It has come time to list my Quail Hill condo for sale.  As such, I listed it last night and will be representing myself as the seller/listing agent.  It’s a 1,843sf 3bed/3bath William Lyon unit that I purchased brand new back in 2004 for just under $558k.  For all the curious souls, the following link shows my listing:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/388-Quail-Rdg-92603/home/5982154

I used a range price upon the advice of a few realtors so I guess we’ll see what happens (although I’ve already gotten 4 calls on the property).  You guys can come by and say hello at the open house next weekend.  haha

Pictures have been added.

Well, congrats on not using ALL CAPS and !!!!!!  You know you would have been berated if you had….

One error, you mentioned granite kitchen twice.  Otherwise, nicely done.

Good luck usc !  Hope it goes as fast as IPO’s.

Trooper - 03 September 2008 01:12 PM

Well, congrats on not using ALL CAPS and !!!!!!  You know you would have been berated if you had….

One error, you mentioned granite kitchen twice.  Otherwise, nicely done.

Good luck usc !  Hope it goes as fast as IPO’s.

I know I would have gotten 10 lashings for using ALL CAPS from you guys.  haha IR pointed out a few typos and spelling errors in my initial listing but I’ll go ahead and correct what you’ve picked up.  Well, I’m being reasonable on the listing price range so we’ll see what happens.  I’ll be adding pictures of the property when I get home from work tonight.

Make sure you hire the professional stagers and then take great photos with wide area lens. (28mm)

...and a cavity search if graph shows up. 

Looks good and best wishes trojanman.  Fight on.  -IR2

usctrojanman29 - 03 September 2008 01:00 PM

It has some time to list my Quail Hill condo for sale.  As such, I listed it last night and will be representing myself as the seller/listing agent.  It’s a 1,843sf 3bed/3bath William Lyon unit that I purchased brand new back in 2004 for just under $558k.  For all the curious souls, the following link shows my listing:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/388-Quail-Rdg-92603/home/5982154

I used a range price upon the advice of a few realtors so I guess we’ll see what happens (although I’ve already gotten 4 calls on the property).  You guys can come by and say hello at the open house next weekend.  haha

Are the 3 other listings on Duet exact comps?  If so, it looks like you will have some unhappy neighbors based on the delta in listing prices

Lurker, if done right,  it should cause bidding up…so it should sell for more.

IrvineRealtor - 03 September 2008 02:43 PM

...and a cavity search if graph shows up. 

Looks good and best wishes trojanman.  Fight on.  -IR2

Don’t worry. I will leave trojanman’s house alone. We have had some good back and forths between us, but nothing like Ipo and I have. Ipo had it coming, and he knew it. 

did u check the zillow, eappraisal and cyberhomes estimate, zillow is way down to 490k.

usctrojanman29 - 03 September 2008 01:00 PM

It has some time to list my Quail Hill condo for sale.  As such, I listed it last night and will be representing myself as the seller/listing agent.  It’s a 1,843sf 3bed/3bath William Lyon unit that I purchased brand new back in 2004 for just under $558k.  For all the curious souls, the following link shows my listing:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/388-Quail-Rdg-92603/home/5982154

I used a range price upon the advice of a few realtors so I guess we’ll see what happens (although I’ve already gotten 4 calls on the property).  You guys can come by and say hello at the open house next weekend.  haha

Good luck SC…  Is 356 Quail Ridge the same model as yours?

They paid $621K, closed on 12/30/04, and sold this past July for $525K.  Is your place really $50-75K better than that unit?

If I may make a small suggestion??... I noticed the listing says washer & dryer are included. I think you may not want to mention that and leave it up to the buyer to ask…. rather, use it as leverage when negotiating. I sold my house back in May… I threw in several things to go along with the house (that I truthfully didn’t want anyway) but since the buyers knew they were getting these right off the bat it wasn’t used in negotiating the price of the home. Kwim? Next time I would have held some of my cards instead of laying it all out there. To be fair my realtor did suggest holding off on offering freebies but I was too anxious to get rid of the house… I should have listened and now I know better. I hope this helps.

Looks like all your competition on Duet are shorts.  They bought in 2005 and are trying to get out so I wouldn’t use them to benchmark market pricing.  59 Reunion is at $314/sf, just $2K above their 2004 purchase price…

IMO, if you get a real offer above $550K, you seriously consider it.  If I was a buyer looking at your place, 356 Quail Ridge would be the only comp I would focus on, although 416 Quail Ridge recently closed at $325/sf - $470K.  If you get $575K, you’ve done very well I think.

