SFisHomeBlog: Who is "stupid" - a San Francisco saga?

Did I just use that word? The customer is always right aren't they? Well, yes, in my book they are. My customers are always right, then again I educate my customers before I go out with them. But when another agent calls moments after I hit "submit" on the below post to tell me that his buyer wants to submit an offer 33% below the asking price on another Listing I have, someone has to be "stupid" right????????

Is it me? I spent hours running a "CMA", a Comparative Market Analysis, of all recently sold nearby condos of a similar size. I then visited every "competitive" condo on the market in the weeks leading up to the official launch in the MLS of the sale. So I know the market cold.

So is it my Seller? Well, this is one of those rare Short Sales. He will sell the Condo at any price the Bank will take, and so we chose, together, to price it at the low end of it's value range - per the CMA.

So there's a bank involved - is the bank stupid? Well they would be if they accepted the suggested offer, but they know enough to know that they don't know (say that 10 times fast). So they will hire a local appraiser to tell them what they should be willing to accept in an asking price. The appraisal hasn't happened yet, but rest assured, the appraisers numbers will be close to my CMA.

So is the Buyer's Agent stupid? Well, he admitted to not knowing this particular market well, and admitted he had not yet run his own CMA, and said he didn't want to waste any one's time with an offer that was so low it had no chance.

So... from the sound of everything above, the only one who did no homework, and has just picked some random number out of a hat, is the Buyers.

Are they stupid? Doubtful. I bet that they've got very high IQ's, very high paying jobs, are very well respected in their fields, probably have a ton of friends and great families, and are overall extremely bright and well intentioned people. But... they are completely and utterly uneducated on "their market". The particular market in which this Condo is in.

A 2 minute CMA, which is entering in some really basic comparable information into the MLS, and including all For-Sale, in-contract, and Sold in the past 3 to 6 month, and then hitting submit would show that NOT ONE condo is even close to the price they want to offer.

But someone has to be "stupid" right? Actually, someone does if this offer were to be accepted. Unfortunately, the Bank isn't stupid, the Seller isn't stupid, and while I have some days that are better than others, I'd like to think that I'm not stupid either.

Bottom line - this offer should not even be made. Read the post below... IF the Seller or Bank were to even consider it, all we'd have to do is drop the price to the amount these Buyers are offering, and 3 days later I'd have 30 offers all well over that new lower asking price.

Sorry folks... there are deals to be had in San Francisco in certain neighborhoods, but unfortunately there aren't many stupid people here willing to accept stupid offers.

You may also want to read:
Short Sales currently For-Sale in San Francisco
San Francisco REO's (Bank Owned Properties)
First Time Home Buyers - Starting with Education

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