I know people here have their opinions about Zillow's ZEstimate, but I'm curious what the thoughts are on SmartZip. Does it get fairly close in it's estimate?

I'm curious because I have my property listed as an asset through an account that uses smartzip, and it has an estimated value of the property that is slightly conflicting to what my realtor is saying.

My realtor is pushing me to do a price reduction, which I would be fine with, but we are already listed ~$10/sqft less than the competition, and lowering much at all will put me in the red at close, and I really DONT want to bring money to closing to pay off the balance of my mortgage. Lowering to the extent that she wants (a 10K reduction in price) would put me in the red, and would put us way below the price per foot of similar properties, not to mention it is also well below what smartzip (and Zillow) estimate the value of the property to be. Actually, it would put me below the property's assessed value with the tax office.

I do worry. I had a working relationship with my realtor when we still lived in Montana, as our offices frequently did business together. Since I have moved and listed my house with her, she rarely contacts us. In fact, I'm not sure she has initiated a conversation with me in over a month. I usually try to text her once every 3 weeks or so for an update.

Should I worry? Should I reduce price anyways? This is my first time selling a property of my own, and it's not fun at all.

The last house we sold, pricing it was crazy. We interviewed 3 people that had lots of sales in the neighborhood. One was $219K (we would have lost money. seriously), another was $225K (which was barely over what we'd paid approx 5 years earlier and we had done upgrades) and the one we went with said "what the heck - let's go for it @ $255K & worry about the appraisal later" she was convinced that the house was worth more - although smaller than most - because of the neighborhood. It sold in 2 days for $252K and had no problem appraising.

Good luck. Maybe you can list with someone else when this contract runs out?

I hear ya. We updated the house quite a bit, but there was more I wish we could have done. Though I'm thankful we got out of there (I hated being that far away from family and friends, and all of our friends had moved away from there as well).

I can afford to let it sit for a while. I feel like I have to let it sit until I have an offer that clears my mortgage, it's not like I'm letting it sit because I think I can make a profit on it. Rent and a mortgage isn't fun, but it's doable for us right now. The biggest headache isn't the rent and mortgage, its 2 sets of water bills and 2 sets of electric/gas bills.

I guess should I look at my homeowners policy pretty soon to have it dropped to a structure only policy and then pick up a renters policy for cheap? When I first listed, my insurance suggested waiting, because they technically were still covering our belongings, even though they weren't in the house, but I'm guessing they will only tolerate that for so long before I need to switch it all.

Regardless, we know we aren't going to make money on it. We are listed for less than we bought it for in 2013, and we sank a lot of money into it. We will likely continue to rent for another year, to save up for another downpayment to make sure we get what we want. Not to mention, real estate in college station isn't exactly priced to move quickly right now, but the rentals are coming down in price.

No idea on what to do but it does not sound like your getting your monies worth from the realtor. It is a lot easier for her to get a check on an undervalued property then at market.

Call a couple of her competitors and discuss pricing and services they would provide. The calls are free and they could confirm her strategy is sound...

Or not.

Oh and list price is nothing more then a start rate. If your not getting showings that might support the realtor advice. A buyer can offer what ever they want but you need an offer.

Unfortunately, my house is in the middle of a town full of half assed realtors. They actually do nothing to earn their commission. I'm basically using her as a housesitter who occasionally unlocks it for other people. None of the realtors there do open houses.

The extent of their services is listing on their website, listing on Zillow and other online sites, and filling out a prefilled (super confusing) buy-sell agreement.

If I still lived in the area, I would just do an owner listing and use my old boss to facilitate the closing. It would save me the 6%.

Sadly, my realtor is regarded as one of the best in town.

Try renting it out short term until the spring when buying season starts?

It seems like your house is in a town with more supply than demand.

Martin Q. Blank said:

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Try renting it out short term until the spring when buying season starts?

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We don't want to rent it out. We know the kind of people in that town who rent, and I don't have anyone I trust to manage the property. Sadly.

Ragoo said:

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It seems like your house is in a town with more supply than demand.

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This is very much the situation right now. The oil boom died down, layoff happened, people left. Then because DAPL was approved and Coal regulations shut down several mines, BNSF doesn't run oil or coal out of that town anymore, so they are closing that yard, and have laid a ton of people off.

Basically, we listed our house roughly the same time about 50 houses were listed in a town of roughly 10K. I'm told there are very few buyers right now (less than 10), and our house has shown roughly 6 times since it was listed.

We are priced lower per sq ft than most houses in town that are similar, and we are one of the few houses in our neighborhood that are 90% renovated (still using radiant heat and window units, but everything else is 100% updated). Most houses that are 100% renovated or in other parts of town are horribly upside down on their mortgages now, and are listed considerably higher than ours (they are all 80-100/sqft, we are at 63/sqft with an unfinished basement (its always been used as a wood working shop and cant be considered livable footage because of ceiling height) and a new shed in the back yard).