And BTW, thanks for sharing intent to sell and your listing.  I love this kind of stuff!

irvine2010 - 03 September 2008 03:43 PM

did u check the zillow, eappraisal and cyberhomes estimate, zillow is way down to 490k.

Between Zillow, Eappraisal, and Cyberhomes, which one is the best estimate of what your home’s true value is? I noticed that my house is appraised much higher on Zillow and eappraisal, but much lower on cyberhomes?

PadreBrian - 03 September 2008 02:09 PM

Make sure you hire the professional stagers and then take great photos with wide area lens. (28mm)

I had the place decorated by my mom and ex gf so it should show well.

Irvine_Lurker - 03 September 2008 02:47 PM

usctrojanman29 - 03 September 2008 01:00 PM

It has some time to list my Quail Hill condo for sale.  As such, I listed it last night and will be representing myself as the seller/listing agent.  It’s a 1,843sf 3bed/3bath William Lyon unit that I purchased brand new back in 2004 for just under $558k.  For all the curious souls, the following link shows my listing:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/388-Quail-Rdg-92603/home/5982154

I used a range price upon the advice of a few realtors so I guess we’ll see what happens (although I’ve already gotten 4 calls on the property).  You guys can come by and say hello at the open house next weekend.  haha

Are the 3 other listings on Duet exact comps?  If so, it looks like you will have some unhappy neighbors based on the delta in listing prices

Yup, those are almost the same exact comps…my unit has a 2-car driveway and only one of the Duet units has a driveway.  I have no idea what one of those guys is thinking listing his property for $699k other than the fact that he paid $661k for his unit.

graphrix - 03 September 2008 03:37 PM

IrvineRealtor - 03 September 2008 02:43 PM

...and a cavity search if graph shows up. 

Looks good and best wishes trojanman.  Fight on.  -IR2

Don’t worry. I will leave trojanman’s house alone. We have had some good back and forths between us, but nothing like Ipo and I have. Ipo had it coming, and he knew it. 

Graph is a big softie…he just acts tough on the forum. 

For pricing, I would recommend using the same methodology that an appraiser would use, as you want to make sure the final negotiated price will be equal to or less than the appraised value.  The banks have gotten very conservative and are requiring the appraisers to use conservative methodology in determining the value (I speak from very relevant experience as I just had a property fall out of escrow because the property appraised at less than the purchase price I had negotiated with the seller). 

I’m not an appraiser, so I can’t provide exact formulas, but the general valuation approach using comparable sales would be:
- Find the most recent comparable sales:  The closer the match to your house the better; ideally they should be in the same track, similar model, similar condition, similar age, same number of bedrooms, etc.  You won’t have access to as much detailed data as an appraiser would (e.g. financing terms, room count, etc.), but that may not be as critical to determining a list price.  Try to find at least 3 similar comparable sales, the more recent the better.  Also, I can assure that appraisers most certainly DO count short sales as comps!
- For each comp, start with the sales price
- Look at the per square foot trend for comparable sales over the past several months.  If the trend is downward, then it’s considered a declining market.  Calculate the percentage monthly decline in PSF sales price.  Then apply that percentage of the comp sale price as a DEDUCTION against each comp, applying a greater percentage the older the sale date.
- Apply an adjustment for square footage for each comp (if it’s greater than your property, then deduct the appropriate % from the comp sale price, if less, then add the appropriate percentage)
- Apply adjustments for any MAJOR differences:  for example, comp has no patio but yours has one - add $50,000 to comp
- This will bring you to an adjusted price for each comp.  Take a weighted average of your 3 comps, putting more emphasis on the more recent sales.
The weighted average is a rough approximation of the appraised value of the property, using a conservative application of the comparable sale method.

It’s worth doing this.  Even if you negotiate a very favorable price, if the appraisal comes in lower than that price then the property is almost certain to fall out of escrow because the bank will only finance up to the appraised price.  The buyer would need to fork over additional down payment cash to make up the difference, which is unlikely in this market.

Roscoe - 03 September 2008 05:45 PM

For pricing, I would recommend using the same methodology that an appraiser would use, as you want to make sure the final negotiated price will be equal to or less than the appraised value.  The banks have gotten very conservative and are requiring the appraisers to use conservative methodology in determining the value (I speak from very relevant experience as I just had a property fall out of escrow because the property appraised at less than the purchase price I had negotiated with the seller). 

