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Is this acceptable (questions for a real estate agent)
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DH and I go back and forth and back and forth on when we want to move back to Michigan. One thing that is throwing a huge wrench in our plans is that our home value has gone down since we bought it, and we'd probably end up bringing cash to the table. I like to keep up with how the market is doing so I can estimate what kind of savings we're going to need. I spoke with our real estate agent a few months ago and she showed me some comps. It was ugly. Now today I was just checking out realtor.com and it looks like there are some houses with similar (if not identical) floor plans trying to sell for maybe $30 per sq ft more than what she had showed me then.
Would it be perfectly normal or annoying to email her and ask if she can look at the comps for me again? I don't want to be a pest, but I am curious if things are picking up. It would certainly help me sleep better at night, lol. But it's entirely possible that all of these sellers are delusional, which is why I don't want to rely on this website. What do you guys think?
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Re: Is this acceptable (questions for a real estate agent)
Well, true comps are on the sale of the home, not the list price, because sale indicates what the market is actually bringing in (I'm sure you know that already).
I absolutely don't think it could hurt to ask. A lot can change in a few months (hopefully it IS actually getting better!!) and it's her job to keep you up to date, especially since she'll be making $ when you do eventually decide to sell. I don't think it's a ton of work on her part to pull comps, either, so you're not asking something huge of her.
I don't think it's rude or annoying. I think if you're polite and simply say something like "I'm totally ignorant when it comes to the pricing of the home and was looking around and noticed XY&Z. Could you tell me if the price is going up or how you came up with the number? Just wondering if the prices have gone up or if the actual sale prices of the houses around here are going for that much less than the listing prices. Thank you for your time."
Or something like that. It could be that the number she showed you is the actual ideal sale price rather than the asking price? I don't know. Just a thought. But no, I don't think it's an annoying question.
Exactly this. We just sold our house and based our initial asking price on what other homes in the area were listed for (against our agent's advice). We ended up making a price reduction a few weeks later and sold our house for $12K less than it was originally listed for.
ditto august. comps are on the sales price of comparable homes at that specific time - not list price. It's entirely acceptable to ask her to pull more recent comps so that you guys can compare the market now.
However, I would word it just like that - that you'd like an updated comparable analysis because you're noticing some similar homes listed at an increased price and you're wondering if new comps would show an uptick in the market. Don't question the comps that she gave you the first time (as in - "you obviously didn't do your job right the first time") because then she might (would) be put off.
For some reason, I vaguely remember that I may have had the same realtor you have now. (Are her initials LP?) If so, a follow up question from you will definitely not annoy her. . .she had a lot more than that to deal with than that when I (and my XH) were working with her.
Besides, like someone else mentioned, the market changes. If you're going to sell your house sooner than planned, that's business for her sooner than planned. She should be happy to hear from you!
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I say yes, only if you definitely plan on listing with her, which I assume you do. It's a time and effort thing for free now, but it will pay her back when she sells your home.
Good luck!
Yes, isn't she great?
And just to be clear, I'm totally not questioning the work she did for me earlier and I know that comps are based on the actual sale price. I'm really just hoping things are better and since I know that I can't count on these realtor.com listings I'm wanting to get some better info from her.
Thanks for the input everyone! I think I'm just going to shoot her a quick email. Though I just ran an amortization table and even with an optimistic sale price it'll be years before we could sell and break even. *sigh* I should print out a picture of a nice house in MI and stick it to my fridge so that every time I'm tempted to buy something I'm reminded we have bigger goals...
Or just print out the weather forecast for the next week in Austin and in Michigan and remind yourself how great things are here
(Unless you love winter, in which case, that's a terrible idea--totally disregard)
lol, I'm trying my best to NOT think about digging my car out of the snow...scraping ice off of the windshield...having it be so cold it hurts to breathe outside...
But...hey...fireplaces! Hot cocoa! Skiing! I've never skied before but I could always learn now!
She is great! I didn't think you were complaining about her (which, you know, everyone is entitled to their opinion), I was just remembering the 50+ houses she took me to see and thinking that if she could cheerfully deal with that (among other things) over a 6 month period, she certainly wouldn't mind follow-up questions from you.
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lol - I don't know how you can do it. After 4.5 years in Texas, I'm completely spoiled. Temps drop below 50 and I'm freezing. I've vowed to never live anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line, ever again
Interesting - I'd love to find this!
Rach - I was going to say, it's very possible prices are going up. Granted, I'm on the other side of town, but our neighborhood was at a 5 year low just a few months ago. I don't know about actual sale price, but I know list prices have gone up significantly.
SO, I think it's definitely worth it to ask! The sooner you can sell your house, the sooner she gets paid after all!