Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 07:12AM
Contest Winners!
We've had two contests in play for Padres tickets, and the season is almost over. I'm running out of tickets, and need to get the winners to a game!
The house on Compass has fallen out of escrow twice - the first time we had a handful of offers, and settled on a buyer with 20% down payment who offered $367,000. But his appraisal came in at $330,000, so he bailed.
While we are in the negotiating stage, the 4 br/2 ba, 1,672 sf one-story house down the street with a better view (and also an REO) went on the market, listed for $284,900. It had a flurry of offers, and ended up closing last week for $369,500!
But by then our $360,000 second buyer bailed out too, citing the need for a roof. He was the second-place finisher on the first round, so we figured he must have been circling the property - but after a month he decides he can't live with the obviously original roof?
CHL lowered the price to $349,900, and we've found buyer #3 and feel pretty good about it closing at the end of September for $345,000.
But then on review of the original post from April, the contest was to guess the list price - which Dwip got within $900 with the guess $359,000! Congratulations Dwip!
The second contest was to guess the sales price of 796 Arthur, listed for $169,900.
There were nine offers, the highest being $225,000 with a $10,000 credit from seller. But the buyer got declined because of the new "Anti-Buy-and-Bail" guideline, and fell-out. We went back to the second-highest offeree and made the deal at $207,000 net.
Here are the contest entrants - price, name, and the tiebreaker, # of offers:
$149,000 - No_Such_Reality, 1
$150,000 - JE, 1
$174,000 - doughboy, 1
$180,000 - Simone, 7
$184,000 - ericabiz, multiple
$184,000 - mybleachhouse, 7
$189,000 - Merc Mont, 5
$190,000 - Chuck Ponzi, 3
$190,100 - First Time Renter, 11
$191,500 - money market, 5
$193,000 - SMC, 5
$195,000 - GLG, 10
$197,500 - Don, 7
$199,900 - CVman, 5
$200,750 - Al in IC, 7
$206,500 - FreedomCM, 7
$210,000 - Mojo, 7
$210,000 - Mr. T, 14
$210,000 - loharp, 20
$212,000 - Neil Diamond, 27
$215,000 - Steph in RB, 5
$219,500 - CVBidder, 10
$224,500 - Rob Dawg, 5
$237,000 - Stephen Watts, 14
$240,000 - Coconuts, 11
Congratulations FreedomCM, you're the winner afterall!
I have four tickets for tomorrow's Padres vs. Rockies, the Giants on Friday, September 12th, and the Pirates on Saturday, September 27th. All are night games.
Dwip and Freedom CM, I'm hoping one of you can take tomorrow night?
Email me at jim@jimklinge.com
Jim the Realtor
It turns out that Dwip isn't a baseball fan, and says to pass the tickets on to the next closest - who is, guess who - Freedom CM with a guess of $363,000! A double winner!
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Reader Comments (9)
FreedomCM - check in when you get a chance!
What do I win for resisting the urge to make a joke about the second place prize being 2 pair of tix to the Padres? [ducks]
What are houses near Arthur renting for? $1600? That would be a tolerable loss for the last knifecatchers. $1800 would make sense for a local involved investor. This is what is needed to establish market clearing prices.
An estimated $1,600 would be tops today, in my opinion. You could get somebody to agree to pay more, but for how long?
Tenants make me nervous these days, they seem so out-of-sorts. It must be tough finding good homes to rent, especially if you have kids, pets, and lots of toys.
Hey Jim, I really love your insight and humor, and winning the tickets is pretty funny (2nd place ...Padres), but doesn't make me an any less loyal reader. If only I played the lottery.
Would you please donate these tix to a boys and girls club or big brothers/big sisters type of organization?
Thanks, and keep up the good work!
$1600 tops? This is where the rubber meets the road. Are you seeing rental softness like I predicted in 2005? I sold the last of my rentals Apr '06 in anticipation. I never thought it would take so long.
I think you deserve a Nobel in Econ for seeing that charging too much rent is a false return. Too many flakes and too much turnover.
Thanks Freedom - will do!
"Rental softness"?
I'll give you my personal observation trying to rent my house next door.
I had the same single guy for the last 2.5 years, and never bumped the rent on him. He leaves due to job change, and moved south.
Don't you bump the rent after keeping it steady for 2.5 years? Not me, I decide to keep it the same, hopefully get a bunch of applicants, and pick another great one - someone who is no-maintenance.
Two months later, it's still vacant. The only good candidate had her house fall out of escrow, and she backed out. I'm around eviction enough that I don't need to practice next door, so I am leery about just taking anyone that I might regret.
To sum it up, the softness is in the quality of the tenants, or I'm getting really picky in my old age.
JtR- You've had a vacancy all summer?? Ouch. The South Bay has been pretty strong most of the year. It's just now starting to get softer. I also price a little lower on average and have tenants that stay 3+ years on average. Seen alot of apps from walk aways or cash for keys this year.
My rental is definatly a challenge. The first 3 times, it rented out the first week. I have it posted for the same price 3 years later and i'm getting no action. I just lowered the price tonight.
Lot of houses for rent. I thought the onslought of people losing their houses would help the rental market but it seems there are more people that can't sell holding onto homes(renting them out) than people being foreclosed on. This is a tell tale sign of future foreclosures.
Not looking good.
Also the last two renters lost their jobs and had to move out way, way before the lease ended, the economy isn't helping rent prices.
Eviction is another drain on the bank account. Not for the light hearted for sure.
An attractive rental price is a must when thinking of investing in real estate.
These rental stories are interesting. We've seen rents in our area (south Carlsbad) go way up since we started renting in 2004. Back then, we got in for $2K and a house just like ours rented for $1975 just around the corner (our rent has gone up $100 since, and theirs is up even less, IRRC). Since around 2005, these same houses would probably rent for around $2,600-$2,800/mo.
Said it before, but I think rents are in their own bubble right now. With investors coming in and buying the foreclosures, they are finally releasing the inventory back onto the market either as flips or rentals. This is deflationary for both prices and rents, IMHO.
The best approach is usually to underprice a rental so you can pick the very best tenants and keep them for a number of years. Too many yahoos right now asking sky-high rents, hoping to cover their costs. Good luck with that...