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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Bits Bucket for February 27, 2011

Business
Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011
Many home sellers won’t budge on price
Realestate agents say homes are priced too high

Jim Brodeur’s two-bedroom brick bungalow in Columbia has been up for sale three times in the past six years. So far, there have been no takers.

But you won’t find a “reduced price” appendage to the “for sale by owner” sign in front of his 1,200-square-foot Superior Street house.

Home sellers such as Brodeur – who are unwilling to lower home prices despite a weak housing market – are contributing to the lingering sour real estate market in the Midlands.

Stan Dubinsky has refurbished a home in Rosewood and now has it up for sale. The median price of homes sold in Columbia has not slipped significantly, but the number of homes sold is down 40 percent from the peak of the market — and still falling even as other markets in the state start to recover. That could be because most sellers would rather keep their home on the market for years rather than lower the price and lose money on it.

Stan Dubinsky shows realtor Renee Culler the home he has refurbished in Rosewood and now has up for sale. The median price of homes sold in Columbia has not slipped significantly, but the number of homes sold is down 40 percent from the peak of the market — and still falling even as other markets in the state start to recover. That could be because most sellers would rather keep their home on the market for years rather than lower the price and lose money on it.

Too many home sellers are pricing their homes above what the market can bear and then refusing to lower it – in part because they don’t have to, said Doug Bridges, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker United, Realtors, in Northeast Richland.

“I think, right now, a lot of people are looking for a steal,” said Brodeur, who purchased the house as an investment in 2005 and fixed it up with granite countertops in the kitchen and new tile in the bathroom. By the time Brodeur did the work and got the house ready for sale, the market had plunged, he said.

“I don’t feel the urge to help anybody steal anything,” said Brodeur, a Trane air conditioner salesman.

Brodeur is not alone in his sentiment.

The median price for single-family homes sold in Columbia in January rose 3.3 percent compared with January 2010, according to the latest report from the S.C. Realtors trade group. But the number of houses sold fell 11.6 percent in January, and home sales have dropped 40 percent since the housing peak in 2006.

The drop in home sales has some industry professionals wondering whether home sellers in Columbia have their houses priced right in this market, as housing inventories remain swollen.

According to the latest reports, there were more than 70 active listings for more than $100,000 in the Rosewood neighborhood last month, with just 22 closings in the past six months.

Brodeur’s house is in the only category of homes where the median price fell in January – no more than two bedrooms – down 6.3 percent.

Brodeur is asking $149,900 for his house. He said it was appraised two years ago for $155,500. He said he has gotten two “bites” since he put the house back up for sale most recently.

In between the three times over six years he has put the house on the market – each for 30 to 60 days at a time – Brodeur said he rented the place out.

“I’m willing to work with you,” Brodeur said he told prospective buyers. “But I don’t have to sell it, and I’m not going to give it away. If I lost my job, it would be different.”

Owners who need to sell their homes because they are facing financial difficulty or need to move out of the area are quicker to lower their prices, industry experts said.

But as more sellers wait on the market, sales in the Midlands are slumping – even as home sales along the coast have started to rebound.

The reason, at least in part, is demand, industry experts said. People are less inclined, or able, to buy homes in a challenging economy with record unemployment.

“We are not creating positive economic development in the Midlands,” said Doug Bridges, a real estate broker with Coldwell Banker United, Realtors, who also is a member of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce. “We don’t have the demand that a Greenville or a Charleston does.”

Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2011/02/27/1715115/many-home-sellers-wont-budget.html#ixzz1FCLX9BHP


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