“True story. Ran into neighbour. She just took her place off the market. It has been constant open houses. She told me the bids were all coming in too low. She was very insulted that people would bid so low. So she took it off the market because she “will just wait until the spring when the markets come back and she will get a higher price”. I didn’t say a word.”
- Girlbear at VCI December 5th, 2012 12:27 pm
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Insulted? In most parts of the world I would assume emotion is a ploy to get a higher price. In Vancouver it seems more hubris.
Well, market structure may have an impact. “The seller told his agent to tell me to tell you that he’s insulted!” loses a bit in the telling.
When it comes time to negotiate a business deal I’m now supposed to give a f&%^ about people’s emotions.
There is such mythology around “Spring” in Vancouver RE. People don’t seem to realize that, while there are more buyers at that time, there are also more sellers.
Yes El Ninja, a lot more. The crowd is awakening. I would not be at all surprised to see a spike of early listings as some vendors try to jump the line and be first at the gate to sell.
Completely agree. I’m sure everyone here has seen all the cancelled listings in recent weeks. Many of these have been on the market all year long. Anyone with a brain knows full well that these sellers didn’t suddenly change their minds and opt to keep their homes. For the sake of those intending to freshen up their listings with revamped property descriptions and dazzling new photos, I hope the sun makes an appearance in Vanc before July.
I hear “spring” in Vancouver might happen January 2nd this year. And a cold, miserable spring it will be.
@ RagingRanter
Perhaps May 14th (election day) will mark the end of summer 2013?
Funny how we never hear potential buyers being “insulted” by delusional homeowners asking too much for their piles.
The insulting part is realizing that she was the greater fool, it is a step along the way. It is like going to a pawn shop for the first time, then realizing they are the only source of money, which would be next spring for the RE market. That is what happens when people “pay” exorbitant amounts just becuase everyone else is doing it.
Yeah, except you have no clue what price this person bought at.
Doesn’t matter. The benchmark isn’t price paid, it’s current price. There isn’t an owner out there who doesn’t keep running tabs on their property’s market value. It is the difference between this perceived wealth and the price they ultimately get that will hurt.
You think someone who bought a west side shack in the 70s and sells it for 1 million in the spring instead of the 1.5 they thought they were going to get is going to be “hurt”?
Well, in that case, hurt me all night long baby.
Like I said, you don’t know when this person bought. Are these bear blogs where critical thinking comes to die?
Yes, they will be disappointed if failure to recognize a top costs them half a million dollars. By the time you’ve owned a house for 30-40 years, your cost basis is much higher than the nominal price you paid to buy it. And it is human nature to make the highest price the benchmark. Even people who realized good returns in the tech bubble will always remember the on-paper windfall they “lost” when they held on to some stocks too long.
What I’m saying is that current market price, not price paid, is the psychological reference point, the mental anchor. People mistake paper wealth for actual wealth. They tell themselves: “When I sell, I’m going to get X for my home because that’s how much the one down the street sold for.” They start to bank on it. They make serious life decisions — like retiring, or taking out substantial loans — on the basis of their perception. Well, if it sells for less than this imagined amount, no matter how little they actually paid for it, they’re going to feel bitter.
You seem to be making the mistake in assuming that anyone who bought in the Seventies has a clear title home J.T.S. It would be fine if that were the case but we know better and it is one of the reasons people come here to worry out loud. You might want to give a moments consideration to average debt levels in the city and savings rates for starters because the data tells us unambiguously that most people are carrying too much of a burden and have little set aside for a rainy day. It is not just the youngsters either and there have been some interesting numbers on this site about how the Boomers themselves have become deeply mortgaged.
“April is the cruellest month . . .”
– T.S. Eliot
“Beware the ides of March.”
― William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
“Wake Me Up When September Ends”
-Green Day
Any information on the seller? Have they lived there a long time? Did they buy at the peak with intent to flip? Are they potentially looking at a loss or are they in full on “greed” mode?
Reminds me of the homeowners in Florida who were crying in the streets since the developers were selling similar properties for “below market” haha! Everyone seems to have this idea that spring will save them…I don’t see it happening, there are just too many factors going against a strong spring market. It’s not 2009 after all.
