With tax credit ending Friday, a seller gets desperate
The tax credit nonsense and some of the bidding wars it sparked are about to go poof at midnight Friday.
And if the stories that I am starting to hear are any indication, we will see a flood of homes come back on the market over the next several weeks.
Encouraged by a flood of tax-credit-generated demand, some sellers got cocky, holding out for silly prices. Now it looks like some of these deals are falling through as banks and appraisers balk.
And that could be good news for buyers like our friend "Frank."
The last time we left off with our friend "Frank," our diligent buyer and IT specialist in search of a reasonably priced home in Greater Boston's suburbs had just received a memorable shove-it note from an agent.
After Frank noted he was alright staying at the condo he was renting and would not overpay for a single-family home in Stoneham - in this case bid well over $400,000 - he received this note from the seller's agent, "Louise."
"Hi Frank:
Thanks so much for your e-mail.
Your condo sounds wonderful!!! I truly do not think 23 (street deleted) is the home for you and do wish you luck in your search.
Thanks again - Louise"
Well, guess what? Louise is back and frantically searching for another offere after her dream buyer fell through.
After he noticed the listing come back on the market, Frank shot off a quick note to Louise asking if the Stoneham seller might now consider a price in the high $300s. He had last offered $385,000.
For her part, Louise still wants to bargain here, but she's singing a different tune.
"I know he is getting anxious - we wasted a lot of time with this last offer - I could try an offer of $390K??? Keep me posted...
Thanks - Louise"
I guess we'll see - there's turning out to be a lot of fish in the sea for Frank to chase.
He just got approached by another seller now ready to negotiate a couple months after rebuffing his offer of $405,000 for another single-family home.
The sellers had apparently hoped to get nearly $440,000 for it.
"FYI, it looks like the downturn is already starting to happen, in the housing market," Frank wrote to me earlier this week. "Sellers are now going to start chasing the market down.
