellers could have sold their homes much faster if:

1. It is priced realistically (2% below the market) from the Beginning
2. It is professionally photographed
3. Full buyers agent commission or higher–4% for the selling office is ideal–those properties get many looks.
4. If the homes were staged and clean
5. If the sellers were more flexible

Driving traffic to your listing is important. Some of my buyers bring listings to my attention before I am able to present them. List your property with a broker who can get your listing on as many websites as possible. 98% of home buyers in the NW look online before they ever talk to an agent!

Perception is the key when trying to attract quality buyers. Don’t let your listing go stale by being “price delusional.” If you must sell in a buyers market, price your home to sell and not to sit. 365 days on the market is not a great statistic to boast about! If this happens, EXPECT offers to come in low.

Huge price reductions mean 2 things to buyers:

1. The sellers are desperate
2. Something is wrong with the house

There are plenty of homes on the market that are priced right from the start and they sell. You may see a moderate reduction in final purchase price but again, that is expected in a buyers market. The listings that are priced with integrity get respect from buyers and agents.