Like the car salesman from years ago who scoffed at my ridiculous offer, then phoned me back three days later with the “great news” that he could get pretty close to my offer price after all. Too bad I already bought somewhere else by then. She’ll come around, only she won’t be calling it “great news” at any point.
Yup, any offers of real cash are better than none at all. Any good salesman should understand this and the simple fact that you likely won’t receive any offers at all (even insultingly low ones) if you don’t have your For Sale sign posted.
This isn’t like 2008, where we recovered and then some. I feel this is the beginning of a big crash. We won’t recover in my lifetime. But that’s good news as I can see condos going for under 50k in a few years.
As I pointed out at great length the other day, I don’t think this is like 2008 either. I think we’ve finally reached out tipping point. The fact that it appears to be catching many completely by surprise (as most became convinced all the bad news was in the rear view mirror) only makes me more confident that I am correct about this. The massive run up in recent years completely dwarfs anything that occurred in the 80′s or 90′s. In the best scenario, we might witness an unwinding of similar magnitude and duration as compared to those previous chapters in Vanc’s history. Given the unprecedented size and scope of the RE bubble this time around, I honestly don’t know what the worst case may be.
Speaking of insulted, I am insulted that none of you have sent me Christmas cards with cheques written out for large amounts of money. It’s Christmas people – come on! INSULTED!
It’s because you insulted me by not sending me one!
gokou3 – the cheque is in the mail.
Where they using a lot of 4′s in the price instead of 8′s perhaps ?
Spring market… how did spring 2012 do? How did the chinese new year of dragon do? A lot more noises than transactions.
Spring 2012 was the blow off, double top.
On the flip side, I now live in greater Seattle and have seen friends of mine come down to visit and be completely perplexed at the price differences. It’s a cognitive dissonance that’s hard to rationalize – it’s too close and too similar for prices to be off by 3x. This lady may be perplexed at what she can get an offer for, but once she and others come to the conclusion that the offer is what it’s actually now worth and with it the implication that real-estate can decline, and if leveraged [as likely] very very dangerous to one’s wealth on the way down cement a chill on the market for YOY declines as long talked about on this and other blogs. I really feel for the people that bought at or extracted heloc money based on the top of the market pricing and now depend on it. For most, they’ve made the error of a lifetime and won’t have ready capacity to recover.
CanAmerican
Oh well…Safe
I have sold… would have liked more… didn’t get it…I am not stupid.
In fact I am very smart Commie…
Smart Commie take profit and leave Liberal Commercial street…
To many welfare Socialists, and their welfare Capitalist breathern want me to support them… they are called Liberals…
Can’t work that much… need six jobs to keep up…
But I bought low enough that I could, can, and did adjust price …
and still will be doing very well for a Commie…
Spring market… is not the time to re-buy….
Ahhh but… end of summer or the fall has some very very good buy possibilities…
So move… rest… holiday… and come back and start looking for the perfect vulture’s prey… someone dying… over extended… way more in than the property land value… some welfare capitalist/socialist pig dying under a mountain of dept… an over extended public servant perhaps…
OHHH that would be good…
Heee…Heee…Heee
Free
Silver
I’m insulted that she is wanting to put me under water with her prices and enslave me to the bank or expose me to bankruptcy!!
With the US going over the fiscal cliff, that might be the last straw.. Holding out til Spring? I’m sure prices will be even lower and you will be wishing you had accepted the lowballs.
Two comments – 1) the reset in Vancouver is a made-in-Canada situation and 2) Fiscal cliff is a ruse, only representing a small percentage of actual budget though getting a lot of media attention.
Agree that prices will go down, but as a result of factors contributing to #1 overwhelming reason.
I have friends who bought presale Olympic condos. They are sure wishing right about now that they had sold to the “insulting” $25k below-asking they refused right after the Olympics! Now they are amateur landlords who are losing a couple Gs every month….I see the cash going down the drain and admit I feel a bit sorry for them.
I don’t feel sorry. Someone has got to pay for this insanity. Better them than me as they grapple with their greedy impulses of the past.