Details: 3 bed/2.5 bath 1,856 sq ft house, 8,350 sq ft lot, "completely renovated"
Description: MAJOR PRICE REDUCTION! Absolutely immaculate Spanish home w/ contemporary accents in one of Santa Monica's most sought-after neighborhoods. Completely renovated 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths w/large backyard. Features include: extra-large master suite w/ adjacent home office or sitting room, wood floors, stainless appliances, recently installed dual-zone HVAC & electrical, 6-zone sound system throughout interior/exterior, travertine floors/granite tops in kitchen & baths, stone fireplace, 2 car detached garage w/ built-in storage & additional storage room. Fantastic turn-key property on a fantastic street in Santa Monica's coveted Franklin School District.
Purchase History:
1/12/07 - $2,100,000
6/21/05 - $1,600,000
Listing History: 7/26/10 - $2,199,000
Reduced: 08/11/10 - to $2,099,000
Reduced: 08/13/10 - to $1,999,000
Reduced: 08/13/10 - to $1,999,000
This listing is a disaster. I have heard that the upgrades were completed at the end of 2006, which would make the early 2007 price something we can go off of as an apples to apples comparison. That also means that the current listing first started at $100k MORE than the early 2007 price...huh? What joker even tries to pretend that prices might be up from 2007?
Next, they employ the classic delusional pricing strategy of cutting the price by small amounts. A $100k reduction followed two days later by another one? Great strategy...better boast about your "MAJOR PRICE REDUCTION" in the opening of the description.
What should have happened here was the following: Realize and accept that prices are down from early 2007. I think starting the offer at $2mm would still have been too high. Maybe they could have started at $1.85mm which would be $250k (12%) lower than the early 2007 sale.
So I expect that this listing is receiving little interest at the current asking price. Looking at the current list price and pricing strategy, you have to wonder if the seller can even afford or stomach the loss of selling. An early 2005 rollback price would be something around $1.7mm. Maybe you can argue prices have firmed a touch and it should be more like $1.75-$1.8mm but I think odds are better in favor of seeing a resumption of softness in the market. This house isn't really anything to get excited about...lots of lipstick on an old body. I think another couple hundred thousand needs to get shaved off this to get close to a sale price.
I wrote a comment on the Calif house below but for some reason it wouldn't go through and I don't want to do it over, but I will comment here.
ReplyDeleteI had been quite optimistic for the last year and 1/2 that prices had plateaued and would hold or rise for the foreseeable future, but I can see the dark clouds on the horizon you referred to and I would be reluctant to buy now and wait a while to see how things go. I agree there will not be a lot of interest in this one.