Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Cojones


Those are what we had this past weekend.

The appraisal for our house came back $15k lower than our contract and the buyer's agent asked if we would lower to that number.  He shared with us the appraisal and we looked it over pretty carefully.  And promptly said "No way."

Quite the ballsy move given the state of Florida's real estate market, and given the fact that it took us more than 4 months to get any offer at all.  But here's why:

1.  Two of the comps they used were short sales in a neighborhood that ALWAYS has values lower than ours.
2.  The two most relative comps they used, one in our neighborhood and one in a comparable neighborhood just north of us, once adjusted for differences were +/- about $3k of our contract price.
3.  The comp in our neighborhood, when it sold, was not updated at all and it sold for $191 sq/ft.  The price they were asking us to lower to would have brought us to the same PPSF.  Unacceptable, given our updates.
4.  The appraisal included current listings.  The house 2 down from ours, with one less bedroom and no boat lift, is listed at $125k more than our contract price.  The one at the end of our street is more than double our contract price.  Granted they are not going to get those prices, but it shows that some people still think our homes have this value, or will be there again soon. 
5.  We knew the buyers didn't need the appraisal to meet the contract price since they are putting down almost 50% in cash.
6.  After looking at the appraisal, I actually felt like we should INCREASE our price!

So we emailed the buyer's agent and gave him these facts, and he called back within a half hour to tell us the buyers were still a go. 

Seriously....nothing about this process is easy!  On to the next dilemma....

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