Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Lowball 12/11-12/21

Welcome to another edition of Lowball!

Lowball! takes a look at home sales over the past week from a very different perspective. For those new to Lowball!, a lowball offer is when a buyer offers a significantly lower bid than asking in hopes that the seller accepts the offer. We take a list of home sales over the past week and pick out the sales that have the highest percentage difference between asking price and selling price.The reason for Lowball! is to show buyers that the market has changed and buyers now have considerably more leverage than sellers. Just a short time ago, lowball offers would have been laughed at and discarded, however, not any more. The fact that so many under-asking offers are being accepted is clear proof that the market is changing.

The list does not contain all sales, I hand-pick the most interesting sales from the list. These listings might be the highest dollar drops, biggest percentage reductions, or sales in towns that are thought to still be 'hot'. Please note, even with double digit percentage reductions, these homes are still incredibly overpriced. This week I tried to grab listings that were more affordable than many I've posted in the past.

Since I was away last week, I opened the window to include more listings than the usual weekly list. Let me just say that it's been a fantastic month for the lowballers in Northern NJ.

MLS# 2104655 - Chatham, NJ
Asking Price $2,350,000
Selling Price $1,800,000 (23.4% Lowball!)

MLS# 2109519 - Franklin Lakes, NJ
Asking Price $1,299,000
Selling Price $999,999 (23.0% Lowball!)

MLS# 2077400 - Bedminster, NJ
Asking Price $1,195,000
Selling Price $937,500 (21.5% Lowball!)

MLS# 2100818 - Paterson, NJ
Asking Price $289,900
Selling Price $230,000 (20.7% Lowball!)

MLS# 2109752 - Hopatcong, NJ
Asking Price $289,900
Selling Price $230,000 (20.7% Lowball!)

MLS# 2043432 - Newton, NJ
Asking Price $250,000
Selling Price $200,000 (20% Lowball!)

MLS# 2095896 - Butler, NJ
Asking Price $209,000
Selling Price $175,000 (16.3% Lowball!)

MLS# 2204182 - Scotch Plains, NJ
Asking Price $399,900
Selling Price $335,000 (16.2% Lowball!)

MLS# 2095318 - Lake Mohawk/Sparta, NJ
Asking Price $329,900
Selling Price $278,000 (15.7% Lowball!)

MLS# 2100851 - Sparta Twp, NJ
Asking Price $1,175,500
Selling Price $999,999 (14.9% Lowball!)

MLS# 2097357 - Ridgewood, NJ
Asking Price $470,000
Selling Price $400,000 (14.9% Lowball!)

MLS# 2111484 - Clark, NJ
Asking Price $800,000
Selling Price $685,000 (14.4% Lowball)

MLS# 2101435 - Randolph, NJ
Asking Price $599,900
Selling Price $515,000 (14.2% Lowball!)

MLS# 2203563 - West Caldwell, NJ
Asking Price $369,000
Selling Price $320,000 (13.3% Lowball!)

MLS# 2071462 - Millburn, NJ
Asking Price $639,000
Selling Price $560,000 (12.4% Lowball!)

MLS# 2109190 - Elizabeth, NJ
Asking Price $479,000
Selling Price $420,000 (12.3% Lowball)

MLS# 2068426 - Bridgewater, NJ
Asking Price $1,199,900
Selling Price $1,060,000 (11.7% Lowball!)

MLS# 2075936 - North Caldwell, NJ
Asking Price $1,375,000
Selling Price $1,215,000 (11.6% Lowball!)

MLS# 2107610 - Franklin Twp, NJ
Asking Price $556,345
Selling Price $499,000 (10.3% Lowball!)

MLS# 2102931 - Florham Park, NJ
Asking Price $589,000
Selling Price $530,000 (10.0% Lowball!)

Caveat Emptor!
Grim

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Clark place it still way, way overpriced. Its 685K for a 3 bed/1bath in an OK but not great town. And it says "as-is" for in-ground oil tank. What sort of moron would buy a house with an in-ground oil tank without insurance on an as-is basis ?

[ The listing does mention another 100x100 property included in the deal, maybe that was the attaction]

12/21/2005 03:03:00 PM  
Blogger grim said...

Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to go into the details on many of those sales. It's been crazy around work and home with the holidays quickly approaching. I also didn't check if those asking prices were prior reductions (a very interesting metric in my book and something I typically do).

grim

12/21/2005 03:16:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the rela estate industry will try to spin and manipulate the facts in order to keep this ponzi chugging along.
Unfortunately it is not working anymore.
BAAAAAWAAAHAHAHAHAHA

12/21/2005 05:42:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think everything is still overpriced. I was overjoyed to see a home listed at 459 K in a particluarly upscale section of town. A few months ago, comparable houses on the same street were listed at 499K +. But imagine my shock when I checked out this house on taxrecords.com. Had been sold in Nov 2004 for 375K !

12/22/2005 12:03:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have been watching realtors.com for a year now, northern jersey. The number of listings has been coming down in many of the towns I am tracking (started 3 weeks ago). Have sales been picking up?

12/22/2005 07:59:00 AM  
Blogger grim said...

Listings are decreasing because homes are being withdrawn at a rather brisk pace.

Spring should be very, very interesting.

grim

12/22/2005 09:13:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can anybody tell me what the status codes mean on gsmls

a-active
a*-attorney review
p- ?
X- ?
W-withdrawn
UC-Under contract

12/30/2005 09:36:00 AM  
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4/18/2006 10:47:00 PM  

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