I’m not an appraiser, so I can’t provide exact formulas, but the general valuation approach using comparable sales would be:
- Find the most recent comparable sales:  The closer the match to your house the better; ideally they should be in the same track, similar model, similar condition, similar age, same number of bedrooms, etc.  You won’t have access to as much detailed data as an appraiser would (e.g. financing terms, room count, etc.), but that may not be as critical to determining a list price.  Try to find at least 3 similar comparable sales, the more recent the better.  Also, I can assure that appraisers most certainly DO count short sales as comps!
- For each comp, start with the sales price
- Look at the per square foot trend for comparable sales over the past several months.  If the trend is downward, then it’s considered a declining market.  Calculate the percentage monthly decline in PSF sales price.  Then apply that percentage of the comp sale price as a DEDUCTION against each comp, applying a greater percentage the older the sale date.
- Apply an adjustment for square footage for each comp (if it’s greater than your property, then deduct the appropriate % from the comp sale price, if less, then add the appropriate percentage)
- Apply adjustments for any MAJOR differences:  for example, comp has no patio but yours has one - add $50,000 to comp
- This will bring you to an adjusted price for each comp.  Take a weighted average of your 3 comps, putting more emphasis on the more recent sales.
The weighted average is a rough approximation of the appraised value of the property, using a conservative application of the comparable sale method.

It’s worth doing this.  Even if you negotiate a very favorable price, if the appraisal comes in lower than that price then the property is almost certain to fall out of escrow because the bank will only finance up to the appraised price.  The buyer would need to fork over additional down payment cash to make up the difference, which is unlikely in this market.

Using Case-Shiller methodology, I put the value somewhere right around $550K today…

Is this worth $3,750 as a rental? That’s the 160 multiplier…

I would be surprised if you sell quickly for the asking price.

Good luck!

usctrojanman29 - 03 September 2008 05:06 PM

PadreBrian - 03 September 2008 02:09 PM

Make sure you hire the professional stagers and then take great photos with wide area lens. (28mm)

I had the place decorated by my mom and ex gf so it should show well.

Good idea!
No offense,  but your Scarface poster might turn away potential buyers.

PANDA - 03 September 2008 04:52 PM

irvine2010 - 03 September 2008 03:43 PM

did u check the zillow, eappraisal and cyberhomes estimate, zillow is way down to 490k.

Between Zillow, Eappraisal, and Cyberhomes, which one is the best estimate of what your home’s true value is? I noticed that my house is appraised much higher on Zillow and eappraisal, but much lower on cyberhomes?

I usually take all of 3 estimates and calc the avg. most of the time, it gives me close to the appraisal value.

like in this case zillow is 490k, eappraisal is 568k, cyberhomes is 570k

(490k+568k+570k)/3=542k

irvine2010 - 04 September 2008 11:13 AM

PANDA - 03 September 2008 04:52 PM

irvine2010 - 03 September 2008 03:43 PM

did u check the zillow, eappraisal and cyberhomes estimate, zillow is way down to 490k.

Between Zillow, Eappraisal, and Cyberhomes, which one is the best estimate of what your home’s true value is? I noticed that my house is appraised much higher on Zillow and eappraisal, but much lower on cyberhomes?

I usually take all of 3 estimates and calc the avg. most of the time, it gives me close to the appraisal value.

like in this case zillow is 490k, eappraisal is 568k, cyberhomes is 570k

(490k+568k+570k)/3=542k

Those estimated prices are garbage at best.  They estimate that my HB rental condo is worth $50k+ over recent comps.  I used MLS comps of attached condos closed in the past 3 months and priced slightly below that on a price/sf basis. 

Btw, pictures have been posted…let me know what you guys and gals think.

most of the pictures r very dark, difficult to figure out the space, also u have too much stuff to show, which makes ur home less spacious. also i don’t see driveway picture.

I agree, too much clutter makes the rooms look small with little space

Oops. I was looking at pictures of another property on your street.

Now that I’ve looked at the correct pictures, get rid of the fake flowers!

I have to say the clutter has got to go, and lose the pictures even if they are not you or your family. NO PICTURES! Also, I think your photographer is not the best. He/she made several photo 101 mistakes. Like this one…

I know photo teachers who would beat them over the head with that shot. It gives me a headache just looking at it.