Weirdly enough, selling picks up late winter/early spring for the area, so I'm hopeful for early next year.

histag10 said:

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I guess should I look at my homeowners policy pretty soon to have it dropped to a structure only policy and then pick up a renters policy for cheap? When I first listed, my insurance suggested waiting, because they technically were still covering our belongings, even though they weren't in the house, but I'm guessing they will only tolerate that for so long before I need to switch it all.

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It varies from state to state, but in many cases a "dwelling policy" is more expensive than a homeowner policy.

Also, there are certain coverages that drop once a property has been "vacant" for 60+ days.

DadAG10 said:

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histag10 said:

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I guess should I look at my homeowners policy pretty soon to have it dropped to a structure only policy and then pick up a renters policy for cheap? When I first listed, my insurance suggested waiting, because they technically were still covering our belongings, even though they weren't in the house, but I'm guessing they will only tolerate that for so long before I need to switch it all.

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It varies from state to state, but in many cases a "dwelling policy" is more expensive than a homeowner policy.

Also, there are certain coverages that drop once a property has been "vacant" for 60+ days.

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Good to know. USAA told me to contact them back if its still on the market in 6-8 months to look at changing my policy.

histag10 said:

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Rent and a mortgage isn't fun, but it's doable for us right now. The biggest headache isn't the rent and mortgage, its 2 sets of water bills and 2 sets of electric/gas bills.

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Why would you continue to have large utility bills on an empty house? They she be at a minimum, no?

62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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Rent and a mortgage isn't fun, but it's doable for us right now. The biggest headache isn't the rent and mortgage, its 2 sets of water bills and 2 sets of electric/gas bills.

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Why would you continue to have large utility bills on an empty house? They she be at a minimum, no?

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Yes, but the minimum water bill in the town I was in is $96/ month. And because the house is in such a freaking cold area, to keep the house at a temp that wont freeze pipes is still expensive.

So for the minimum on that house, I'm still paying 250-300 a month

histag10 said:

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62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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Rent and a mortgage isn't fun, but it's doable for us right now. The biggest headache isn't the rent and mortgage, its 2 sets of water bills and 2 sets of electric/gas bills.

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Why would you continue to have large utility bills on an empty house? They she be at a minimum, no?

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Yes, but the minimum water bill in the town I was in is $96/ month. And because the house is in such a freaking cold area, to keep the house at a temp that wont freeze pipes is still expensive.

So for the minimum on that house, I'm still paying 250-300 a month

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And that's more of a headache than a second mortgage? I don't get it.

62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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Rent and a mortgage isn't fun, but it's doable for us right now. The biggest headache isn't the rent and mortgage, its 2 sets of water bills and 2 sets of electric/gas bills.

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Why would you continue to have large utility bills on an empty house? They she be at a minimum, no?

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Yes, but the minimum water bill in the town I was in is $96/ month. And because the house is in such a freaking cold area, to keep the house at a temp that wont freeze pipes is still expensive.

So for the minimum on that house, I'm still paying 250-300 a month

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And that's more of a headache than a second mortgage? I don't get it.

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I'm sorry that you don't get it. I'm not really sure what to say.

histag10 said:

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62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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Rent and a mortgage isn't fun, but it's doable for us right now. The biggest headache isn't the rent and mortgage, its 2 sets of water bills and 2 sets of electric/gas bills.

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Why would you continue to have large utility bills on an empty house? They she be at a minimum, no?

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Yes, but the minimum water bill in the town I was in is $96/ month. And because the house is in such a freaking cold area, to keep the house at a temp that wont freeze pipes is still expensive.

So for the minimum on that house, I'm still paying 250-300 a month

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And that's more of a headache than a second mortgage? I don't get it.

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I'm sorry that you don't get it. I'm not really sure what to say.

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So your mortgage is less than $250? That's the only scenario I could imagine that paying it would be less of a headache than paying a gas/water bill.

Enlighten me. Do you pay your utility bills with quarters?

62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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62strat said:

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histag10 said:

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Rent and a mortgage isn't fun, but it's doable for us right now. The biggest headache isn't the rent and mortgage, its 2 sets of water bills and 2 sets of electric/gas bills.

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Why would you continue to have large utility bills on an empty house? They she be at a minimum, no?

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Yes, but the minimum water bill in the town I was in is $96/ month. And because the house is in such a freaking cold area, to keep the house at a temp that wont freeze pipes is still expensive.

So for the minimum on that house, I'm still paying 250-300 a month

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And that's more of a headache than a second mortgage? I don't get it.

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I'm sorry that you don't get it. I'm not really sure what to say.

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So your mortgage is less than $250? That's the only scenario I could imagine that paying it would be less of a headache than paying a gas/water bill.

Enlighten me. Do you pay your utility bills with quarters?

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"Headache" does not necessarily mean more expensive. I came over here looking for advice on pricing of my property and realtor, not to argue over whether or not what I consider to be a headache conforms to your standards. I don't feel the need to "enlighten" you, nor do I appreciate your extremely rude responses. The snarkiness is uncalled for.